Attachment_C.2_EBTS_Environment_and_Requirements.docx

RFP# 16PBGC19R0003

Attachment C.2 Environment and Requirements

Contents

C.2 Enterprise Business Technology Services (EBTS) Environment and Requirements

2.1 Introduction/Background

The mission of the PBGC is to enhance retirement security by preserving and encouraging the continuation of private pension plans and protecting the benefits of workers and retirees in traditional pension plans. It does this through management of the single-employer and multi-employer programs with a focus on achieving the following three Strategic Goals:

Goal 1: Preserve plans and protect the pension of covered workers and retirees Goal 2: Pay pension benefits on time and accurately Goal 3: Maintain high standards of stewardship and accountability

EBTS provides certain business areas within PBGC the services to deliver against these strategic goals, and the following Strategic Objectives:

· Reduce the number of missing participants

· Promote exceptional customer service to pensioners

· Meet or exceed the financial or ethical standards that apply to PBGC as a major financial and government institution, and monitor cash flows

· Maintain effective IT security

The EBTS is currently comprised of the following systems:

1. Image Processing System (IPS)

2. Customer Correspondence System (CCS)

3. Case Management System (CMS)

4. User Provisioning Tool (UPT)

5. Address Validation Service (AVS)

6. Tableau Dashboard

2.2 Systems Stakeholders

The Office of Benefits Administration (OBA)

OBA utilizes the EBTS suite to perform its critical business processes to achieve Corporate goals. These systems allow OBA to administer benefits to over 1.5 million current and future payees in PBGC trusteed plans, while providing customer services to participants via phone, email and through a secure online self-service portal and in facilitating payments to nearly 840K retirees or their beneficiaries with benefits totaling more than $5.7 billion.

OBA’s Actuarial Services and Technology Department (ASTD) and Participant Services Department (PSD) are the main stakeholders, users and business sponsors for most of the EBTS suite (IPS, CCS and CMS). The primary function of ASTD is to provide actuarial oversight and expertise supporting PBGC benefit calculation, valuation, and administration; provide programmatic management, technical support, and quality assurance for the OBA systems; while the PSD provides post-approval benefit payment services for trusteed plans, settlement agreements, and assigned non-trusteed plans in accordance with OBA’s standards for quality and timeliness. ASTD’s Technology and Risk Management Division (TRMD) provides programmatic management, oversight and quality assurance for the OBA benefit administration systems. TRMD also provides technical services and support for plan processing and oversee the planning, organizing and coordinating of OBA's security strategy, risk management plan, and management of security system assets.

The Information Security Monitoring team (ISCM) within the TRMD is responsible for ensuring the protection of OBA's data, which often includes sensitive and/or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) type data. The ISCM Team processes and procedures ensure compliance with management organization directives, policies, guidelines, and other requirements. The OBA ISCM Team has defined information security boundaries that are led by an Information System Owner (ISO) or Information Owner (IO). The ISO/IO working with the IT and business project managers ensures the day-to-day activities are aligned with the approved ISCM plan and project schedule. The ISO/IO is responsible for ensuring accurate, comprehensive analysis, and timely completion of security related tasks and documentation.

OBA utilizes the EBTS suite of systems to provide the following services:

IPS:

· Scan, tag and manage hardcopies of case files, especially when taking over a new plan

· Scan and tag correspondence materials related to participants and pension plans through the Document Management Center (DMC) group

· View document history of actions taken on the scanned document

CCS:

· Create, review, approve and send letters to participants in a streamlined, standardized and controlled method

· Mail letters through an offsite fulfillment house

· Automatically send letters to the imaging system for scanning, tagging and managing documents

CMS:

· Manage case information, assign Trusteed cases (plan information) and team assignments

· Update/finalize case milestones

· Assign tasks (task referrals)

· Generate reports.

