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Put Customers First

Put Customers First

Achieving Breakthrough

Since 1996, Ascellon has provided IT services, consulting and program management services to a wide range of clients in the public and private sectors. Though the deliverables and business environments have varied, what has never changed is Ascellon’s commitment to assuring quality, building truly collaborative relationships, and transferring the knowledge of our senior-level experts to our customers’ organizations. This is why we have consistently received a rating of 9 or higher (out of 10) on the D&B Open Ratings report of customer satisfaction.

How do we achieve such high customer satisfaction?

Through experience, expertise and becoming both an advocate and a trusted advisor. For example, because Ascellon is used to working fast and meeting even “impossible” deadlines, our customers don’t have to deal directly with time pressures — they know they can count on us to meet their mandates and deadlines.

Representative
Customers

The Client: The Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP) provides program and supply support for weapons systems to keep Naval forces mission ready. This mission is carried out by a single command organization operating as a tenant activity of the Naval Support Activities in Mechanicsburg and Philadelphia.

The Challenge: NAVICP needed to upgrade the ANSRS Aviation Module, a mission-critical application and to automate requisitions for naval aircraft parts.

The Solution: Ascellon performed all aspects of the design and implementation of a new client-server system, including: requirements analysis, design of the program code and database tables, the planning and conducting of end-user training, successful extension and deployment of the application to the Internet, and preparation of briefing materials for senior management.

The Benefits: Ascellon received a letter of commendation from Rear Admiral K.W. Lippert, Commander, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy, on our effort for the successful testing and migration of an allotment accrual accounting and expenditure processing system.

The ClientOne component of the Army (which consists of the Active Army, the Army National Guard, and the Army Reserves), the Army National Guard is composed primarily of traditional Guardsmen—civilians who serve their country, state and community on a part-time basis.

The ChallengeThe Advanced Information Technology Services (AITS) project needed user support for customer-specific applications.

The SolutionAscellon has complete responsibility for providing Tier 3 help desk services for the AITS project.

The BenefitsAscellon’s help desk provides support for customer-specific applications, in addition to supporting other applications and network components. We also maintain lessons learned of reusable and repeatable corrective procedures from working with software developers and engineers.

The ClientThe Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.

The ChallengeEach of the Bureau and Office service programs within HRSA has established program specific performance measures. However, there has not been a cross cutting view of the “quality of care” performance measures reported by grantees across all programs. Some of these programmatic performance measures have been in existence long enough so that targets and outcomes have been established. These performance measures have not been compiled across HRSA’s programs and portrayed in a meaningful way.

The SolutionAscellon compiled data from existing programmatic databases, GPRA measures, program documents and reports, government reports and other HRSA documents. We Identified, developed and presented a cross cutting view of the “quality of care” performance measures and/or outcomes reported by HRSA grantees. The cross cutting perspective was presented in several ways, including: prevention, population based, chronic diseases, oral health, mental health, HIV AIDS, age (elderly/children) racial and ethnic minorities and access such as rural. Information gathered was presented in a way that portrays efforts across programs.

The BenefitsThrough this project HRSA’s Center for Quality was able to make significant progress towards working across the Agency to meet HRSA Strategic Planning Goal 3— Improve the Quality of Care.

The ClientThe Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Education, with the endorsement of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy is responsible for implementing the Community Financial Access Pilot (CFAP) project. Under this program the Treasury Department collects information on a voluntary basis each quarter from financial institutions and financial education providers working with the Department of the Treasury on the CFAP. This information is necessary to assess the effectiveness of the CFAP strategies to expand access to financial services and financial education for low- and moderate-income individuals.

The ChallengeDeveloping effective tools and techniques to enhance the ability of communities across the country to provide access to financial services and financial education for low- and moderate-income individuals by sharing lessons learned from the CFAP communities.

The SolutionAscellon developed and implemented data collection and customer service tools for collecting data and provide customer service to submitters to answer technical questions regarding the submissions. Ascellon designed and implemented data quality protocols and data analysis processes that enabled Treasury to measure the effectiveness of the CFAP strategies within communities and across the country.

