Vanguard: An NCO-Built App Revolutionizing Army Operations

By Staff Sgt. Matthew M. Shields, Capt. Benjamin J. Peterson, and Capt. Charlson B. Ro

Lightning Academy, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and 500th Military Intelligence Brigade-Theater, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii

June 18, 2026

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In the 21st century, managing operations orders (OPORDS) is an astonishingly analog process in many units across the Army. Outdated systems involving emails, spreadsheets, and scattered files often lead to duplicated efforts and inefficiencies throughout the constant cycle of creating, tracking, and updating orders. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Samuel Brandon)

In the 21st century, managing operations orders (OPORDS) is an astonishingly analog process in many units across the Army. Outdated systems involving emails, spreadsheets, and scattered files often lead to duplicated efforts and inefficiencies throughout the constant cycle of creating, tracking, and updating orders.

Operations (S3) sections across the Army grapple with these issues daily, especially those navigating complex command relationships. Digging for past orders to validate new taskings can feel more like an excavation than military planning, hindering units’ ability to prepare for new missions effectively.

NCOs from the 500th Military Intelligence Brigade-Theater (MIB-T), recognizing the need for a better way to navigate three higher headquarters’ publishing orders across several mediums, created the Vanguard Operations Platform (VOP).

This innovative platform serves as an interactive repository for all 500th MIB-T OPORDS, directly improving efficiency and effectiveness across the entire brigade. The VOP implementation represents a significant step forward in continuous transformation. It leverages readily available technology to enhance orders production and management.

By centralizing information and streamlining workflows, the VOP directly addresses the typical challenges inherent in traditional order reception and publishing methods.

The platform is a Microsoft Power App that displays data pertinent to the S3 section. When the Current Operations (CUOPS) cell received the request for an orders knowledge management repository, they experimented with several ideas, including outsourcing the effort and building spreadsheets.

They quickly discovered that even the most complex spreadsheet they could compile on Microsoft Excel plus the convoluted software acquisition process would not allow them to meet day-to-day operations demands.

These demands include updating existing OPORDS with fragmentary orders (FRAGORDS), logging subordinate unit responses to taskings, and displaying all active OPORDS in an elegant way.

Figure 1: VOP Homepage

To meet this challenge, one of the CUOPS NCOs spent hours watching online tutorials and learning Microsoft Power Apps and then custom built an application tailored to the brigade’s needs. Then he led the rest of his team in its implementation.

The result was an application that compiles and displays data from existing sources like SharePoint and Teams, which streamlines access to information and eliminates redundant data entry. For instance, the VOP displays duty rosters pulled directly from the brigade’s internal Teams page (Figure 1).

Moreover, it serves as a “one-stop shop” for the brigade S3, providing a live view of current operations, orders, statuses, and ongoing activities across the 500th MIB-T. Key functions include orders processing and production, orders tracking, and operational metrics.

Orders Processing and Production

Once an order is received, CUOPS cell Soldiers begin their analysis to determine the tasks and resources needed to accomplish the mission while meeting the commander’s intent.

Figure 2: Orders Publisher

When planning is complete, they use the Orders Publisher to draft the order and task subordinate battalions and staff sections. The Orders Publisher is a tool that takes key inputs, such as the mission statement and coordinating instructions, and automatically generates a pre-formatted five-paragraph OPORD (Figure 2).

Users from the tasked elements then receive an email with the OPORD and their taskings. All orders are ingested in this manner to enable deliberate planning. Additionally, processing orders through the VOP maximizes the amount of time available for planning by reducing the time required to manually draft and publish an OPORD.

Orders Tracking

Once published, OPORDs are added to both the CUOPS Dashboard and the Orders Archive for quick reference. Subordinate units can review and reply to taskings in the CUOPS Dashboard, which provides real-time updates to the brigade CUOPS cell (Figure 3). The Orders Archive displays all past and current OPORDS and acts as a centralized repository with search, filter, and sorting functions (Figure 3).

Figure 3: CUOPS Dashboard

Operational Metrics

Finally, the platform calculates brigade operational metrics such as the number of OPORDS and FRAGORDS published. Though still under development, this feature’s ability to track published orders already provided the CUOPS team with valuable data to assess the VOP’s impact.

Each higher headquarters’ order requires a corresponding planning and orders publication process at the brigade level. Prior to the VOP’s implementation, the lack of a streamlined order production tool resulted in the brigade CUOPS section facing significant order processing and dissemination backlogs due to the high volume and frequency of OPORD taskings received from three separate tasking sources.

Challenges

The VOP is constantly under development to ensure it continues to meet user needs. Like all new processes, adoption takes time and progresses in unpredictable ways.

By creating a platform test version for experimentation by other units and sections, CUOPS NCOs encouraged an environment of innovation and collaboration which overcame initial barriers to adoption. Other organizations who saw value in the VOP could also implement it to ensure they stay up to date with taskings.

Other features, such as metrics for number of orders published, were not even considered until users requested them. Although the CUOPS team cannot accommodate all user requests, the feedback they receive is incredibly valuable for iterating and improving the platform.

The VOP is ultimately a manual entry system. Although a fully automated application — from OPORD ingest to publication — appears to be the next step, this level of automation skips mission analysis, which creates unnecessary risk. Soldiers and their leaders need to conduct proper analysis and planning to ensure subordinate units can execute assigned tasks successfully.

When requesting support from specific intelligence military occupational specialties (MOSs) for example, deliberate analysis is necessary to ensure tasks are feasible based on receiving units’ Modified Table of Organization and Equipment (MTOE).

This system also enables staffs at the brigade and battalion levels to filter taskings on behalf of subordinate units. As a result, ingesting orders in this deliberate manner maximizes the chances of successful task execution and mission accomplishment.

Conclusion

The VOP serves as a compelling example of grassroots Army innovation, led by NCOs seeking to solve real-world problems. It highlights the potential for leveraging readily available tools like Microsoft 365 to significantly enhance unit efficiency and effectiveness.

As the platform evolves based on user-centered design and feedback, it has the potential to serve as a model for similar solutions across the military. In fact, the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) G-6, the communications and information technology directorate, recently approved the VOP as an enterprise-level solution for all MIB-Ts.

By empowering units to manage information and processes more effectively, the VOP ultimately contributes to a more agile and responsive force.

When requesting support from specific intelligence military occupational specialties (MOSs) for example, deliberate analysis is necessary to ensure tasks are feasible based on receiving units’ Modified Table of Organization and Equipment (MTOE). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Sorensen)

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