OBA manages the termination process for defined benefit plans, provides participant services (including calculation and payment of benefits) for PBGC-trusteed plans, provides actuarial support for PBGC, and carries out PBGC's responsibilities under settlement agreements. When it is necessary to terminate a defined benefit pension plan, OBA values plan assets and liabilities, and collects, evaluates, and performs participant and plan financial audits, making decisions on participant benefit entitlements and plan worth. OBA is the main business sponsor and key business stakeholders of EBTS Suite of applications (IPS, CCS and CMS).

Financial Operations Department (FOD)

In order to carry out its statutory mission, PBGC relies on FOD to administer and manage the Corporation’s financial and accounting programs and to prepare the financial statements. EBTS supports FOD’s Investment Accounting Branch (IAB), General Accounting Branch (GAB), and Collection and Compliance Division (CCD) by providing letter correspondence with practitioners, document management, and case management. IAB performs accounting functions for plan assets PBGC receives from distressed or involuntarily terminated plans. GAB administers the general accounting programs including vendor payments, benefit funding, and budgetary funds control for PBGC. CCD manages and establishes financial policies and procedures, maintains internal controls through the implementation of these policies and procedures, and ensures the integration of the Corporation’s financial systems.

The IAB and GAB and CCD utilizes the EBTS suite of systems to provide the following services:

IPS:

· Scan, tag and manage hardcopies of case file records

· View vendor invoices through an interface with the Consolidated Financial System (CFS)

CCS:

· Create and send letters to practitioners via a webservice through Premium Practitioner System (PPS)

· Mail letters through an offsite fulfillment house

· Automatically send letters to the imaging system for scanning, tagging and managing documents

CMS:

· Manage case data

· Assign and return task referrals

· Queries new plan (including multiemployer) data in the CMS database via webservices

Office of Negotiations and Restructuring (ONR)/Standard Termination Compliance Division (STCD)

In order to carry out its mission, PBGC relies on the ONR to manage its defined benefit plan insurance programs.

ONR manages:

· PBGC's single-employer and multiemployer plan insurance programs

· Administers financial assistance to insolvent multiemployer plans, provides financial and actuarial analyses regarding, and negotiates with, underfunded plans to properly address PBGC's and the insurance programs' risk exposure

· Reviews and acts on reportable events; and recommends involuntary or voluntary plan terminations under the single-employer program.

STCD administers PBGC’s standard termination activities, makes determinations on plan coverage and classification and responds to technical and general inquiries from the public. STCD delivers its mission through the Processing and Technical Assistance Branch (PTAB) and Compliance and Audits Branch (CAB).

STCD relies on CMS to:

· Manage standard termination cases (plan information); manage multi-employer cases (plan information)

· Assign Missing Participant task referrals to OBA; generate letters for standard termination cases

· Interact with OBA cases and team assignment tasks referrals via webservice invoked by Team Connect - Risk Management Early Warning (RMEW)

· Update/finalize milestones via webservice invoked by RMEW

· Queries plan data in CMS database through RMEW

ONR's STCD relies on EBTS' CMS to achieve the above PBGCs strategic goal 1 to: Preserve Plans and Protect the Pension of Covered Workers and Retirees

Business Innovation Services Department (BISD)/Shared Business Services Division (SBSD) and Program Management

The program/project managers and COR’s from BISD’s SBSD and corresponding business areas, with the support of the EBTS contractor, ensure that PBGC and system stakeholders’ goals and objectives are achieved. The IT and business program managers manage the full lifecycle of the program from planning, execution, monitoring, control, budgeting and present the program status to senior leaders at the monthly CIO-OBA, CIO-CFO and CIO-ONR executive leadership meetings.

The IT and business program managers partner with the Chief Enterprise Architect to conduct Business Needs Analysis (BNA) for the program components in accordance with Enterprise Architecture (EA) standards. The BNA’s support OMB’s Architect-Invest-Implement paradigm and provides recommendations that drive performance improvements and IT Investment planning. The BNA also provides support for the Participant Management IT Program Plan funding and prioritizations. The outcomes of BNA assist the program managers to establish a program roadmap for the Shared Business Services (SBS) Program and for planning budget formulations and prioritizations for outyears.

