Consultancy and Support Contract for CCEB Nation Tactical Systems
The Challenge
The Customer, in conjunction with systems integration partners, had developed a tactical command and control infrastructure. Nexor technology made a significant contribution to the systems within the infrastructure and, due to the critical nature of the systems, the Customer required expert support for these systems.
Additionally, the Customer was facing a change of role from that of national peace-time defence organisation to that of partner in an international peace-keeping coalition. This change necessitated a move from the existing point-to-point communications architecture to one that catered for situational awareness in countries with poor infrastructure. The Customer decided to move towards more commercially available technology, but faced the challenge of still ensuring an appropriate level of military control and security for guaranteed and timely communications. This led the Customer to need specialist skills and knowledge in terms of messaging architecture design, NATO and CCEB standards and implementation guidelines, military communications security and the application of these in a tactical environment with low bandwidth communications.
As a key technology supplier and expert in military messaging, Nexor was contracted to support the Customer in both the existing systems and the development of future plans.
The Nexor Solution
Nexor worked with the Customer to structure a support capability that suited exactly the Customer’s needs. Firstly, a full-time consultancy role was created within the Customer’s team and fulfilled by appropriate Nexor staff; initially on a rota basis from Nexor HQ while a dedicated local consultant was recruited and trained. The local consultant then provided the daily link into Nexor and, with support from the wider consultancy team, provided the following skills:
- First-line support for operational system problems
- Liaison with Nexor HQ for resolution of complex issues or bug fixes
- Requirements analysis for new operational systems
- Architecture support for the new system release
- Risk assessment and management
- Guidance on NATO and CCEB standards and interoperability
- Military messaging expertise.
Additionally, Nexor HQ provided a standard software Support and Maintenance service with out of hours call-logging to cater for international time differences.
From a management perspective, Nexor provided a local Service Delivery Manager to manage the customer relationship and ensure satisfactory performance of the contract. A structured series of meeting at the operational and management level ensured a professional approach to the contract.
The Results
The Customer was exceptionally pleased with the capability, professionalism and flexibility of the Nexor team throughout the duration of the contract. Operational problems were resolved quickly and efficiently in accordance with contracted service levels and Nexor contributed significantly to the design and development of the next generation of systems, which have been successfully deployed in the international arena.