The BenefitsThe data collection and analysis project provided Treasury and the participating communities with information on best approaches, trends, and areas where additional financial education can be beneficial to certain communities.

The ClientThe Department of Veterans Affairs has as its one of its strategic missions, ensuring access to quality health care. The VA restores the capability of veterans with disabilities to the greatest extent possible, and improve the quality of their lives and that of their families.

The ChallengeMeeting the VA’s priorities to maximize physical, mental and social functioning of veterans with disability and be a leader in providing specialized health care services.

The SolutionAscellon supports the VA on projects to strengthen the quality of care provided to veterans in nursing homes, adult day care and domiciliary facilities nationwide. We also assist the VA’s team of experts on the Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Programs focused on treatment and rehabilitation to special populations of homeless, substance use disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Serious Mental Illness.

The BenefitsAscellon’s teams of interdisciplinary clinical experts and analysts have assisted the VA to extend its capability and capacity to address important healthcare priorities.

The ClientThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), operates Medicare, the nation’s largest health insurance program. In addition to Medicare, CMS also has responsibility for Federal oversight of Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, enforcing healthcare regulations, providing research, statistics and data, and providing education and outreach on healthcare issues.

The ChallengeCMS strives to maintain a high quality of care while eliminating waste and abuse within Medicare and Medicaid in addition to managing several other programs to enable independence and employment for the disabled and elderly.

The SolutionAscellon supports several initiatives at CMS ranging from ensuring quality of care in nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals, to analysis of medical records for prospective payments, and providing technical assistance to CMS grantees on various grants programs.

The BenefitsAscellon’s teams of interdisciplinary clinical experts and analysts have assisted the CMS to extend its capability and capacity to address important healthcare priorities.

The Client: The DOH Medical Assistance Administration (MAA) administers health care financing initiatives of the District of Columbia.

The ChallengeThe DOH faced the challenge of a new Decision Support System (DSS) development in need of software development standards.

The SolutionAscellon performed three software development tasks as a subcontractor to CTA: designed end-user requirements specifications, developed software to support institutional cost data, and developed the required queries and reports for the Medicaid Data Warehouse/DSS.

The BenefitsThe DOH DSS was developed in accordance with CMM Level 2 software development practices.

The ClientThe DMV develops, administers, and enforces the vehicular laws of the District of Columbia, emphasizing driver education and customer service.

The ChallengeThe DMV needed the Year 2000 “fixes” implemented with no downtime for processing drivers licenses and motor vehicle registrations during the cutover to the new millennium.

The SolutionAs a subcontractor to GMSI, Ascellon maintained and upgraded the interfaces to the courts, police departments, and insurance information clearing houses for traffic, permit and registration data.

The BenefitsAscellon made the fixes and provided ongoing support of software applications for the registration and permit functions of the DMV.

The ClientThe Department of Public Works (DPW) provides environmental services, including trash, recycling, and street and alley cleaning to residents/visitors and businesses in the District of Columbia.

The ChallengeThe challenge was working with disparate systems with no standard definitions. We migrated databases to a consistent enterprise platform (Oracle DBMS).

The SolutionIn a stable, functional environment, Ascellon personnel provided requirements analysis, software and database design, and software engineering of the SNOW Operations Management and Service Delivery (SERVES) systems, as well as numerous subsystems.

The BenefitsWe used the Systems Development Lifecycle methodology in accordance with SEI CMM practices documented in our Software Development Practice Guide.

The ClientThe District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) manages and maintains transportation infrastructure.

The ChallengeDDOT needed an application to collect data and rate performance of contractors and consultants performing on Federally funded transportation projects for the city. A second application was needed to collect service request data electronically for street repairs, snow removal, and other city services.

The SolutionAscellon completed both web applications for DDOT. The system to rate contractors and consultants uses data entry and electronic interfaces to collect performance data and rate performance based on established criteria. Data is collected and merged with geographic positioning databases to provide sophisticated management reports and to assist city management in assigning work crews to perform services throughout the city.

The BenefitsBoth projects provide management reports and flexible data extraction capabilities.

