What group collaboration services are used in DoD work?

[Wheeler, David A]

I may regret asking this, but what the heck :-).

 

I’d like to know what group collaboration services are used in DoD-related software-related work to help groups get specific work done. By “service” I mean “has a website”.  “Specific work” could include open source software development for the DoD.  Software development usually involves working in groups, so I’m sure there’s a lot of generic groupware in use.

 

I ask because it’s way easier to let someone else run a service,  and I recently learned about a service that I should have learned about… but somehow never heard about it.  I suspect there are some awesome options I’m not even aware of.

 

Some outside-DoD services I can think of offhand include:

GitHub (runs GitHub Enterprise, basically)

SourceForge (runs Allura)

Google: Google Docs, Google Groups, Google Drive

Chat: Slack, IRC

StackOverflow

BaseCamp

GovLoop, https://www.govloop.com/

IaaS and PaaS cloud services can make it easier to deploy specialized things, e.g., Amazon’s AWS, Heroku, etc… but let’s exclude those for my question.

 

For many cases you can’t put DoD-related data “out there” – which drives you to do something else.  But what are the “something else”s? That might include someone who’s already re-installed some outside service’s software on some approved system.  Some within the government or DoD include:

DISA enterprise services http://www.disa.mil/Enterprise-Services - including:

- DoD Enterprise Email (DEE)

- DoD Enterprise Portal Service (DEPS)

- Defense Collaboration Services (DCS) – small group audio/video conferencing, replaced DCO

- Forge.mil (not interested in a flamewar about it, thanks)

- Organizational Messaging Service

- Strategic Knowledge Integration Web (SKIWeb)

- Secure File Gateway (SFG) Relay Service

- Automated Time, Attendance, and Production System (ATAAPS)

- Enterprise Search

- Enterprise File Share

Sharepoint (there are many individual sites)

DI2E - https://devtools.di2e.net/ - includes JIRA, Stash for git, Jenkins, etc.

Intelink – includes Intellipedia

MilSuite – including Milbook (Facebook-like)

 

I’m sure that’s a hideously incomplete list.  However, a totally complete list would be absurdly long.  I did find this page about non-government sources that was interesting but longer than I was looking for: http://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/

 

So: What especially-common or especially-useful ones aren’t listed (that can be identified on an open line!), particularly ones that can be easily used to DoD tasks?  I’m especially looking to identify ones I *don’t* know about, but should.

 

--- David A. Wheeler

 

[Kit Plummer]

Heyo David.

Quick feedback: I think a category that is missing is PM tools like: JIRA, Trello, PivotalTracker, etc.

Kit

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[Christopher Sean Morrison]

On Oct 16, 2015, at 3:54 PM, Wheeler, David A <dwhe...@ida.org> wrote:

I may regret asking this, but what the heck :-).

 

I’d like to know what group collaboration services are used in DoD-related software-related work to help groups get specific work done. By “service” I mean “has a website”.  “Specific work” could include open source software development for the DoD.  Software development usually involves working in groups, so I’m sure there’s a lot of generic groupware in use.

Some collaboration points that come to mind:

GCC Compile Farm and BuildBot for CI build testing

AppVeyor for Windows CI build testing

Coverity Scan for vulnerability testing (this is awesome)

DHS SWAMP for QA testing (becoming awesome)

Self-managed dedicated server

Probably 90% of all non face-to-face collaboration occurs via IRC, directly on our dedicated server, or via self-installed services running on our dedicated server.

Cheers!

Sean

[Richard Bullington-McGuire]

Lee Butler and other scientists associated with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory are actively using Gitlab at the Visual Simulation Laboratory, see Lee Butler's profile page on that Gitlab instance for example. The same server hosts a Redmine instance, possibly for helpdesk purposes as this patch suggests. Multiple sources link to this site, including published research reports and books, but I found it through a google search on "gitlab department of defense".

p.s. the cert on the https://vissimlab.org/ site is a self-signed, invalid example.com certificate :(

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PGP key IDs: RSA: 0x93862305 DH/DSS: 0xDAC3028E

[Donald Overbay]

David,

My company uses Hanscom milCloud (HmC) for some distributed work.  It is a cloud environment similar to what you might find on AWS, but it has some unique differences that make it significantly more productive and, depending on how you use it, cheaper.  We primarily use it for automated software testing, but it can also be used for development.  The Air Force used it recently for a PlugFest event: .http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/lists/posts/post.aspx?ID=1940   Although HmC isn't mentioned by name, it was used as the host, development and test environment.  I was very impressed with the capabilities provided.  Confluence and JIRA were used for project management and issue tracking.  Email me if you would like me to send you a POC.

[John Scott III]

What makes it better?

Sent from my iPhone

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[todd....@jackpinetech.com]

David,

You should also consider adding CONS3RT. CONS3RT is "a hybrid cloud orchestration and service management software suite”. What that means is users can leverage CONS3RT across a variety of clouds (e.g., DISA milCloud, AWS GovCloud, AWS, VMware Government Service, VMware) to automate things like provisioning, building, and testing collections of systems.

Users are able to belong to one or more projects. The projects can be built around whatever the team needs to accomplish (e.g., common tasks, code, systems, etc). Then all work that is done in CONS3RT is, by definition, reusable and shareable (if you want). You will be managing the ACTUAL software, systems, scenarios, deployments.  Users can access the shared library of components and system designs which can be leveraged and reused across clouds.

CONS3RT has been used as the primary cloud orchestration tool in multiple Department of Defense sites across all classification levels, including DISA’s milCloud and Hanscom milCloud. It is used everyday for development, test and operational activities. One site alone had over one million virtual machine hours of development and test activity this past year.

Here are a couple links for you to check out - https://www.milcloud.ceif.hpc.mil/support - https://www.cems.milcloud.mil/support (only available via .mil) - https://www.cons3rt.com

There are also standing overviews twice a month:

Orchestration Overview 101 (for Beginners)

When: First Thursday of each month @ 1200 EST - (this month it is on 5 November)

DCO: https://conference.apps.mil/webconf/cems/

Orchestration User Training 201 (for Intermediate to Advanced users)

When: Third Thursday of each month @ 1200 EST

DCO: https://conference.apps.mil/webconf/cems/

Let me know if you have any questions.

Todd

[Kit Plummer]

What's the license for CONS3RT?  Where's the code?

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[todd....@jackpinetech.com]

Kit,

CONS3RT was delivered with government purpose rights...that means there are no licensing costs if you are going to use it for government purposes.

All of the code is in forge.mil.

Todd