Financial Management Operations

Trilogy Federal, LLC provides audit and oversight support to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Grant Per Diem (GPD), Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) and Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant (SSG Fox SPGP) programs on behalf of the Office of Business Oversight (OBO). Trilogy Federal’s audit support provides assurance to Veteran administration leadership that grants are used as intended and comply with current legislation through fiscal management. The oversight support we provide aims to ensure that each program provides the necessary tools and supportive services for Veterans experiencing homelessness across the nation.

Trilogy Federal, LLC’s audit and oversight support service teams work with individual organizations across the country who operate Veteran housing programs. Working one-on-one with grantees and performing over 150 reviews annually, Trilogy’s audit support team ensures compliance to each program’s guidelines and management of these operations remain transparent.

Since the establishment of these programs, statistics have shown the vast majority of Veterans are seeking tools and resources to combat homelessness. The organizations which operate the GPD, SSVF and SSG Fox SPGP programs, work to provide these tools for success to Veterans nationwide. Trilogy’s work aims to establish long-term success to the Veteran housing programs providing the necessary support services to each Veteran in need.

Overview
Trilogy supports the VA Financial Management Business Transformation (FMBT) program which is focused on modernizing the VA’s Financial Management systems and implementing an integrated solution called Integrated Financial and Acquisitions Management System (iFAMS), a custom implementation of Momentum Financials. All existing integration points will have their functionality either subsumed by iFAMS capabilities or will transition to integrate with iFAMS via web service API and/or data file extracts and transfers.

Approach
Through state-of-the-art, customized processes, Trilogy’s team of data experts swiftly extracted, transformed, and integrated legacy data into the new system. The legacy FMS data was extracted, transformed, and loaded to iFAMS through a series of SQL, PL/SQL, and Java based routines executed through Jenkins pipelines, utilizing a custom library of Groovy scripts. The pre-conversion data cleanse activities utilized Power BI reports and Alteryx ETL routines for transformation accuracy and corrective actions. Trilogy’s Agile and DevOps frameworks excel at delivering Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) solutions, allowing frequent assessments of the state of the software and converted data.

Results
As a result of Trilogy’s support, the FMBT program has successfully converted six separate data conversion waves into iFAMS. These waves include the NCA, VBA, and Staff Offices components of the overall VA landscape. Trilogy has increased overall capabilities for the ID&C program and streamlined overall technical operations into an efficient Agile Development workshop. Increased efficiencies continue to yield successful, on-time deployments in iFAMS.

Overview
Trilogy has provided OFPIAR with support in all aspects of federal financial management, including the full lifecycle of the financial statement audit, financial policy and procedure review, internal control assessments, financial systems support and accounting operations support. We provide audit liaison and audit remediation activities and are experienced in working with OIG offices as well as external independent auditors. Our staff brings in-depth knowledge of the audit process, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Federal Accounting Standards and Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS). Trilogy supports the VA during audit site visits and in responding to Prepared by Client (PBC) requests and Notice of Findings and Recommendations (NFRs).

Approach
During the execution of this contract, Trilogy support has included: financial process improvement and audit readiness, audit liaison, corrective action plans, NFR remediation, financial reporting, OMB A-136 compliance, preparation of financial statements, GTAS and quarterly/year-end processing, OMB A-123 compliance, internal controls assessments and process narrative reviews, accounting policy review and updates, accounting operations support and Treasury Financial Manual (TFM) compliance reviews, and financial system support and reconciliation of procurement and finance data.

Results
As trusted advisors to VA, Trilogy was relied upon to provide an enterprise level assessment of business and accounting operations and provide recommendations to leadership. We have also been able to review project management procedures and daily operational processes and make recommendations for improvement and helped VA clear an audit material weakness by redesigning the annual close cycle.

Overview
Trilogy has supported AOC’s newly launched Program Analysis and Evaluation (PA&E) Division, under the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), with strategic planning and agency performance planning. Ownership of these plans was previously under a different office, but AOC shifted responsibility so that the process and results would be better aligned to agency financial planning and budgeting and aligned with OMB Circular A-11 requirements.

Approach
Trilogy facilitated working sessions with executive leaders across the AOC to validate strategic goals and objectives, and to define high level tasks, milestones, and key performance indicators (KPI) for each leader’s responsibility area and AOC’s organizational transformation. We conducted executive interviews and synthesized materials to develop a comprehensive strategic plan document, agency performance plan, and SharePoint lists for updating monthly metrics to a Tableau dashboard, all in compliance with AOC’s fiscal priorities and OMB Circular A-11.

Results
Trilogy provided AOC with a well-structured plan to achieve its organizational transformation and has an approach and best practices to follow for future strategic planning efforts. The AOC can now hold its leaders accountable for achieving strategic objectives of the organization aligned with fiscal priorities.

Overview
Trilogy has supported VHA OCFO since 2020 by assisting with project management, streamlining VHA’s central office, and other support needs while assisting with the complex tasks of modernizing its electronic health records and transforming its financial management system and supply chain.

Approach
Our team has used an approach incorporating business process reengineering (BPR), accounting classification structure (ACS), data cleansing and conversion, communications, organizational change management (OCM), project management, as well as supply chain systems analysis to provide comprehensive support in VHA OCFO’s financial system implementation. We have also assisted with VHA’s GAO High Risk List (GAO HRL) efforts, audit preparation, training, and financial policy review and utilized our technological and operational expertise to organize its processes and allow for easy reporting for management.

Results
As a result of Trilogy’s support, VHA has been able to continue its analysis and planning for its financial system implementation with the needed staff and support for an effort of this magnitude. Additionally, our team has helped VHA improve in its GAO HRL areas of concern and maintain its clean audit opinion.

Overview
Trilogy operates as a system integrator for VA’s Financial Management and Business Transformation (FMBT) initiative, which is an effort to modernize VA’s financial and acquisition management systems with transformative business processes and capabilities that enable VA to meet financial management legislation objectives and directives.

Approach
Trilogy is supporting the VA migration to the Momentum cloud solution, configured for VA as Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS). In this migration, Trilogy is supporting VA in leveraging the SAFe Agile model to deploy the new solution. As a result, VA has gained increased operational efficiency, productivity, agility, and flexibility from the new modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) cloud solution. The new solution has also provided additional security, storage, and scalability for VA users.

Results
As a result of Trilogy’s support in the transition to a modern ERP cloud solution, VA administrations have already begun to see an increase in transparency, accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of financial information across several departments. Trilogy’s support has been acknowledged and greatly appreciated by VA in support of their transition from the legacy Financial Management System (FMS).

Overview
Both the SSVF and GPD offer communities and VA medical facilities ways to assist homeless Veterans with housing and services. Program designs are diverse, ranging from transitional housing projects and apartment-style transitional housing to service centers offering outreach and supportive services. Trilogy Federal provides critical support for both initiatives by performing financial and operational fitness audit (FOFA) reviews in coordination with the Office of Business Oversight (OBO) for over 75 grantee locations, ensuring that they’re run responsibly and sustainably for the program duration. Trilogy also identifies inconsistencies, develops robust risk assessment tools, and identifies areas of improvement to allow for more efficient financial management of each site.

Approach
Using proven and comprehensive project management procedures, Trilogy works through each FOFA methodically, from kickoff and trainings to onsite evaluations to follow-through on recommended action plans. Each step of the process is conducted with a goal of exceptional service and measurable results.

Results
To date, Trilogy has performed over 200 financial and operational fitness audits across the continental United States and assisted grantee locations in understanding and implementing report information to best serve Veterans, their families, and their communities.