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Вікторія ГорбікWork
26 December 2024, 09:00
2024-12-26
Salaries are higher than in ministries, the probability of booking and processes are like in a business company. What is known about the IT department in the "State Operator of Rear Services" and who is currently being sought for the team developing the Dot-chain IT system
In September, the procurement agency of the Ministry of Defense «State Operator of Logistics» (SLO) launched an IT system for managing the logistics needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine DOT-Chain. Thanks to the system, the cycle of food supply to units was reduced by 4 times, and from 2025, the developers plan to expand the functionality and enable units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to independently select the necessary electronic warfare/electronic warfare drones, ground robotic complexes and control stations through the DOT-Chain system.
dev.ua learned from Alena Zhuzhi, IT advisor at the SLO, how the IT department is structured in the company, who is working on improvements for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and what updates to expect in the near future.
In September, the procurement agency of the Ministry of Defense «State Operator of Logistics» (SLO) launched an IT system for managing the logistics needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine DOT-Chain. Thanks to the system, the cycle of food supply to units was reduced by 4 times, and from 2025, the developers plan to expand the functionality and enable units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to independently select the necessary electronic warfare/electronic warfare drones, ground robotic complexes and control stations through the DOT-Chain system.
dev.ua learned from Alena Zhuzhi, IT advisor at the SLO, how the IT department is structured in the company, who is working on improvements for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and what updates to expect in the near future.
About Alena Zhuzha and SLO
Alyona Zhuzha is an IT Advisor at the State Logistics Operator and has experience in the digitalization of public procurement and the development of complex IT systems. She has been heading the IT department at the State Logistics Operator since December 2023. Previously, she strengthened the public procurement reform project team with expert support in creating IT architecture.
From October 2018 to April 2023, she held the position of Head of the Production Analytics and IT Department of the State Enterprise «Medical Procurement of Ukraine», coordinated the implementation of leading procurement tools and the development of IT systems, in particular, e-Stock and MedData for effective management of stocks of medicines and medical devices. Until 2018, she worked at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, LLC «PRO-CONSULTING», SE «Ukrainian State Center for International Education»
At the start
According to data in open registers, the State Enterprise «DOT» was registered on 4.11.2022. On May 1, 2023, the «Office for Support of Changes» under the Ministry of Defense was launched, within the framework of which SLO became the first project. It was then, in the spring, that the Office decided to separate DOT into a separate organization, as a full-fledged procurement agency. And this became possible after the adoption of a certain number of regulatory acts. The official launch of the full-fledged functioning of the agency took place on December 1, 2023.
Alena Zhuzha, IT advisor at the State Rear Operator (Photo from SLO)
And even at the stage of launching the «State Rear Operator» by Alyona Zhuzhi, it was clear that the defense sector would definitely need quite serious work both on the infrastructure on which information systems would be located, and on security.
The team of the «State Operator of the Rear» (Photo by SLO)
It was then, or rather more than a year ago in the spring of 2023, that she began to form a team for the future IT department of the SLO. One of the first she turned to was Yevgen Yentis, who had, in particular, a background as the Chief Digital Transformation Officer (CDTO) of the customs, launched the Prozorro system. Yevgen became the head of the IT infrastructure support department at the DOT. Together, he and Alena began to shape the structure of the future IT department.
Later, Volodymyr Chugay, as Head of the Product Management Department of SLO, and Maksym Zhuravlev, Head of the Information Security Department, joined the team.
First steps
Even at the stage of forming the company, Alyona and her team decided to focus on obtaining an ISO certificate, which would confirm the compliance of the information security management system with international standards. According to the IT advisor at SLO, this was proof that the team had really managed to build an information security management system, not just in words. And two audits conducted at SLO proved this. The ISO certificate will require annual confirmation, and the first post-audit will be conducted by the end of December 2025.
The team of the «State Operator of the Rear» (Photo by SLO)
The next key stage was the selection of a pool of tools for common organizational issues, in particular: where will the mail be, in which messenger the team will correspond, etc. The main priority for SLO in this matter was security. The team settled on Microsoft tools, to which, for example, even the Google ecosystem gave way. Alyona notes that the advantage was that Microsoft provides the most comprehensive service.
«It’s about the workspace, messengers, mail, infrastructure, and a lot of services for information security, in order to ensure it,» she adds.
