Department of Health and Human Services

Website Management

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the United States government’s principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves. Xentity Corporation, teaming with our partner, Addteq, provided a technical approach supported by skilled personnel to meet the requirements of the HHS Atlassian Website Management RFQ. 

Help in Providing Essential Communications For the Public

Problem

The success of government initiatives rests in part on the timely and accurate communication of information. HHS is a vast department with a number of dynamic operating divisions dispersed throughout the country. Furthermore, almost every form of communications technology is utilized by HHS. Consequently, the Department’s website is critical to the communication of timely, effective and efficient Health and Human Services information and ensuring that the public is well-informed and can easily access vital health information in times of crisis.

In order to provide essential communications for the public, website management is critical. To create the most robust digital presence, HHS required contractor support for its content management system. Consequently, per the HHS Atlassian Website Management RFQ, HHS sought to evaluate existing management practices and the current use of Atlassian products to highlight potential gaps and help the program to develop a strategic roadmap for implementing an Enterprise Lifecycle Management tool using existing Atlassian products and/or making recommendation for the addition or removal of products. HHS also sought to help the program implement automated processes that support their existing project management methodology and automate phases within the HHS Enterprise Performance Lifecycle Process, which includes and is not limited to the development, tracking, and decomposing of user stories, scheduling of iterations and releases, tracking bugs, enhancements, risk and issues, test and script/scenario management.

Solution

Xentity performed five major tasks to assist in these endeavors:

  • Discovery and Analysis
    • Discovery and analysis regarding the current process and usage of the Atlassian Tools.
    • Discussed and brainstormed the current challenges and impediments faced during current Atlassian tools implementation.
    • Interviewed various stakeholders and roles on the desired future state for Enterprise Lifecycle Management.
  • Assessment Recommendations
    • Analyze the current challenges and root cause analysis along with recommendations for tools and processes improvements.
    • Create a roadmap and suggested timeline for achieving the recommendations.
  • JIRA Service Desk Customer Portal 508 Compliance
    • Updated the existing Unstoppable for JIRA Addteq add-on to support JIRA Service Desk Customer Portal based on the compatible version of JAWS screen reader.
    • Updated remaining JIRA Service Desk Customer Portal screens in scope for 508 Compliance

The final deliverable to HHS was a document and presentation detailing the assessment report and recommendations.

Greater Efficiency

We completed the project on time and on-scope. Our efforts helped support HHS’s agile project management methodology to become more efficient. Also, our assessment recommendations gave them recommendations on best practices and improvements. Furthermore, we helped update JIRA-related applications to support the service desk customer portal. Consequently, these design and support efforts ultimately helped the HHS improve in efficiency.