Three SuprTEK Employees Gain AWS Certification

Team ADEV has played an integral role in the desire of its customer to transition application development to the cloud using Amazon Web Services (AWS).  Considering that security is a major concern for DoD customers, the shift to cloud-based development has had a number of obstacles to overcome.  In addition to development in the cloud, the eventual goal is to base the production environment for the application in the cloud as well.

To aid in this transition to the cloud, three SuprTEK members of Team ADEV recently achieved AWS certifications.  Wes Dumond, ADEV Solutions Architect, gained the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification, while Huan Truong, DevSecOps Lead/Application Integration Scrum Master, and Zach Lambert, Application Integration Developer, gained the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator certifications.  Earning these challenging certifications required hours of on-line course work and study as well as passing difficult certification exams.

These certifications aid in providing the knowledge base needed for ADEV’s role in successfully shifting development efforts into the cloud, as well as moving delivery into a cloud-based continuous integration pipeline.

Wes, Huan, and Zach all received SuprTEK Director’s Awards from SE&D Director of Operations Dan Shaffer for this outstanding achievement. 

Cruz Garduno and Jimmy Menk Recognized for I&P Presentations

As part of Team ADEV’s Scaled Agile for Enterprise (SAFe®) implementation, a one-week Innovation and Planning (I&P) Sprint occurs after the last sprint of a release build and prior to first sprint of the next release build.  At the end of the I&P Sprint, team members present their time-saving or quality-improving innovation project, research into new approaches or technologies, process improvement recommendation, experiment using a new or different tool, etc.  Outstanding presenters for each I&P are typically recognized.

After the recent I&P, Cruz Garduno, Business Analyst, was recognized for his presentation on data management and the importance of regularly cleaning up data no longer needed for development.  Cruz highlighted how excess data tends to build up within a key data repository, which can slow loading times for back-end development.  This presentation was a wake-up call for developers, and data management has improved as a result of Cruz’s presentation.

Jimmy Menk, a developer for the Shared Services team, was recognized for presenting an overview of the existing Global Mission Scheduling (GMS) algorithm, providing team members with an outline for a major piece of functionality the team will be developing in the near future.  Jimmy’s presentation described the technical inner workings of GMS to educate the team on how to design similar applications.

Congratulations to Wes, Huan, Zach, Cruz, and Jimmy their accomplishments, and thank you for your important contribution to the success of the warfighter!

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Written by Nathan Reames, a Junior Technical Writer with the ADEV program.

There is, however, a huge gap between the cybersecurity positions that businesses and government organizations want to fill and the qualified candidates available to fill them.  One issue is that typically these businesses and organizations want experienced and credentialed cybersecurity professionals, and there is a reluctance to hire entry level applicants – even if they have the educational background.

Another issue is that the cybersecurity field is so dynamic that educational programs have trouble keeping their curriculum current.  Even someone who just received a degree may not be aware of the latest trends and technologies.

One way to bridge the gap between the experience businesses are looking for and the qualified candidates seeking an opportunity is updated training and certifications through organizations such as CompTIA and sponsored internships through organizations such as the Midwest Cyber Center.

Illinois NPR recently broadcast a story discussing this issue and potential resolutions – featuring a SuprTEK Team ADEV  information assurance apprentice, Weasle Forsythe.  You can read the related article or stream the broadcast segment here.

Don Reed is a Senior Technical Writer and Project Support Specialist with the ADEV program. His background includes engineering and programing, project management, quality management and process improvement, and business-technical communication. Don has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.A. in Communication from Saint Louis University.

That is the role Team ADEV is currently providing for the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) and the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC).  USTRANSCOM’s “Sprint to the Cloud” intuitive has seen setbacks, some of them caused by cloud consultants they engaged who could not deliver on their promises.  So eventually they turned to one of their highest performing and most technically capable programs – the Agile software development program AMC ADEV.  Team ADEV, headed by SuprTEK along with partners SAIC and Tapestry, is developing advanced web application for AMC and USTRANSCOM,

Late last fall Team ADEV was directed to start developing its web applications in a cloud development environment (CDE) hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS).   Team ADEV took on the task and overcame a number of security and technical obstacles along way.  In a very short period of time, most developers on the team migrated from an in-house fully isolated development environment to developing in the cloud.

