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Make every network change safe: Assurance, observability & lifecycle

Paul Bloxham

In my first blog of this two-part series, I broke down the five automation metrics and principles I rely on most to help leadership demonstrate value. This second blog builds on that thinking. In my e-book, ‘Network automation in 2026: building resilience, assurance and future-ready networks’, I explained that one of the biggest challenges that network and operations leaders face today is making every change safe. 

Automation is not just about efficiency, but maintaining control within modern networks that are dynamic, distributed and tightly-connected to cloud platforms and third-party services. While automation is essential, speed without control creates risk. By unifying the three capabilities of assurance, observability and lifecycle management, it becomes possible to execute network changes in a safe and repeatable way.

Assurance: Validate before and after every change

For me, assurance is the foundation. Validate every change is safe and compliant before it goes live, then confirm it behaves as intended after deployment. Continuous validation before and after every change is now expected, helping to ensure changes are safe and compliant. Streaming telemetry and service mesh architectures provide real-time visibility, making it easier to spot issues and respond quickly

How to implement assurance:

  • Define policies as code and embed them in your pipeline. 
  • Run intent checks to catch misconfiguration and drift early. 
  • Use change windows that include automated validation and safe rollback paths.

Outcome: Fewer failed releases and emergency fixes and better audit outcomes because evidence is generated as part of normal work. 

Observability: Real insight from streaming telemetry

In my first blog, I covered MTTR and MTTD with the time it takes you to detect issues and restore normal service. Observability is what drives this. Move beyond static, device-centric health checks to provide continuous visibility across paths, services and users.

How to implement observability: 

  • Stream telemetry from network and edge assets into a common model. 
  • Use service mesh patterns where appropriate to trace requests end-to-end. 
  • Align dashboards to service objectives, not individual devices. 

Outcome: Faster detection, clearer root cause and performance data that stakeholders can actually trust. 

Lifecycle management: Remove tech debt as you modernise

Teams often try to automate on top of legacy risks. Lifecycle management prevents that. You plan upgrades, renewals and retirements proactively to prevent new changes from piling risk onto legacy.

How to implement lifecycle management: 

  • Maintain an accurate inventory and map controls to business risk. 
  • Standardise on reference designs that are easier to secure and support. 
  • Budget for renewal and decommissioning alongside new projects. 

Outcome: Lower exposure, simpler operations and a platform that adapts as the business evolves. 

How to implement a safe automation framework

To bring assurance, observability and lifecycle management together for safe automation, I recommend organisations consider the following best practices:  

  1. Start with responsibility: Assign clear owners for providers and controls. Everyone should know who approves what. 
  2. Use reference designs: Build simple patterns that map known threats to specific controls, then reuse them. 
  3. Automate safely: Codify configuration and policy, prevent drift and escalate recovery with tested rollbacks. 
  4. Adopt Zero Trust: Assume breach, verify access and enforce least privilege across sites and clouds. 
  5. Strengthen monitoring: Track performance, changes, access and compliance in one place. 
  6. Keep governance practical: Set standards that teams can follow, measure them and iterate. 

What to measure

To make progress visible and defensible, you can refer back to the core metrics from my e-book and previous blog:  

  • Change success rate and rollback avoidance 
  • MTTR and MTTD
  • Compliance score and drift
  • Latency and packet loss against service objectives.

These metrics will help you determine whether your automation is actually making change safer.  

Two quick wins for the first 30 days

If you want to quickly build momentum, I recommend: 

  • Pre-change validation on one high-traffic service: Add automated checks for policy compliance and performance impact, then track the effect on change success rate. 
  • Drift detection with weekly remediation: Choose a critical domain, enable drift alerts and close gaps to raise your compliance score. 

Where SD-WAN and SASE fit

At the edge, SD-WAN and SASE extend consistent policy and observability to every site. They simplify operations, support identity-led access that aligns to Zero Trust and reduce risks from technical debt and legacy systems so networks can adapt securely as business needs evolve. 

How we can help

In my work with clients, I see the same challenge time and again: network change needs to move faster, but it also needs to be safer and more predictable. At CACI, we help organisations bring structure, visibility and governance to complex networks so change can happen with confidence. 

We support teams in putting practical assurance and observability in place, improving lifecycle management and reducing configuration drift, without slowing delivery. That means fewer regressions, clearer accountability and a more predictable change pipeline.
 
If you’d like to explore how this approach could work in your environment, visit our Network Automation page to start the conversation with our specialists. 
 
