The Other Airmen Spotlight
The Other Airmen experiment aims to demonstrate citizen developers from the Air Force and Army can create useful applications using low code/no code capability. The teams are transforming their use cases into working applications to present to the 16th Air Force Commander Lt Gen Timothy Haugh in March 2021.
24 Feb – The process to pull and compare information for a unit member – military or civilian – is labor-intensive. It requires data to be cross-referenced from multiple sources including spreadsheets and specialized systems. Currently, personnel acting as Unit Deployment Managers, Unit Training Managers, Commander Support Staff, and other positions need to collect this information, compare it for accuracy and currency, and route it up to appropriate leadership.
Two Citizen Developers are collaborating on a unit-level application that imports and aggregates complex spreadsheets such as the Unit Manning Document, Unit Manpower Personnel Record, Alpha Roster, Gains and Loss rosters, and Civilian Roster pulled from personnel systems. They can also manually modify personnel records using “detail screens” which displays specific information on an individual.
The application suggests changes and allows users to manually verify where changes or inaccuracies exist. User access to system data is role-based, granted as their account is setup by an administrator. Role-based access maintains data confidentiality while still providing appropriate access for specialized personnel to gather information quickly for mission-essential tasks.
The application is currently functional with access to real data. The Citizen Developers are adding additional features from their “want to have” list. They are also gathering more information to provide a more robust example for the March presentation. They would like to import data directly from system databases, but current bureaucratic controls require manual spreadsheet imports. This application is a perfect example of individuals identifying a need for a tool that reduces time- and labor-intensive tasks to improve efficiency and accuracy. The sleek design also highlights that even amateur developers can develop relatively sophisticated applications that perform well and look professional in a relatively short span of time.
31 Dec – Today’s Spotlight focuses on a Market Research and Solicitation tool designed for contracting officers to efficiently perform market research on a company submitting for a Federal Commercial Solutions Opening. Companies could upload pitch decks including a descriptive video and whitepapers to support the submission. The tool could foster continued engagement with an organization after an event or project is done.
Currently, data in the MVP is entered manually. It includes links to the beta.sam.gov announcement and any social media platforms the company uses. The citizen developer is seeking APIs and permissions to automatically pull company information using the DUNS identification number, which is a unique nine-digit number required for any company to register with the Federal government for contracts or grants. Other potential sources for automatic information include usaspending.gov for contract identification, the Air Force Installation Contracting Center business intelligence unit for Federal Supply Codes and Product Service Codes, and ready-made prospective sheets for the company. The end goal is for the tool to minimize manual entry and provide users current information.
The citizen developer is an Air Force contracting officer currently participating as an Education and Industry fellow as her full-time position. She built the MVP on her own time on weekends after completing her training. The short time-frame from idea to MVP demonstrates how quickly a citizen developer can develop a solution that improves their productivity.
![[A screenshot of the Market Research and Solicitation tool MVP]](https://afcyberworx.monarchdigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SharedScreenshot.jpg)
10 Dec – Of the citizen developers volunteering their time and efforts, one has accelerated the development timeline and delivered a prototype. War Skills and Military Studies instructors need a more efficient and reliable way to schedule a complex class coverage. The current process makes a team of instructors unavailable for teaching while they manually build the schedule. That draft schedule is visually compared to each instructor’s leave schedule and the class schedule. If a mistake or unforeseen change occurs, the team has to rush to make updates and disseminate the new schedule to the instructors as quickly as possible.
The use case involves a scheduling application that allows a single user to easily add classes, instructors, and locations as well as de-conflict instructors with scheduled leave. With the push of a button, the system will process the information and assign instructors to classes. Instructors won’t be scheduled if they’re on leave, nor scheduled to teach two classes at the same time. The system accounts for travel time between class locations. The application quickly produces an equitable schedule and allows the Scheduling Office the ability to easily and quickly make changes and disseminate an updated schedule within minutes instead of days.
That is the power of Low Code/No Code that The Other Airmen experiment is assessing for wider adoption. Citizen Developers know their pain points. Given the tools to develop their own solutions, DoD personnel can quickly improve unit efficiency.
11 Nov – Personnel responsible for member training requirements need a better way to track training data to reduce overhead and create a comprehensive picture of a unit’s ability to support the mission. Currently, commander support staff, unit training managers, and unit deployment managers have to sift through information from an array of sources including ADLS, TBA, IMDS, the Army’s DTMS, and various spreadsheets to piece together an accurate report. Users deserve a more efficient way to track training than cross-referencing 10 different systems to extract required data and manually input the information into a spreadsheet.
Several citizen developers are working on training tracker prototypes to streamline the current tedious process. An automated process will reduce the amount of time spent manually entering data, improve accuracy, and allow Airmen to focus their time and effort on other unit priorities.