By Taylor Duffy
SimVentions’ Informedb Enterprise capability has come a long way since it began in 2008. It is now a critical tool supporting the future of digital strategy with analysis of big data for the DoD, supporting Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS), the US Marine Corps, NSWC Dahlgren, NSWC Dam Neck, NSWC PHD, and many other customers and applications.
Informedb Enterprise can assist with strategic planning; project execution; data management; product development, integration, and deployment; and configuration management. The tool works by organizing and managing data with enhanced report generation and information discovery via interactive visualization tools. These capabilities allow customers to see their information to plan and make informed decisions. Because of its power to coordinate parallel development across various program offices, the Navy can accurately plan for and integrate assets years earlier than originally recognized.
A recent effort with PEO IWS is the Deploying Capability by Design (DCD) project, where Informedb is the cornerstone technology for organizing, maintaining, and presenting development and fielding plans. The tool provides visibility into capability planning and deployment to the fleet across the PEO IWS Enterprise. Our customers use Informedb for cross-organizational programmatic coordination and integration, for things such as installation planning, capability coordination, integrated training awareness, and fleet readiness visibility. This replaces the document-centric processes used previously with a data-centric approach to maintaining information and generating knowledge-based reports.
As a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II award recipient, SimV’s Vice President of Business Development, Blaine Alexander, and the Informedb Program Manager, Brad Neal, had the opportunity to showcase this technology at the Navy’s Forum for SBIR Transition (FST) in Lowell, Massachusetts. The forum hosted many industry and academia leads that currently provide capability support to the Navy through the SBIR program. Helen Greiner, co-founder of iRobot and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate, spoke about how she now uses her experience in robotics to help the Army meet the continued growing need of unmanned vehicles. The Head of the Office of Navy Research, Admiral David J. Hahn, also spoke about the need to stay ahead of our adversaries through innovative technologies. He also shared the encouraging changes the Navy is making to streamline the contract process, making technologies easier to get through the new contract strategies such as the Office of Technology Assessment quick prototype development and Shark Tank-type events. This forum was a great platform to learn more by talking with others in the industry and showcase the success of Informedb.