You can also download my new Network Automation in 2026 eBook for a deeper dive into how assurance and automation work together to build resilient, future-ready networks. 

CACI announced as AWS Launch Partner for European Sovereign Cloud (ESC) delivering EU-controlled data and compliance

Anna-Louise Graville

In this Article

CACI Ltd is delighted to announce it has been selected by Amazon Web Services (AWS) as an official launch partner for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud (ESC), a major AWS initiative designed to help organisations meet stringent European digital sovereignty, security, and compliance requirements.

This appointment further reinforces CACI – a global AWS Premier Tier Partner – as a trusted advisor for organisations looking to adopt sovereign cloud solutions while leveraging the scale, resilience and innovation of AWS.

The European Sovereign Cloud is purpose-built to ensure the highest levels of governance and assurance, making it particularly suited for mission-critical and highly regulated sectors such as public services, national security, defence, financial services, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. This is also essential in supporting large commercial organisations navigate regulatory landscapes, protect sensitive data, and maintain customer trust at scale.

Why are the AWS ESC Principles Important?

The AWS ESC applies the principles above in the European context, giving organisations absolute confidence that their data and operations remain under tight European control, while enabling innovation without compromise.

Key capabilities include:

  • EU-only operations: managed exclusively by EU-based personnel, ensuring governance and operational independence.
  • EU data residency: all customer data – including metadata – remains within the EU, supported by isolated service environments.
  • Independent European infrastructure: physically EU-based facilities with separate control systems including independent billing, security, and multiple Availability Zones for resilience.

What Being an AWS ESC Launch Partner Means for CACI Clients

CACI brings proven expertise in cloud transformation, security, and compliance. Becoming an ESC launch partner further enables CACI to:

  • Guide organisations through sovereign cloud adoption using AWS best practices.
  • Deliver secure and compliant solutions tailored to EU regulatory requirements.
  • Enable innovation without compromise, by combining sovereignty with AWS scalability and resilience.

To prepare for this milestone, CACI has invested in advanced training for its teams on AWS Digital Sovereignty competency and principles, ensuring clients receive expert guidance in planning, migrating to, and operating sovereign cloud environments.

Tracy Weir, Chief Executive of CACI Ltd, comments: “We’re proud to be named an AWS launch partner for the European Sovereign Cloud. This partnership reinforces our dedication to helping organisations across public and private sectors meet stringent sovereignty requirements, whilst leveraging the power of AWS. It also underlines our commitment to delivering excellence and best practice across every stage of AWS cloud adoption.”

CACI AWS Credentials and Sovereign Cloud Expertise

CACI pairs deep AWS expertise with secure cloud delivery experience across defence, public services, finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. Our powerful capabilities include:

  • First AWS Trusted Secure Enclave Vetted Partner the UK providing trusted National Security & Defence sensitive solutions
  • Other AWS Competencies including Migration, DevOps and Government Consulting
  • A partner ecosystem of 36+ strategic partners across all verticals
  • Jezero Landing Zone Accelerator: AWS validated secure cloud LZA enabling rapid deployment on AWS, and compliance with global security standards
  • 400+ AWS certifications: held by expert CACI engineers.

AWS ESC launch timeline, locations, and investment

AWS ESC begins its roll out from January 2026, starting with its first region in the State of Brandenburg, Germany, expanding capabilities and coverage to additional regions over time. This phased approach reflects AWS’s commitment to supporting European organisations with scalable, sovereign cloud solutions.

AWS has also committed €7.8 billion in investment in Germany by 2040 as part of this initiative, reinforcing its long-term support for European digital sovereignty and innovation.

With over five decades of delivering complex programmes across commercial and public sectors including highly regulated, mission-critical industries, CACI is well-positioned to help organisations adopt secure, compliant cloud solutions on the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.

For help with ESC or any AWS or other cloud projects, get in touch today.

How to strengthen your network security posture

Paul Bloxham

In this Article

When it comes to strengthening your network security posture, doing so is no longer a nice-to-have, but a strategic necessity. The notion of strengthening your network may sound time-intensive and lengthy, however, there are some immediate changes that can lead to quick wins. In this blog, we uncover four key steps IT leaders can take to strengthen network security posture and immediate quick wins that can be achieved upon doing so.  

Four steps to strengthen your network security posture

Security is no longer optional. These four foundational actions will help you reduce risk and build resilience: 

1. Adopt zero trust principles

Zero trust means “never trust, always verify.” Every user and device inside or outside the network must be authenticated and authorised. This approach limits the impact of breaches and is now recommended by the NCSC and leading global providers.  