There are still a few obstacles to overcome, such as fully implementing an automated testing strategy, but overall the transition has been a huge success.  In fact, Team ADEV recently delivered its first build completely developed in the cloud.  It has also created a Dev Ops Jenkins Main Build Pipeline to quickly and automatically promote and deploy a code branch to an environment on a merge request.  This includes Fortify and SonarQube scans and (in the near future) automated testing.  It also includes containerization that makes the code more environment agnostic (i.e. “cloud friendly”).

The not-too-distant-future goal is to deliver a build in the cloud directly to a cloud-hosted production environment so end users can take advantage of the latest features much more quickly than they can in the current delivery process – which sometimes means months between the day Team ADEV delivers a build to the day it is fully installed on the governments production servers.

Team ADEV is happy to be a leader in supporting the “Sprint to the Cloud” and to deliver more capability to our warfighters faster.

Don Reed is a Senior Technical Writer and Project Support Specialist with the ADEV program. His background includes engineering and programing, project management, quality management and process improvement, and business-technical communication. Don has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.A. in Communication from Saint Louis University.

Mike Taylor Receives SuprTEK Leadership Award

Mike Taylor, Program Manager of the SuprTEK ITS program, received the SuprTEK Leadership Award for leading his team in the program’s move to the cloud.  Due to past performance success and demonstrated technical capability, USTRANSCOM selected ITS to be a pilot program in its “Sprint to the Cloud” – forging a trail for other programs to follow.  Mike also played a key role in SuprTEK winning the recompete for the ITS contract.

The Leadership Award is an annual company-wide SuprTEK recognition awarded to an individual who best demonstrates outstanding leadership, exhibiting the personal qualities that motivated and inspired teammates, helped clients and customers to succeed, and maintained a culture of continuous improvement.

ADEV Recognizes I&P Sprint Presenters

ADEV has implemented the Scaled Agile Framework for Enterprise (SAFe^®), which includes a week-long Innovation and Planning (I&P) Sprint between releases.  This not only gives teams a period to prepare for the next build, but also provides an opportunity for team members to explore new tools and processes to improve effectiveness and efficiency.  This includes team members creating custom tools to fit particular program needs.

ADEV’s SAFe^® implementation includes a knowledge sharing forum at the end of the I&P Sprint.  Here team members can share with the entire team new approaches, evaluation of off-the-shelf or open source tools, and custom tools they have developed themselves.  ADEV recently recognized several team members for excellent contributions to the I&P Sprint presentations.

From left to right, ADEV developers recognized are:  Matthew Mosby, Zach Lambert, Zach Killebrew, Adam Weatherford, Tynan Wyllie, & Justin Stone.

Nick  DeTore Acknowledged for being Team Player

When Nick DeTore agreed to take on development tasks associated with the ICODES program, he received assurances from SE&D leadership that when the ADEV team shifted its primary development focus from DMR to CAMPS, he would be brought back to be part of ADEV development again.  Nick wanted to be part of the team that would be building a large web application development project from the ground up.  However, there was one issue.  Tapestry, the prime contractor for ICODES, was so impressed with Nick’s work that they insisted Nick stay on the program.  This created a dilemma for SE&D leadership: keep a promise to a valued developer, or disappoint an important technology partner?  (Tapestry is also a key partner in the ADEV program.)  When Nick recognized his managers’ difficult position he did what any good team player would do – he put the success of the team and the mission ahead of himself and chose to remain with ICODES.  For his sacrifice for the good of the mission and the team, Nick received the Vice President’s Incentive Award from SE&D VP Ron Howard.

Wes Dumond Receives Tesla Award for Build Plan Tool

Another key element of the I&P Sprint is the Build Plan session, an event that brings all program stakeholders together to finalize a plan for the upcoming build.  This includes deciding which features to incorporate, how to best divide the features into stories, and which stories to assign to a team during a particular sprint.  The team discovered over the course of doing a number of build planning sessions that VersionOne provided a very poor format to present the resulting build plan at the end of the Build Plan session.

