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Tech Insights

The monthly Tech Insight series aims to help readers make better decisions and be more informed customers of technologies affecting OIT by providing them with high-level overviews of technology issues that impact or will impact VA’s IT environment. Tech Insights introduce topics in an easily digestible fashion by presenting background information on the topic, clearly explaining its importance within VA, and providing recommendations for success.

Tech Insights Library
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  • Tech Insights for Calendar Year 2019
    Title Overview
    3D Printing III (August 2019)

    Three-dimensional (3D) printing, or 3DP, is an emerging and evolving technology used at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to improve the Veteran health care customer experience. In simple terms, 3DP uses a digital file to make 3D solid objects. The 3DP process is also known as additive manufacturing since an object is made by adding one layer at a time. As one of several computer-aided manufacturing processes using digital images, 3DP applications for health care include innovations in creating tissues and organoids, surgical tools, patient-specific surgical models, and custom-made prosthetics. In this Tech Insight, we discuss the current benefits of 3DP at VA, including inspiring success stories, and the resulting 3DP efforts at VA.

    Internet of Medical Things (August 2019)

    The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a subset of IoT, from which several submarkets of the technology have evolved. IoMT enables virtually any medical device to collect, analyze, and send data across the web. This Tech Insight explores how IoMT is used, including its benefits, risks, and risk mitigation; and how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses the technology to improve services for our nation’s Veterans.

    Machine-to-Machine Communications (July 2019)

    Today, machine-to-machine communications (M2M) applications are well established in the global healthcare arena, with the technology considered the foundation for the Internet of Things (IoT). This Tech Insight presents an overview of M2M, the advantages and challenges of its uses, and how VA currently benefits from implementing M2M.

    Cloud Encryption (June 2019)

    In a past issue of Tech Insight (September 2015), “Guide to Encryption,” we explored the history, digital data states, benefits, and challenges of how VA uses encryption. This Tech Insight will specifically explore cloud encryption; an overview, its benefits, challenges, and best practice approaches to implementation; and how cloud encryption is used at VA.

    Open Data III (May 2019)

    This Tech Insight further explores open data assets and their benefits to Veterans; the emergence of new open data technologies; how open data could potentially be used within blockchain initiatives at VA; and the current work of the Open Data Initiative at VA.

    Unified Communications II (April 2019)

    By 2026, the unified communications (UC) market is anticipated to reach over $186 billion, with North America being the leading contributor to its global market revenue. With the use of communications technology at the forefront of our communities, amid industry and all levels of Government and education embracing telework and remote employment, UC is an exceptionally important factor to examine in managing information systems in 2019. In this Tech Insight, we’ll revisit a 2015 Tech Insight on UC, discuss an overview, share benefits and examples, and learn how VA is currently implementing and benefiting from UC.

    Mobile Security (March 2019)

    Mobile security refers to the protection of mobile devices, such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets, and their connected networks, from threats and vulnerabilities associated with wireless computing. This Tech Insight, a continuation of our 2016 Mobile Security Tech Insight, will highlight new mobile security concerns and enterprise solutions, including tips on how to secure and protect devices and networks.

    Flutter (March 2019)

    As a cross-platform app development tool, Flutter enables developers to use a single codebase to develop an app that is supported by Android, iOS, or Windows. This is a faster way to build mobile apps, since normally, each platform needs unique types of coding for application development; with Flutter, programming is performed once. This Tech Insight provides an overview of Flutter, its benefits and challenges, examples of apps developed with the tool, and the future of Flutter.

    Telehealth II (February 2019)

    With the growing population and shortage of healthcare professionals, along with the struggle of affordable health care, telehealth offers easy, attainable health services for customers, and allows for innovative ways of connecting patients to professionals. In this Tech Insight, we’ll revisit a 2015 Tech Insight on telehealth and discuss an updated overview, current examples and benefits, the future of telehealth, and how VA is leading the way.

    Demand Management (January 2019)

    Demand management helps to ensure that an organization’s requirements and capabilities are synchronized and that operating costs are minimized. In this Tech Insight, we discuss an overview of demand management, its benefits and challenges, and explore demand management at VA.

  • Tech Insights for Calendar Year 2018
    Title Overview
    Design Thinking and Innovation at VA (November 2018)

    In Design a Better Business, design is defined as “a disciplined approach to searching, identifying, and capturing value.” The key to design and tools is iteration. Designers move through a continuous and iterative approach as they observe the world, create and validate options, and execute the best solution. Design is about embracing uncertainty, focusing on solutions, and preparing via prototyping. In this document, we provide a recap of a previous Tech Insight on design thinking - an overview, benefits, and dive into the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) new Innovator’s Network. 

