The Department of National Defence, frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for the Canadian Armed Forces.

DND is the largest federal department in terms of personnel/employees and budget; there are 62,000 members of the Canadian Forces regular force, 23,000 members of the Canadian Forces primary reserve force, and approximately 22,000 civilian DND support employees. The department's budget in Fiscal Year 2007-2008 is C$16.9 billion. In 2006, the government announced a C$17 billion spending program for capital projects.

Project Summary

Project team leader responsible for the implementation, functional testing, and user acceptance and compliance testing of custom-designed terminals in a new network for Supply Systems in DND bases and stations across Ontario and northern Quebec.

Background

The many locations that DND operated (bases, depots, etc.) had facilities known as “stores“. They carried a wide range of non-perishable items, from socks to boats. The stocking, tracking, replenishment and reporting was all manual and, as a result, always out of date. A study had identified benefits (financial, as well as logistical) in automating the stores and the movement of material.

An RFP had laid out the functional requirements and technical specification. After implementation, the chosen proponent, IBM, had a rigorous (30 day) acceptance process and criteria to meet, in order to complete the contract.

Requirement

Monitor the Acceptance Testing and Performance Verification for all the DND locations in Northern Ontario and Quebec.

Approach

• Visited every in-scope location to meet involved individuals and become aware of specifics of each location and installation.
• Maintain direct contact with the primary DND contact at each location. Distribute sample transactions to generate transaction loads to test performance and resiliency. Participate in periodic load and stress tests to investigate system performance limits.
• Maintain regular reporting discipline to HQ on traffic generated, performance observed and measured, equipment and communication failures, and availability statistics.
• Travelled between locations overnight to maintain personal contact and keep morale high.