How Army+ app was created and what’s in store for it in future
Reforms are never easy. Especially if the area you work in has a lot of regulations, secrets and prohibitions. But if you find the right tool and work hard with it, you can change everything.
Digitalisation has become such a tool for the Ukrainian army. And the Army+ app for the military in particular. In this article, I want to tell you about the history of its creation, the challenges we faced, and what the future holds for the app.
Get all services in one place quickly and conveniently
A tagline familiar since 2019 for Ukrainians who respect time. And they like to spend it on something more useful than standing in queues. Unfortunately, the military sector could not boast of these achievements until 2024. There was too much bureaucracy, too many regulations, too much secret information that could be of interest to the enemy. But as they say now, "Change or perish".
So, in the spring of 2024, the Ministry of Defence decided to change towards services and began to develop the idea of an app that would work like an online headquarters for the military. It would be a place where you could come and get all the services you need in a few minutes, without any approvals or certificates.
It was an ambitious idea, and there were many challenges to overcome.
We had to understand what hurts the military the most
So we first conducted several studies - quantitative and qualitative. We wanted to find out what the military needed in first. Most of all, the military were annoyed by paperwork, which slows down their service. It even gave rise to the ironic nickname "Ukrainian paper army".
The Ministry of Defence conducted a survey among 63,000 military personnel on the digitalisation of the army. In particular, they were asked which services they would like to see in electronic format the most. The top services were those initiated by reports, such as obtaining leave and assistance for recovery. So we decided to start with reports as the most common documents in the army.
In the paper version, they are difficult to write, transport and coordinate, it takes time.
Also, a written report does not guarantee, for example, a holiday. It can be lost, torn up, or ignored. Or they can come up with many reasons not to approve the report. Wrong colour of pen. The wrong report template was used. Indentations are made in the wrong places.
Fortunately, Army+ reports do not have such formalities. But the logic of the report had to be created from scratch. We had to figure out how everything should work. How reports should look like, how they should be filled in. What buttons should be pressed to move the user forward, etc. All this to make the service convenient, fast and intuitive.
Recruit people who have both technical and combat experience
We do not just emphasise that Army+ is a product developed by the military for the military. In IT start-ups, it is very common for a team to have a good idea and come up with a lot of cool features to implement. But if they do not take into account the needs of the end user, this product will never "take off".
We were lucky to make a successful combo. We gathered people who have behind them not only service with all bureaucratic obstacles, but also a good technical background. They have been in the shoes of many brothers and sisters in arms, writing handwritten reports, collecting papers for certain services and waiting for a long time. So they know how to make life easier for many people.
And this solution is already working. Since the beginning of August, the military has submitted 45,000 reports, 20,000 of which have been fully approved. The number of submitted/approved reports is increasing every day. Moreover, there are reports that radically change various processes.
For example, a report on changing the place of service, which opened the transfer. And more than 3,000 soldiers have already fully approved the transfer to a new place of service. Or a report that allows them to return to service. We are currently developing it. And those who went to the AWOL will have the opportunity to return to their duties with the preservation of payments and social guarantees.
But there are also security issues
An app for the military is a completely different kind of work. Especially when the enemy wants to know everything about us and is ready to do anything to get the information they need. In these matters, there is no room for weakness, concessions or persuasion, because the country's defence capability directly depends on this data.
A lot of things had to be adjusted to meet the standards for the app to work properly. Yes, there are a lot of nuances, bureaucratic obstacles, and regulations. We have a certificate of the Integrated Information Protection System (IPS), without which no government application will work. However, we are now confident that Army+ works reliably.
For example, the personal data of the military was an important issue: their position, rank, military unit, etc. Such data cannot be simply taken and displayed in an app. So we decided to do it differently. We created a unique identifier for serviceman called Army ID. This ID is now used to file reports and in the future to receive services.
We made this number impersonal. It does not contain any sensitive information. The information is entered by the soldier during registration and stored on his phone. Usually, it is a full name, unit number, and rank. Everything that is necessary to file a report. Then it is deleted when they log out of the app or when the session ends.
Yes, we have received complaints about the duration of the session in the app. Users complained that it constantly logs them out and they have to enter all the information again. But this is a necessary security measure. In fact, each logout from the app deletes the information. And if the enemy wants to get into someone's smartphone, they won't find anything there. However, we are listening to the military and meeting them halfway on this issue. We have recently improved data cryptography. So now the sessions should last longer.
The challenge we face every day is implementation
Launching an app in an army that has long been paper-based and used to writing the same information in five identical logbooks is not an easy task. It's a deeply ingrained habit that creates doubts about the digital. Is it safe? Will it work properly? Will it be easy to understand? And dozens of other similar questions. This is on the one hand.
On the other hand, there are commanders who retain a lever of toxic influence and manipulation with paperwork. We have repeatedly heard things like , "We are not allowed to submit reports through Army+, because otherwise we will be reprimanded by our superiors." In this case, leadership, determination and demonstration are important. If the majority set the right example, the rest will have no choice but to stop resisting.
Therefore, the main thing is to show and prompt
To show examples of leaders whose work Army + is debugged and stable. The 15th Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade "Black Forest" or the 148th Air Assault Brigade. Or the entire Navy, all units from there have implemented Army+ in their units. This is exactly the kind of leadership that proves that digitalisation is a necessary tool that helps to save time, spend it on really important things and develop.
This would not have been possible without our incredible implementation team. They are available around the clock to resolve issues with the application. They advise, give tips, and hold seminars. When technical difficulties arise or there are any hiccups in the processing of reports, they help to sort it out. The team is interested in ensuring that everything works properly. Because it increases confidence in the product on the part of the military.
But the most important thing is to show that Army+ can be not only a convenient tool, but also an engine for change. The survey service helps us to do this, and the results are collected and taken into account in the future. A striking example is the first survey about online learning. We asked, "What would you like to see a course about most?" People answered that about UAVs. The launch of the training in the "UAV Basics" app was among the first three courses. It still remains the most popular. Another example is the survey on transfers. Thanks to it, we heard the opinion of the military and implemented this service for the Armed Forces and the National Guard.
What's next?
Our goal is to create a super app for the military. An ecosystem that they can turn to whenever they need something. We have a lot of ideas in our backlog, which we are gradually implementing. We are adding new reports, courses, and polls.
However, I will still share something. We have announced a national programme called "Plusy", under which large businesses will provide discounts and services to the military through the app. We don't always know how to thank people for defending the country. So this is one of the small things we can do.
We also want to expand the influence of the military's opinion and are preparing the "Feedback" service. It will allow the military to leave feedback on the weapons and equipment from our manufacturers that are currently being used at the front. This will help not only to collect feedback but also to find problem areas that need to be addressed to make weapons and equipment even more effective in combat.
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Now I remember this sprint we went through in the first half of the year. It was incredibly stressful: on the one hand, there were a lot of sceptics, and on the other hand, there were dozens of nuances to consider to make everything work properly. They said, "Okay, something has worked with Reserve+, but this will definitely not work." They said that the system was too strong for such changes, that it would chew them up and spit them out. They said that even if you launched, you would only get sabotage. But now we see that it's good that we didn't give up. Because we have chosen the right vector of movement. Half a million soldiers who already use the most convenient reports, take surveys and gain relevant skills through online courses, can not be wrong.