The budget prioritizations are presented at the CIO-CXO leadership briefing for approvals before getting incorporated in to the budget submission for the IT Program Review Board (ITPRB) which is chaired by the Chief Information Officer (CIO). When the ITPRB approves the program budget, a detailed roadmap for systems and planned projects is laid out for the upcoming fiscal years.

The planned projects are submitted to the SBS Change Control Boards (CCBs) for review, prioritization and approval. Upon CCB’s approval, the program roadmaps are updated with the projects and detailed project schedules are created. The IT and business project managers work with the EBTS contractor in managing the entire systems and project life cycle and providing efficient system operations. The IT project managers and the EBTS contractor also assist the business project managers in reviewing and prioritizing all system changes and submit them to the CCB for review and approval.

The program managers monitor the progress of all projects/deliverables and report them at the CIO-CXO monthly executive briefing and ensure that all program measures are met. The Integrated Project Team (IPT) comprising of IT project managers, business project managers, EA and security representatives and key business stakeholders conduct the Alternatives Analysis (AA) under guidance from both the IT and business program managers and the Chief Enterprise Architect. The AA process is used to identify, compare and assess viable information technology alternatives to address a given business need or performance gap. The IPT through the AA determine and recommend the best alternative and document the associated rational for systems. The selected alternative is presented at the CIO-CXO executive briefing for approval. Any tool, technology or solution that is part of the selected alternative is then presented to the Technical Review Board (TRB) by the IT project manager for TRB’s review and approval. The EA’s Technical Reference Model (TRM) is updated accordingly with the approved tools and technologies.

PBGC expects the EBTS Contract project manager to partner with PBGC IT and business project managers in the successful planning and execution of all projects. The EBTS Contractor will support the above-mentioned activities and providing efficient operations of all systems. The EBTS Contract program manager/leadership team is expected to work closely with PBGC’s program managers and executives to ensure the success of the program and conduct a monthly Program Management Review (PMR) to provide a detailed snapshot of all program activities and status.

2.3 Systems Overview

2.3.1 Image Processing System (IPS)

As an enterprise document management system supporting the archival of official business records, IPS manages OBA’s participant, plan file, and Form 5500 records; FOD’s premium, vendor invoices, and case file records. The IPS suite consists of IPS Viewer, IPS Document Manager (DM), and IPS Common Services (CS). IPS Viewer is a web-based document search and retrieval application. IPS DM is a desktop and web-based document capture application used to scan paper documents and upload electronic documents into IPS. IPS CS is a set of web services used for system-to-system integration with IPS for document uploads, searches, retrievals, and deletions.

The custom developed web-based front-end application user community consist of ~1,500 users that are based at PBGC headquarters in Washington, DC and at various Field Benefit Administrations (FBAs) locations based throughout the east coast and midwestern United States.

2.3.1.1 IPS System Technology Stack

The EBTS contractor shall be familiar with the following technologies that make up the system. Also see Attachment C.2.a TRM AD Tools, for a list of active directory tools currently used.

2.3.1.2 IPS Diagrams

The diagram below is the overall infrastructure of the IPS

2.3.2 Customer Correspondence System (CCS)

Customer Correspondence System (CCS) is a web-based application designed as an enterprise service for customer correspondence. It is built on top of a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) product called Thunderhead NOW which provides the design tools for templates and the core engine for correspondence generation. Thunderhead server components are deployed on PBGC Oracle WebLogic 11g infrastructure and can be leveraged by any PBGC system or component for correspondence generation. CCS provides a web service interface for PBGC consuming applications such as CRM, PPS, Spectrum and other future consumers.

As an enterprise customer communication management system used to correspond with PBGC’s millions of customer through direct mailing, the CCS suite consists of CCS User Interface (UI), CCS Services, and the CCS Document Importer. The CCS UI is a web-based application used to generate and manage correspondence mailed to customers. The CCS Services is a set of web services and java services used for system-to-system integration to generate letter requests and send letters to PBGC’s mailing fulfillment center (Government Printing Office). The CCS Document Importer is a desktop tool used to upload Benefit Statements generated from the Benefit Calculation Valuation (BCV) bulk to support the sending of Benefit Determination Letters.

