Government Agency: U.S. Department of State - Acumen Solutions

Solution or Platform Selected: Financial Tracking System in Salesforce.com

1. The Government agency's challenge that led to the Cloud or SaaS adoption.
   The U.S. Department of State’s Office of Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund (NDF) provides a means for the U.S. Government to rapidly respond to nonproliferation and disarmament opportunities or circumstances that are unanticipated, but of high priority. As a global organization with projects being executed world-wide, NDF needed a web browser solution to manage and report project work and financial status across all time zones. SaaS provided NDF with a highly accessible, flexible and cost-efficient platform to quickly build a custom application with no additional investment in IT infrastructure.



2. The solution that was chosen and why that particular solution was selected.
   Acumen Solutions was selected as the systems integrator to develop and implement a custom application using the Force.com platform to meet the client’s specific needs. The Salesforce.com solution included custom object creation, custom Visual Force page and S-control development, custom Apex code, Salesforce Content, Salesforce.com Mobile for the i-phone, Crystalreports.com and integration with Google Apps. Acumen Solutions provided the NDF with process mapping, product knowledge, and configuration expertise. To ensure adoption by all users, Acumen Solutions also provided one-on-one and classroom training for the user community. Salesforce.com was selected as the software platform because it was a web-based solution that could be developed and deployed rapidly, as well as being dynamically customized as further requirements were identified.



3. Results of the implementation. How did the vendor meet the agency's needs?
   NDF successfully went live with their new project and financial tracking system in October 2008. The SaaS approach has saved the State Department many months of development time, and has enabled them to meet their aggressive program deadlines. The client was able to accomplish their goal of tracking the progress of nonproliferation and weapons disarmament projects anytime, anywhere, via any web browser. This implementation also accomplished their goals in terms of information control, distribution and security. This engagement was originally envisioned to require months if not years of development, testing and system deployment using traditional on-premise applications and infrastructure. However, by evaluating products and recommending a customized version of Salesforce.com’s on-demand solution, Acumen Solutions was able to deliver a solution within a few months. Acumen Solutions Contact: Marty Young myoung@acumensolutions.com 703-856-2871 State Dept Contact: Steve Saboe ph: 202-647-0094 saboe@ndf.org Salesforce.com Contact: Mark Cerniglia 703-447-4050 mcerniglia@salesforce.com