Stabilizing and Streamlining Our Core Processes and Platforms

IT core processes and platforms form the backbone of VA.

The work we do behind the scenes supports critical functions across the Department and ensures smooth interactions between systems for a better Veteran experience. In 2017, we took a hard look at improving our core processes. From our help desk support to financial management, from providing laptops to employees to consolidating data centers, and from decreasing our physical building footprint to expanding our cloud footprint, we’ve made tremendous progress.

Legacy Systems

The saying “change is the only constant” is especially true in information technology. Over the years, VA has developed or implemented a host of systems designed to meet the needs of VA employees and the Veterans they serve. As time passes, demands change and technology evolves.

In 2017, VA committed to re-examining our legacy IT systems, with an eye toward transitioning to modern systems with lower maintenance costs. Around 60 percent of OIT’s budget went to sustaining our aging infrastructure and applications, which hampered our ability to invest in new technology solutions. We needed to change this.

VA now plans to move critical functions from outdated and unsustainable platforms to more modern systems that operate at lower maintenance costs. We expect this change to save millions of dollars that can be reinvested in projects that directly enhance services for all Veterans. A significant part of this reinvestment focuses on cloud and IT infrastructure improvements. Moving these functions to new platforms requires careful, thoughtful planning, and we accomplished much of that necessary planning in 2017.

To begin, we established a legacy system modernization and decommissioning strategy and roadmap by assessing our current systems and deciding if, how, and when each will be modernized, retired, or replaced. We then developed a retirement planning and execution process for future legacy systems, which leverages cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS) options and aligns to our Veteran-focused Integration Process (VIP), Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) principles, and OIT governance framework.

By reducing maintenance costs, re-investing in new technology, and seeking out those technology solutions that directly improve the Veteran experience, we’re creating a more modern, sustainable technology footprint.