    Agile Scrum Methodology (October 2018) While agile development is regarded as an umbrella term for several iterative and incremental software development methodologies, the scrum has become an accepted best practice approach to creating new software and technology products – that is, as Gartner explains, “a way of organizing work to promote agility.” In this Tech Insight, we’ll discuss the history and overview of the scrum methodology as the most widely used methodology in agile development, and how it has been applied at VA.
    Authoritative Data and Data Governance (September 2018) To get a sense of how much data the Federal Government produces, the Department of Commerce puts out as much as 20 terabytes of data every day. In this Tech Insight, we present an overview of authoritative data and the increased emphasis on data management and governance by examining its key definitions, and assessing the business value impact of trusted data for VA.
    Robotic Process Automation (August 2018) Many large organizations have adopted RPA to enhance business processes and eradicate mundane tasks, freeing workers to concentrate their efforts on higher valued duties. Experts convey that RPA must entail proper design, planning, and governance if it is to boost business operations. In this Tech Insight, we present an overview of RPA, its key benefits, and the impact it will have at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
    Enterprise Shared Services (July 2018) Currently, VA OIT serves a complex information technology (IT) infrastructure that supports approximately 325,000 VA employees nationwide. These employees oversee and facilitate VA IT product and service delivery activities to over 21 million Veterans. Clearly, enterprise shared services (ESS) are a critical component in enabling this to be carried out. This Tech Insight dives into a high-level explanation of ESS, its history and reason for being, and its core functionality.
    Application Programming Interfaces (July 2018) Today, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are the standard and rapidly becoming the building blocks of the web. APIs allow companies to provide a better customer experience to their users. API documentation is a must to extend reach on the internet and create partnerships with the most active platforms and applications.
    3D Printing II (June 2018) The future is filled with endless possibilities, including creating objects from a printer. It’s an evolutionary movement from spewing toner on a white sheet of paper to building layers of plastic until an object is formed. This Tech Insight revisits our previous Tech Insight on 3D Printing with an updated overview, the development of 3D Printing at VA, the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States, and various 3D printing success stories for patients.
    Fog Computing (May 2018) In this Tech Insight, we provide an overview of fog computing – a term The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reminds us is often erroneously confused as a synonym to edge computing. We will examine their key differences and differentiate a third concept, mist computing, as we define fog computing, its applications, and its utility in the proliferation of internet of things (IoT). Lastly, we will assess fog computing’s potential impact to VA, as we continue its move to the cloud.
    Disruptive Technologies (March 2018) As in stakeholder management, disruption suggests significant changes to a business model, such as moving into a new market. Disruption can cause major changes to the evolution of business processes, as new technologies and ways of thinking become available to “stay ahead of the curve” and maintain a competitive edge. In this Tech Insight, we provide an overview of disruption of technologies, explore these various technologies, and discuss their impact on VA.
    Information Technology Infrastructure Library (February 2018) In a previous Tech Insight, we discussed the significance of Information Technology (IT) Service Management (SM), which refers to “the entirety of activities that are performed by an organization to plan, design, deliver, operate, and control IT services offered to its customers.” This journey of codifying a path forward to a digitally transformed IT infrastructure has been a focus via an IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) - a set of practices for ITSM that focus on aligning IT services with business needs, to foster integration with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) overarching IT modernization strategy. In this Tech Insight, we’re diving into ITIL and how it works, its history and use in ITSM, and today’s perspective of its essential integration in VA’s IT strategic planning.
    Introduction to Cybersecurity (February 2018) Cybersecurity, also referred to as IT security, focuses on protecting computers, networks, programs, and data from unintended or unauthorized access, change, or destruction. In this Tech Insight, we present an overview of cybersecurity and security controls, as well the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) strategy to combat cybersecurity risks, including VA’s Enterprise Architecture (EA) and Cybersecurity Strategy.
    Quantum Computing (January 2018) Quantum computing studies computation systems (quantum computers) that make direct use of quantum-mechanical occurrences to perform operations on data. In this Tech Insight, we present an overview of the emerging next-generation computing technology (Quantum Computing) and its related impact on Artificial Intelligence (AI), healthcare, and technology in-general, as well as how it’s impacting the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
  • Tech Insights for Calendar Year 2017
    Title Overview
