DoD Command, Control & Communications (C3) Data Model

Challenge

The Department of Defense (DoD) lacked a centralized, standardized system for tracking and managing Command, Control, and Communications (C3) equipment and modernization efforts. Disconnected Excel spreadsheets, isolated SharePoint lists, and inconsistent databases created complex integration challenges, limiting DoD’s ability to efficiently manage interoperability and modernization across various units. The absence of a unified data model hindered strategic decision-making and operational readiness.

Solution

ACES developed a centralized data repository leveraging SharePoint Online within the Microsoft 365 DoD GCC High environment. We created a relational data model using standardized metadata, enabling seamless integration and analysis of critical C3 data. Enhanced by Power BI analytics and visual dashboards, the solution provided unprecedented clarity and real-time insights into equipment status, modernization progress, and interoperability across the DoD enterprise.

Initial demos showcasing Power BI’s AI-driven analytics and natural language query capabilities garnered broad support from senior leadership. Despite initial suggestions to leverage an alternate analytics platform (ADVANA), ACES demonstrated the superior ease-of-use and flexibility of SharePoint for data entry, ultimately combining SharePoint’s user-friendly data management with ADVANA’s analytics visualization through QlikSense.

Results

The C3 Data Model has enabled the DoD CIO to track progress for modernization efforts and manage updates to C3 equipment and networks across DoD. It has also provided transparency to other services and combatant commands regarding the status of upgrades within their own organizations as well as other organizations of interest throughout DoD. Furthermore, this capability has enabled the identification of several issues related to funding, timing of upgrades, and interoperability that would have been undetectable without this solution. Mission Planners are expected to get significant value from this as well by using it to quickly determine which operational units have complete necessary C3 upgrades and are able to be combined into a Joint Force or Coalition Warfighting package as required to support military operations. Although an exact dollar figure is hard to quantify, one Air Force Tactical Radio Subject Matter Expert expressed this solution will easily save him 10 hours a week that he would normally have to spend digging up C3 information for reporting and analysis. He also estimated it will do the same or more for hundreds of others across the department and give the DoD and decision advantage in the C3I space far beyond anything it has experienced in the past.

“Your team has turned technology into a force multiplier for C3I when we needed to interface with our PSC, SATCOM and TCMP community. The C3I SharePoint portal, database solutions, and your Teams ability to get results in the Microsoft 365 environment have exceeded expectations and are a bright light on the SharePoint scene in CIO.”

- Government Lead Tactical Communications Lead, DoD CIO