The Challenge:
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) needed a way to better communicate the information it had regarding missing in action service members from past conflicts to family members of the missing and to the general public. Driven by a Congressional mandate, DPAA’s Outreach and Communications Directorate needed a more efficient way to share information, communicate with stakeholders and family members, and manage their internal processes to ensure that all inquiries and questions were addressed.
The Approach:
The Nakupuna Companies developed and delivered a Salesforce-based platform—the first-ever deployment of Salesforce in the Department of Defense (DoD)—for DPAA to manage both its internal task response tracking and public-facing content development. Leveraging Salesforce, the Nakupuna Companies helped DPAA overhaul the family-centered section of its website, giving families of missing service members access to profiles about their missing loved ones as well as more thorough information and data about the agency’s effort to account for them. On the back end, the Nakupuna Companies laid the groundwork for better collaboration across the agency, utilizing Salesforce’s many out-of-the-box capabilities to redevelop and streamline DPAA’s internal task tracking system. From responding to family inquiries to managing DPAA’s several annual Family Member Update meetings, the Nakupuna Companies built DPAA a more efficient and reliable communications platform.
The Results:
DPAA’s external and internal communications have improved immensely over this multi-year effort. Families of missing service members have expressed a great appreciation for the agency doing more to publish information about their missing loved ones and agency recovery efforts in an accessible and understandable online format. The Nakupuna Companies helped DPAA completely revitalize the family member portion of their website, developing content and designing pages that help family members of missing service personnel better connect with the agency and its mission to account for their loved ones. Part of this effort involved finishing individual Service Member Profiles for all service members missing or accounted-for from the Cold War, Vietnam War, and Korean War, and the project team is currently working to provide profiles for those missing or accounted-for from World War II.
For internal and external communications, DPAA’s Salesforce platform has led to an overall decrease in the amount of time it takes for DPAA to respond to family inquiries and general requests for information. The system is currently the go-to place for agency data about Family Member Updates, and is a central hub for collaboration between DPAA and the accounting community nationwide.