FDA CMARS Application

Project Type: Application Modernization

FDA's Automated Investigation Management System (AIMS) was modernized from an Oracle based legacy first conceived in the 90's to an Appian low-code based system. The AIMS application belongs to the Office of Criminal Investigations within FDA. Their mission is to create referrals for criminal wrongdoing, investigate the cases, and gathering information and evidence to support any court proceedings involved. The application was renamed as the Case Management and Administrative Resource System (CMARS) late in development.

Once the Case is submitted through the CIR, the Case goes through a series of approvals. An approved Case will track the steps and actions taken at each phase, who made the action, and when it was made. All information connected to a Case can be found in its record. Any connections to other Records are provided through link references.

Complex and Interconnected

The AIMS application has a myriad of different record types with different approval workflows and relationships to the core Case record. As a result, we needed to document all of the relationships throughout the system and ensure they were properly represented and easy to understand.

Heavy Lift

We had to contend with a number of factors with this modernization. The legacy application itself was very outdated and had many enhancements appended to it that worked outside of the main application. This created a disjointed experience that meshed multiple eras of technology and development efforts. We also had to accommodate users who had been using the legacy system since its inception and brand new OCI staff who would be learning the application for the first time.

Broad User Groups

The OCI customer represents law enforcement from all across the country. We spoke with supervisors, managers, investigators, administrative staff, and researchers to develop the modernized application to fit their needs and make dramatic improvements on their experiences.

Success on Release

The new modernized application launched in February 2025. Among the other operational improvements, users now have access to enhanced data integrity systems through enforced business rules, streamlined workflows that eliminate redundancies, better user experience through modern interface design, and advanced reporting tools to provide deeper insights.

For more information on the project, you can read up on the case study provided here: Modernizing FDA’s Criminal Investigation System: From Legacy to Low-Code