Feature

DIACAP Accreditation

Over the last year or so we've been working with NGB to get the servers that run the TwinEngines applications DIACAP accredited. We've now successfully completed the DIACAP accreditation process and received an ATO for the E-Trans Web and Database servers. This was done as a "Type" accreditation as opposed to a "Site" accreditation. A "Site" accreditation would require each of the 54 states and territories to have their sites individually accredited. A "Type" accreditation is done at a single location and the other sites that implement the system configure their sites in the same fashion in order to operate under the same ATO.

Still waiting on some guidance as to how "Type" accreditation information is pushed out to the individual states and territories. We've created a "TwinEngines System Administration and Security Guide" which gives guidance to system administrators when walking through the STIGS that are required by the accreditation. This along with probably other information will be passed on to the states.

News From TwinEngines

E-Trans Manager

We've been working with NGB to automate gains for ISRs using a similar process to how we automate gain transactions from ARISS. We are currently beta testing a release that will allow you to import a "SOLD" transaction that comes from NGB and convert it to a PSG transaction. Unfortunately, not all the data elements are available that you would need to input the soldier into SIDPERS. NGB is working an effort to get additional data elements added to the transaction. They are also working with the Recruiting branch to come up with a SOP for getting the documentation about the new ISR into the hands of the SIDPERS personnel in order for them to execute the gain. The main issue behind the documentation is that PERMS will not allow a state to view the soldier's records until they are actually in SIDPERS in that state. The SIDPERS analyst however needs access to the documents so they can verify and complete the gain transaction before they get them into SIDPERS.

Look for a new release in the next couple of months, along with some guidance as to how the ISR's documentation will be accessed.

PERMS Integrator

We recently found a unique scenario with the AFCOS orders export where PERMS Integrator could potentially put an order into the wrong soldier's record. The scenario is a bit complex and requires multiple versions of PERMS Integrator running at the same time on the same system, both exporting AFCOS orders. For example, you could either have 2 people remoting into the same system, both running PERMS Integrator to export AFCOS orders, or one person having 2 copies of PERMS Integrator up and exporting AFCOS orders from 2 different orders documents. The problem was with some temporary files that were created during the parsing process for the AFCOS Orders document. PERMS Integrator splits out the AFCOS Orders document into individual orders documents into temporary files during the parsing process. The file names for these temporary files were not unique between the 2 versions of PERMS Integrator, so one instance could over-write the temporary files from the other.

This issue has been fixed in the latest version by ensuring the temp file names will be unique.

Latest Releases

For your convenience, here is a list of each of the products and their current version. Check the Release Notes in each system to make sure you have the latest version.

*Includes Awards Tracking, Case Management, Evaluations, Recruiting, Retention, and Enlisted Promotions.

You can download these from: /support/downloads.aspx

Dean Baskin
dbaskin@twinengines.com
859-536-2540