August 13, 2004 -- Volume 2, Number 9

NASA Just-in-Time Strategy Boosts Productivity; Promises Savings

Automated Procurement System Helps Agency Stay on Track

By

Judy Silver

Senior Editor

Streamlining operations enables government agencies to focus on their core competencies and enhances customer service. One significant way in which agencies can achieve this is through outsourcing some or all of the procurement process.

The NASA Logistics Management Division at Goddard Space Flight in Greenbelt, MD, recently took a step in that direction.  By using web-enabled procurement software and custom developed applications for purchase order (PO) and invoice transmission from Reston, Va.-based i360Technologies Inc. they have streamlined the procurement process between the division and one of the logistics center’s largest suppliers, Office Depot.

“Managing and maintaining an interface should not be high price activity,’’ said Jim Oliver, President and Chief Executive Officer of i360Technologies Inc., explaining that implementing this type of system could save agencies, like NASA, millions of dollars.

No manual intervention is necessary for the entire Goddard just-in-time ordering process. Once the PO for an Office Depot product is initiated, i360 converts it to an electronic order that is transmitted to Office Depot and filled within 24 hours. Then i360 sends the financial transaction to the Goddard accounting system which shows the details of what was purchased along with daily and monthly reconciliation reports between the Goddard PO and the Office Depot invoice.

However, it wasn’t always this simple. The Logistics Management Division consists of 30 federal employees and 180 contractors. In 1997, TRAX replaced the existing Goddard legacy supply system with a combination of Oracle applications and database after an extensive evaluation of existing COTS and GOTS products. This year, the system was upgraded and expanded to meet the requirements of NASA’s recently implemented Integrated Financial Management Program (IFMP).

“We were trying to improve existing largely manual information flow between Office Depot and the Goddard supply system, and i369’s Interlink solution not only did that, but put us in the position for further performance enhancements,’’ said David Maxwell, Deputy Program Manager in the TRAX International support organization at NASA’s Logistics Organization.

“We wanted a true just--in-- time process, instead of an almost just--in-- time process,” continued Maxwell. “When it’s running right there’s no manual intervention at all.”

 People do their business during the day, which is accumulated in customized tables that are part of Oracle system. Each day at 3 p.m. the table is emptied to the Interlink software system and is transmitted to Office Depot. 

Although the TRAX has the expertise to run the supply system on a day—to—day basis, when it came time for upgrading and reconfiguring, it decided to subcontract for implementation support.

 “A lot of large asset management system are advertised as COTS systems, and only in the loosest definition is that true,’’ said Maxwell. “They require extensive set up and knowledge of the software itself.  i360technologies filled in the Oracle-based expertise where we have gaps.”

“When it came time to do a system upgrade, including revisiting all the set--ups, we decided to look for a vendor with Oracle expertise, to enter into a long term relationship,’’ said Maxwell, adding that Interlink had the capabilities to grow and become more than it is.

The real advantage is the improved two-- way data transmission between Office Depot and Goddard Logistics Management division, which translated into more effective customer service. Also, the data stream contains elements of financial information that wasn’t there before that is necessary for the supply system to interact with NASA’s new financial system, IFMP. Providing the minimum performance improvement was the first phase of a two-step upgrade.

“Interlink provides more granularity in information coming back from Office Depot that will help us even further with customer service and financial reconciliation and help the agency re-deploy our staff to other operational areas,’’ said Maxwell. “In the next phase, we expect we’ll be able to re--allocate about two

work years from the administrative support of data transmission to the operations function in the supply area. “That’s a big deal.”

Judy Silver can be reached at JudySilver@PubSector.com.