The custom user interface allows the users to search for templates in Thunderhead repository and customers from the GENESIS database before submitting the request for processing. The request state is managed using a workflow system, which provides parallel processing and automatic submission to Thunderhead engines. All processing data is recorded for proper reporting in real-time or historical.

The Thunderhead NOW software provides the following modules:

· Business Content Studio – desktop tool for layouts (print, email), style sheets and templates design. Data driven business rules can be added to consolidate existing templates. Thunderhead separates content from presentation using layouts and style sheets, which allows using one template for multiple channels (output formats).

· Business Object Studio – desktop tool for business objects design, this will relate to dynamic data needed in the templates. Business objects will be created/updated from a schema file CCS.xsd.

· Admin – desktop tool for administration/configuration management of the Thunderhead solution.

· Workflow for template approval and deployment, build into Business Content Studio.

· Content Management System (Content Repository) – integrated storage for all the artifacts, such as document templates and shared content used to generate letters.

· Thunderhead Communication Engine - deployed on WebLogic 11g to process the data and generate correspondence.

· Thunderhead Services - integration Application Programming Interface (API) deployed on WebLogic 11g and used for job submission and template query.

· Monitoring reports and Job Manager Console. Provides an online report design tool called Reports Designer.

· Uses PBGC Active Directory (AD) for authentication and has out of the box authorization at a granular level.

· Interview Now enables data to be captured from the user, using logic within the Document Template to intelligently drive the data capture process, using Interview Forms to prompt the user for data input and generates the correspondence.

· Review Case allows an end user to edit the instance of customer communication before it is recreated as the final output communication. We use this feature to check for any missing data before sending for processing.

The custom developed web-based front-end application user community consist of over ~500 users that are based at PBGC headquarters in Washington, DC and at various Field Benefit Administrations (FBAs) locations based throughout the east coast and midwestern United States.

2.3.2.1 CCS System Technology Stack

The EBTS contractor shall be familiar with the following technologies that make up the system. Also see Attachment C.2.a TRM AD Tools, for a list of active directory tools currently used.

2.3.2.2 CCS Diagrams

The diagram below is the overall infrastructure of the CCS system.

2.3.3 Case Management System (CMS)

Case Management System (CMS) web-based corporate application and the Case Administration System (CAS) database support PBGC's processing of single and multi-employer pension plan failures and terminations, reportable events, and coverage issues, while providing support to monitor large pension plans which have the potential to terminate. Currently, PBGC has approximately 4,500 single-employer and multiemployer pension plans managed by CMS.

CMS is critical to a broad range of business processes at PBGC and supports one of PBGC's strategic corporate goals to provide exceptional service to customers and stakeholders (internal/external). CMS provides various functions and business logic to enable CMS users to perform, manage, report and monitor activities [i.e. case workflow activities such as case and task referral assignments, and the routing of work using the Business Process Management (BPM) tool] associated with the various business processes in PBGC to process pension plan inquiries, events, and terminations. The system supports various business functions performed by various departments and divisions in PBGC, including: Office of Benefits Administration (OBA); Office of Negotiations and Restructuring (ONR); Office of Policy and External Affairs (OPEA); Financial Operations Department (FOD). CMS is currently used by over 500 users and interfaced with four databases and over 10 applications, [i.e. CRM, MyPBA, Trust Accounting System (TAS), IPS and Spectrum]. CMS currently has three web services: TAS, Spectrum and RMEW.

The custom developed web-based front-end application user community consists of ~1,240 users and they are based at the PBGC headquarters in Washington, DC, the Customer Contact Center (CCC) and Document Management Center (DMC) in Alexandria, Virginia, and at various Field Benefit Administrations (FBAs) locations based throughout the east coast and midwestern United States.