  • Implement strong authentication for all users and devices.  
  • Segment networks to limit lateral movement.  
  • Continuously monitor for unusual behaviour.  

2. Automate detection and response

Manual processes cannot keep pace with modern threats. Automation can reduce response times by up to 40%, demonstrating its ability to help defenders stay ahead. 

  • Use AI-driven tools for threat detection and alert triage.  
  • Automate patching, backup, and incident response workflows.
  • Regularly test and updated automated playbooks.

3. Operational load

With many IT teams stretched thin, managed network services allow organisations to focus on strategy while experts handle day-to-day operations, monitoring and compliance. 

  • Consider managed firewall, detection and response and vulnerability management services.  
  • Ensure providers offer transparent reporting and clear SLAs.

4. Secure hybrid work

With two-thirds of UK employees working remotely at least part-time, endpoint protection and secure remote access are essential.  

  • Enforce multi-factor authentication for all remote access.  
  • Protect endpoints with up-to-date security software and policies.
  • Educate staff on secure working practices. 

Quick wins: Immediate actions UK IT leaders should take 

Not every improvement requires a major investment or a long-term project. The following actions can quickly reduce risk and strengthen your security posture:  

Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) 

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is one of the most effective ways to prevent account compromise, blocking the majority of phishing and credential stuffing attacks.  

  • Enforce MFA for all users, not just administrators.  
  • Use app-based or hardware tokens for stronger protection. 
  • Regularly review and test MFA coverage.  

Read NCSC guidance on MFA  

Patch the basics consistently and quickly

Most breaches exploit known vulnerabilities. Even delays in patching of a few days can be costly.  

  • Maintain an up-to-date inventory of all assets, including cloud workloads and remote endpoints. 
  • Apply critical patches within 14 days, as recommended by the NCSC.  
  •  Automate patch deployment and monitor for failures.  

Back up critical data securely and test your restores

Ransomware is only effective if you cannot recover your data. Secure, tested backups are essential.  

  • Use immutable, offsite or cloud-based backups.  
  • Regularly test restores to ensure data integrity.  
  • Protect backup credentials with MFA and restrict access.

Review firewall rules and access controls

Firewall policies can become cluttered over time with unused or overly permissive rules, creating hidden vulnerabilities.  

  • Schedule regular firewall reviews to remove unused or risky rules.  
  • Align policies with current business needs.  
  • Use automated tools to analyse policies for overlaps and compliance gaps.   

Run a tabletop incident response exercise 

Plans are only effective if teams can execute them under pressure. Tabletop exercises simulate real-world incidents, allowing teams to rehearse roles and identify gaps.  

  • Involve both technical and business stakeholders.  
  • Use realistic scenarios tailored to your organisation.
  • Capture lessons learned and update your incident response plan.  

See NCSC’s guidance on incident response exercises 

How CACI can help enhance your network security

CACI has helped UK businesses protect their networks for decades. From network security to data centre solutions and IT consulting, our expertise delivers secure-by-design architectures, automation, and incident readiness for robust network security.  

Download our 2026 Network Security Survival Guide today to learn more about how your organisation can set its network environments up for success. 

Case study

HMCTS Court Store and Bench Moves to AWS

Summary

The HMCTS Court Store and Bench applications have historically been hosted on the UKCloud’s elevated platform, managed and supported by CACI. In 2021 however, the decision was taken to move the hosting of these projects onto the
AWS platform, with ongoing support in the new environment. CACI was tasked with ensuring the move was achieved in as short a time frame as possible whilst observing the highest level of security.

Company size

18,500

Industry

Government

Services used

Challenge

Due to the complexity of the UKCloud solution and application software stack, we decided to migrate the solution in its existing state from UKCloud to AWS. The environments consisted of four AWS accounts and eight Virtual Private Cloud environments. The approach was to split the project into two stages.

In view of the tight timescales, the order of this migration was to first focus on production, with the pre-production environment to be established after go-live. This order was acknowledged by all parties that whilst being far from ideal, there was no alternative. One of the biggest challenges was the volume of data to be migrated from one cloud provider to the other: in excess of 20Tb.