Wes Demond, Solutions Architect for ADEV, took the initiative to create the Build Plan Tool.  Using the VersionOne API, the Build Plan Tool pulls data from VersionOne, then displays in a reader-friendly overview of the build plan that is easy to see and easy to understand.  It presents a lot of complex information in a very simplified way.  For this innovative tool, Wes was presented the first Tesla Award for 2019.

Congratulations to all the recipients, and thank you for your important contributions to the success of the war fighter!

Don Reed is a Senior Technical Writer and Project Support Specialist with the ADEV program. His background includes engineering and programing, project management, quality management and process improvement, and business-technical communication. Don has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.A. in Communication from Saint Louis University.

In offices around the U.S., LEDs are quickly becoming the ideal choice for lighting, and for good reason.  Studies show they are 60-75% more energy efficient, last 20 times longer, release less heat, and shine brighter than incandescent or florescent bulbs.  Plus, unlike standard fluorescent lighting (including CFL bulbs), LED lights also are mercury-free, eliminating the dangers associated with mercury contamination.  These benefits, along with others, caught the attention of Jamie Kelso, SE&D’s office manager.  Jamie proposed the office invest in switching to LEDs, knowing the energy saved would pay for the $1,000 cost of replacement.  SE&D Vice-President Ron Howard liked the idea and gave his blessing, provided the lights pay off the investment within 5 months of installation.

Fortunately, the result was even better than anticipated.  SE&D installed the LEDs in October, and by December SE&D had already recouped the $1000 investment with three months to spare.  Today the lights continue to brighten the building’s offices, hallways, and conference rooms while also allowing SuprTEK to devote more revenue to more important concerns – like salaries, proposals, and new technology.  The end result is better, state-of-the-art web applications to support the warfighter, thanks to SE&D and Team ADEV.  Plus, it will be a long time before anyone has to worry about buying replacements or changing a burnt-out light.

If you or your organization is considering switching to LEDs, you should investigate the cost and pay back associated with the transition.   You may find that, like SE&D, it provides long term benefits – to the environment and to your bank account.

Shifting Web Applications

Developing the CAMPS application will be a significant change from developing and delivering DMR.  While DMR is geared for use in only a few command and control centers, CAMPS has a user base of thousands positioned across the globe.  Also, while DMR is designed for quickly re-planning existing missions due to unforeseen circumstances (such as aircraft issues or shifting/emergency needs), CAMPS schedules missions from their initial concept though assigning aircraft and aircrews to managing cargo and mission completion.  These additional complexities are a challenge Team ADEV looks forward to meeting.

Team ADEV Faces Development Challenges

There are several specific challenges Team ADEV must face to deliver CAMPS successfully.  The first is to develop a complex, multi-faceted web application from scratch, with nothing but input from users and a blank screen, using an Agile methodology.  Under Agile principles, detailed development specifications and requirements are not part of the process.  As the term Agile implies, development must be flexible enough to meet shifting demands from the user community – even while in the middle of writing the software.

Another significant challenge is to shift the CAMPS development environment to the cloud.  Team ADEV and CAMPS will be in the forefront on moving government/defense software development into the cloud.  As usual, being a pioneer means tackling a host of difficult problems and issues never before encountered.  This includes completely new new architecture, tool sets, processes, and methods.

However, Team ADEV is up for each of these challenges.  Team ADEV has already faced and overcome a different set of challenges with DMR – such as providing real-time graphical information by interacting with a variety of web services.  Now it will apply its expertise and initiative to this new challenge, and  do its best to deliver and support our nation’s warfighters.

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Nathan Reames is a Junior Technical Writer with the ADEV program.

Of the many risks that IT managers/departments face the one that keeps many of them awake at night is cybersecurity.  The challenge associated with cybersecurity is very dynamic.  Threats like natural disasters or extended power outages do not really change over time, so once continuity and recovery plans for them are in place there is not much more to do.  Bad actors looking to breach your systems, however, are constantly changing and adapting.

