SMART Program at the DoD

Challenge

The Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Program is a scholarship-for-service grant program run by the OSD for critical to national security functions. SMART awards highly competitive grants to students in 25 academic STEM disciplines and hires directly into DoD facilities. The SMART Program required modernization of fragmented legacy systems.

Approach

iTech AG produced a modern website built on the ServiceNow platform that digitized scholarship processes and workflows, enabled an exchange of data between government, academic, and research institutions and the STEM community, provided robust reporting and visualization functions; and delivered technical support desk capabilities for applicants and benefit recipients. We deliver and support multiple custom portals, knowledge bases, and automated workflows for improved applicants and recipient experience.

Our ServiceNow grants solution featured:

Predictive intelligence tools reflecting our commitment to innovation and excellence in service delivery

Multiple Integrations of ServiceNow including:
Scholarship America—Third Party Payment Processing
Google Maps—Location Identification
Amazon Web Services—Customer app to merge PDF files
Qualtrics (2024 Product Roadmap)—Survey and data collection
Zoom (2024 Product Roadmap)—Document management

Scholarships awarded to date

Successful completionof service commitment

0 %

3,000% Increase
in Applications

Where Do SMART
Scholars Work?

Throughout the U.S. there are 190 DoD laboratories and agencies across 40 states that sponsor SMART Scholars. Upon graduation, Scholars are places in civilian jobs with these DoD facilities. The post-degree service commitment is commensurate with the length of the scholarship grant. www.smartscholarship.org

Supported an increase in STEM research and advancements for DoD The SMART Program offers scholarships in 24 STEM disciplines through partnerships with 439 universities and 190 sponsoring facilities, creating a highly skilled DoD workforce that competes with dynamic trends in technology and innovation to further the national security mission.

Improved user experience for both scholars and evaluators iTech AG has enhanced the SMART Program by awarding over 500 scholarships annually, amidst an active pool of over 18,000 applications. The improvement in user experience for both applicants and evaluators is evidenced by a consistent year-over-year rise in applications.

Case Study