Icon - A hand holding a cog

Stage one environments

Production, sandbox and performance

Icon - Illustrative cog

Stage two environments

Pre-production

Solution

The migration project consisted of several phases:

  • Provisioning a base AWS Infrastructure and protective monitoring setup
  • Export of Virtual Machines in UKCloud and import into AWS as AMIs
  • Provisioning/cloning of AMIs
  • Re-configuration of the application stack, on-VM protective monitoring/backups and internal operability testing
  • Intersystem Connectivity and Operation, Connectivity Testing
  • Configuration of G-Suite and novation of domain from MoJ to CACI
  • End-user testing
  • IT Health Check
  • Operational Readiness Testing
  • Data Migration

CACI’s role was as follows:

  • Solution design
  • Migration plan
  • Infrastructure and protective monitoring
  • Import of Virtual Machine images and data transfer
  • Testing: OAT, ITHC
  • Cutover
  • Overall project management, including other parties: SopraSteria, HMCTS and other MoJ departments

Results

HMCTS can now continue to run its Court Store and Bench operations in the knowledge there is little likelihood of a breakdown in service.

Based on CACI’s experience of migrating similar workloads, this move to AWS also achieved other improvements such as:

  • Use of infrastructure as code: better change management, less human error, increase of delivery quality and reduction in build time
  • Use of AWS security services to increase view of security posture and simplify implementation of some security controls (e.g. encryption, identity and access management)

Other highlights:

  • Completed the project two months ahead of time
  • Ongoing data storage cost savings are in the region of 65%
Two colleagues working together with a bright blue cloud representing the digital cloud in front of them

Case Studies

Case study

How CACI provided MoD a Compass Audit Solution for the Submarine Delivery Agency

Submarine Delivery Agency logo

Summary

The Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) is a part of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) that procures and project manages the construction of future Royal Navy submarines. It also supports those in service working with Navy Command and the Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO).

Within the SDA is the In-Service Management Team (ISM), handling quality assurance and performing periodic engineering audits to ensure processes are correctly followed when delivering equipment parts. During these audits, non-conformances may be identified which require attention, resulting in actions which must be tracked to completion.

ISM required a new capability to automate the management of this work and improve governance.

Company size

1,000 – 5,000

Industry

Defence, National Security

Products used

Challenge

ISM wanted a tool that would secure the audit process and better support operations by decreasing the probability of actions being missed or delayed. Easy access to previous audit outcomes would help preserve team knowledge.

Equipment failure could occur with associated potential safety issues due to the inability to track non-conformance actions.

Experience was being lost as staff are normally moved to new posts every two years.

Lessons from previous audits were not always applied due to limited information accessibility.

Efficiency needed improvement. Previous tools used to manage audit work (e.g. Excel and SharePoint) required significant overheads to track and manage the audit calendar.

Solution

The solution needed to be self-sufficient in that all details of the item being audited could be input to the tool and the audit team assigned. In addition, ISM looked for a significant reduction in elapsed time to complete each audit.

The SDA chose CACI’s Mood software to underpin their solution because of how well it lends itself to extending capabilities through the addition of new modules. COMPASS Submarines was initially developed to manage documented business processes and CACI could weave in a new audit module that would avoid users needing to log into separate software tools.

The new tool digitises the recording of audit details such as non-conformance findings and related actions. This is underpinned by a workflow with alert emails triggered by activities like adding or updating audits or a non-conformance needed to be acted upon.

Scheduled emails act as reminders, such as when an audit is due. This is a successful instance of Mood software’s ability to be customised using JavaScript to deliver extra functionality to the end solution.

Results

Efficiency is improved through system-driven working rather than relying on personnel knowledge and human driven processes, leading to: 

  • Strengthened governance resulting from auditable evidence of findings being captured and tracked. 
  • Reduced likelihood of recurring issues.
  • Management overhead surrounding audits have been significantly lowered, allowing a reduction in FTE dedicated to the tasks.
  • Improved knowledge retention, as outcomes of latest and previous audits are readily available.

The audit module is available to other parts of Defence, however, its value as an engineering audit compliance tool isn’t limited to a Defence context. We’ll be exploring new uses and are actively looking at extending the solution design to be relevant to other types of audits such as the complete range of ISO standards. 

Learn more about Mood

Case Studies

Case study

How CACI provided a Digital Twin concept for Defence Fuels Enterprise

Summary

The Defence Fuels Enterprise (DFE) is responsible for managing fuel logistics for the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD). They ensure the efficient supply and distribution of fuel to various military operations and facilities. DFE’s operations include overseeing fuel movements, stock holdings and ensuring timely delivery to support military activities. DFE sought to enhance their operations by understanding past fuel movements and predicting future events at air stations. To minimise adoption risks, they sought a digital twin concept — a real-time digital counterpart of any system that provides a virtual representation of simulated situations, allowing potential operational changes to be modelled before implementation. 

