Peniel Solutions

Peniel Solutions, LLC (PSL) is a software engineering and records management company focused on technology solutions to accelerate federal government agencies' requirements to meet their mission-critical goals. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, Peniel Solutions is a leading solution GovCon (government contractor) provider of Digital Transformation Services and DevSecOps (Development Security, and Operations), supported by the full range of cloud services exclusively for the United States government. With an emphasis on DevSecOps, the company delivers a complete suite of cloud solutions that leverages Amazon Web Services’ (AWS)commercial and GovCloud platforms through every level of engagement.

Proven Business Performance for Federal Customers

PSL’s mission focuses on leveraging technology to elevate its federal clients’ business capabilities to match the challenges needed to succeed in a regulatory and political environment fraught with transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness issues. As a result, the company developed its own records solution called TransAccess GovCloud Records (GCR). TransAccess GCR has evolved to become the central records management solution for major government offices to meet the M-19-21 OMB/NARA mandate ahead of the December 2022 deadline. TransAccess GCR will continue to be a viable option for other agencies requiring records management support and compliance. On the software engineering side, PSL continues to deliver hundreds of solutions that range from simple mobile applications to complete enterprise solutions. With the cloud being one of the most significant technology shifts for agencies, we provide the integration expertise for the migration of private clouds, public clouds, and legacy IT environments.

A Strategic Leader Driving Business Growth

James McGriff is the President/CTO for Peniel Solutions, LLC. He realized early on that a significant trend was emerging in both industry and the federal government where CIOs were investing in front-end operations technology while attempting to modernize legacy back-end infrastructure simultaneously. Given this reality, PSL invested and sought to be an early adopter for the new DevOps (development operations) process that later morphed to DevSecOps (development security operations) as a competitive advantage to deliver faster and better-quality coded solutions to its customers with attractive price points.

According to James, this new agile DevSecOps framework was a major departure from traditional SDLC (software development life cycle) processes. The emerging framework allowed agencies to embrace micro services which became an important element in theirgoal to achieve meaningful digital transformation results for their customers.  "CIOs realized two main benefits of DevSecOps which were speed and security. Development teams deliver better, more-secure code faster at a lower cost. PSL was well-positioned to be an effective player in this new landscape of software development with great results," he added.

Delivering Solutions Customized to Clients’ Needs and Goals

In the area of records management, PSL is accelerating automation and compliance and for agencies. The company delivers functionality and features that meet both automation needs and regulatory requirements such as the Universal Electronic Records Management (UERM) from OMB/NARA M-19-21 mandate.  Many out of the box records management solutions in the market come with features that never get accessed by the user base, yet they are charged for those same capabilities. PSL’s approach is to target poor performing processes through assessments and automate those areas for elevated value to the customer. These are the features that get configured in the company’s service for that particular customer and they are not all the same.

From the compliance perspective, PSL has created and mapped its records capabilities features to NARA’s The Universal ERM (UERM) Requirements. The UERM requirements represent the program requirements derived from existing statutes, standards, NARA regulations, policy, and guidance. They are a starting point for agencies to use when developing system requirements. Records management staff should work with acquisitions and IT personnel to tailor any final system requirements. The document contains a change log, abstract, list of lifecycle requirements, list of transfer format requirements, and a glossary.

Unfolding the Growth Strategy

With more than 20 years of experience in federal government digital transformation, PSL has positioned itself as an accomplished strategist and leader experienced in developing and implementing innovative technology applications and creative business models. The company's methodology involves conducting assessments that evaluate an agency's current business strategy. Once done, PSL then develops and presents a plan of action to stakeholders for clarification, consensus, and buy-in and after approval, it implements and oversees its success.

Alleviating the Challenges

Data security has been the biggest challenge for PSL. The company has a heightened and even obsessive attitude when it comes to securing its own data as well as the customer data. James asserts that data vulnerability can have serious consequences for an organization. Growth in Cloud storage will necessarily improve data security. PSL will continue to advocate for role-based permissions, digital archiving, and automated backup plans to ensure the safety of business data and records. Additionally, the company will continue to seek out and employ advanced records management solutions that provide lock-tight systems that keep bad/threat actors outside the doors.

Remarkable Business Accomplishments

As an AWS preferred cloud provider and integrator, PSL is in a unique position to engineer quality solutions. It can also seamlessly work to migrate and manage those services in a FedRAMP certified environment. Since PSL has provided solutions for decades, it will continue to evolve, adapt, and grow. This is evidenced by its enterprise-level systems, cloud storage capabilities, and process - methodology certifications. The company has earned and holds accreditations with ISO 9001 (Quality Management), ISO 15489 (Records Management), ISO 200001 (IT Service Standards), ISO 27001 (IT Security), ISO 27017 (Cloud Security). PSL is also a CMMI – Level 3 appraised company. PSL is currently undergoing its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) audit and expect to achieve certification by May 2021,Its expert team has progressive experience and certifications in Project Management, Agile, Google Technologies, Microsoft Technologies, and AWS Solutions.

The Future Ahead

James believes that in 2021 and beyond, records management services must decrease manual processes and generate automated solutions that will gain prevalence throughout the agency. For example, PSL's solutions must provide and perfect digital auto-categorization of files, automatic removal of duplicate records, automated rules for information governance, and produce automated retention schedules in records management systems.