U.S. Army Garrison (Camp) Humphreys, South Korea. 0500 hrs.

Jasmine Gibbons, Army Civilian (GS9) and Transportation Manager begins her day at Camp Humphreys, the “hub of U.S. Forces Korea”. She’s assigned to the strategic INDO-PACOM base, home of Eighth U.S. Army Headquarters, the Second Infantry Division, and the Army's most active airfield in the Pacific.

Jasmine’s job entails serving as the primary liaison for military units, commercial agencies, and host nation support, synchronizing transportation assets to meet the units’ demands. She coordinates transportation managing the logistics of moving people, equipment, and cargo using a menu of options of various modes of transport. To plan these movements, she deals with the complexity of coordinating with numerous units, across many different business systems. Her job also includes working through frequent, last-minute changes that require quick and detailed adjustments creating friction across the different modes of transportation.

In order to keep transportation operations running smoothly, Jasmine sometimes creates her own manual tools to synthesize information from various sources. While independently creating workarounds gets her by, it’s ultimately inefficient for her, taking her away from her core transportation tasks and decreasing the readiness of her unit. It’s also inefficient across the Army, as thousands of technicians like Jasmine create their own workarounds while attempting to synchronize requirements and capabilities, juggling data from different defense business systems.

Jasmine Gibbons is a fictitious character, or persona, whose story is based on hours of research conducted by Enterprise Business Systems-Convergence’s (EBS-C) Human-Centered Design (HCD) team.

“Building personas, as a composite representation for a set of users, helps us deeply understand users' needs, motivations, and behaviors, helping us create more effective, intuitive and meaningful experiences,” said Michcell Shoultz, Community Transformation Director, EBS-C. “Our intent is to have technically sound solutions that genuinely resonate with the people they are designed for.”

Today, the Army's existing, stove-piped enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) are approaching their end-of-life-cycle service date. This presents the opportunity to converge business systems and processes into a unified, modern system; a system that will eliminate the burden of manual workarounds for people like Jasmine, while supporting the increasing complexity of operational demands. EBS-C is this system.

About EBS-C

In 2020, the Under Secretary of the Army approved the EBS-C strategy with the goal of delivering a modernized, integrated capability that will enable efficient decision-making by leaders, Soldiers, and the civilian workforce. The convergence of some of the Army’s largest ERPs also provides an opportunity to enable auditable sustainment operations and reach the Congressional directed audit compliance.

The convergence effort, which will be implemented through multiple agile deployments over time, is expected to provide an opportunity to sunset at least four of the Army’s separate ERP programs (the General Fund Enterprise Business System, Global Combat Support System-Army, Logistics Modernization Program, and Army Enterprise Systems Integration Program hub).  (See EBS-C Convergence Process Flow graphic).

This convergence will improve system agility, capacity, speed, and efficiency by integrating major Army capabilities across the logistics and finance enterprises. Once merged, the EBS-C system will integrate with enduring systems, providing real-time access to data and provide commanders at echelon increased decision space.

EBS-C is creating a future in which manual user workarounds, like those used by Jasmine, won’t be needed. As a pathfinder program, EBS-C is implementing novel approaches like Human-Centered Design to software development. HCD keeps humans at the center of transformation efforts by actively engaging with end-users, understanding their needs, and involving them in the decision-making process. In doing so, the team is creating a solution that truly addresses the challenges faced by individuals in their daily Army mission.

 Human-Centered Design: The Core of EBS-C's transformational approach

The EBS-C Multi-Functional Capabilities Team’s Human Centered Design approach begins with meeting users where they are, conducting interviews, observations, site visits and workshops. This allows the team to better understand the current state, and also cultivate empathy for the users of EBS-C. EBS-C's research plan is structured to align with the continuous delivery pipeline to ensure we are bringing in the right users with the right perspectives at the right time. This approach not only enhances the user experience but also fosters a sense of ownership and empowerment among our stakeholders.

The team’s commitment to agility and adaptability will enable the Army to respond swiftly to evolving requirements and to deliver high-quality solutions in a timely manner. Agile development goes hand-in-hand with this program’s commitment to human-centered design – giving our end-users a seat at the table as we iterate to ensure consistent inclusion of the voice of the user. This will allow EBS-C to develop frequently delivered increments of capability that our end users want and need.

 The ongoing journey: What lies ahead for Jasmine and EBS-C?

In the Army of 2030 and beyond, Jasmine’s transportation processes will be streamlined with improved tracking throughout the transportation lifecycle. EBS-C will equip her, other Army logistics managers, and finance professionals with accessible metrics for measuring and improving performance.

Armed with precise information on transportation tracking, whether it be personnel, aircraft, or materiel, Jasmine will know what is needed and when it will arrive at the required location. Even in the most remote scenarios, the Army will be prepared for combat, thanks to additional EBS-C capabilities such as disconnected operations (DISCOPS). Jasmine will be able to seamlessly send a team of personnel with equipment across the world to execute a mission, orchestrating resource allocation with precision to ensure warfighters have the tools they need, when they need it.

Our technical partners in the Project Management Office – EBS-C are leading the acquisition of a Technical Integration Provider via an Other Transactional Authority acquisition path. Once the Army awards a contract, EBS-C will be finalizing and deploying the first tranche of usable functionality to the field within one year, as required by the DOD.5000.87, software acquisition pathway.

EBS-C's agile approach to software development will allow future functionality to be developed and deployed iteratively as it’s needed. The team’s commitment to keeping humans at the center means that we are planning to consistently engage impacted stakeholders, co-creating the future state with them, and making sure they are prepared to support this modernization effort.

"Our people are our greatest assets. By taking a human-centered approach and understanding the real experiences of our users, we can develop a system that enables them to deliver on the mission more effectively,” said Josh Call, EBS-C Lead, U.S. Army Materiel Command, G-3.

“And the best way to do that is to put our logistics and finance business experts in the room with the software experts to innovate together," he added.

In today's rapidly evolving threat landscape, the need for agile and responsive military operations is more critical than ever. ERP modernization within our military is not just a matter of technological advancement; it's a strategic imperative. Modern ERP systems provide the backbone for integrated logistics, real-time data analytics, and efficient resource management, all of which are essential for maintaining operational readiness.

Author’s note

As I serve as the Chief of Staff for EBS-C MFCT, I am also a U.S. Army Reserve Logistics Officer (formerly an Active-duty Army Logistics Officer). This puts me in the unique situation where I am not only a change leader, but also an EBS-C customer; making it that much more relevant for me to make sure we get this right. I am not just leading this to make changes for hundreds of thousands of users, I am making sure, for example, that our vehicle mechanics can more effectively diagnose and order parts for an LMTV fault, or that our supply non-commissioned officers can quickly and efficiently execute an equipment transfer. Putting the human first is not just a priority for our program, it is a necessity that we are putting every resource towards getting EBS-C correct.

Call to action:

We’re looking for more transportation Subject Matter Experts to join our transportation product team. We need your assistance to develop cutting-edge solutions for future transportation operations. You can collaborate with our team to share your expertise and contribute to the development of our innovative EBS-C products by joining the EBS Convergence Portal on Microsoft Teams using the code: 85smlxy