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NEXGEN IT/TRIRIGA deployment employs lessons learned

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By Reggie Romo
Air Force Civil Engineer Center 


Since 2006, the Air Force Civil Engineer community has been engaged in a comprehensive, enterprise-wide transformation to improve installation support while reducing manpower and costs. At the heart of this effort is the centralization of functions formerly performed at installations and major commands. The critical enabler of this wholesale change is the fielding of NexGen IT/TRIRIGA.

NexGen IT/TRIFIGA is an enterprise information technology system that provides an integrated asset management structure for the civil engineering community. TRIRIGA will replace legacy IT systems (IWIMS, ACES-RP, ACES-PM, ACES-FM and AFERS) as it’s deployed at each Installation. 

By leveraging current industry asset management best practices, civil engineer leadership selected TRIRIGA as the commercial off-the-shelf product to serve as the transformation IT enabler for cost accounting; operations and materiel control; real property; project management; and energy management capabilities. TRIRIGA can reduce or eliminate manual data calls and higher-headquarters reporting since the data in the new system is readily available among civil engineers at all levels of command. 

The TRIRIGA deployment represents a substantial shift in business practices and consolidates previous IT systems into a single enterprise system. The integration of these capabilities enhances base-level coordination, provides greater system transparency at the leadership level and supports Department of Defense and Air Force-mandated financial improvement and audit readiness, or FIAR.

TRIRIGA deployment status 

In November 2015, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, became the first Air Force installation to deploy TRIRIGA. As of September, the AFCEC Functional Management Office, or FMO, is halfway through its initial 24-installation Wave 1 schedule and barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will conclude by mid-December. 

The Wave 2 deployment schedule was released Aug. 9, and includes seven installations. The FMO has contacted all Wave 2 installations, and pre-deployment preparation actions are in-progress. Wave 2 deployments are scheduled to begin Jan. 23 and conclude Feb. 27. 

Deployment readiness team 

In response to user feedback and lessons learned from the Joint Base Andrews deployment, the FMO implemented a new user engagement capability to support installation deployment readiness. This support model has two components -- the TRIRIGA Reach-back Center and the data readiness team. 

The reach-back center provides engagement and functional support throughout the deployment process, assisting installation points of contact with timely completion of pre-deployment set-up activities and execution guidance. 

The data readiness team helps guide data quality and clean-up activities beginning 180 days before an installation’s deployment date. The team has developed a set of tools to assist installation deployments. For example, Path to Initial Operating Capability Guides provide detailed information to prepare for and execute set-up activities, and the initial operating capability tracker bridges the set-up activities to the civil engineering capabilities they enable. These tools, as well as additional deployment resources, are available on the NexGen IT/TRIRIGA portal.

Continuous evolution and improvement

To ensure TRIRIGA is capable of meeting current and future civil engineering community needs, the FMO established working groups comprised of functional subject-matter experts and TRIRIGA configuration specialists to continually fine-tune business processes. These working groups assess end-user feedback and provide recommendations to the FMO.

The working groups also serve as a platform to discuss deployment support opportunities and to identify risks that can be resolved through TRIRIGA configuration, deployment, training, policy and strategic communication channels. 

Portal tools

As with any large-scale and complex IT system implementation, reliable and authoritative sources of project-related information can be a challenge. After 12 successful deployments, the FMO took steps to ensure standardized messaging through the development of a TRIRIGA Informational Toolkit. The toolkit is published to the NexGen IT /TRIRIGA portal and provides users at all levels with a centralized repository for all deployment-related information. It includes fact sheets, background papers and other reference materials. Designed as a “living” resource, the toolkit continues to evolve based on lessons learned, improved processes and user input. 

Coordination and planning efforts are ongoing for the remaining Wave 3-5 installations. The FMO uses the NexGen IT/TRIRIGA Portal as its primary source for all TRIRIGA user-related information/content, and subscribing to the “Alert me of critical message” feature on that page is the best way to stay current on relevant TRIRIGA updates or schedule releases.

For additional TRIRIGA deployment information, direct questions to afcec.nexgen.it@us.af.mil.