Background

Each year the IRS processes hundreds of millions of returns, collecting trillions of dollars in taxes while issuing hundreds of billions of dollars in refunds. Wherever possible, the IRS uses commercial products to facilitate its mission of serving taxpayers and enforcing the law. One commercial product the IRS uses to analyze its labyrinthine of data is Informatica. The IRS utilizes Informatica to support many of its responsibilities, including assisting with examinations, collections and criminal investigations.

Challenge

Given its role in ensuring tax compliance, its implementation at the IRS is carefully administered and maintained. While the IRS Enterprise Operations organization is made up of many dedicated and skilled civil servants, like any organization with limited funds it has skill and experience gaps. When Informatica was introduced to the enterprise, the IRS needed Informatica product expertise to support its 24×7 operations. The IRS tasked Northrop with providing this capability. Given the short time frame and limited funds, Northrop Grumman would need to man the operation with only 3 skilled personnel with extensive product expertise and existing Department of Treasury clearances.

The Solution

Having success using STP to fulfill its most difficult needs, Northrop Grumman tasked STP with staffing the Informatica team. After convincing the IRS to allow remote administration, STP staffed the team with 3 STP employees, who were cleared Informatica experts, to work in different 8-hour shifts staggered over the 7-day week. Working closely with IRS Enterprise Operations personnel, the 3 experts provided over 30,000 hours of hands-on administration and maintenance.