CEIS is being acquired for MHS by ASD(HA), with the Army Surgeon General designated as Executive Agent for the acquisition. The new system was originally intended to subsume the functionalities of eight legacy systems. Seven of these systems have already been turned off, but CEIS has now become the target system for the migration of all systems within the Executive Information/Decision Support area of MHS. It will eventually be deployed to about 150 locations, and is considered critical to the effective management of DoD's TRICARE program, which has been implemented worldwide.

No OT&E has been conducted since 1997. A Government Installation and Acceptance Test (GIAT) was conducted in June of that year. This was a two-phase, combined DT/OT effort. OPTEC, the independent OTA, participated in the first phase of the GIAT, observing DT&E and gathering selected information for assessment. OPTEC then conducted a dedicated OT phase in June and July 1997, with most of the data provided by the users. During this phase, OPTEC collected operational data at 14 test sites and conducted user desk audits for qualitative data. OPTEC also evaluated the quality of system manuals and documents.

GIAT results (both OT and DT) were unusually positive for an emerging system. CEIS V1.0 was judged to be operationally effective and operationally suitable. The system achieved its mission performance, interoperability, reliability, availability, maintainability, and logistics support requirements documented in the ORD. It conforms to the standards specified in the Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment documentation. CEIS also meets its system-level security requirements, has received its security accreditation, and possesses adequate means to protect continuity of operations. The system enjoys a high level of support from its users.

Combined DT/OT proved to be a very effective testing methodology for CEIS, as it can be for other automated information systems. For a system like CEIS, in which both DT and OT took place at a relatively large number of test sites (14 MTFs), much of the DT data could also be used to evaluate performance in the operational environment, particularly since it was supplemented by information obtained directly from the users. In the case of CEIS, it was possible to obtain most of the quantitative data electronically; and with combined DT/OT, the cost of testing (both dollars and people) was significantly lower than it might have been.

Despite the early success of CEIS V1.0, progress has been slow in developing the next increment, V2.0. Whereas V1.0 was fielded to only two organizational levels (MTFs and TRICARE Lead Agents), V2.0 will be fielded to three additional levels [ASD(HA), Surgeons General, and Intermediate Commands]. V2.0 will provide a global view of MHS, providing access to more information and allowing users to see across TRICARE regional boundaries. Incorporating the commercial-off-the-shelf Business Objects application will primarily change the types of reports from standardized ("canned") to ad hoc. Unfortunately, the architectural changes necessitated by these requirements were daunting and delayed the program by more than a year. However, the same combined DT/OT testing methodology that worked well with V1.0 should prove to be effective with V2.0 as well. The original TEMP was approved by DOT&E in June 1997. A thoroughly updated version for V2.0 will soon be submitted to DOT&E for approval. OT&E of CEIS V2.0 is scheduled for 2QFY00.