    Gartner's Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018 (December 2017) In October 2017, Gartner, a research and advisory company, released their "Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends of 2018," calling out what they have dubbed "The Intelligent Digital Mesh." In this Tech Insight, we're exploring the "Intelligent Digital Mesh" of technologies that we'll most likely be seeing more of as we move into 2018 and discussing how these services or products can be beneficial to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
    Virtual Reality (November 2017) Virtual reality (VR) creates the perception of ‘being there’ even though you are not physically present. It can create the sense of smell, sound, taste, and visuals. This type of technology holds tremendous potential to impact the future for a variety of fields ranging from medicine, business, marketing to architecture. In this Tech Insight, we present an overview of VR, key benefits of VR, how VR is changing healthcare, and the impact it is having at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
    Knowledge Management (October 2017) How does an organization gather all the relevant knowledge and leverage it to improve operations? Knowledge management (KM) is “the deliberate and systematic coordination of an organization’s people, technology, processes, and organizational structure in order to add value through reuse and innovation.” In this Tech Insight, we provide a history and introduction to KM, its benefits, and how KM is currently applied at VA.
    Blockchain (September 2017) Blockchain is an emerging technology that could alleviate these issues. Blockchain has the ability to establish identity and create trust in cyberspace. Using distributed networks to reduce risk, this accounting, or “ledger,” system may change workflow and business procedures by opening opportunities for innovation and growth. This Tech Insight provides an introduction and overview to blockchain and its vulnerabilities. Finally, it covers applications for its use in the private and public sectors, specifically within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
    Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace (August 2017) If you use a smartphone digital assistant, email program that sorts entries by importance, voice recognition system, or digital or virtual assistants (i.e. Amazon Echo and Google Home), you are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. This Tech Insight provides an overview of AI and machine learning (ML), the differences, the influence that AI and ML are having on the workforce, and the impacts that they can have at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
    Change Management (July 2017) Large organizations are no strangers to the concept of change management (CM). When companies make internal changes, CM is a collective term for all approaches to preparing and supporting individuals, teams, and organizations in making those changes. This Tech Insight provides a basic introduction to CM, reasons organizations undergo change, and popular change models and applications. This document will also discuss CM within the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Office of Information & Technology (OI&T).
    Tech Insight Recap: Software Development Approaches (June 2017) This Tech Insight revisits three previous Tech Insights to highlight the importance of software development approaches. This recap specifically addresses previous Tech Insights on open source software and development; device-independent development; and development operations (DevOps).
    Tech Insight: Programming Languages (June 2017) This Tech Insight introduces programming language and paradigms, describes programming language attributes, and pro-vides examples and uses of different types of programming languages, including usage at VA.
    Tech Insight: Design Thinking (May 2017) Design thinking is the formal process of creating new, innovative ideas and solving problems. This Tech Insight provides an introduction to design followed by a history and overview of design thinking and Human-Centered Design (HCD) and explores how these concepts are being applied within VA. It also includes a supplemental toolkit overview from the VA Center for Innovation’s (VACI) “Toolkit for Human-Centered Design.”
    Tech Insight: Enterprise Design Patterns (April 2017) An Enterprise Design Pattern (EDP) is a reusable capability guidance document that identifies best practice approaches and resources for achieving VA IT strategic objectives. This Tech Insight provides a basic explanation of the purpose of EDPs and the IT topics they address. It also provides a deeper understanding of the importance of EDPs as key components of the VA Enterprise Architecture (EA), and how VA project teams can benefit from using them.
    Tech Insight Recap: Technology in Healthcare (March 2017) VA Telehealth Services uses health informatics, disease management, care/case management, and telehealth technologies to increase access to care and improve the health of Veterans. This Tech Insight Recap revisits three previous Tech Insights and combines their highlights to specifically address telehealth, nanomedicine, and three dimensional (3D) printing. It examines how technological updates and innovations are beneficial to healthcare.
    Tech Insight: Anatomy of a Computer (March 2017) The computer is the pinnacle device for the evolution of modern products, like Internet of Things (IoT) and small devices. This Tech Insight introduces the basic parts of a computer and describes the more recent applications of the basic parts to small devices, IoT, and applications in healthcare. It also focuses on how VA is managing security risks associated with computers.
    Tech Insight: Big Data Analytics II (February 2017) Big data as a concept refers to the high velocity collection of data in large volumes coming from a variety of sources, resulting in different forms of data collected with great speed in great frequency. In this second Tech Insight on the topic, we present the key steps and tools commonly used in this form of analytics and address the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) actions toward improving and leveraging big data analytics capabilities.
