Background
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is tasked with protecting and strengthening the resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure—both physical and cyber. To support this mission, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) established the Business Transformation Office Unit (BTU) to spearhead technology-driven solutions that foster greater transparency, accountability, and data-informed decision-making across the agency. The BTU is responsible for envisioning and implementing forward-looking technical roadmaps that enable the OCFO to operate more effectively and respond rapidly to evolving challenges.
The Challenge
Despite its critical mission, CISA’s financial operations were significantly hindered by outdated and disjointed systems. The existing environment included:
- Manual data processingslowed down financial reporting and analysis, often taking days to complete routine tasks.
- Siloed Excel-based workbooksslowed down financial reporting and analysis, often taking days to complete routine tasks.
- Fragmented systems and repositoriesslowed down financial reporting and analysis, often taking days to complete routine tasks.
These inefficiencies created barriers to collaboration, reduced data integrity, and limited CISA’s ability to align with the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) cycle.
The Solution:
To modernize CISA’s financial data infrastructure, OPTiMO designed, developed, and implemented the CISA Business Management Platform (CBMP)—a centralized, enterprise-wide solution powered by:
- Microsoft Power Platform (including PowerApps)
- Okta
- React
- Azure DHS HQ Gov Cloud environnement
- Azure SQL
- Azure Data Factory
- Azure API Management
- Azure Kubernetes Service Cluster
- Focused microservices
Using Agile methodologies and rapid prototyping, OPTiMO engineered and delivered a highly secure, scalable, and intuitive Business Management Platform. Key platform capabilities included:
- Dimensional Hierarchy Reporting for dynamic roll-ups and drilldowns
- Multidimensional analysis tools enabling users to seamlessly toggle between high-level dashboards and detailed transactional data
- Web API integrations for secure access, automated data pipelines, and robust job scheduling
- Modular and rapid scalability for agility in responding to growing and evolving client data integration needs
All components were DHS 508 compliant, built and certified within the DHS Enterprise Cloud (DEC), and achieved ATO certification on the first attempt in half the typical timeframe.
The Impact:
The platform’s agility and responsiveness allowed CISA to align system releases with PPBE milestones—ensuring timely delivery of capabilities. Recognizing the exceptional quality of the architecture and execution, the Deputy CIO of CISA (2023) remarked:
“This [CBMP] is great. It is some of the most architecturally sound work we have seen.”
Through close collaboration with cybersecurity teams, OPTiMO also ensured that all security requirements were rigorously met, with regular audits, failover testing, and compliance assessments forming part of the project’s lifecycle.
The transformation delivered measurable improvements across the CISA OCFO landscape:
- Dramatically improved reporting accuracy and speed through centralized and unified financial data
- Enabled a consistent, agency-wide approach to budget formulation and execution, enhancing organizational alignment
- Increased transparency and collaboration across divisions and subdivisions, supporting more cohesive decision-making
- Delivered a better user experience with intuitive interfaces and quicker access to essential financial data
- Empowered data-driven decisions by ensuring high-quality, real-time financial information
- Reduced manual workload and shortened process cycles, increasing overall operational efficiency
- Generated significant cost savings for the agency, lowering cloud infrastructure expenses by over $100,000, directly improving budget utilization