Microsoft System Center Orchestrator

General Information

Technologies must be operated and maintained in accordance with Federal and Department security and privacy policies and guidelines. More information on the proper use of the TRM can be found on the TRM Proper Use Tab/Section.

Website:	Go to site
Description:	Microsoft System Center Orchestrator is a workflow automation software product that is part of the Microsoft System Center Suite. Orchestrator provides a way of building complex system automation using a graphical interface. Orchestrator runbooks (automated tasks) can be triggered according to event logs or Microsoft Systems Center Operations Manager alerts.
Technology/Standard Usage Requirements:	Users must ensure their use of this technology/standard is consistent with VA policies and standards, including, but not limited to, VA Handbooks 6102 and 6500; VA Directives 6004, 6513, and 6517; and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Users must ensure sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. Prior to use of this technology, users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Officer (ISO), Facility Chief Information Officer (CIO), or local Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) representative to ensure that all actions are consistent with current VA policies and procedures prior to implementation.
Section 508 Information:	This technology has not been assessed by the Section 508 Office. The Implementer of this technology has the responsibility to ensure the version deployed is 508-compliant. Section 508 compliance may be reviewed by the Section 508 Office and appropriate remedial action required if necessary. For additional information or assistance regarding Section 508, please contact the Section 508 Office at Section508@va.gov.
Decision:	View Decisions

Decision Source:	TRM Mgmt Group
Decision Process:	One-VA TRM v23.3
Decision Date:	03/13/2023 at 16:47:53 UTC
Aliases:	MS Orchestrator; Microsoft Orchestrator
Introduced By:	TRM Request
Vendor Name:	Microsoft

Vendor Release Information

The Vendor Release table provides the known releases for the TRM Technology, obtained from the vendor (or from the release source).

Version	Release Date	Vendor End of Life Date	Vendor Desupport Date
2012 R2	01/16/2014	07/11/2017	07/12/2022
2016	10/28/2016		01/11/2027
2016 (1807)	07/24/2018
2019	03/14/2019	04/09/2024	04/09/2029
2022	03/21/2022

Current Decision Matrix (03/08/2023)

Users must ensure their use of this technology/standard is consistent with VA policies and standards, including, but not limited to, VA Handbooks 6102 and 6500; VA Directives 6004, 6513, and 6517; and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Users must ensure sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. Prior to use of this technology, users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Officer (ISO), Facility Chief Information Officer (CIO), or local Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) representative to ensure that all actions are consistent with current VA policies and procedures prior to implementation.

The VA Decision Matrix displays the current and future VA IT position regarding different releases of a TRM entry. These decisions are based upon the best information available as of the most current date. The consumer of this information has the responsibility to consult the organizations responsible for the desktop, testing, and/or production environments to ensure that the target version of the technology will be supported. Any major.minor version that is not listed in the VA Decision Matrix is considered unapproved for use.

Legend:

White	Approved: The technology/standard has been approved for use.
Yellow	Approved w/Constraints: The technology/standard can be used within the specified constraints located below the decision matrix in the footnote[1] and on the General tab.
Gray	Unapproved: This technology or standard can be used only if a POA&M review is conducted and signed by the Authorizing Official Designated Representative (AODR) as designated by the Authorizing Official (AO) or designee and based upon a recommendation from the POA&M Compliance Enforcement, has been granted to the project team or organization that wishes to use the technology.
Orange	Divest: VA has decided to divest itself on the use of the technology/standard. As a result, all projects currently utilizing the technology/standard must plan to eliminate their use of the technology/standard. Additional information on when the entry is projected to become unapproved may be found on the Decision tab for the specific entry.
Black	Prohibited: The technology/standard is not (currently) permitted to be used under any circumstances.
Blue	Planning/Evaluation Constraint:The period of time this technology is currently being evaluated, reviewed, and tested in controlled environments. Use of this technology is strictly controlled and not available for use within the general population. If a customer would like to use this technology, please work with your local or Regional OI&T office and contact the appropriate evaluation office displayed in the notes below the decision matrix. The Local or Regional OI&T office should submit an inquiry to the TRM if they require further assistance or if the evaluating office is not listed in the notes below.

