The Department of Defense (DoD) CIM Program
Department of Defense (DoD) programs often take advantage of DACS resources through the use of special Technical Area Tasks (TATs). While the DACS has performed many of these TATs over the years, few have had the DoD wide implications as the TAT now supporting the Science and Technology (S&T) Corporate Information Management (CIM) Program. The S&T CIM is part of a broad based program whose goal is to make DoD corporate information interoperable and comparable. This program will have sweeping effects on the way that information systems are specified, purchased, and applied within the DoD. The management of the CIM program has been organized according to traditional DoD centers of responsibility. The S&T CIM is a component of the Acquisition and Technology (A&T) CIM which also includes Atomic Energy, Environmental Security, Economic Security, Procurement, Logistics, Test and Evaluation, and Systems Acquisition Management.
Department of Defense Science and Technology
Figure 1 illustrates the responsibility of the S&T Functional Area. It encompasses all those activities associated with conducting basic research, exploratory development, and advanced development throughout the U.S. Defense community. It envelops the research laboratories of the Services and three DoD agencies: the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), and the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA).
In the center of this organization is the Director, Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E). The DDR&E is responsible for the direction, overall quality, and content of the DoD S&T Program. The DDR&E ensures that the S&T program responds to the needs of the U.S. military and to the national goals embraced by the program's vision. The DDR&E facilitates the research budget process by providing relevant information to the Executive branch of Government.
The Science and Technology CIM Program
The methodology of the S&T CIM is compatible with both the larger world of DoD and the A&T CIM of which the S&T CIM is a component. While flexibility of emphasis is allowed to account for differences between functional areas, each CIM must accomplish three interrelated thrusts:
These three thrusts are performed in parallel, but it is recognized that the findings of each thrust influence the direction of the other two and they are not performed in isolation. As discussed below, the S&T CIM Program has tailored the third thrust to better match the needs of the S&T community.
Standardize Data
Data standardization is perhaps the pivotal thrust of CIM. Data standardization requires that all information used to perform S&T be identified, and that the organization and definitions of data elements be standardized. Cost savings are expected to be derived from the availability of interoperable, comparable data and from associated reductions in the number of independent databases being maintained. Data standardization will also provide an information baseline that is independent of the choice of system architectures for future S&T AISs. These goals apply throughout the DoD and the S&T CIM, as well as other CIM programs. These programs must devote a significant effort to interfacing with other CIMs to resolve cross-functional data issues.
In compliance with the accepted CIM methodology, an S&T "as-is" data model is under development. The DoD-accepted methodology for data modeling in the CIM community is the Integrated DEFinition (IDEF) methodology which uses an entity-relationship based body of rules and conventions referred to as IDEF1X. This "as-is" data model will be reengineered as a "to-be" model incorporating an efficient, standardized organization for S&T information requirements. The IDEF methodology also includes IDEF0, a body of rules and conventions for activity modeling. Activity modeling with IDEF0 is used in the second CIM thrust, perform BPR.
Perform Business Process Reengineering (BPR)
CIM BPR focuses on improvements in the processes that are used to accomplish DoD S&T activities. It begins with development of an "as-is" activity model that graphically depicts the way S&T is currently performed as discrete functional activities. The activity model is hierarchical in that each activity can be further subdivided into lower-level activities to a level of detail necessary to understand the function being modeled.
The IDEF0 activity modeling convention is similar to structured analysis but is somewhat tailored for industrial processes. Activities are depicted as boxes. Arrows coming into the activity boxes from the left represent Inputs to the activity (raw materials) and arrows coming out from of the right represent Outputs (products). Arrows coming into the top of the activity depict Controls such as, a regulation that must be followed. Arrows coming in at the bottom are enabling Mechanisms such as, a word processor for a secretary. Figure 2 depicts a section of the top-level IDEF0 view of S&T business processes.
The S&T "as-is" model is not being developed in isolation. Higher level IDEF0 models of DoD and A&T were used as a starting point for S&T. The S&T model is top-down and necessarily from the perspective of the DDR&E. At some lower level of detail, the information management practices of the services and DoD agencies must be interfaced with this top-level view.
As with the data model, the "as-is" activity model will be reengineered into a "to-be" model incorporating business process improvements. The process of building the IDEF0 models will result in additional knowledge about S&T and insights about functional improvements. Other opportunities for improvements may come through the need to interface with other functional area CIM programs and the recognition of new technologies that can be used to improve the way S&T is accomplished.
The third major thrust of the S&T Program is to inventory all existing AISs and identify premier systems from which S&T information requirements can be extracted.
Select and Implement Migration Systems
The third thrust requires that all AISs currently being used within a functional area such as S&T be identified, and that a functionally sufficient subset of these systems (referred to as migration systems) be selected to serve the needs of the community. Savings would be captured by eliminating systems not selected for migration and avoiding the purchase and maintenance of many different systems that perform the same work. In following this paradigm, a functional area is making the tacit assumption that AISs exist which are relatively large and have significant annual costs to maintain the software and hardware.
Migration systems are to be selected through a multi-level sifting process that collects and measures performance and functional information about each S&T AIS. The initial findings of this evaluation have shown that the S&T community is characterized by complex decision making and the use of desktop systems and this finding casts some doubt on the assumption that significant savings might be gained from the migration of AISs within the S&T community. This finding is a reflection of the nature of S&T (research and technical development) versus that of the Finance and Accounting functional area, for example, whose AISs are characterized by very high transaction throughput and large investments in computational centers.
These characteristics of the S&T community led to the decision to refocus the search for migration systems into a search for Premier Systems. The designation "Premier" reflects a wider application of high quality AISs performing S&T. In this wider view, the need to establish an S&T data architecture and identify opportunities for BPR takes precedence over selection of migration systems. The detailed assessment process has been recast to single out AISs that exhibit the highest correlation with activities identified by the as-is activity model and are therefore likely to be rich sources of S&T data requirements. This approach does not ignore the cost saving potential of migration and, if migrating to Premier Systems makes economic sense for the S&T community, a migration implementation plan will be developed.
Opportunities for Cost Effective Software Development
The CIM program, when brought fully to fruition, implies a program of reengineering and consolidation of information systems throughout the DoD. The development of the activity and data models is important for gaining an understanding of the current practices of each functional area, but it does to examine design and implementation strategies that continue the ideals of BPR and do not allow the S&T CIM program to restrict itself to a traditional, sequential information system development cycle. S&T, as well as other CIM programs, should look toward an approach that emphasizes functional modularity, incremental improvement, rapid prototyping, early initial successes, maximum use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products, and open architectures. The DACS will continue to support the DoD community through data modeling and standardization, AIS evaluation and selection, as well as, identifying and implementing business process improvements.