COMDTINST 5200.16
Coast Guard in the forefront of Federalagencies who early on realized the cost of owning
microcomputers as well the business case for being able to deploy standard software suites
of mission essential applications (MEA) such as the Large Unit Financial System (LUFS).
With the deployment of SWIII, the Coast Guard continues its commitment to a standards
based approach for providing microcomputer capability to the Coast Guard. In comparison
to Coast Guard Standard Workstation II (CGSWII), the operating system, e-mail, and office
automation environment of SWIII is far more complex and costly to support. The key to
controlling the total cost of ownership and improving CG-wide support is a very strong and
responsive SWIII Configuration Management (CM) program. Since SWIII uses
mainstream hardware, software and communications technology, the Coast Guard has
entered a new era in the numbers and sophistication of those who wish to gain unauthorized
access and spread mischief in Coast Guard data networks and computer systems. A strong
CM program is the corner stone of minimizing the entry points for intruders to gain access
to Coast Guard systems. Reference (a) delegates responsibility for migration and
configuration management to the SWIII Migration Project via Commandant (G-S).
5. DISCUSSION. Central to the success of this CM program is that SW resources are
corporate assets and not personal computers. The ability to run MEAs in a reliable and
secure mode is dependent on fielding and maintaining SWIII in a consistent manner. Units
deviating from the standards risk not being able to run MEAs. In order to remedy this, a unit
may have to take their systems out of service and perform the complex process of restoring
their SWIII workstations and servers to the standards baseline. Units straying from the
standards also jeopardize their ability to obtain centralized SWIII hotline support to help solve
problems caused by a local configuration that the Hotline personnel are unfamiliar with. The
abundance of commercial software for SWIII has unleashed pent up demand from users who
want software installed on their SWIII based on local user or unit needs. The SWIII CM
process provides a process for evaluation and installation of locally requested software and
hardware. The Telecommunications and Information Systems Command (TISCOM) is tasked
with managing the "Standard Image" which is the baseline software specified in references (b)
and (c) as well as the MEA software. Before a MEA or any other software can become a part
of the Standard Image, the software must be "certified." This process tests the candidate
software against the Standard Image to determine if there are any conflicts with items such as
library names and file structures. Within the complex NT operating system environment of
SWIII, these conflicts are not uncommoncertification process is to identify and rectify problems
before the candideployed to the field. While Certification provides assurance that softwithin
the confines of the Standard Image, there is no guarantee that the software will co-exist with
locally installed software out in the units.
6. POLICY. These policies are the basis of the Coast Guard's CM program for SW technology:
a. Commandant (G-SI) is the Coast Guard's Chief Information Officer (CIO). Per
reference (d), the CIO is charged with oversight and management of all Coast Guard
microcomputer resources.
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