While military service members often use supplements to augment an exercise and fitness regimen, if the user is unaware of their specific ingredients, they can actually inhibit performance rather than improve it or, in some instances, result in failed drug tests. As part of the Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP), Operation Supplement Safety (OPSS) strives to provide the best evidence-based information about dietary supplements to military service members, their families, healthcare providers, and leaders to achieve human performance optimization.

CHAMP leadership and staff required an accessible web application to help service members make informed decisions on the benefits and risks of supplement usage, and they were disappointed in the existing OPSS.org web design effort. Existing site challenges included problematic navigation schemes, confusing screen hierarchy, insufficient accessibility, and an unappealing responsive web mobile experience. Plus, many of the most popular OPSS.org features and resources were not easily discoverable from the home page – a crucial design limitation.

TIAG was tasked to produce an innovative, human-centered design to alleviate existing challenges and optimize soldiers’ experience with the website. Armed with stakeholders’ in-house user research, we reviewed site analytics data to get an in-depth understanding of usage trends and user behaviors (such as page views, usage rates, and drop-out rates) and conducted a baseline assessment. From there, we created personas based on research gathered on soldiers who engage in supplement use and then a goals-driven design roadmap. We were then able to design the information architecture scheme and wireframes for both web and mobile to provide visual context for stakeholders’ review. After soliciting insights and guidance from stakeholder and subject matter experts, we were able to construct high-level web and mobile prototypes. User interface color schemes, icon assets and style guides were created that upheld accessibility standards for visual design and sight impairments. Through collaborating with user experience specialists and developers, we were able to ensure the redesign effort met accessibility and design standards for the site.

As a result of these efforts, we created a compliant, visually appealing, and soldier-friendly OPSS.org mobile responsive website offering streamlined information and resource access for supplement safety. Post-redesign, stakeholders reported a 50% to 100+% increase in usage for some of the site’s more popular pages and features.

JOMIS develops, deploys, and maintains operational medicine information systems to deliver comprehensive health services to deployed forces across a range of military operations.

JOMIS required software sustainment of fielded Theater Medical Information Program Joint (TMIP-J) components and modernization support for components slated for the new Electronic Health Record (EHR), MHS GENESIS.

TIAG sustained three of the clinical components of the TMIP-J suite: the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application – Theater, the Theater Medical Information Program Composite Health Care System Cache, and the Mobile Computing Capability. In addition, we modernized the Mobile Computing Capability application to interface with MHS GENESIS.

Through a progressive methodology of software development, we were able to create solutions that improved mission reliability and performance for the TMIP-J clinical components and guaranteed the availability of critical medical data to care providers and decision-makers for U.S. military deployed forces. We were also able to modernize the mobile component to interface with MHS GENESIS. 

The Army Recovery Care Program (ARCP), previously known as Warrior Care and Transition (WCT), evaluates and treats wounded, ill, and injured soldiers through a comprehensive, soldier-centric process of medical care, rehabilitation, and personal and professional development.

ARCP needed to consolidate various Information Management and Information Technology (IM/IT) systems to support its direct reporting units, requiring the modernization of the Army Warrior Care and Transition System (AWCTS).

TIAG utilized best practices from across the software industry to develop the AWCTS release-cycle. We implemented tools and techniques such as code reviews, triage meetings, and code styling guides to achieve a baseline level of quality and standardize source code. Once each release was internally verified, we completed a formal UAT including a suite of regression tests in a pre-production environment managed by the same DoD hosting provider that hosts the production system.

Our approach to AWCTS software delivery preserved the key tenets of its agile methodology. This enabled the support team to successfully deliver a well-tested, deployment-ready release package for every scheduled deployment window since contract inception.