Industry

Defence, National Security

Products used

Challenge

The Defence Fuels Enterprise (DFE) needed to understand the past and predict near and distant future events regarding fuel movements within an air station. Therefore, CACI developed a proof of concept (PoC) to test out the application of a digital twin design in collaboration with the MoD’s Defence Fuels Transformation. This PoC identified three use cases of increasing sophistication that would broadly cover the digital twin concept and help the DFE overcome their visibility challenges, including:

Understanding what has been happening:

Showing fuel efficiency, holdings and asset utilisation issues.

Predicting the near future:

Supplying an ‘early warning’ of upcoming situations that could lead to issues.

Testing further reaching change:

Enabling changes to an air station to be made and tested as though they were happening.

Solution

Drawing on our Mood data visualisation platform, our digital twin PoC followed best practice principles, selecting use cases, benefits and engineering based on CACI’s DevSecOps methods, through readily available technology and services. Carried out over three months using Agile sprints, the PoC provided several supportive methods to solve DFE’s challenges, including: 

  1. A front end that allows operators to interact with, track or control what it does. Our PoC included a user interface giving direct interaction with a visualisation of the structural model. 
  1. Structural models that act as the central definition for everything else the twin does. For instance, a ‘Bill of Materials’ of the system to be twinned could be created, laying out all components and connections. 
  1. Our PoC demonstrated the potential of a data pipeline, collecting information from real-time sensors or business systems and managed by an app, using declassified data from BFIS for fuel movement and FFMT for stock holdings. 
  1. Predictive models trained on historical data to predict future events with high accuracy. 
  1. Machine learning models for prediction, using historical data to create an ‘early warning system’ for refuelling vehicle demand. 
  1. Simulation models for testing changes, integrating a Defence Fuels Enterprise simulation model to test unit operations with different refuelling vehicle configurations. 

Our PoC defined an appropriate architecture, implemented a Digital Twin solution using only available cloud technology and skills and demonstrated a low-cost front end. Offering faster, more objective information, it proved its ability to generate cost savings in the hundreds of thousands (per month, per base) and productivity benefits. 

Results

All three use cases from our PoC showed improvements that would support a human decision-maker. The project’s many achievements included: 

  • Defining the architecture of a ‘digital twin of the enterprise’ suitable for the Defence Fuels enterprise. 
  • Implementing a digital twin solution to define a ‘simplest possible’ example for each use case. 
  • Showing that such a solution could be built using cloud technologies and skills readily available to the MoD based on models, data pipelines, machine learning and simulation.
  • Demonstrating a low-cost front end that provides decision-making support and encourages the enhanced automation of decision processes.
Learn more about Mood

Case Studies

Case study

How CACI helped optimise utilisation of storage capacity across the MoD estate

Summary

The MoD is the UK’s second largest landowner, in possession of 1.1 million acres across the UK (2% of the country’s landmass). Land Usage and Management is crucial to the MoD’s operation and CELLA is paramount in carrying out these critical activities.

In 2020, the Warehousing and Distribution Optimisation (WDO) began a programme to better understand and manage the estate. The WDO needed a central repository that would supply a consolidated view of the wider MoD landscape to bolster planning and decision-making. The solution needed to offer evidence and operational data for the MoD’s ability to function, with a high standard of consistency, accuracy and analytical reporting. This was crucial to the WDO’s objective of increasing efficiency and using reliable evidence to manage efforts, storage capabilities and limitations.

Company size

10,000+

Industry

Defence, National Security, Transportation & Logistics

Services used

Products used

Challenge

The MoD struggled to easily understand the space it maintains and the attributes of its various storage locations. This restricted their planning and decision-making for military operations or civil requirements, particularly storing PPE reserves during the COVID-19 pandemic. Warehousing and other storage facilities were managed on an individual basis without a centralised database or management system, and data storage was often highly siloed.

The WDO decided upon a bespoke solution delivery approach, as there was no readily available commercial off-the-shelf tool that met their complex requirements. The system needed to prompt users (via email) to provide updates, with the frequency of updates having to be configurable based on need (e.g. data for short-term storage facilities should be updated more often than longer-term facilities.)

The data held on the solution needed to be comprehensive, including everything from basic facility type to state of repair and security factors.

Understanding the space available and its attributes

Restrictions on planning and decision-making

Solution

CACI worked with the WDO to optimise and classify their raw data and understand usage and users’ needs. Using Mood’s no-code software, CACI rapidly deployed an integrated solution that put relevant information at the fingertips of decision-makers.

