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Office of Common Services

Strategic Alignment

The Office of Common Services vision communicates our future aspirations as an office and serves as the light post that guides our work. Our mission and mission areas will convey how we will achieve the vision.

Vision Statement

Transform environmental observations into intelligence for the future.

 

Mission Statement

To provide enterprise technologies and solutions for satellite ground systems and data archives that deliver environmental intelligence to make informed decisions and enable innovative science.

 

Mission Summary & Areas

OCS plans and executes common services for NOAA’s satellite, data, and information capabilities. These are critical to acquiring, processing and managing the environmental data from NOAA’s satellite missions, for facilitating access to non-NOAA domestic and international satellites and commercially-acquired data, and for stewarding and providing long-term products and services for all approved NOAA and external partner data. 

 

Focused on 4 mission areas; ​Emerging Technology, Systems and Infrastructure, Software Engineering, and Product Portfolio Management 

 

The OCS collaborates with: 

  • Systems Architecture and Engineering (SAE) to define the future ground architecture and enterprise requirements that flow to OCS, including product requirements; 
  • Assistant Chief Information Officer - Satellites (ACIO-S) for the security of common ground services, networks, and emerging technologies; 
  • Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) for sustainment of space-ground communication assets, sustainment of legacy product generation and distribution systems, and operations and sustainment of emerging capabilities and migrating capabilities to the cloud; 
  • Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) for developing and transitioning scientific algorithms/products into operations and developing and sustaining development and research infrastructure in the cloud;
  • National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) for developing and transitioning scientific algorithms/products/services into operations, and for the long-term archive and stewardship of NOAA’s environmental information;
  • Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), Low Earth Orbit (LEO), and Space Weather Observation (SWO) portfolios for developing and implementing common services for NOAA and partner satellite missions and developing products and services to support the satellite missions as well as enterprise requirements.

 

Leadership

Heather Kilcoyne
Director
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Kathryn Shontz
Deputy Director
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NESDIS Cloud Training
Cloud Role-Based Training Curriculums are designed to ensure that Federal teams have a pathway for Cloud training as NESDIS migrates to the Cloud using SAFe, Agile, and DevOps processes and principles.
Cloud Role-Based Training Curriculums

End of Year Reports

Please download the OCS End of Year Report below to see highlights of our 2021 and 2022 accomplishments