The ClientThe DC Office of Personnel (DCOP) provides human resource management services to strengthen individual and organizational performance and enable the District government to attract, develop, and retain a well-qualified, diverse workforce.

The ChallengeThe DCOP had been under Congressional scrutiny to give an accounting of the number of employees employed by the city and their employment status. The city used three different personnel systems that in total appeared to have more employee records than were actually employed by the city.

The SolutionAscellon reviewed each employee folder for every city employee. More than 45,000 individual personnel folders were manually reviewed and processed by a given deadline. Employee folders were validated against each personnel record.

The BenefitsAscellon designed Windows-oriented Graphical User Interface (GUI) data entry systems that were easy to use and minimized data input errors to key data into relational databases for transmission to the customer.

The Client: The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) develops policies and implements programs to strengthen Maryland’s economy by attracting new business, stimulating private investment and creating jobs, encouraging the expansion and retention of existing companies, and providing businesses in Maryland with workforce training and financial assistance.

The Challenge: DBED needed to redesign its grants management program process for the Partnership for Workplace Quality (PWQ) and Maryland Industrial Training Program (MITP).

The Solution: Ascellon participated as a subcontractor to LMI to streamline and automate the intake and processing of training grant applications. The project included working with regional offices and headquarters staff to define new processes and to document the requirements for a new integrated system.

The Benefits: The implementation of integrated systems and applications has improved the State’s ability to improve processing of grants and to efficiently perform the application and disbursement processes while improving the ability audit of the entire function.

The ClientThe Maryland State Retirement Agency collects contributions, supervises management of the investment portfolio, counsels members, and administers death, disability, and retirement benefits for the retirement plans.

The ChallengeThe Maryland State Retirement Agency needed software and hardware upgrades, documentation of system resources, technical expertise, software/system documentation, and IT training.

The SolutionUnder a subcontract with Bell Atlantic Network Integration, Inc. (BANI), Ascellon participated in the initial definition of modifications through analysis of current LAN/WAN and applications environments, and system engineers maintained the agency’s computer systems.

The BenefitsOur onsite staff also scheduled and performed optional system upgrades and enhancements, as elected by the agency, which often resulted in our training or re-training client personnel.

The ClientThe Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (Commission) is a bi-county agency in the State of Maryland established to provide water supply and wastewater treatment services for approximately 1.7 million people in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.

The ChallengeThe Commission’s wanted to address three strategic initiative concerns using the input and opinions of its customers, elected officials, regulating agencies, and other stakeholders. The strategic concerns were: staying attuned to desired services and service levels; providing world-class service; and improving relations.

The SolutionWorking closely with WSSC, Ascellon designed and implemented satisfaction surveys targeted to each segment of interest to WSSC. The data collected from the surveys were analyzed, interpreted and summarized into findings for WSSC. Our team also provided recommendations to WSSC based on our analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data collected during the survey.

The BenefitsUsing the results of the surveys, WSSC obtained valuable information on what customers, regulators and others value most, their expectations and their perceptions of WSSC. Using the information gathered, WSSC designed programs to highlight the organization’s strengths, which were many, and to focus on improving areas where improvements were needed.

The ClientThe Maryland Department of Human Resources (DHR) mission and duty is to provide social services for approximately 5.6 million residents within the state. DHR programs include Foster Care/ Adoption, Child Protective Services, Food Assistance, Child Support, Health Coverage/ Medical Assistance, Purchase of Care, and Energy Assistance.

The ChallengeDue to the economic downturn, the number of unemployed individuals has increased tremendously over the last few years. In turn, this has made a significant impact on non-custodial parents (NCPs) who are required to pay child support.

The SolutionAscellon developed and designed a web-based IT solution as well as installed a local information kiosk in Prince George’s County to provide government staff, partners and NCPs with valuable information on select child support cases; relevant one-stop career centers data; unemployment insurance benefits status; mediation options; and links to other related human services assistance agencies.

The BenefitsThe implementation of this user friendly kiosk provides NCPs with the necessary resources to find and obtain gainful employment to fullfill their court ordered child support obligations.