What can large and small businesses do to keep their systems secure?  Even the biggest and most sophisticated tech companies fall victim to system intrusions and data breaches.  How can small to medium-sized businesses achieve an acceptable level of cybersecurity without breaking the bank?

This was the topic at a recent Southern Illinois Leadership Council meeting.  At the session, Charles Forsythe, Director of IT Services for SuprTEK’s Solution Engineering and Delivery Unit in O’Fallon, IL, presented “How to Untangle Cybersecurity without Blowing Your Budget.”

Cyber Attacks Pose a Series Business Threat

In addition to providing some background on the evolution of the business technology and threats it has faced, Charles provided some examples of companies who had to deal with cybersecurity fiascos.  In one instance  a company’s management team had to go to their prospective personal ATMs to make maximum withdrawals on a Sunday in order to buy Bitcoin to pay a ransomware attacker in time for an early Monday deadline.  In another case, a large insurance company couldn’t seem to win lawsuits against a particular law firm who always seemed to be a step ahead of them – until they tightened IT security.

Are you 100% certain your IT systems are completely free of unwanted spyware, viruses, or intruders?  What steps should you be taking to prevent cyber attacks?

Taking Steps to Protect IT Systems

In his presentation, Charles recommended organizations understand their cybersecurity needs and risks before taking definitive action.  As he explained, visiting car dealers before you even know if you want or need a new car is a bad idea.  So is implementing or buying solutions without fully understanding the particular risks your organization faces.  A three-step approach is recommended:

1. Business Impact Analysis: Understand the effect cybersecurity threats have to your business operations and viability.  What damage would occur and what would it take to recover?  What do you have of value to hackers (data, the ability to operate)?  In other words, avoid spending $100,000 to prevent a threat that would only cost $10,000 to repair/recover, or working to prevent something as unlikely as aliens landing on your lawn.
2. Business Continuity Planning:  Once you understand the impact various threats have on your organization, create plans to ensure appropriate prevention measures are in place, and that the business can continue to operate if the unexpected or unwanted happens.
3. Disaster Recovery: The actual methods and resources (e.g. knowledge, procedures, data backups, secondary infrastructure) are known and available in order to recover from any threat; fire, natural disaster, cyber attack.

Charles explained that the key for business leaders to understand their security challenges, was to stay away from the technology and focus on the CIA (no, not that CIA).  Business security efforts need to focus on ensuring one of more of these fundamental attributes:

• Confidentiality: Keep data and information away from those who should not have it.
• Integrity: Keep intruders out of your systems, and keep your IT operations and data in tact.
• Availability: Ensure IT systems are accessible as needed for business operations.

As is often the case, applying common sense along with an applied knowledge of your business is the key to cybersecurity.  Combine an understanding of vulnerabilities and what is important to your business.  Cost and complexity do not always add up to effectiveness.  Sometimes a solution may be as simple as cyber awareness training for your staff.

Don Reed is a Senior Technical Writer and Project Support Specialist with the ADEV program. His background includes engineering and programing, project management, quality management and process improvement, and business-technical communication. Don has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.A. in Communication from Saint Louis University.

The concept behind the fundraiser was simple.  Team members paid one dollar per vote to elect five people on the ADEV team to receive a whipped-cream pie in the face.  Team members were encouraged to vote as often as they wished for their “favorite” candidate in order to maximize the fundraising.  This brought out friendly competition between team members, as the voting results jockeyed who sat atop the leaderboard.  Voting surged in the last few days as team members wanted to see their preferred candidate place in the top five.  As a result, the voting donations blew past the goal of $1,000 to a final tally of $2,378.  The generosity did not end there, however.

SuprTEK originally agreed to match ADEV’s donations up to the $1,000 goal. Yet once the team’s donations far exceeded that goal, SuprTEK decided to follow suit.  On September 20th, SuprTEK CEO Brandon Park alongside Ken Rennie, Director of Operations Dan Shaffer, and SE&D Vice President Ron Howard presented a check for $10,000 to Fisher House representative Vanniecia Brown.  The money will go toward the Fisher House in the St. Louis area.

