Upgrading the Microsoft .NET Framework for a Navy Business System

ONR Contract Administration Management Information System (CAMIS)

The Customer

The Office of Naval Research (ONR), Acquisition Department (Code 02), University Business Affairs (UBA) performs postaward administration of contracts and grants issued to universities and nonprofit organizations. KC designed, built, and operated CAMIS — a designated Defense Business System (DBS) with Authority-to-Operate (ATO) on the DoD network — providing 360-degree visibility into awards, documents, financials, performers, and payments. The platform is built on the Microsoft .NET Framework, C#, and Oracle, with Visual Studio as the development IDE.

KEY STATS

.NET 4.7

Target framework upgrade

33

Production releases with zero rollback

100K+

Invoices/year via WAWF/PIEE

5

Legacy stacks consolidated: Oracle Forms, APEX, VB, ASP, Java

200+

Acquisition document types automated from EDA

2

Consecutive 3-year ATOs achieved

The Challenge

CAMIS had grown from a portfolio of stove-pipe applications built on disparate, aging technologies — Oracle Forms, Oracle APEX, Visual Basic, ASP, and Java. Sustaining the platform required a coordinated modernization onto a single Microsoft .NET architecture: upgrading to .NET Framework 4.7 (the latest release in 2017), refactoring legacy forms into ASP.NET, lifting database-enforced business rules into an explicit .NET business layer, and replacing batch utilities with direct XML web services to DoD authoritative systems — all while preserving the ATO and integration with five external interfaces processing over 100,000 invoices annually.

The Solution

KC executed a sequenced, ATO-aware modernization on .NET Framework 4.7 using 2017 best practices — Visual Studio 2017 as the IDE, KC's Disciplined Agile (CMMI ML3) lifecycle, TFS / VSTS pipelines with MSBuild and gated check-ins, DISA STIGs for IIS and .NET, TLS 1.2 enforcement, and Fortify / Veracode in the build pipeline. The work was decomposed into four major workstreams executed in parallel:

Oracle Forms / APEX → ASP.NET

Each Oracle Form module, menu, and menu item was catalogued in a traceability matrix and mapped oneto-one to its replacement ASPX page (or MVC view/controller pair). The matrix tracked completeness by form, block, canvas, LOV, and PL/SQL program unit — giving ONR a verifiable burn-down of legacy functionality retired in each sprint.

Triggers Lifted to .NET Business Layer

Business rules previously enforced by Oracle database triggers and packaged PL/SQL were extracted, documented, and re-implemented as explicit C# business rules in a dedicated .NET business layer. Hidden logic was eliminated, rules became visible to developers and auditors, and unit/regression testing became possible across the rule set.

EDA Intake Web Services

.NET XML web services (WCF/ASMX with SOAP) built in Visual Studio automate hourly polling of the Electronic Document Access (EDA) repository — retrieving hundreds of contract and modification documents per cycle, persisting them into the CAMIS Document Management module, and tagging each with enriched metadata for enhanced search. WSSecurity with PKI, async/await, retry with back-off, and idempotent intake.

WAWF / PIEE Invoice Services

.NET XML web services interface directly with the DoD Wide Area Workflow (WAWF) / PIEE, replacing a legacy Java utility. They consume and emit XML for Cost, Grant, and NPI vouchers and support the full action set: submit, void, recall, reject, approve. Hundreds of XML files are processed hourly through XSD-validated pipelines — eliminating data-entry errors and enabling near-real-time financial posting.

The Results

CAMIS 2.0 consolidated onto a single .NET / C# / Oracle architecture, retiring Oracle Forms, APEX, Visual Basic, ASP, and the Java invoice utility.

33 production releases delivered with zero rollback, including the .NET framework upgrade, Windows/Linux OS and Oracle database upgrades, managed across three concurrent release trains.

Hundreds of EDA documents and WAWF/PIEE invoice XML files processed hourly with full XSD validation — eliminating data-entry errors and accelerating financial reconciliation.

Two consecutive 3-year ATOs achieved under NIST SP 800-53A; DASN kudos for software quality and audit readiness.

Other Case Studies

Take a look at what KC is doing to contribute to global cyber security, agile software development and cloud services.

View ALL Case Studies

ABOUT US

Karthik Consulting was founded in 2008 to be a reliable and trusted advisor for our customers, providing independent, unbiased, and proven solutions that mitigate risk and help solve enterprise-wide IT challenges.

Our Cyber Security, Software Development and Program Management focus areas (and work methodology) ensure that we can deliver not just solutions, but architecture that scales and grows with the customer's needs over time. We are able to assist in projects ranging from short advisory engagements to assembling a full team to deliver a solution from concept through implementation and on-going management. KC has access to industry experts in various technologies and teaming partners to meet any of your IT challenges.  The vision of KC is to bring the innovation, passion and agility of the commercial IT industry to meet the unique challenges of the federal government. We are a DOD Cleared Facility with a DCAA-approved accounting system.

CONTACT

Felix Martin, 571 435 7632 fmartin@karthikconsulting.com

CAGE: 56GH3
DUNS: 828199880 UEI: FGNNM7KNUPF6

PRIME CONTRACT VEHICLES:

GSA MAS
GSA OASIS Pool 1 and 3
NIH CIO-SP3 8(a) & SB
GSA STARS III 8(a)
Air Force SBEAS
Army RS3
Navy Seaport-NexGen
FAA eFAST