Release/Version Information:

VA decisions for specific versions may include a ‘.x’ wildcard, which denotes a decision that pertains to a range of multiple versions.

For example, a technology approved with a decision for 7.x would cover any version of 7.(Anything) - 7.(Anything). However, a 7.4.x decision would cover any version of 7.4.(Anything), but would not cover any version of 7.5.x or 7.6.x on the TRM.

VA decisions for specific versions may include ‘+’ symbols; which denotes that the decision for the version specified also includes versions greater than what is specified but is not to exceed or affect previous decimal places.

For example, a technology approved with a decision for 12.6.4+ would cover any version that is greater than 12.6.4, but would not exceed the .6 decimal ie: 12.6.401 is ok, 12.6.5 is ok, 12.6.9 is ok, however 12.7.0 or 13.0 is not.

<Past

CY2016

CY2017

CY2018

Future>

Release

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

2012 R2

Approved w/Constraints
[2, 3, 4]

Approved w/Constraints
[2, 4]

Approved w/Constraints
[2, 4, 5]

Approved w/Constraints
[2, 4, 6]

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 6, 7]

Approved w/Constraints
[7, 8, 9]

2016

Unapproved

Approved w/Constraints
[1, 2, 4, 5]

Approved w/Constraints
[1, 2, 4, 6]

Approved w/Constraints
[1, 4, 6, 7]

Approved w/Constraints
[1, 7, 8, 9]

2016 (1807)

Unapproved

2019

Unapproved

2022

Unapproved

Decision Constraints


[1]	This Technology is currently being evaluated, reviewed, and tested in controlled environments. Use of this technology is strictly controlled and not available for use within the general population.

[2]	Veterans Affairs (VA) users must ensure VA sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed by the local ISO (Information Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500.

[3]	Per the May 5th, 2015 memorandum from the VA Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) FIPS 140-2 Validate Full Disk Encryption (FOE) for Data at Rest in Database Management Systems (DBMS) and in accordance with Federal requirements and VA policy, database management must use Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 compliant encryption to protect the confidentiality and integrity of VA information at rest at the application level. If FIPS 140-2 encryption at the application level is not technically possible, FIPS 140-2 compliant full disk encryption (FOE) must be implemented on the hard drive where the DBMS resides. Appropriate access enforcement and physical security control must also be implemented. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500 and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards. It is the responsibility of the system owner to work with the local CIO (or designee) and Information Security Officer (ISO) to ensure that a compliant DBMS technology is selected and that if needed, mitigating controls are in place and documented in a System Security Plan (SSP).

[4]	In cases where the technology is used for external connections, a full Enterprise Security Change Control Board (ESCCB) review is required in accordance VA Directive 6004 , VA Directive 6517, and VA Directive 6513. The local ISO can advise on the ESCCB review process.

[5]	Microsoft System Center Orchestrator (MSCO) 2016 is in Evaluation and only Enterprise System Engineering (ESE) Client Services may use the technology at this time for evaluation purposes. This product is currently not approved for production except as part of an official ESE production pilot or production test of this version as approved by ESE Client Services or an AERB waiver while under evaluation. No production deployment dates for Microsoft System Center Orchestrator (MSCO) 2016 has been set as of this writing.

[6]	Microsoft System Center Orchestrator (MSCO) 2016 is in Evaluation and only Enterprise System Engineering (ESE) Systems Design and Core SE Service (SDCS) may use the technology at this time for evaluation purposes. This product is currently not approved for production except as part of an official ESE production pilot or production test of this version as approved by ESE Systems Design and Core SE Services (SDCS) or an AERB waiver while under evaluation. No production deployment dates for Microsoft System Center Orchestrator (MSCO) 2016 has been set as of this writing.