2.3.3.1 CMS System Technology Stack

The EBTS contractor shall be familiar with the following technologies that make up the system. Also see Attachment C.2.a TRM AD Tools, for a list of active directory tools currently used.

CMS v3.9/UPT v3.3

2.3.3.2 CMS Diagrams

The diagram below is the overall infrastructure of the CMS system.

2.3.4 User Provisioning Tool (UPT)

User Provisioning Tool (UPT) enables designated PBGC personnel to provision application accounts for federal employees and contractors. It allows the system administrators to maintain a role structure to regulate access to computer or network resources based on the predefined job categories or roles for all subscribed applications. This information is stored within the CAS database and the data is also synchronized directly with PBGC's LDAP services (Active Directory). Current PBGC applications that utilize UPT include CMS, CRM and Spectrum.

UPT is a pure J2EE user friendly, tab driven web application primarily utilizing MVC (Model-View-Controller) paradigm. "Model" is achieved by a set of hand coded java classes utilizing design patterns like Facade, DAO and POJO. The "Model" utilizes the information from enterprise LDAP server (Active Directory) and the Oracle 11g database is used for application data. "View" is achieved through JSP, JSTL, Apache Struts 1.3 and Tiles and "Extreme Components". Controller" is achieved by Apache Struts. The application features essentials of a full featured enterprise application like Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication using Oracle SSO and OID Server, logging using log4j, builds using Ant. UPT exposes authorization information as a Web service through an application called "WSAZ" developed using "Java Web Services Developer pack", so that applications subscribing to it can utilize during their authorization process.

Data Model

All UPT tables used to provision users and store user access codes are contained within the schema in the Case Administration System (CAS) database. Employee information such as department code, e-mail, phone numbers, etc. is stored in the schema in the CAS database. UPT leverages a set of synchronization classes that perform a one-way refresh of CAS data on a periodic basis. The data being refreshed include the Employee Name, Email, and Phone attributes. The primary goal of the Active Directory Synchronization (AD Sync) is to ensure that all employee information stored in the Active Directory is reflected in the CAS database. Until a "true" single sign-on solution is implemented within CMS, the AD Sync process will be used to ensure employee information synchronization. It is an automated procedure which is scheduled to run twice daily once around noon and once around midnight.

WSAz Service

WSAz is a backend service that provides UPT database information to requesting application on User Job Categories and Functions. The WSAz provides consumers with authorization information. The WSAz is a key part of the Authorization Service that exposes authorization meta-data to calling applications. The WSAz provided application authorization information to participating applications based on an authenticated user. Current PBGC applications that utilize WSAz include CRM, IPS, MyPBA, Spectrum, PACS and CMS.

The applications on the PBGC intranet invoke the WSAz by point to point call, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of Web Service Description Language (WSDL) file. The WSAz application was developed on the Java/J2EE platform and is comprised of three implementation layers: Service Description Layer, Service Layer, and Data Layer. The Service Description Layer contains a freely available Web Service Description Language (WSDL) file that defines the WSAz's service interface. The components of the Service Description Layer are the WSDL and the Oracle 1 WebLogic Server used to serve the WSDL file. The Service Layer contains the Java classes that will make the WSAz service available to calling applications as well as provide the logic required to receive information from a calling application, query the WSAz database, and return the appropriate information to the calling application. The Data Layer contains an Oracle database used to hold the authorization data and stored procedures needed by the WSAz.

Active Directory Synchronization (ADSync)

Since many PBGC systems utilize employee data within the CAS database, the corporation launched the ADSync initiative to ensure that the CAS database contained the most current employee information (First/Last Name, Department/Division, and Extension) retrieved from the Gold Source - the "Active Directory" (AD). The synchronization process is executed on a scheduled basis to ensure that the employee information in the AD is reflected in the CAS database. is a J2EE/Java application that includes an automated procedure which is scheduled to run twice daily -once around noon and once around midnight.