In addition, thanks to the ongoing support of Ukraine from large international companies, the SLO team has been able to use Microsoft tools free of charge for over a year.
IT team structure
Currently, the IT department at the SLO has three departments:
Product department, which is responsible for the conceptualization of products, their functionality and implementation. The structure of this department includes PMs, business analysts, testers, and implementation specialists. «This is the set of people who form expectations and check how well the final result meets them, and implement it further,» emphasized Alyona Zhuzha.
The development department, which carries out the product development process itself.
IT Infrastructure Department, which is responsible for the availability of IT infrastructure, its proper functioning, and how user support is provided regarding the functioning of computers, email, granting access, etc. Sysadmins, DevOps, and others work here.
The team of the «State Operator of the Rear» (Photo by SLO)
Separately, the SLO operates an information security department, which reports directly to the Director General. Among the functions of the department’s specialists: information security, including the preparation of rules and policies for work on a particular area, for example, password policy or backup policy, etc. In addition, the department is responsible for the implementation of these policies and technical means to ensure cyber protection. This same department is responsible for the process of implementing an information security management system and obtaining and annual confirmation of ISO 27001.
The team of the «State Operator of the Rear» (Photo by SLO)
In fact, according to Alena, now everything in SLO is so organized that the processes resemble a business more than a state. This applies, for example, to the team’s work processes: from how they synchronize to meetings and maintaining backlogs. For example, there is Jira and Confluence, and they are implementing ClickUp.
«Some members of our team even say that the private companies they worked for before did not have such clear processes. But, of course, there is a certain bureaucracy without which we cannot work normally,» the advisor adds.
About salaries
Alena Zhuzha confirms that, of course, in the SLO, as a state organization, the salary level is lower compared to the IT market, but higher than the salaries of ministries. Given this, she believes that in principle it is more or less acceptable.
«Not 20,000 or 30,000 UAH, but not $7,000 either,» the councilor adds.
Alena Zhuzha, IT advisor at the State Rear Operator (Photo from SLO)
The team manages to find people who are sufficiently motivated to work now. The IT advisor at the SLO considers it important that the developers work directly for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. «Personally, for me, this is motivation, I think, for everyone in our team, it is significant,» she emphasizes.
About people and vacancies
Currently, the SLO team employs about 200 people. The IT department, which started with 5 people, now has 33 specialists. Currently, the department employs 22 people, most of whom are reserved. The team employs highly qualified specialists, but there has also been a periodic practice of involving junior specialists, and for certain projects, highly qualified specialists (for example, architects) are involved under contract.
The IT department of the SLO is planning to expand and vacancies are already available for several specialists, in particular, they are looking for:
The Head of Information Technology Department is a person who will operationally coordinate three departments, namely task setting, compliance with rules, etc. Among the candidate’s key skills: experience in IT management of at least three years and work in state-owned enterprises of at least 2 years, as well as experience in managing teams of at least 10 people, which includes product design, development, and infrastructure development.
Business analytics — among the candidate’s key skills: experience of 1 year or more, including in development or automated testing, forming technical requirements for software, knowledge of BPMN 2.0 and UML notations, experience working with APIs, web services and Jira/Click Up, experience in process reengineering.
A purchaser (IT) is a person who specializes in IT equipment, understands how to use it to make competitive purchases, and will prepare the basis for the next procurement. Among the candidate’s key skills: experience of at least 2 years, knowledge of legislation on IT procurement and public procurement.
System Administrator (Microsoft) — among the candidate’s key skills: 3 years of experience, working with cloud infrastructure based on Microsoft Azure using Azure services, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Active Directory (Entra ID), Teams, Microsoft Intune, understanding of network principles, including routing, switching, VPN, firewall and DNS, proficiency in automation tools (PowerShell, PowerApps).
Also, Alyona reported that a Front-end developer has been previously found, but they plan to open a Backend Developer vacancy in January. In total, they plan to increase the IT department team to 40 people.
In addition to the standard interview stages, such as a preliminary interview with HR and specialists responsible for the technical interview, candidates on the final path to an offer will have to prepare for a thorough internal compliance check, as well as a check by the SBU military counterintelligence.
From 2025, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be able to independently select the necessary drones and electronic warfare equipment through the DOT-Chain system
The development of the DOT-Chain IT system for supporting the troops cost $80,000, not including the work of full-time employees of the State Logistics Operator.
