CSPS Digital Academy/CSPS Digital Accelerator/Team 2 - DND-Army
Mission Objective: Canadian Army Digital Transformation
Our team
We are the Canadian Army, the largest organization in the Department of National Defence (DND). We have a talented and diverse team taking part in the CSPS Digital Accelerator program. Leading the way are Lieutenant Colonel Tom McMullen, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Marshall, Major Joshua Robbins and France Blouin. These incredible leaders are supported by co-op students Chloe Pomeroy and Khadija Oukhiat. We also have Chris Michael and Alex Chung lending support from the Assistant Deputy Minister of Data, Innovation and Analytics within DND.
Our problem
Our original problem was immense in scope and required a significant shift in the Army’s practices:
How does the Army digitally transform to ensure we have the right organizational structures, governance, work processes, culture, mindset, technologies, and talent for a pan-domain fight?
Within this digital transformation, there is a crucial initiative currently underway that involves finding digital talent and engaging them in analytics roles – whether they be technical or leadership focused. This new initiative revealed a significant clue as to where we should focus our efforts.
Evolution of our problem
As we continued to frame this multi-faceted problem, it became clear that we needed to narrow down the scope. We decided the best course of action was to start by building a strong foundation to ensure our end-product could connect our members to the right resources and information.
Our prototyped solution
We are proud to present the Canadian Army Analytics Submission Portal. This portal provides users a centralized web-based space where they can now submit data and analytics service requests and access key resources and support.
Not only are military members and civilian employees of the Canadian Army able to access and manage analytics all in one place, but the product team is now also able to gain a better understanding of what users need from the service requests. By actively tracking the demand for analytics support and services, the Army Analytics Support Center can identify products that meet a real demand and focus their efforts in making them even better. Built with users for users, this portal entered beta testing phase in early June and we are delighted to say it is now fully operational.
Reflection and takeaways
The journey to arrive here was profound and insightful. We knew deep down that we had a mountain to climb and perhaps we overextended a tad, but that just spoke to the passion and desire for this change. During our time in the CSPS Digital Accelerator program, we reflected on our problem, consulted with users, and realized that the best course of action was to build a clean, easily accessible solution that meets a real and immediate need for our workforce to initiate a shift of mindset from analog to digital.
We are in a great position to iterate and improve from here. Our solution is gaining attention amongst senior members and analytics requests are steadily coming which proves we are heading in the right direction. This type of new service will help us grow and become leaders in this exciting new digital world!