2.3.4.1 UPT System Technology Stack

Please refer to section 2.3.1.10 for UPT’s shared technology stack.UPT Diagrams

2.3.4.2 UPT Diagrams

The diagram below is the overall infrastructure of the UPT system.

2.3.5 Address Validation System (AVS)

Address Validation Service (AVS) was the first shared/common service system for PBGC that validates residential and business addresses against the United States Postal Service (USPS) database of valid delivery addresses. The Office of Benefits Administration (OBA) is the primary consumer of this service and sends over three million transactions annually. OBA manages the termination process for defined benefit plans, provides participant services (including calculation and payment of benefits) for PBGC-trusteed plans, provides actuarial support for PBGC, and carries out PBGC’s responsibilities under settlement agreements. OBA has four applications (CMS, CRM, MyPBA, and Spectrum) that use AVS to deliver on-demand, transaction-based standardization and validation of addresses for real-time and bulk transactions. For real-time, each of the consuming application calls the same Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) service that calls Trillium to validate the addresses. For bulk, it is only used by Spectrum that calls Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) web service that calls Trillium to validate the data. Data is refreshed periodically via United States Postal Services (USPS) downloads.

AVS is based on the Trillium platform and available in real-time/transactional mode and batch/bulk mode. Real-time mode validates an address at the point of entry, and batch mode validates large quantity of addresses. Batch mode is usually used when PBGC trustees a new plan and intakes all the plan records/data. Currently, there is a modernization effort to upgrade Trillium version in support of the Address Validation service, and to implement an Address Verification service using National Change of Address (NCOA) through the Government Printing Office (GPO).

The COTS application user community consists of about 1000 users and they are based at the PBGC headquarters in Washington, DC.

2.3.5.1 AVS System Technology Stack

The EBTS contractor shall be familiar with the following technologies that make up the system. Also see Attachment C.2.a TRM AD Tools, for a list of active directory tools currently used.

2.3.5.2 AVS Diagram

The diagram below is the overall infrastructure of the AVS system.

2.3.6 Tableau Dashboard

In 2017, PBGC implemented Tableau as its integrated data analytics sharing and reporting environment. PBGC currently has:

· Total of 31 Desktop and 44 Server licenses

· Tableau version 10.2

· A monthly user group meeting to share best practices amongst current and potential users

· Several users who have implemented reports/dashboards for themselves

· Several users who are interested in exploring the capabilities of Tableau for their needs

· A governance framework to ensure access to the tool is carefully managed

There are currently around 75 users between the server and the desktop licenses and they are based at the PBGC headquarters in Washington, DC. The number of users and licenses will increase during the life of the EBTS contract.

2.3.6.1 Tableau System Technology Stack

The EBTS contractor shall be familiar with the following technologies that make up the system. Also see Attachment C.2.a TRM AD Tools, for a list of active directory tools currently used.

2.3.6.2 Tableau Diagram

No System Diagrams are available

2.3.7 Systems Data

The data provided in the table below are historic numbers and are provided for context to enable the offeror to better understand the requirements.

Program/Project Management

CCB: Semi Annually

Execution

Operations

2.4 EBTS-Specific Requirements

2.4.1 Hours of Support

The hours listed below are to provide an understanding of the environment and overall requirements. A full complement of contractor personnel is not needed on-site or to staff each area during all of these hours. The contractor is to propose its staffing levels.

All Hours are East Coast

Support

Operations support personnel should be available during Core Hours and for tier-3 on-call needs. Program/Project Management and Execution staff are not required on a regular basis after 5:30 PM. The contractor shall follow FAR and PBGC policy regarding holidays and inclement weather in coordination with the COR.

2.4.2 Travel

Travel is periodically required to both the COOP and Field Benefit Administration (FBA) sites. Travel normally occurs following system releases that introduce new functionalities where the user community must be trained. Other instances for travel may include annual COOP exercises or site visits to evaluate system performance and user satisfaction. Based on historical estimates, an average of 2 trips are taken annually image1.png image2.emf image3.jpg image4.emf

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