iLabs

Innovating in a Virtual Space

At iVision Consulting, we established iVision Labs (iLabs) as a secure, virtual environment designed to help our clients explore and test emerging technologies without incurring additional costs or risks. iLabs enables us to evaluate specific technologies, simulate their integration into existing systems, and provide actionable insights—all while ensuring a controlled and risk-free setting.

Leveraging our expertise and advanced tools, iLabs accelerates innovation and delivers cost-effective solutions tailored to each client’s unique challenges. By transforming ideas into tangible outcomes, iLabs empowers organizations to make informed decisions and stay ahead in an ever-evolving technological landscape.

Use Case: Enhancing SharePoint Capabilities for a Federal Client

A federal agency faced significant challenges in leveraging their SharePoint environment due to restrictions imposed by their centralized IT management team. This team controlled platform access, permissions, and third-party integrations, limiting the agency's ability to test and deploy custom functionality.

To address these challenges, the agency turned to our iLabs environment. Our iLabs environment served as a fully operational, isolated SharePoint instance where the agency could independently design, configure, and test their required functionality without waiting for approvals or access from their centralized IT team.

How iLabs Supported the Client’s Goals:

Our client required enhanced document handling, interactive dashboards, and real-time analytics to support their operations. While SharePoint offers a robust foundation, third-party plugins and applications often bring specialized tools that cater to these needs. Our iLabs environment was used to:

1. Third-Party Integration for Document Management

The client needed to implement and test document automation tools, including DocuSign for electronic signatures and Power Automate for multi-step document workflows. We demonstrated the following:

Configured workflows for contract approvals and document versioning.
Tested DocuSign integration with SharePoint libraries, ensuring seamless functionality for e-signatures and secure storage.
Simulated compliance with federal data retention policies, meeting standards such as FedRAMP and NIST 800-53.

2. Dashboards and Reporting Tools

The agency required real-time dashboards to visualize key performance indicators (KPIs) and track project progress. We demonstrated the following:

We integrated Power BI with their SharePoint instance to create dynamic dashboards that pulled data from external sources such as SQL databases and Excel spreadsheets.
Tested real-time data updates and validated API connections to ensure accurate reporting.
Created a proof-of-concept dashboard that was presented to their leadership team, helping secure buy-in for deployment.

Use Case: Automating Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Management and Incident Handling

A federal agency required a robust environment to demonstrate and validate the automation of OCI operations, integrate with their existing ITSM platforms (ServiceNow and JIRA), and streamline their incident management process. The challenge was to showcase the seamless orchestration of cloud infrastructure provisioning, monitoring, and incident response using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and API-driven automation.

To address this, our iLabs environment provided a fully operational, isolated OCI instance for the client to prototype and validate their automation workflows.

How iLabs Supported the Client’s Goals:

iLabs was used to develop and test advanced Terraform scripts and Python-based automation functions to manage OCI resources and integrate with ITSM platforms. Specifically, iLabs enabled the client to:

1. Automate OCI Environment Provisioning and Management

To deploy and manage an OCI environment using IaC to ensure repeatable, consistent provisioning of cloud resources. We demonstrated the following:

Terraform-Based IaC: Developed and tested Terraform scripts to automate the provisioning of OCI resources, including Virtual Cloud Networks (VCNs), compute instances, storage volumes, and load balancers.
Custom Modules: Designed reusable Terraform modules for core OCI services, ensuring modularity and scalability in their cloud infrastructure deployment.
State Management Validation: Configured Terraform backend state management to handle remote state files securely, ensuring collaboration and consistency in multi-developer environments.
Lifecycle Policies: Tested automated lifecycle policies for resources, such as backup schedules and automated deletion of unused resources, optimizing costs and resource utilization.

2. API-Driven Incident Management Integration

To streamline incident management, the client required integration between OCI monitoring and their existing ITSM platforms, ServiceNow and JIRA. We demonstrated the following:

Python-Based Automation Functions: Developed Python scripts to connect to OCI’s native monitoring services (e.g., Oracle Cloud Monitoring and Events) and handle alerts and notifications via REST APIs.
Dynamic API Key Management: Demonstrated how API keys and tokens can be securely generated, managed, and rotated to ensure secure communication between OCI and ITSM platforms.
Incident Creation Automation: Automated the creation of tickets in ServiceNow and JIRA by processing OCI alerts, such as resource overutilization, failed health checks, or security events.
Bi-Directional Updates: Tested bi-directional synchronization, where updates in ServiceNow or JIRA tickets (e.g., status changes or resolution notes) were reflected back in OCI’s monitoring logs for audit purposes.