    Tech Insight: Hackathons (January 2017) Hackathons use brainstorming and coding sessions to stir up new ideas on a topic by creative problem solving. This Tech Insight explores how hackathons work, offers guidelines for organizing a hackathon, and presents examples of how Federal agencies are employing hackathons to drive innovation.
  • Tech Insights for Calendar Year 2016
    Title Overview
    Tech Insight: Machine Learning (December 2016) In today’s tech-focused society, it is no surprise that machines now have the ability to come to life as we do — evolving and changing in response to the environment and information exposure. This technology is known as “machine learning,” a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides computers the ability to learn, without providing programmed instructions. This Tech Insight explores how machine learning works and where it is used, how the deep learning approach to machine learning is utilized, and how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is implementing machine learning.
    Tech Insight: Enterprise Architecture (November 2016) EA methodologies examine an entire organization, with concentration on its business processes, technologies, and information systems. This Tech Insight explores EA as an IT strategy, with focus on the complementary benefits found in four primary EA methodologies.
    Tech Insight: In-Memory Computing (October 2016) In this Tech Insight, you will learn about the benefits that IMC brings to an enterprise; two common platforms that support IMC; and how IMC strengthens the computing environment by utilizing the primary memory of a computer, Random Access Memory (RAM).
    Tech Insight: 3D Printing (September 2016) This Tech Insight explores the evolution of 3D printing, how the technology is used in current healthcare applications, its potential impact on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and 3D printing’s next evolution.
    Tech Insights: Nanomedicine (August 2016) Nanomedicine, the medical application of nanotechnology, has the potential to revolutionize the prevention and treatment of disease in the human body in the not-so-distant future. This Tech Insight explores the advancement of nanomedicine from the historical development of nanotechnology. It focuses on the advantages and unresolved issues surrounding the use of nanomedicine applications.
    Tech Insights: Technology Standards and the TRM (July 2016) To ensure the use of reliable and secure technology at VA, the One-VA Technical Reference Model (TRM) enables VA stakeholders to determine approved and prohibited technologies. This vital information ensures that users comply with the technology standards that govern VA pro-grams, projects, systems, and networks. This Tech Insight explores the evolution of industry technology standards and the TRM.
    Tech Insights: Data Transformation (June 2016) This Tech Insight focuses on data mapping and code generation as tools for transforming data for data queries and data migrations. It explores database transformations for developing data warehouses, with examples of how databases are transformed at VA.
    Tech Insights: Big Data Analytics (May 2016) This Tech Insight begins with an introduction to big data analytics and how it differs from the traditional collection and storage of data. It then broaches legal and regulatory factors for data developing in the United States (US) and the European Union (EU).
    Tech Insights: Technology Accessibility at VA (April 2016) This Tech Insight addresses the estimate of over 3.5 million service-disabled American Veterans and promotes commitment from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) leadership to ensure technology accessibility for all Veterans. It also addresses information on compliance to legal obligations under Section 504 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
    Tech Insights: Development Operations (March 2016) This Tech Insight explores the cultural shift provided by the merger of software development and infrastructure operations (DevOps) towards improving collaboration between software development, testing, and quality assurance (QA) tasks in order to improve service delivery. The Insight describes DevOps alignment to the Agile software development model, providing examples of software automation tools that can improve software deployment. It describes how VA has used the continuous delivery technique to improve software development and meet business goals that directly impact Veterans and their families.
    Tech Insights: Open Data II (February 2016) This Tech Insight expands on past Insights to explore open data assets and their benefits to Veterans, the challenges and outcomes of acquiring, analyzing, and processing open data assets, and how you can contribute to the Open Data Initiative at the Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) at VA.
    Tech Insights: Mobile Security (January 2016) This Tech Insight addresses mobile security, highlighting security concerns and providing enterprise solutions, including a critical focus on Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM).
  • Tech Insights for Calendar Year 2015.
    Title Overview
    Tech Insights: IT Service Management (December 2015) A previous Tech Insight (Vol. 2, Issue 8) introduced the topic of Configuration Management, an important part of the larger concept of Information Technology (IT) Service Management (ITSM). In addition to a basic overview, this report provides examples of how ITSM is or can be implemented at VA.