Thank you to Mr. Park and all of Team ADEV for your generous contributions.   Ms. Brown said it best when she accepted the donation, “You have changed many lives for the better.”

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Nathan Reames is a Junior Technical Writer with the ADEV program.

“I’m thankful I received the opportunity to intern at such a phenomenal company.  It was a great overall experience and i couldn’t have asked for anything better.” – John Brandenburg

First Impressions

Both John and Zach admit they felt nervous on their first day at Team ADEV, but they quickly felt at home and part of the team when they received their assignments.  Instead of being shuffled from one job to the next to give a basic overview of the business as they had feared, ADEV placed each as a software tester on a specific team for the whole summer.  Both interns appreciated this, as it allowed them to specialize in certain fields and make distinct impacts on ADEV projects.  “I felt like I belonged,” says John.  “I wanted to have a more impactful role where I worked, and I felt like I did that here.”

Valuable Lessons Learned

“The experience working here this summer has been invaluable.  No class could have given me the kind of experience I’ve had working on a project of this magnitude and I’m forever grateful for that.”– Zach Carill

Of course, both interns have much to say about their experience and what they learned over the summer, and teamwork is one of their main take-aways.  Whether it’s sharing workloads, asking questions about a task, or discussing uncertainties, both describe how rewarding it is to work closely with a team as it ensures project problems are addressed and solved.  The interns also felt their teammates were friendly and helpful, making their learning process much smoother and less intimidating.

Though the work was sometimes daunting, neither intern shied away from his responsibilities.  Both hit the ground running and got along well with everyone, their team leads say.  They impressed everyone with their tenacity and enthusiasm, making it no surprise Dan Shaffer, ADEV’s Director of Operations, offered them each a full-time job upon finishing school.

Goodbye for Now

Nor is it a surprise that John and Zach accepted.  While at first they took the internship mainly for the professional experience, they now say they appreciate it most for showing them how it feels to work for people who respect them.  Neither can wait to return to the team next summer, and likewise the team can’t wait to have them back.  But as Mr. Shaffer told them as they returned to school, their priority now should on completing their degrees.

Thanks again for all your hard work, guys.  We look forward to working with you again soon.

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Nathan Reames is a Junior Technical Writer with the ADEV program.

At the end of a recent I & P sprint, over 20 developers and testers on Team ADEV presented 1) new approaches to tasks or processes, 2) custom tools they created to save time and effort, and 3) using off-the-shelf tools they have discovered that other team members might find useful.

After a brief introduction by Eric DePew (ADEV Test Director) and Jeff Jasper (ADEV Technical Lead), the following presenters discussed these topics:

• Existing Tech Block
  • MEIS Mission Finder – Charles Missi
  • Python MTL Backend Tool – Zach Killebrew
  • JBoss Starter – Python Signal Handler and File Descriptors – John Brandenburg
  • Debugging Services – Victor Cardona
  • ArcGIS Server and Local Deployment – Malcolm Gruber
• Testing Block
  • Trigger Build – Eric DePew
  • ProScripts to Analyze Protractor Results – Ken Haggerty
  • Testing Gaps – Zach Carril
• Team Tools Block
  • Test Performance Metric Tool – Zach Killebrew
  • Project Tree Viewer – Nick Simmons
  • Plan Builder – Nick Simmons
  • RT Manager – Nick Simmons
  • PR Template – Nick Simmons
  • Requirements Management Tool Concepts – Brian Hagerty and Anthony Mense
• New Technologies Block
  • Spring Introduction – Patrick Northcutt
  • React Introduction – Adam Weatherford
  • VSCode Tutorial – Khris Boter
  • React Component Boundaries – Patrick Northcutt
  • Unit Testing React: Enzyme and Jest – Nathan Bougeno
  • E2E Testing React: io – Nathan Bougeno & Mitch Dzurisin
• Topics
  • Beard Management and Old Man Candy Time – Devon McConnell

Below are images of some of the presenters:

Don Reed is a Senior Technical Writer and Project Support Specialist with the ADEV program. His background includes engineering and programing, project management, quality management and process improvement, and business-technical communication. Don has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.A. in Communication from Saint Louis University.