SharePoint and Power Platform Replace Aging Databases Across 180 Command Locations

Decisions That Cannot Wait on a Records Search

The command is a vital partner in critical operations, and the internal functions supporting that work were the ones running on the outdated, largely manual system. Security and vetting, deployment and leave tracking, auditing, personnel hiring, authorizations, contracts management, task orders, obligations and payment data are all internal processes the new workflow methodology would eventually strengthen; until it did, they carried the same manual overhead as everything else. Personnel needed critical data quickly, and getting it meant time-consuming manual searches across systems that did not talk to each other.

Standing still carried a compounding cost of its own. Without formal documentation protocols, missing or inadequate requirements documentation produced change orders and project delays, so every new application effort was exposed to the rework the last one had already paid for. The technology itself was the other half of the exposure: MS Access databases, Excel Spreadsheets, and custom applications holding the work of many major subordinate commands, with no formal lifecycle governing what replaced them.

Fifty Commands, One Set of Requirements, Two Certified Enclaves

The requirements problem came first and it was a people problem. Determining what to build meant working with numerous stakeholders and users within 50 different Major Subordinate Commands, each with its own view of the process being automated, and it meant identifying enhancements to existing solutions in the same pass as requirements for new ones. Capturing that reliably was itself a constraint, because without formal documentation standards the input would not survive the trip from discussion to build, which is the failure mode that produces change orders later.

The hosting constraint was fixed and not negotiable. The solutions had to be built on the IL4 and IL6 certified enclaves hosted in the Microsoft Cloud environment, which set what the workflows could be built with and where the data could live. The work also had to reach across disparate systems rather than replace all of them at once, so data exchange between those systems was inside the scope, as was ensuring compliance with the regulations governing the processes being automated.

Senior Microsoft Specialists with Proven Delivery Depth

The requirements defined the vendor profile: a team that could run requirements gathering across 50 different Major Subordinate Commands, bring formal documentation standards to capture and track what came out of it, and then build custom SharePoint Online Power Apps and Power Flows inside the IL4 and IL6 Government hosted environments. It also had to leave behind a Software Development Lifecycle and a Software Development Methodology the command would keep using on later projects, which is a consulting deliverable as much as an engineering one.

The command chose i3solutions to lead the modernization, drawing from 30 years of expertise and its proven collaborative approach. i3solutions is a Microsoft Partner with 30 years of delivery experience and 1,500+ Microsoft engagements, delivered by an all-senior, all US-based delivery team. That profile matched a mandate for a permanent solution in an environment where the hosting is certified, the requirements arrive from fifty directions at once, and the method has to outlast the first release.

i3solutions gathered requirements with the input of numerous stakeholders and users within 50 different Major Subordinate Commands, paired the results with its formal documentation standards, and modernized the command’s internal processes through custom application development on SharePoint Online, Power Apps, and Power Flows inside the IL4 and IL6 Government hosted environments.

SharePoint Online carries collaboration and information management for the command’s internal operations, providing document management, team collaboration, and workflow automation, and the solutions built on it run on the IL4 and IL6 certified enclaves hosted in the Microsoft Cloud environment. Microsoft Power Platform carries the application layer: Power Apps for rapid development of custom applications tailored to the command’s specific needs, PowerAutomate for automating repetitive tasks and business processes, and PowerBI for data visualization and analytics. Nintex Forms handles data collection, with a drag-and-drop interface for building custom forms tailored to the command’s requirements. JavaScript supplies dynamic and interactive functionality inside the command’s SharePoint environments, creating dynamic web elements and validating user input. JSON and REST APIs carry integration and data exchange between disparate systems, JSON as a lightweight, easy-to-parse interchange format and REST APIs as how the command interacts with external systems and services. Geographic Information System (GIS) technology covers creating, managing, analyzing, mapping, and sharing all types of data, so complex datasets can be visualized and interpreted with greater efficiency and precision. A centralized Dynamic Query Tool lets all MSCs search and query the information those systems capture.

Custom Workflows Built for IL4/IL6

SharePoint Online Power Apps and Power Flows replaced outdated MS Access databases and manual procedures in a government-hosted environment.

The outcomes here are structural rather than numeric, and they compound across every project the command runs after this one. Automating manual and repetitive tasks through the custom workflow solutions built with Nintex and SharePoint saves hundreds of hours previously spent by personnel, and cut the manual workload those tasks carried. The documentation standards produced a second effect that is easy to under-read: by establishing clear and comprehensive documentation protocols, they removed the missing or inadequate requirements documentation that had been generating change orders and project delays, which is a cost that lands on every project rather than only on this one.

The centralized Dynamic Query Tool changed how information is reached. All MSCs can search and query information captured and consolidated by various systems, which removed the need for time-consuming manual searches and lets personnel access critical data quickly and make informed decisions in real time. The SDLC methodology did the same thing for building software: a standardized approach that ensures consistency, repeatability, and quality across all projects, with faster implementation timelines and significantly fewer issues and changes from users. On the hosting side, the Government recognized significant cost savings by not purchasing and maintaining large data centers, using Microsoft’s IL4 and IL6 Certified Government Cloud environments instead for better performance, up time, and redundancy for all online applications.

One Modernization Method, Applied Across a Global Command Footprint

The engagement established that modernization at this scale is a documentation problem before it is a development problem. Requirements determined with numerous stakeholders and users within 50 different Major Subordinate Commands, paired with formal documentation standards, produced a Software Development Lifecycle and Software Development Methodology that is now used across all of the command’s SharePoint and custom application development projects.

On that foundation, custom SharePoint Online Power Apps and Power Flows in the IL4 and IL6 Government hosted environments replaced outdated MS Access databases, Excel Spreadsheets, custom applications, and manual procedures, with Nintex Forms collecting data, JSON and REST APIs exchanging it between disparate systems, and a centralized Dynamic Query Tool putting it in front of every MSC. The permanent solution the command asked for turned out to be the method as much as the software, and the method is what the next project starts from.