Transforming the Department of Defense with Data Analytics: A Case Study

The Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest business entity in the United States, with a 2019 budget of $686 billion and an estimated 3.4 million employees. It operates differently from any commercial company or other federal agency, with unique drivers, influences, and constraints. The DoD's data exists in hundreds of different places and lacks standardization across various lines of business. The department's existing data collection, storage, and analysis processes were heavily paper-driven and lacked the necessary frameworks for effective data management and analysis. The challenge was to change the perception of data within the DoD and highlight the value it could provide.

The Department of Defense (DoD), the largest business entity in the United States, faced significant challenges in managing and analyzing its vast data resources. With a 2019 budget of $686 billion and an estimated 3.4 million employees, the DoD generates an enormous amount of data. However, the defense sector's unique business drivers, policies, constraints, and operational challenges often make it difficult for traditional consultancies, solutions providers, and product vendors to understand and address its needs. The DoD's existing data collection, storage, and analysis processes were heavily paper-driven and lacked the necessary frameworks for effective data management and analysis. The data existed in hundreds of different places and lacked standardization across various lines of business. This situation made it difficult to increase collaboration, information sharing, and data-driven action. The challenge was to change the perception of data within the DoD and highlight the value it could provide.

The first step in addressing the DoD's data challenges was to understand the business challenges of its users and the type of data they had access to. Once the key issues were identified, the benefits of having organized access to data were highlighted. Repeatable workflows were built to reduce a whole day’s process down to two minutes, demonstrating the possibilities that could be achieved using analytics. Alteryx was chosen as the platform to address the DoD's challenges. It was instrumental in merging data from various sources, joining inconsistent data, and standardizing data collection for analysis. Alteryx's ability to accept most file types was particularly useful in the conversion process. Macros were built to batch out all the SPSS files from a specific location into a CSV file in a different location. Alteryx's repeatable workflows and error tests were also highly beneficial. With Alteryx, the DoD was able to cultivate a culture of analytics, manage and merge data from multiple sources, transform hundreds of files into spreadsheets and dashboards for analysis, reduce task time to seconds, and increase data collaboration.

• The implementation of Alteryx has enabled a significant cultural shift within the DoD. The department has moved from making instinct-based decisions and working with siloed data towards a culture built on visibility and collaboration using advanced analytics. The DoD is now able to work on solving some of the most pressing issues facing the security of the nation with large-scale projects and initiatives. Although still in the early stages of this data revolution, the DoD anticipates that Alteryx will continue to be instrumental in its future.

• Reduced a whole day’s process down to two minutes using repeatable workflows
• Managed and merged data from multiple sources
• Transformed hundreds of files into spreadsheets and dashboards for analysis