    Tech Insights: Microservices (November 2015) This Tech Insight discusses Microservices, a software architecture design in which complex applications are composed of small, independent processes communicating with each other using language-agnostic application program interfaces (API). This Insight provides an overview of microservices, dives into “Brooks’ Law,” benefits and challenges, and discusses recent developments. It also looks at how VA is implementing microservices and the impact that has within the Office of Information & Technology (OI&T).
    Tech Insights: Hybrid Data Infrastructure (October 2015) This Tech Insight discusses Hybrid Data Infrastructure, a new type of data setup conceived to deal with data-intensive domains such as the sciences and medicine. This Insight gives an overview of Hybrid Database technologies, discusses why Hybrid Data Infrastructure is on the rise, and examines an example of this new and upcoming technology for highly scalable solutions.
    Tech Insights: Past Notes: Cloud Computing (October 2015) This Tech Insight revisits Cloud computing concepts and their relationship to VA’s IT vision. The Insight provides readers with one location where they can find overviews, examples, and benefits of this larger IT concept, to use them in strategic or investment decisions. The Tech Insight series has covered three topics in Cloud Computing to date, as well as a related Tech Insight on virtualization.
    Tech Insights: Encryption (September 2015) This Tech Insight discusses encryption, the process of encoding data so that only authorized individuals can access it. Encryption is one component of cryptography — the science of secret communication — and the most effective way to secure data. The Insight addresses both the benefits and challenges of encryption.
    Tech Insights: Configuration Management (August 2015) This Tech Insight discusses Configuration Management (CM), which is not so much a technology as it is an important component of managing technologies. The Insight gives an overview of CM, its history, benefits, and importance to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More specifically, it addresses how Technology Strategies (TS) is helping the agency define and implement CM principles.
    Tech Insights: Unified Communications (July 2015) Several prior Tech Insights discussed Software as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service. This Insight discusses Unified Communications as a Service in how it allows users to integrate voice, video, and data into a single interface and enables users in disparate locations to communicate and collaborate in real-time. It highlights various aspects of unified communications, their utilization, benefits, and VA’s plans to implement them.
    Tech Insights: Cloud Computing: Service Models (June 2015) Having previously introduced the basics of cloud computing in Tech Insight Volume 2, Issue 3 (A VA Executive’s Guide to Cloud Computing), this insight delves deeper into a subtopic of cloud, specifically covering the three cloud computing service models: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
    Tech Insights: Web Services and Applications (June 2015) This Tech Insight revisits three previous Insights on Web Services and Applications to combine their highlights into one document. This series covered three Web Services and Applications topics over the past year: Web Service Layers, Applications/Service Layers, and Rich Internet Applications. This Insight defines and gives background information on each of these concepts and aligns associated technologies to VA’s IT Vision.
    Tech Insights: Cloud Computing: Cloud Privacy and Security (May 2015) Previously introduced in Tech Insight Volume 2, Issue 3 (A VA Executive’s Guide to Cloud Computing) this Tech Insight expands upon the basics of cloud computing and delves deeper into a subtopic of cloud computing, specifically covering data privacy and security in a cloud computing environment.
    Tech Insights: Telehealth (April 2015) This Tech Insight discusses telehealth, the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to deliver health care, health information, or health education at a distance. It highlights the clinical and non-clinical applications of telehealth, its benefits and obstacles to implementation, and provides examples of how VA is using it to better serve Veterans.
    Tech Insights: Cloud Computing (March 2015) A previous Tech Insight explored virtualization technology, a computing environment that serves as the backbone of cloud computing. This Tech Insight builds out and explores cloud computing, perhaps the most recognizable application of virtualization technology.
    Tech Insights: Open Data (Feb 2015) A previous Tech Insight examined open source development, its adoption by VA, and how VA should use collaboration software and development tools to embrace open source in the future. This Insight covers the similar topic of open data, a trend in data management policy able to help both public and private sectors operate more efficiently and to stimulate innovation. It discusses open data’s principles, benefits, challenges, and how VA is sharing data via the Open Government Initiative.
    Tech Insights: Health Data and Informatics (Feb 2015) This Tech Insight revisits three previous Insights that dealt with Health Data and Informatics. This Insight defines and provides background information on mobile fitness devices and patient-generated data (PGD), radio-frequency identification (RFID), and health informatics and its relationship with VA’s IT Vision.
    Tech Insights: Health Interoperability (Jan 2015) Previous Tech Insights reviewed technologies and topics around electronic health records (EHRs), including health informatics and open source technologies. This Insight discusses health interoperability, one of the important underlying features of current and future innovations in EHRs and health technology. The Insight takes a broad look at health interoperability, common health and information sharing standards, and how interoperability will assist VA in meeting current and future challenges faced by the health care industry.
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