If you want to have active factions in your game but aren't sure how to do it, here's a method I've developed.
1. Identify your factions and give each faction a home base.
2. Rate your factions based on three categories: Cunning (covers spies, diplomacy, and so forth); Power (covers physical force); and Wealth (covers financial activities). You can think of them as "lawyers, guns, and money" if it helps. Give them each a score from 1 to 5 in each category, with 5 being the highest.
3. Put all the Duty options from AoR into a rollable table on Roll20, or use some other randomizer to pick one. Then put each major location in your story (planets, cities, neighborhoods, sectors, whatever) into another table.
4. Between sessions, roll a random duty and a random location for each faction. This shows what they're trying to accomplish and where.
5. Decide what method the faction will use to accomplish the goal, or roll it randomly. You may get the chance to think creatively--perhaps Establish Base with Wealth means they're setting up secret accounts.
6. Roll green dice equal to the faction's rating in the applicable category against two purple dice. If the players' actions helped the faction, upgrade the check: if their actions hindered the action, upgrade the difficulty.
7. Interpret the dice as usual.
8. Make sure the players find out rumors of what's been going on elsewhere in the campaign, and look for opportunities for them to participate.
I hope this proves useful!