MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE-GUNTER ANNEX, Ala. -- On-Line Vehicle Interactive Management System (OLVIMS) is a web-based application hosted on CloudOne Amazon Web Services (AWS). This application is used by over 3,200 users at 278 Air Force installations including Space Force, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve units. OLVIMS assists the Ground Transportation Career Field in managing 1.3-million transportation requests and 320,000 Air Force driver’s licenses and records.
For 18 months, users of the application experienced a daily critical error, resulting in multiple instances of rework. When the error occurred, users were forced to log out of OLVIMS, clear their browser cache, log back in, and then re-enter previous data which resulted in approximately 75,000 man-hours of lost work time across the field. Due to the additional steps involved to work within the application, this error became the top issue to resolve by the Field and Ground Transportation Career Field Manager.
The OLVIMS technical and functional teams spent approximately 250 man-hours pinpointing the cause of the problem. The team troubleshot and force replicated the error which led to the discovery that the error was within Oracle code. The OLVIMS Capability Delivery Team (CDT) networked with the Business and Enterprise Systems Directorate leadership to communicate with senior Oracle engineers to determine that they needed a patch and release date. On 29 June 2022, Oracle provided details on a one-off patch release that would resolve the issue. The OLVIMS technical team applied the patch immediately to the OLVIMS test environment. The team monitored test runs to ensure they did not encounter any critical or stack overflow errors.
Once it was verified that the patch resolved the issue in testing, the OLVIMS technical team applied the Oracle patch to the production environment on 8 July 2022, and the response from the end-users was immediate! There were no issues, critical errors, or stack overflow errors in the system log. The OLVIMS CDT surveyed the field and performed on-site visits to determine that the patch in question resolved field frustrations. In addition to delighting the customers, it is estimated that the Oracle patch will prevent the loss of approximately $2.1 million and 75,000 man-hours annually by eliminating the critical error and the need for re-work by OLVIMS users.
The timing of this patch could not have been any better. On 3 August 2022, SMSgt Ben Weavers briefed the field on this fix during the Ground Transportation Summit, where OLVIMS users from across the world gather to gain insight and professional development from senior leaders within the Ground Transportation community. Upon briefing the field that the critical error was resolved, loud cheers and applause erupted from the auditorium. During a question-and-answer session, SMSgt Weavers collected several good ideas for requirements and feedback to make further improvements to OLVIMS in the future. The Ground Transportation Career Field Manager, CMSgt Robert Berrier stated that, “The changes I’ve seen from a few years ago to today are night and day, and I appreciate the efforts of the OLVIMS team to continue to improve the system for the enterprise.”