A one-click/two-click navigation created an optimal user experience and encouraged the MoD’s goal of promoting self-sufficiency. Standardised terms and references enabled users to search the entire system, additional permissions-based access could be granted for those users who require it and automated email reminders prompted efficient action.

The Mood platform CACI delivered allows the input data to be filtered and combined in multiple ways to supply answers to operational and planning challenges, such as readiness for military or civilian emergency operations. Functional aspects such as the frequency of automated prompts is configurable to meet local conditions. Data can be exported for secondary reporting (e.g. using Power BI tools).

The frequency of email reminders can be configured on a site-by-site basis to ensure data is updated for sites where storage requirements change regularly while keeping effort low for sites used for long-term storage.

Results

Over 300 buildings are now listed within this tool and WDO users are working towards achieving comprehensive estate coverage. The WDO’s understanding of their operational assets and storage buildings has improved, helping them decide whether particular locations or sites are right for particular actions to optimise their estate. Since delivering the first phase of this programme, we have extended the CELLA capability by adding:  

  • Self-sufficiency: As the solution was being handed over to a central support desk, we ensured that wherever possible, users could maintain the solution themselves and not rely on CACI.  
  • User-specific information: Users’ home screens were updated to showcase information immediately, allowing them to focus on what needed to be done.  
  • Streamlined administration: Users can now access all necessary information about storage sites in one place without having to telephone individual sites and speak to multiple people. Stored items can be located and, just as importantly, storage opportunities can be identified quickly. 

The CELLA Data Management Tool (CDMT) team are now working their way around the country to load further sites and hardstandings into the tool. This will give the MoD greater insight into their estate of buildings that is expanding in the face of global instability. 

Learn more about Mood

Case Studies

Case study

How Air Inform operationally supports the Royal Air Force

Summary

RAF Digital supports the Royal Air Force Air Command through the provision of operational and capability analysis. The scope of this support encompasses air missions, people, goods, reconnaissance, surveillance, air transport, refuelling and air interdiction.

In such a complex organisation that is at the heart of British Defence, some decisions made can be of national criticality. The RAF must be confident that all relevant information is available without delay to decision makers, at any location, at any time.

This intelligence is also vital in planning change. For instance, if an airframe is being considered for retirement, what impact will that have on other equipment and services, and what altered support arrangements will follow?

With this in mind, the RAF needed a Digital Twin to be able to view the connected operational landscape and make informed plans, reliably and efficiently. This is where CACI’s support came in.

Company size

10,000+

Industry

Defence / National Security

Products used

Mood

Challenge

Defining these information services and understanding their complexities was the first challenge.

Air HQ Commands a complex range of mission capabilities and activities, which are dependent upon information delivery across a large portfolio of information systems and services.

Designing a solution that would ensure the data collected would be to the right level of detail.

While all relevant intelligence was already in existence, it was in silos—geographically dispersed and in the heads of SMEs, on spreadsheets and other documents in differing formats. In many instances, the amount of detail presented a “wood for the trees” problem, and many sources were not easily understandable. A lack of any unifying information system meant that in a typical situation, decision makers would have to telephone SMEs and others in multiple locations to gather information and make significant efforts to assimilate that information into a usable format that could inform decision making.

SMEs, along with most other personnel, move post every two years, meaning that expert knowledge is lost.

Solution

At a top level, the requirement was to help RAF Digital drive mission-focused information system transformation across all Air domain Mission Vignettes. 

Core to the requirement was to deliver knowledge of what equipment is in place, and where, so that operations such as air missions can successfully proceed. This requires a single view across 25 platforms, 4500 information services and 120 mission vignettes. 

RAF Digital sought a service that could assemble data in consistent formats from multiple sources, relating to a variety of equipment and services. The solution needed to: 

  • Be interrogatable using many filters. 
  • Produce reports both in tabular and highly visual styles to aid understanding.
  • Be consistent in presentation of data despite inconsistent input sources.
  • Maintain up-to-date information through an ongoing managed service with CACI to continue to deploy our skilled business analysts.

This is where Air Inform came to be. It is a software tool that enables a user to see how the RAF is organised in terms of information flows, modelled in terms of aircraft and operational capabilities. 

Critically, it enables RAF decision-makers to understand the data exchanges required to support a mission, including pre-flight, during flight and post-flight phases, and the systems required to support these exchanges. Hence, these decisionmakers can easily answer questions such as what systems are required to support a deployment and what operational capability a system underpins and, thus, identify vulnerabilities and redundancy and inform replacement programmes. 

