Department of Defense consulting

Client story

Helping the Department of Defense harness the power of analytics

▉ The challenge

The Department of Defense (DoD), as one of the world’s largest entities, has thousands of disparate data sets across its entire organization. Since 2019, EY has been supporting the Department's advancement of their cost and performance management analytic capabilities.

▉ The solution

We are working with the DoD to drive insight generation using advanced analytics to identify opportunities to enhance mission effectiveness. Examples of these analytical focus areas include:

• DoD-wide cost analytics by function
• Revolving fund analytics
• Fourth estate operating picture
• Evolving into advanced data analytics

▉ The outcome

The dashboards developed through the analytics are automatically updated on a routine basis and provide near-real-time insights, enabling leadership to focus on the highest-priority items that impact the mission. As a result, the DoD is furthering its ability to use analytics to make data-driven decisions, enabling it to refine strategies, deliver savings and mitigate risks.

Read the full DoD case study

Client story

How the US Navy is developing its workforce of the future

▉ The challenge

The struggle to recruit, retain and develop talent, familiar to so many companies in the private sector, is a concern for the US Department of the Navy as well. Antiquated legacy systems and slower-than-average processes were hampering the workforce experience, making it harder for the Navy to compete for top-level talent. The Navy is also facing significant workforce reduction as current personnel reach retirement age, so the need to attract talent is more important than ever.

▉ The solution

The EY US Performance Management team brought together professionals who had extensive experience in federal human capital management alongside those with commercial experience. The EY US team presented program management, analytics and technology solutions for the Navy to consider. They also demonstrated various workforce, workspace and workflow tools to better illustrate the design principles that the Navy was looking for in its employee experience.

For example, the EY US team showed how automation and AI could be used to accelerate the candidate selection. The Navy had been using a manual-intensive process, reviewing hundreds of résumés per hire. Automation and AI could instead be used the select the most qualified candidates and elevate only them for manual review.

▉ The outcome

Once implemented, the automation and AI pilot are able to see near-immediate successes, such as 40% reduction in hiring timeline, 30% increase in new hires and 117,000 hours saved for hiring managers overall.

Read the full workforce case study

Client story

Using data to modernize operations for the US Navy

▉ The challenge

The US Navy was experiencing a gap in the number of F/A-18 fighter jets that were ready for deployment. A large number of them were sitting in hangers waiting for maintenance.

▉ The solution

EY helped implement the Performance to Plan (P2P) structure, a solution that leverages digital leading practices for better outcomes. This focused leadership approach improves readiness by identifying quantifiable metrics and applying predictive and prescriptive analytics to rigorously strive for success. 

The Navy’s top priority was to focus on the shortfall in F/A-18 jets. Over time, that effort expanded to include surface ship and submarine maintenance, as well as how to effectively assign sailors to fill the gaps for deployed ships. Then, public shipyards were added. Are big carriers and submarines getting through the shipyard maintenance periods on time? Why do they often experience delays? What are the logistics of moving weapons, aircraft, emissions, food, supplies and people from one area of the world to another? How can the Navy manage the quality of maintenance activities – and at what cost?

▉ The outcome

Over the past three and a half years, EY has seen a major cultural shift in how the Navy operates its fleet of ships and aircraft. The focus has moved from activities and mitigating risks to accelerating performance improvement and measuring outcomes.

Read the full US Navy case study