BA Knowledge Transfer

Owned by Stephen Mouland (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 12, 2022 by joelah.shelaga
4 min read

Regulatory Oversight Management – An Overview

 

The ROM application is a Microsoft Power Platform (Dynamics 365) solution that intended to support the core business capabilities of both the Aviation Security (AvSec) Program and the Intermodal Safety and Security Oversight (ISSO) Program. It is intended to be a replacement for the existing TSIS (1.0) application, which has been supporting both programs for more than a decade.

The TSIS 2.0 (ROM) team includes a collection of development, business and program specialists from AvSec, ISSO and BSD who have been working together for several years to identify and prioritize, as well as document core functionality needs via business requirements. This team has researched and evaluated a variety of platforms and technology and is currently in the process of developing an inspection solution that support the needs of both lines of business.

In summary, ROM is intended to support the day-to-day activities of inspectors of both programs in the preparation, execution, and evaluation of inspections (once completed). In addition, it will allow for the programs to document and evaluate stakeholders compliance to regulatory standards, determine and prioritize the frequency in which stakeholders are inspected or investigated, and, provide a means for program management to plan and prioritize Inspector activities based on factors such as stakeholder compliance history and risk.

It intended that, once complete, Inspectors will have the ability to conduct inspections on a variety of TC/GOC approved devices including laptops, mobile phones and tablets. In addition, a key requirement is that Inspectors aquire the ability to conduct inspections while completely disconnected (offline mode), and once reconnected, the data they collect be synced to the core system.

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Project Milestones / Successes


Since it’s inception, the team has seen several successes, including:

  • A pilot/prototype of a mobile inspection application at the Ottawa International Airport (November 2019)

  • The release of the Passenger Protect Program (PPP) application (October 2020)

  • The release of the initial International Inspection application (October 2021)

The preceding releases have all been developed on Microsoft Power Platform (Dynamics 365), in combination with other related and supporting technologies (Resco, Microsoft Field Service, SurveyJS).

 

 

 

Project Challenges / Next Steps

In spite of these successes, moving forward, the team faces several challenges, notably:

  • Consistency in the needs and priorities of both lines of business. While there is a high degree of commonality between the programs, there are significant nuisances in business processes and (slight) differences in priorities; The role of the Business Analyst is crucial in helping to identify these similarities and differences and, working with the program Product Owners (POs), to determine wherever possible, alignment and consistency in approach.

  • The chosen platform, Microsoft Power Platform (Dynamics 365) is an out of the box (OOTB) solution that does not (strictly) adhere to WCAG standards, or GoC language requirements. While the team during both design and development phases, attempts best effort to incorporate both into the application, there is a consistent struggle to apply these standards to the feature incorporated into the ROM application. It often falls upon the Business Analyst and POs to remind/articulate to the development team that these standards should be included within all new application functionality.

  • Due to completing (non-ROM) priorities in both the AvSec and ISSO programs, support and ongoing engagement from the lines of business (beyond the embedded members from each business line) has been an ongoing challenge. The ROM project management team is aware of this ongoing situation and is actively working with the program management to resolve these issues.

  • Significant aspects of core functionality remain under-developed. While requirements and priorities have been defined and much of the core work complete, the team still must tackle elements core functional elements including Activity Planning and the Risk Engine. These two items will comprise a large level of effort in the weeks and months to come.

  • Mobility and offline capabilities are still in their infancy due to a delay from Microsoft in releasing its Field Service Mobile application (in Preview as of March, 2022) as well as action by Shared Services Canada (SSC) to support this application on mobile devices in the secure workspace on Android and IOS devices.

  • Data migration. Evaluation of key/core data from the existing system that is necessary to be “carried forward” to support continuity in business knowledge and stakeholder history.

 

 

 

 

Key Team Contacts (not inclusive)

  • Samantha Tim – Manager (BSD)

  • Joelah Shelaga – Scrum Master/aTL (BSD)

  • Stephen Mouland – Technical Team Lead (BSD)

  • Michael Dunning – Product Owner – Aviation Security

  • Jeremie Venne – Product Owner – Intermodal Safety Security Oversight

Key Documentation

 

Project Control Sheet – RDIMS 16606696

o   Contains references/links to key project management material organized by project phase and maintained by the Project Manager

 

ROM - PBI Development and Business Process Flow

o   A visual reference to the methodology the project team utilizes in the development of PBI to application functionality

 

ROM User Test Accounts 

o   The updated list of test user accounts utilized by the team in testing and validation application functionality

 

Key Collaborative Tools and Applications

  •  

Lucidchart - https://www.lucidchart.com/   (account required)

o   A collaborative online workspace primarily used by the business to visualize and articulate business and functional workflows and processes.

  •  

Balsamiq - https://balsamiq.cloud/  (account required)

o   A collaborative online workspace primarily used by the business to visualize and create mockups to assist the development team in the development of desired application functionality. 

  •  

DevOps (TSIS 2.0) - https://dev.azure.com/transport-canada/TSIS%202.0/_backlogs/backlog/TSIS%202.0%20Team/Epics

o   Environment utilized by the team to

§  Articulate, document and prioritize business requirements (Business Team)

§  Serve as a blueprint for application development and/or functionality enhancement (Development Team)

§  Track development process, and document functional testing results (both)

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Conflunece -  TSIS 2.0

§  A recent addition to the project. Intended to be a centralized reference point for all ROM related information, documentation and project details

ROM Environments

Development - https://romts-gsrst-dev-tcd365.crm3.dynamics.com/

Quality Assurance - https://romts-gsrst-qa-tcd365.crm3.dynamics.com/

Acceptance - https://romts-gsrst-acc-tcd365.crm3.dynamics.com/

Production  - https://rom-prod-tcd365.crm3.dynamics.com/