The What & Why it’s Needed

USGS Quality Systems Branch (QSB) is a joint disciplined sample and data-based performance-assessment focused branch used to provide USGS laboratory users, USGS laboratories, and field personnel with quantitative performance data. It focuses is on comparative analysis of sample measurements across different labs. Consolidated inputs from multiple labs provide improved water quality analysis and measurement performance.

PROBLEM

Our customer requires interactive data products and inter-connectivity of the data source to give a more holistic analysis of lab performance data. The original environment was composed of disparate analysis systems, linear workflow processes that create static data displays, and dissimilar data sources. It did not allow the performance data to be easily interacted with or for system capability expansion.

SOLUTION

Synergetics created a system based on the current capabilities, with future expansion and sustainable support in mind. The solution consisted of normalization of the legacy data across the USGS’s water laboratory systems, an updated and flexible interface with access to the data through RESTful Application Programmable Interfaces (API’s). This allows the end users to interact with live real time data while maintaining an abstraction layer that provides improved security at the data source. It also allows data sources to be “plugged in” to the application allowing for multiple data sources and future inter-connectivity and expansion.

IMPACT FOR THE CUSTOMER

Synergetics’ created a solution modernized the water quality infrastructure and systems providing improved system performance and ease of use for internal and external users of the systems. Water Quality data is now consistent, and our API development provides a platform to support seamless interconnectivity and capability expansion to promote water quality management across the lab network, including improved participating lab accuracy and performance. Our solution provides an improved data construct, embedded water quality process management, and an improved user experience for users across the country.

ONGOING BENEFIT

Synergetics modernization equips QSB to maintain up-to-date and supported technologies, while providing the platform to expand as needed. The inter-connectivity, by way of API’s, is easily changed and maintained to accommodate the ever-changing infrastructure ecosystem without resulting in failures and disruption to the QSB mission.