IBM
Email This Page   |   Download PDF

Customers 

US Army National Range Support (White Sands Missile Range)

US Army National Range Support (White Sands Missile Range)

Before the US Army's enterprise license with Silanis, there were places like White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), which embraced e-signatures and the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) as early as 2001.

WSMR's Electronic Signature Management Information System (ESMIS), integrated with the Department of Defense's Common Access Cards (DoD CAC), allowed it to securely eliminate paper and all of the postage, travel fees and storage that go with it, earning it a departmental “best practice” example and Army Online Knowledge (AKO) award.

This case details how processes that typically took days or weeks now take seconds, with Silanis' solution.


Full Success Story

White Sands Missile Range - Migrates to a “Paperless Solution” Using DoD PKI and Electronic Signatures

Since April 2000, the Information Operations Directorate at White Sands Missile Range has complied with the Government Paper Elimination Act. White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) has also embraced the Department of Defense policy that requires the adoption of the Common Access (smart) Card (CAC) and the DoD Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). The IOD has aggressively pursued the seamless integration of electronic signature technology into the mandated PKI.

During the 2001 fiscal year, the project’s chief architect, Carl A. Saenz, Senior Information Technology Specialist at WSMR, introduced the Electronic Signature Management Information System (ESMIS). Since then, it has been successfully interfaced with key modules of the Department of Defense Public Key Infrastructure solution and has delivered compelling results for WSMR.

The Challenge

The Government Paperwork Elimination Act required all federal agencies to move toward paperless initiatives by 2003. This was a big challenge for many departments, as the majority of approval processes were driven by paper. Documents that required multiple approvals were generally printed to paper and mailed or hand carried to each party individually. This was a highly impractical process due to postal fees, faxing costs, vehicle use charges, gasoline costs, and the expense of labour time.

There was a great opportunity within the DoD to introduce more efficient processes, particularly around approvals, that would enable the department to become more responsive and efficient.

In addition, the DoD mandated the use of the DoD Public Key Infrastructure and the Common Access Card within all departments. This meant that any solution introduced to improve processes and automate approvals needed to incorporate use of the DoD PKI and the CAC. The solution needed to be able to both support the multiple signature and complex process needs of the department, and the DoD PKI and CAC.

The Solution

The ESMIS solution leverages the DoD PKI and adds support for the electronic approval of files. A typical PKI digital signature provides a secure authentication wrapper for a message, but it does not apply a traditional signature to a file. If you sign a message using a PKI digital signature, the message is protected from point A to point B. However, once the message is received, any attached file can be opened, edited and re-transmitted as an altered file. In the paper world, PKI is similar to sending documents by courier. The courier is controlled, trusted, traceable, and auditable, ensuring that the document is protected in transmission. PKI and courier envelopes are limited in that once a document is removed from the envelope, there is no way for the sender to tell if the recipient has altered the content of the document following sender’s approval. This audit ability is critical for many processes in the government that run on documented approvals.

The ESMIS program contains a number of modules for creating, approving, and routing electronically signed documents. Working together, these components allow WSMR to create, complete, sign, route and store their documents in electronic format.

The Results

Since August 2002, White Sands Missile Range has achieved enhanced productivity and improved readiness with the use of ESMIS.

As a result of implementing ESMIS, WSMR personnel are able to electronically sign and route Government forms and documents without ever leaving the office. Task memorandums are electronically signed and distributed via email at the click of a button. In addition, the National Range Directorate is now electronically routing and signing their Missile Flight Safety Operational Procedures for the various tactical and ballistic missiles tested at WSMR. Hard copy approvals and paper distribution are being minimized wherever possible.

Processes that typically took days or weeks to accomplish can be completed in seconds with ESMIS. The ESMIS combination provides a broad scope of possibilities for assisting management to accomplish their administrative objectives with greater ease, confidence and reliability. The DoD PKI interface would further escalate this effort.

During November 2003, the ESMIS program migrated to successfully interface with DoD PKI CAC/Reader/Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) certificate recognition. This event was significant because it provided for the first time a viable mechanism for reviewing an electrically signed form or document with two layers of signature security. The first layer generated by ApproveIt and the second layer by the DoD PKI architecture with certificate recognition. Full ESMIS deployment is dependant on the deployment of Common Access Card
(CAC) and CAC Reader hardware/software user desktops. The projected timeline for final deployment of CAC/Readers for WSMR is May 2004. By June 2004, WSMR should start capturing and incorporating DoD PKI CAC and physical signatures for ESMIS upgrade.

This anticipated effort would generate many new horizons for the WSMR workforce. It will finally interface the desired DoD PKI CAC information and physical wet signature environment into a powerful recognition tool relative to all kinds of business correspondence. The security package will provide the added value necessary for the success of the electronic signature program. Processing approved documents electronically via the LAN or globally will be a plus for the base. The ESMIS program is a good example of good-faith efforts at WSMR for helping Government personnel expand their business efforts into the 21st century.

WSMR has achieved positive results and is further expanding the ESMIS to higher headquarters deployment. On 14 August 2003, the Army CIO/G6 recognized the WSMR ESMIS as a departmental “best practice” example and awarded it the Army Online Knowledge (AKO) “Army EInitiative Award for Electronic Signature Capability”.