Supporting the Earth from the Cloud: Modernizing Digital Infrastructure for DoD's Outdoor Recreation Management

Background 

In a rapidly advancing digital world, keeping your systems up to date with the latest technology has become essential for maintaining operational efficiency. If your digital infrastructure is currently behind the curve, keeping up with modern advancements will only become increasingly challenging. This was the challenge that three DoD customers faced before ASSYST partnered with a specialized Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Solution Offering provider to offer them a modern solution to their organizational challenges.

Challenge

The National Guard units stationed at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, and Fort McLellan, Alabama, as well as the Army Contracting Command – Rock Island (ACC-RI) at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas, were operating on an outdated and overly complex infrastructure that was needlessly relying on physical documentation. This significantly increased the time spent acquiring permits for outdoor recreational activities, such as hunting or fishing, and presented unnecessary challenges regarding the organization of these documents. These customers all requested the implementation of a web-based outdoor recreation management tool to minimize these issues and introduce a more modernized operation that utilizes current technologies.

Solution and Features

ASSYST partnered with RecAccess to support the implementation of their Cloud-based outdoor recreation management software, also called RecAccess, as a service to these three customers. The RecAccess SaaS is an online platform designed to support customers performing field work, such as the National Guard and ACC-RI. The platform is compliant with relevant standards, including FedRAMP and the Sikes Act, ensuring it operates in alignment with Federal initiatives that promote sustainability and wildlife conservation.

A central feature of the RecAccess SaaS is the issuance of permits and licenses for various recreational outdoor activities, enabling users to navigate to a single platform for all permit acquisition needs rather than requesting each permit separately. This is invaluable for streamlining and vastly accelerating the permit application process, as well as for enhancing organizational capabilities. While the primary function of RecAccess is issuing permits, multiple supporting services and features are available for implementation, such as a check-in/out system enabling users to report their attendance in designated recreation zones, an interactive mapping service, mobile phone and tablet compatibility, a variety of data management support services, and many others.

Value/Impact

ASSYST’s partnership with RecAccess and support in implementing the RecAccess SaaS has been transformative for the National Guard units in Fort Chaffee and Fort McLellan, as well as the ACC-RI at Pine Bluff Arsenal. The application modernization services we provided to these three DoD customers’ unit infrastructures showcase a simplified and robust method for permit management and storage. These highly successful implementations highlight the unique value of Cloud-based Software-as-a-Service offerings in providing support tailored to a customer’s specific needs and circumstances.