Advanced Analytics and Automation
Success at USCIS

Challenge

USCIS faced increasing pressure to improve data accuracy, streamline manual validation efforts, and expand access to analytics for operational decision-making. Key processes involved repeated manual effort across disparate systems, contributing to inconsistent reporting, delayed insights, and inefficiencies in case processing.

While mission data was available, teams lacked standardized frameworks for model development, and non-technical users depended heavily on IT resources to generate analytical reports—slowing time-to-insight and limiting agility. The agency needed scalable, repeatable solutions that supported automation, analytics, and long-term modernization.

Approach

Anika Systems partnered with the agency's Office of the Chief Data Officer (OCDO) to deliver a suite of solutions designed for immediate impact and long-term reuse. Our approach included:

• Deploying AI-powered UiPath bots to automate manual data validation workflows—dramatically reducing effort while improving data consistency and compliance
• Designing and implementing an AI/ML Model Development Framework to standardize model building activities, enable reusable components, and reduce time-to-production for AI models
• Developing an end-to-end Generative AI Framework to guide future innovation, with clear governance checkpoints from ideation through deployment
• Building a no-code reporting tool on Databricks, allowing business users to generate their own reports without relying on technical teams
• Establishing a centralized methodology library, housing SQL snippets and business logic to promote code reuse and consistency
• Supporting the development of a person-centric data model, integrating case history, biometrics, and security checks for future advanced analytics and AI enablement

Impact

The agency experienced immediate and sustained improvements across operations, data integrity, and decision-making:

• Reduced manual processing time by over 90%, including cutting one data validation process from 144 hours/year to 5.8 hours/year
• Deployed 31 enterprise dashboards serving over 18,000 monthly users with 20,000+ monthly views, enabling faster access to critical insights
• Equipped non-technical teams to generate reports independently—reducing reliance on IT and accelerating analytics delivery
• Achieved a 4 out of 5 score in Gartner's Federal Data & Analytics Maturity Benchmark, well above the 2/5 peer average
• Established reusable frameworks and tools now positioned to scale across other programs and agencies

By combining automation, reusable AI assets, and self-service reporting capabilities, Anika Systems empowered the agency to reduce costs, improve accuracy, and increase agility in support of its mission.