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Photo Information

U.S. Marine Cpl. Didivalis Cruz, maintenance management clerk with 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, reviews task and transaction records kept using the Global Combat Support System-Marine Corps. In preparation for the GCSS-MC’s Release 12 software update, the GCSS-MC program management office released the Temporary R11 Instance, or TRI, to allow more time for testing of the R12 instance and to decrease risk at go-live and for develop training aides. As a bonus TRI will provide three of the four essential milestones necessary before the release of R12 bringing increased ‘under the hood’ capabilities. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jennifer Pirante)

Photo by Sgt. Jennifer Pirante

Interim solution making huge impact to Marine Corps supply chain management

20 Apr 2016 | Mathuel Browne, MCSC Office of Public Affairs and Communication Marine Corps Systems Command

A temporary solution is reaping permanent dividends to Marines who depend on Global Combat Support System-Marine Corps for supply chain logistics management.

The Temporary R11 Instance, or TRI, release is part of a major database update for GCSS-MC—an online enterprise business application that supports Marine Corps logistics functions. The logistics community uses the database to obtain real-time logistical data and reports to manage supply and maintenance for the operational Marine Corps.

Modernizing the server hardware and its software is necessary for the application’s Release 12 update, but the program office released the TRI to mitigate risk to user connectivity and deliver on schedule.

“We created a new hosting environment by cloning the current GCSS-MC environment and its associated data located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and installing it on brand new hardware at a new site at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina,” said Dimitrios Glitzos, a product manager on the program team.

Four upgrades were combined into the R12 effort to enhance the overall program—three of which were delivered to Marines early with TRI.

“The good news about TRI is of the four milestones necessary for the R12 upgrade, three were planned in this release,” said Dave Hansen, GCSS-MC program manager. “We purchased new hardware, installed new server operating systems, and upgraded the databases that store Marine Corps logistics data. The only item not available is the R12 software update.”

The GCSS-MC program is managed by Marines and civilians from Marine Corps Systems Command, with acquisition oversight from the Navy’s Program Executive Officer for Enterprise Information Systems.

Since going online in March, TRI has exceeded customers’ expectations.

“We’ve seen a tremendous uptick in the speed of the system, and the number of users being able to run sessions at the same time,” said Maj. Kevin Simmons, a logistics project officer. “Before TRI, reports sometimes took hours to generate. We’ve seen times for those same reports reduced to minutes, and in some cases seconds.”

TRI has also increased the number of concurrent reports Marines can run from 45 to 400 at any one time, Hansen said. On the first day of the release, there were 1,200 concurrent users.

The R12 update is expected to be released in late 2016 with TRI remaining active until the complete migration is complete. Feedback collected from users will help improve the application before the official release.

“Testing on the new system has shown a significant performance improvement for transactions such as creating a task and creating a service request,” said Glitzos.

Information collected will also help the program office validate the choice of keeping the GCSS-MC platform at its new location permanently.