Amplifying USDA services and program information
Key takeaways
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) created the Modernize and Innovate the Delivery of Agriculture (MIDAS) project to simplify, integrate, and automate the delivery of federal assistance programs. As a trusted partner, Maximus drove modernization, scalability, and efficiencies for the project with support services, thought leadership, and leading technologies that simplified complexity and reduced operations and maintenance (O&M) costs.
Modernizing a critical system and applications for USDA.
Situation
MIDAS is the system of record for the USDA, providing vital resources for federal assistance programs that support 11M farmers and 5M+ farms annually. Developed as a SAP application, MIDAS shares data with other applications on the mobile-friendly farmers.gov USDA website – a one-stop shop for farmers looking to access key agency services and information.
Challenge
USDA needed modernization, maintenance, and support for MIDAS and existing applications, and achieve a wide range of technical objectives, guiding development of new tools and solutions that allow farmers to connect with USDA information and services more efficiently.
Solution
The Maximus approach reflected a clear understanding of the high level of customization necessary for the MIDAS initiative. Alongside a technical depth of SAP experience and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) expertise, the Maximus team offered new perspectives and leadership to achieve success. Our approach included:
- IT modernization
- O&M support services
- Application development and maintenance
- System analysis and design
- Configuration and testing
- Agile development
- Human-centered design
Modernizing and maintaining existing application environments.
How We Did It
The Maximus team employed a results-oriented mindset to:
- Support project sprints including preparation, blueprinting, realization, and go-live steps, addressing software development requirements and modifications to SAP business processes
- Leverage SAP expertise and field-tested solutions to drive efficiencies and reduce risk
- Implement O&M support across application environments, including customized SAP solutions
- Cultivate knowledge sharing with stakeholders to address challenges and new requirements
- Apply experience with large and complex hybrid SOA environments
- Provide regular, comprehensive project reports to drive data-based decision making
- Serve as a thought leader to the agency, presenting options to reduce system complexity
Results
- Improved ability to deliver high-quality applications to meet evolving business needs
- Strategic and actionable understanding of program performance at all times
- Reduced O&M costs by ~$4M
- Improved workflow approval speed
- Increased user satisfaction
- Decreased customer wait times
- Increased staff productivity
Maximus’s broad support provided real-time performance insight, enabled high-quality software development for new applications, reduced complexity, and lowered O&M costs.