At the heart of Air Inform is a complex operational architecture. A workshop process was key to eliciting the information, understanding connections and establishing the optimum depth of detail. During this initial phase of joint application development, both CACI analysts, SMEs and other stakeholders created an effective working partnership. 

Following the architecture’s development, CACI created a system for intelligence collection and analysis and overlaid it with visual models to present actionable intelligence from multiple perspectives to end users. Key features include scenario modelling and inter-dependency visualisations by mission as well as platform and information systems (Ground, Air & Space). 

Security was also important: the system can be air-gapped, and a version classified as “secret” is available. 

In terms of technical capabilities, Mood software was used as an object-oriented approach for the visualisation of components to create metamodels and define the relationships between features in a solution architecture.

Results

Air Inform is now embedded within the organisation and is effectively supporting decision makers which not only saves time, but improves the quality and speed of their decisions. Several benefits have already been recognised, including: 

  • RAF Digital can now plan effectively for replacement of airframes. 
  • Interdependencies are now better understood, meaning that changes can be made without unexpected gaps in service provision that could affect the RAF’s ability to deliver its commitments. 
  • Financial management is now supported, helping to avoid over, or premature, spend. 
  • Intelligence is no longer bleeding out as people move on, thus maintaining the integrity of the knowledge base. 
  • New personnel can now quickly understand their working landscape.
  • Security is now protected through more secure data transfers.
  • Data architecture now identifies inefficiencies and drives improvements.

If Air Inform was removed, more personnel would have to be deployed back to managing and analysing data, with a less accurate and speedy outcome. Flt Lt Connor Maguire MEng RAF, elaborated on the vital role that CACI’s support has played in achieving their goals. 

The architecture-based structure of the solution means that going forward, extensions to functionality can be identified and planned for with confidence. Several opportunities are now under consideration, including the ability to view and act upon equipment obsolescence or end of life data.

Learn more about Mood

Case studies

Case study

Digitisation of Joint Service Manuals (JSM) for defence equipment and support

Summary

Digitisation of Joint Service Manuals (JSM) for Defence Equipment and Support Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) are the procurement arm of the UK Ministry of Defence. They have a pivotal role in fulfilling equipment requests from across the Front-Line Commands, Executive Agencies and At Arm’s Length Bodies such as the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA). Their remit ranges from straightforward equipment procurement to the development of new technologies and ensuring the UK Armed Forces can maintain availability and readiness for a fleet of over 400 different platforms.

DE&S summarised the overall task as “to develop the Joint Service Manual (JSM) concept and codify the Receipt, Inspection, Issue, Storage & Maintenance (RIISM) Service Category”. CACI’s main task was to digitise the JSM by bringing them into the “COMPASS for Land” digitised group of capabilities. In fact, CACI were able to go beyond digital transformation of the RIISM manual by adding 3 other important manuals.

DE&S prioritised a solution that not only digitised JSMs but also facilitated improved compliance and included interactive features to enhance suppliers’ understanding of and adherence to JSMs, making the process easier for them.

Company size

10,000+

Industry

Defence, National Security

Products used

Mood

Challenge

The commercial documentation is complex, lengthy, and sometimes didn’t keep pace with the evolution of processes over time. Because of this:

Compliance wasn’t high enough.

Interpretations of the commercial documentation sometimes resulted in incorrect actions.

DE&S needed a better way to support all actors in the procurement processes to save time, reduce individual differing interpretations, and improve compliance overall.

Solution

CACI created digitised JSMs with a flexible search facility, explanations of roles and responsibilities, and relevant dependencies involved in delivering items for DE&S.

The solution enables searching across multiple JSMs, for instance a search for “quality” can be set to bring back all quality references in all JSMs. A user can bookmark favourite sections for repeat reference and can make suggestions in the solution for future enhancements of the functionality.

CACI’s large-scale data visualisation and digital twin modelling platform Mood was employed for the document digitisation aspect of the project. From a delivery perspective, this was an example of the CACI Mood team working alongside colleagues from other suppliers and within the Defence industry in a single delivery team under the overall management of Equinox, DE&S’s private sector programme delivery partner. This type of “Rainbow Team” approach worked well. Not only is Mood easy to integrate within a wider process that uses other software tools, but bringing different suppliers together into one team with a single leadership reduces barriers in communications and speeds up delivery.

Bringing the JSMs into the overall Mood Compass for Land* solution brought extra benefits of a pre-existing sign-in apparatus, admin functions and feedback loops.

