Modernizing VA Systems to Protect Veterans’ Sensitive Data
GovCIO supports the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by modernizing and optimizing critical systems, ensuring they work seamlessly together to safeguard Veterans’ sensitive information. Through efforts like the transition from Remedy to ServiceNow, we’ve enhanced cybersecurity, improved efficiencies, and strengthened trust by defending against threats and preventing data breaches.
The Privacy and Security Event Tracking System (PSETS) is a reactive system designed to capture privacy incidents and breaches, helping the VA protect sensitive Veterans’ information. It automatically determines whether an incident qualifies as a breach and initiates a mitigation plan to prevent data leakage. This ensures that Veterans’ personal information is safeguarded against unauthorized access, protecting their privacy and trust in the VA.
The Cyber Security Event Tracking System (CSETS) is a proactive system that continuously monitors for potential threats, detecting and preventing malicious actors from gaining control of VA systems. By actively defending against cyberattacks and intrusions, CSETS helps ensure that Veterans’ sensitive data remains secure.
Our Outcome Focused Approach
Outcomes are the key to delivering measurable, meaningful results. While there are many ways to achieve these outcomes, the focus should be on the end goal, ensuring it is both measurable and quantifiable.
We start by defining the desired outcomes, then assess which ones will have the most significant impact on your business. Once identified, we prioritize these outcomes to deliver the highest-impact initiatives first. We also consider the organization’s readiness for change by understanding user perceptions and their willingness to adapt.
From there, we define the innovation strategy, which may take one of three paths:
- Simplify: Streamline existing processes for efficiency.
- Replicate: Maintain the current solution with minimal changes.
- Innovate: Create entirely new solutions to address emerging needs.
This approach ensures that we’re not just achieving outcomes but maximizing their impact on your business.
Our ServiceNow Systems
Ensuring Accuracy and Compliance
Leveraging ServiceNow to Overcome Challenges
Both PSETS and CSETS are integral to maintaining the security and integrity of the VA’s systems and the personal data of Veterans. However, ensuring smooth operations also requires overcoming technical challenges, such as the migration of data from Remedy. When attachments were converted into a format that ServiceNow could not read, it created a barrier to accessing vital legacy data, particularly for urgent Congressional inquiries. To address this, we worked closely with the VA team to extract, convert and import the data into the appropriate format for ServiceNow, ensuring quick retrieval and uninterrupted access.
Additionally, we faced the challenge of coordinating two teams with interconnected but distinct processes. Ensuring alignment while meeting the unique requirements of each team was critical. To facilitate this, we leveraged ServiceNow for project management and emphasized open communication to keep channels active throughout the development process. This collaborative approach helped us overcome obstacles and deliver seamless, secure solutions for the VA.
VA Mission Impact
Reduction in Incident Determination Time
Minimized back-and-forth between breach response team and field agents, accelerating the process of identifying and addressing incidents.
Accuracy in Spelling, Grammar and Code
By establishing automations, we eliminated errors in credit monitoring, ensuring seamless, accurate execution.
Decrease in Time to Enter a Privacy Incident
Through the use of templates, our team reduced the time to just 1 minute to enter an accurate ticket, producing higher values tickets with high outcomes.
"The VA's vast size and complexity make it a challenging environment, but also incredibly rewarding because we have the privilege of serving our Veterans. As an Army wife of nearly 30 years, this project was personal to me, and I’m proud of the efficiencies and innovations our team delivered through ServiceNow solutions."
A Leader in ServiceNow Solutions
Our team’s extensive knowledge of the ServiceNow platform and the Security Operations module was essential in helping the VA maximize the value of their investment in the PSETS and CSETS products. GovCIO brings deep technical expertise in deploying ServiceNow across both large and small environments, and our teams possess a mature understanding of processes tailored for large enterprises like the VA.
This expertise, combined with the implementation of Agile best practices and effective organizational change management, as well as strong partnerships with client teams, was crucial in driving these initiatives forward.