Services Provided

System integration - SAP CRM and Esri GIS

Technical solution alternatives analysis

Web service specification development

Functional requirements documentation

Technical design specifications

Test case development

Progress reporting for senior program managers

The Challenge

The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) provides programs and services that support the economic stability of American farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners, providing billions of dollars in grants and loans annually.

The FSA identified the need to significantly improve delivery of farm programs, reduce fraud and improper payments, improve customer service, and modernize and future-proof its IT systems.

Solution and Outcome

The MIDAS Program was the modernization initiative to provide a secure, long-term, web-based solution to simplify, integrate, and automate the delivery of farm programs.

The FSA selected the SAP Customer Service Relationship (CRM) solution as the foundation for its new delivery solution.

A key element of the MIDAS solution was the inclusion of map views to show the location of farms and crops, thereby increasing accuracy of reported data and reducing the potential for fraud. Esri ArcGIS Enterprise was selected as the solution for mapping capabilities within MIDAS.

Mr. Feinberg acted as the senior integration lead, responsible for requirements definition and integration strategy for orchestrated workflows using SAP CRM and embedded mapping components.

As a result, the FSA and its customers can now view the location of farms and crops to enable collaboration and to mitigate the potential for loan fraud

Project Activities and Deliverables

• Executed a robust system development lifecycle (SDLC) using the Accelerated SAP (now the SAP Launch) methodology.

• Coordinated daily with government program managers, SAP integration team, USDA enterprise architects and an independent verification and validation (IV&V) oversight team.

• Developed detailed requirements specifications including use cases and business processes documented using Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standards.

• Analyzed architectural alternatives for SAP - Esri ArcGIS platform integration, including middleware, web services, XML packet specifications, and database transaction procedures.

• Established and executed comprehensive test cases, managed through the HP Quality Center (HPQC) platform. Led a QC testing team to validate SAP – Esri GIS integration.