TAMPA, Fla.,  June 10th, 2020

Even though it might seem uncertain at the beginning, hard work does pay off. Over a 6-month period, Spathe’s Systems’ App/Dev team has been working on improving USSOCOM’s J4’s Joint Logistics Enterprise system. The Global Logistics Overview (GLO) project was a partnership between USSOCOM’s J4, the J6T, and Spathe Systems to build a containerized web application for USSOCOM to improve the overall efficiency of logistics calculation while also being readily configurable for any branch’s needs.  Spathe’s team used MongoDB’s infrastructure to build a process that is 1000% faster than the traditional method and as a result, MongoDB awarded their efforts with the “Industry Transformation” award.

The MongoDB innovation Awards is an annual list that recognizes organizations and individuals building something ground-breaking with MongoDB’s technology. More specifically, the Industry Transformation Award is given to an organization that grows their business to the next level and disrupts their industry by identifying new technologies, applying new skills, and operationalizing processes with MongoDB.

Vital to the success of the project was USSOCOM’s integration into the project team, including the J44 lead Lt. Col. Christopher Baldwin who served as the team’s Product Owner and guided the design of the product. The application has literally turned DOD logistics planning on its face and brings it into the information age. As a modern application using modern data structures from MongoDB, GLO revolutionizes the way in which logistics estimates are calculated, enables the application of machine learning algorithms, and facilitates increased precision, accuracy, and efficacy of military logistics planning.  This tool has already reduced the time taken to calculate basic food and water

(Class I: Subsistence) requirements by over 1000% and has allowed for a global view of all requirements: a first of its kind. The application can also be used to plan Humanitarian Assistance / Disaster Relief operations for both domestic and multinational operations.

The GLO application addresses some of the critical technology gaps required to sustain the Multi-Domain Operations Capable Force: the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled systems to facilitate decision-making, visualization of logistics effects, maintaining balance

in the supply chain, and improvement of readiness throughout the Joint supply chain. Potential savings in operational costs and reduced risk to soldiers throughout the battlefield are expected with the use of this planning tool. GLO provides an agile, interoperable, and resilient information capability that allows predictive, real time, and informed decisions for sustainment planning across the spectrum of competition and conflict.

By crowdsourcing institutional knowledge, GLO enables a faster pathway to AI and provides new statistical methods to refine consumption factors, increasing precision and accuracy, and incorporating the entirety of Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) Partners. GLO facilitates Globally Integrated Logistics

(GIL), and provides a pathway to experiment with resilient log C2 and enable flexible, agile, and distributed logistics.  It captures the requirements necessary to set the globe, conduct Dynamic Force Employment, and fulfil rotational requirements.

The lack of a clear demand signal to the Joint Logistics Enterprise caused the logistics support community to be slow to react to dynamic mission needs resulting in inefficiency, waste, and concerns in global defense supply chains. GLO allows Joint Logistics planners to plan for new missions far in advance, anticipate shortcomings

before they are dire, accelerate the process to create concepts of support, and simplify reporting of global logistics operations throughout the command.  This tool assists planners in every service, component, interagency organization, and select multinational mission partners. It facilitates Geographic Combatant Commanders as well as service staffs.

Spathe Systems is was truly fortunate for having the opportunity to work with the USSOCOM J4 and J6T by using the MongoDB technology enabling support of our men and women in uniform. We look forward to seeing what other incredible innovations come out of this groundbreaking technology.