[7]	Veterans Affairs (VA) users must ensure VA sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed by the local ISO (Information Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500.

[8]	Microsoft System Center Orchestrator (MSCO) 2016 is in Evaluation and only Solution Delivery (SD) Systems Design and Core SE Service (SDCS) may use the technology at this time for evaluation purposes. This product is currently not approved for production except as part of an official SD production pilot or production test of this version as approved by SD Systems Design and Core SE Services (SDCS) or an AERB waiver while under evaluation. No production deployment dates for Microsoft System Center Orchestrator (MSCO) 2016 has been set as of this writing.

[9]	Per the May 5th, 2015 memorandum from the VA Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) FIPS 140-2 Validate Full Disk Encryption (FOE) for Data at Rest in Database Management Systems (DBMS) and in accordance with Federal requirements and VA policy, database management must use Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 compliant encryption to protect the confidentiality and integrity of VA information at rest at the application level. If FIPS 140-2 encryption at the application level is not technically possible, FIPS 140-2 compliant full disk encryption (FOE) must be implemented on the hard drive where the DBMS resides. Appropriate access enforcement and physical security control must also be implemented. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500 and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards. It is the responsibility of the system owner to work with the local CIO (or designee) and Information Security Officer (ISO) to ensure that a compliant DBMS technology is selected and that if needed, mitigating controls are in place and documented in a System Security Plan (SSP).

Note:

At the time of writing, version 2022 is the most current version, released 03/21/2022.

References

The following reference(s) are associated with this entry:
Type	Name	Description
Vendor Provided*	Orchestrator Documentation	This webpage provides links to various sources of documentation for this software.
Vendor Provided*	Search Product and Services Lifecycle Information	This database provides information on the lifecycle and desupport dates for multiple software.
Vendor Provided*	System Center 2022 Orchestrator	This webpage provides information on this software’s lifecycle.
Vendor Provided*	Release notes for System Center Orchestrator	This webpage provides the release notes for this software.
Other	Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 140-2	This documentation provides Microsoft``s scope regarding FIPS 140-2
*NOTE: Vendor provided information is subject to the accuracy of the manufacturer.

Technology Components

Note: This list may not be complete. No component, listed or unlisted, may be used outside of the technology in which it is released. The usage decision for a component is found in the Decision and Decision Constraints.
Name	Description
No components have been identified for this entry.

VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

Domain Area	Category	Customer Guidance	Category Locked By ELT Date
Systems Management Systems Management Tools	Alert Management
Systems Management Systems Management Tools	Data Center Automation Software

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

Windows Client - Approved w/Constraints
Windows Server - Approved w/Constraints

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

Comparable Technologies:

VMware vCenter Server

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

Adoption Benefits

The technology has a comprehensive set of documentation.
The enterprise holds an enterprise license for this technology and users can contact the considering VA Office for licensing or software details.
This technology is a workflow automation software product that is part of the Microsoft System Center Suite. Orchestrator provides a way of building complex system automation using a graphical interface. Orchestrator runbooks (automated tasks) can be triggered according to event logs or Microsoft Systems Center Operations Manager alerts.
There are minimal other TRM-approved technologies that provide the same functionality.
At the time of writing, no National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) vulnerabilities had been reported and no VA Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) bulletins had been issued for the latest versions of this technology.
The 2022 version of this technology does not depend on Microsoft Silverlight.
This technology utilizes Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 encryption.

Adoption Risks

This technology can integrate with and alter database technologies.
The potential exists to store Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI) and/or VA Sensitive data and proper security standards must be followed in these cases.

Architectural Benefits

This technology can use a VA-preferred database.
The solution is compatible with virtual machines, therefore consistent with the enterprise Server Virtualize First Policy (VAIQ 7266972 08-27-2012).

Architectural Risks

This technology is not portable as it is only supported by the Windows platform.

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