Farmers.gov brought together USDA services that once lived on seven separate platforms, putting them behind one mobile-friendly front door for America's producers. Keeping that front door improving, release after release, takes disciplined business analysis. Farmers.gov and its Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) systems needed continuous refinement of user stories, requirements, and documentation to match an active Agile schedule. Every improvement had to be coordinated across many development teams, product owners, and stakeholders without slowing releases. Older processes for conservation data and disbursement notifications needed modernizing without disrupting the farmers already using the platform.
BluJuniper embedded business analysts directly in the Agile SAFe scrum team behind farmers.gov and its NRCS conservation systems. We led feature refinement, wrote detailed user stories, and groomed the backlog to support Program Increment planning and demos. We ran recurring working sessions with product owners and coordinated across more than a dozen development teams to keep requirements aligned. Throughout, we resolved user-reported issues while holding a firm QA line across production, test, and development environments.
Technology & Methods Used
Agile SAFe, Salesforce, ServiceNow, backlog and user story management, Program Increment planning, QA across production and test environments
About the Client
The client is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) mission area, whose farmers.gov platform serves as the consolidated digital front door for America's agricultural producers.
Industry
Federal Government, Agriculture
Outcomes at a Glance
Multiple Successful Production Releases
New Self-Service Tools for Farmers
Business Problem
- Continuous Refinement Demand: Farmers.gov and its FPAC systems needed ongoing refinement of user stories, requirements, and documentation to keep pace with active Agile delivery.
- Multi-Team Coordination: Improvements had to be coordinated across many development teams, product owners, and stakeholder groups without slowing releases.
- Legacy Modernization Risk: Conservation program data and disbursement notification processes needed modernizing without disrupting farmers already using the platform.
Solution Approach
- Embedded Business Analysis: Placed business analysts directly into the Agile SAFe scrum team supporting farmers.gov and NRCS conservation systems.
- Backlog and Story Leadership: Led feature refinement, user story writing, and backlog grooming for Program Increment planning and demos.
- Cross-Team Facilitation: Ran recurring product owner sessions and collaborated across more than a dozen development teams to keep requirements aligned.
- QA Discipline: Managed and resolved user-reported issues while maintaining QA rigor across production, test, and development environments.
Value Delivered
Our work supported multiple successful production releases within USDA's broader FPAC digital modernization ecosystem, which spans both Salesforce and ServiceNow.
For farmers, that meant real new self-service capabilities, including customizable notification preferences and an expanded direct-deposit path for disbursements. Behind the scenes, we strengthened requirements traceability and stakeholder alignment across a large, multi-team Agile environment. A high-visibility public service kept improving without interruption.
Where This Fits in North*Star©
Project Delivery / SDLC
This is the Project Delivery and SDLC discipline in practice. BluJuniper embedded governed, assurance-driven Agile business analysis into a high-visibility public platform and kept releases moving without disrupting service.