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DEGB Data Practitioner Workspaces

Background

In October of 2023, FAS Cloud Services (FCS) launched a new FCS shared service, WorkSpaces, in response to the need for a more efficient data analytics solution for FCS customers.

Problem

FCS tenants had been utilizing government furnished equipment, Virtual Desktop Integration (VDI), EC2-based jump boxes, and/or separate laptops with installed data analytics tooling in order to accomplish data analytics tasks. This was a costly venture, lacked the ability to enable data sharing, and provided only limited access to certain data analytics tools that are needed by GSA’s data analysts and scientists.

Solution

WorkSpaces is a fully managed desktop virtualization service that allows data engineers, analysts, and scientists to securely access data and applications. The service facilitates remote access to desktop instances via AWS-controlled access gateways. For tenants, the adoption of WorkSpaces as an FCS shared service provides an opportunity to improve the user experience. For administrators, it allows more comprehensive management of desktop infrastructure, as compared to the existing EC2-based jumpbox solution. In addition to the benefits of data sharing, the WorkSpaces model allows for System Impact Assessments to occur only once per subnet, which means other tenants can leverage that same capability quickly.

As of FY24 Q2, four FCS tenants are utilizing FCS WorkSpaces Shared Service: Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), Data and Evidence Governance Board (DEGB), Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP), and ASSIST.

DEGB: WorkSpace FCS Pioneer

DEGB was the first tenant to engage with WorkSpaces as they were in need of specific tools that would allow their data analysts to interact with data stored in Data Warehouse and Data Lake. Specifically, DEGB needed tools to build code software that could run computational services such as SQL, R, and Python. Prior to utilizing WorkSpaces, each individual data analyst was leveraging a VDI and an EC2-based jumpbox; thus, the team did not have any standardization because each jumphost was built for a different purpose. It limited the data analytics options and created latency issues. WorkSpaces has resolved that issue by offering more specific requirements for data analytics needs (Tableau, Microstrategy, etc.) and an efficient standard build across the organization.

OCFO: Enhanced Natural Language Processing Analytics

Like other data scientists and analysts, OCFO was leveraging a data science virtual desktop (DSVD) to perform advanced analytics related to natural language processing (NLP). These complex analytics required the use of specific tools, which were unavailable in a DSVD environment. For example, when performing analyses on text-only open-ended survey responses - Python packages like spaCy are the tools for which that can be accomplished. Since these packages could not run on a DSVD, that work could not be completed. Now, with WorkSpaces, users are able to perform more advanced sentiment analyses and NLP work. An article on the work performed utilizing Python natural language processing libraries within the WorkSpaces platform, “Amplifying Customer Voices: A guide to natural language processing in customer experience data processing and analysis,” can be viewed here on Digital.gov.

ASSIST: User Friendly Platform

ASSIST had been leveraging an EC2-based jumpbox solution prior to becoming a WorkSpaces tenant. Since initiating the WorkSpaces service, ASSIST has observed that users need only concern themselves with the network connection because all the necessary tools are already installed and ready for use. In addition, the supporting documentation made it possible for any new users–even those not familiar with the environment–to be set up and become active almost immediately.

OGP: Increased Productivity

Prior to becoming a WorkSpaces Shared Service tenant, OGP was performing its data analytics utilizing a DSVD, which provided data analysts and scientists access to a suite of tools such as SQL Server RDS, R, Python, and Pentaho. Though an improvement over their previous DSVD, because it provided access to a variety of GSA systems, this was still in a staging environment, and the system was limited in its ability to connect with other staging environments. In addition, the system was unstable; users were frequently logged out and had to continuously refresh and check log-in status. It was also under-resourced, which meant it took a great deal of time to resolve issues.

Since onboarding to WorkSpaces, OGP has seen an increase in productivity due to the enhanced ability to connect with other tools and environments easily, and has realized the benfits of a persistent stable environment that is regularly maintained (scheduled software updates). In addition, OGP has commented that WorkSpaces offers a more visually professional presentation and that, because the product is fully resourced by FCS, support for issues is formalized and addressed on a reliable cadence.