Results

Users report: 

  • It’s much easier to find the instructions they need. 
  • They have confidence that these are up to date. 
  • Fewer issues relating to process are arising. 
  • Efficiency is increasing. 
  • Communications between parties in an end-to-end process have been improved. 
  • Agreement is reached on actions faster, and with less debate. 

In addition to the day-to-day operational benefits, the new digitised JSMs are supporting highly beneficial business analysis and root cause identification of areas for improvement. 

CACI will continue to digitise JSMs as and when they are prioritised for action and will continue to make enhancements as required. Although this case study focuses on a Defence context, the challenges outlined in this case study will be replicated across multiple industries and operations where adherence to instructions is critical, sometimes even for the preservation of life and limb, but the quantity, complexity and changing nature of those instructions mitigate against compliance. 

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*Compass for Land is a Mood software solution that digitised the Common Support Model 

Case studies

Case study

A powerful architecture tool available via an enterprise-wide MOD support contract

Ministry of Defence

Summary

Defence Digital is the digital lynchpin in the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) operations, supplying global personnel across the MOD with core IT services vital to their role. Many teams from all commands across the MOD, as well as industry partners, must create architectural models of operations and processes or create interactive solutions to encourage coordinated, efficient and safe working. These needs can be short- or long-term, planned well in advance or be unplanned urgent requirements, and could be for one person or over a thousand users. 

As such, Defence Digital needed a software product and dedicated support that would be flexible enough to meet these multiple requirements, was scalable and instantly available without commercial delays or constraints. 

Company Size

5,000 – 10,000

Industry

Defence, National security

Products Used

Challenge

A solution was required that could be easily learned, deployed swiftly, that enabled rapid building of models and operational solutions, but would be technically sophisticated enough to tackle a wide range of tasks.

Icon - Illustrative workflow

The MOD required a service that would deliver:

  • Flexible functionality in a single platform. 
  • Speed in deployment and training of users.
  • A responsive support function.
  • The opportunity to influence the future development of the software in partnership with the supplier.
  • Build and maintenance of the IT infrastructure to support the software platform.
Icon - Cog with a magnifying glass in the middle

The software platform needed to:

  • Be a no-code/low-code software platform. 
  • Give the ability to build architectures from which stakeholders could gain business insights. 
  • Be architecture framework-agnostic. 
  • Deliver the ability to create digitised operating frameworks. 
  • Enable analysis and presentation. 

Solution

CACI and Defence Digital agreed upon an enterprise licensing approach, enabling anyone in the MOD to request a Mood license and access a new Mood repository the same day. This, paired with training provided on request, is all that is needed to start working productively with the large-scale data visualisation platform. 

Our support service guides users to maximise Mood benefits, and CACI runs regular user forums to enhance the MOD Mood user community’s knowledge sharing. Many users have now become expert Mood material creators, and due to the excellence of the presentation layer, several solutions built with it have hundreds of regular users who view and work with outcomes rather than building in Mood. 

Mood Business Architect (MBA) software also provides a no-code/low-code Enterprise Architecture tool for developing and maintaining models. The product is extremely flexible and allows users to define data structures and relationships as required to model their problem space. The software utilises an SQL Server database, and network hosting ensures multiple architects can access and contribute to the model. A powerful permissions model with the MBA tool also enables administrators to protect and restrict access as applicable. 

Once developed, models can be shared with a wider stakeholder base via Mood Active Enterprise (MAE). Models are presented in a web browser and tools are available to make the user experience fully interactive.

Results

There are between 60-100 individual repositories built in Mood at any one time, all supported through the Managed Service. A few of these are: 

GEAR, the Guide to Engineering Activities and Reviews:
A mandated source of guidance for the defence engineering community. Built originally by contractors and now maintained by the MOD personnel using Mood software, it replaces an unwieldy set of previous materials with fully digitised guidance, with unlimited user access at around 22,000 logins per year. 

DLF, the Defence Logistics Framework: A one-stop shop for defence logistics policy, digitising for the first time a comprehensive set of documents, and supporting re-authoring. DLF has over 52,000 logins a year. 

Maritime, Air and Land Defence Frameworks: As Mood-based, high-level capability models of the domains, these provide a vital overview and breakdown of defence capabilities in their respective domains. The reference frameworks save staff officers new in post considerable time and maintain consistency within the FLCs. 

Support Chain Information Service Architectural Repository (Formerly LNECA: Logistics Net Enabled Capability Architecture): In operation since 2008, it holds information on all logistics systems, is continuously updated and is the intelligence source for briefings to senior managers. If deleted, it would have to be re-built as it is vital to strategic and operational thinking. 

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Case studies