Project: Upgrade of Department of the Army’s entire Pathfinder Intelligence Application.

Background: The Army required an overhaul of their intelligence management application. The previous version was Java-based which no longer integrated well with other Army applications. Thus, they required migration to the .Net platform.

Solution: The front-end team improved the search functionality by developing a .Net / Service Oriented Architecture-based user interface. To ease the transition to the new interface, old views were ported, and new views were built to maximize the new capabilities, including toolbars, applets, plug-ins etc. The updated interface decreased the technical-know-how required of the defense analysts performing the queries, allowing them to focus on the information related to the search rather than on the technical parameters required to perform the search. The back-end team migrated Pathfinder from Memex to Oracle. We then indexed the data with Lucene, an open source information retrieval library. This solution not only saved the client money in its lack of licensing fees but offers better forward compatibility and performance. Finally, both teams used Xen virtualization software in the testing phase. This saved additional dollars by effectively turning two servers into 20 for testing and quality assurance purposes.

Summary: The OpenSource Connections team delivered the solutions ahead of schedule and 20% under budget, providing what the Army’s program deputy director called “the most creative, functional Pathfinder interface design I have seen in over 10 years.”