A Common Operating Picture for Air Force Materiel Sustainment First Steps

by Pyles, Raymond A.; Tripp, Robert S.; Lynch, Kristin F.; Snyder, Don; Mills, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9780833041289
• ISBN10: 0833041282
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-09-04
• Publisher: RAND Corporation

Summary

"The United States Air Force materiel sustainment system (MSS) is continually caught between two countervailing pressures: demands for increased efficiency and lower costs on one side versus demands for increasingly effective support to combat operations and peacetime training on the other. Furthermore, the demands on the MSS are unpredictable and change rapidly. The authors contend that implementation of a common operating picture (COP) would make the Air Force MSS both more efficient and more flexible and responsive to changing needs. They describe such a COP, developed around four principles: effects-based measures, which enable the creation of diagnostic measures to monitor system performance; schwerpunkt, a German concept that emphasizes the importance of a shared frame of reference for accomplishing organizational objectives; decision-rights theory, which provides a framework for decentralizing decisionmaking; and a nonmarket economic framework in which Air Force Headquarters and the Global Logistics Supply Center would mediate between the supply and demand sides of the MSS. The authors discuss how this COP might be applied to depot-level reparable component sustainment, using that specific example to illustrate how the COP could improve the overall MSS."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. iii
Figures	p. xi
Tables	p. xiii
Summary	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xxiii
Abbreviations	p. xxv
Introduction	p. 1
Scope of This Monograph	p. 3
Organization of This Monograph	p. 4
Framework: Common Operating Pictures, Effectiveness-Based Measures, Decision Rights, Schwerpunkt, and Nonmarket Environments	p. 5
Common Operating Pictures	p. 6
Effects-Based Metrics	p. 8
Decision Rights	p. 10
Information Availability	p. 11
Decisionmaking Capacity	p. 11
Appropriate Incentives	p. 12
Schwerpunkt	p. 12
Achieving Efficient Resource Allocation in a Nonmarket Environment	p. 15
Method for Designing a Common Operating Picture	p. 19
Identify the Broad Objectives	p. 20
Relate Objectives to Planned Effects	p. 20
Identify Measures of Effects	p. 21
Identify the Processes and Decisions That Affect Each MOE	p. 23
Identify MOEIs and Alarm Thresholds for Each MOE	p. 23
Allocate Decision Rights to the Lowest Possible Echelon Agency	p. 25
The Information Availability Matrix	p. 26
Adjust Incentives to Reward MOEI Performance	p. 30
Periodically Review and Adjust the COP and the Decision Rights	p. 31
An Example: Common Operating Pictures for the Materiel Sustainment System	p. 33
Ientifying Broad Air Force Objectives	p. 33
Aircraft Materiel Sustainment Measures of Effectiveness	p. 35
Identifying Measures of Effects	p. 39
Measuring Operational Suitability	p. 39
Measuring Mission Reliability	p. 39
Measuring Airworthiness	p. 43
Measuring Availability	p. 44
Measuring Cost	p. 47
Identifying Decisions That Affect Each MOE	p. 48
Today's Financial-Planning Decisions Imperfectly Address NFMCD Goals and Constraints	p. 55
Many DLR Execution Decisions Also Address NEMCD Goals Imperfectly	p. 57
Identifying MOEIs and Setting Alarm Thresholds	p. 59
MOEIs for DLR Sustainment Monitoring	p. 59
Optempo, Flow Times, and Inventories	p. 60
Nine Causes of NFMCD Changes	p. 60
Monitoring Optempo	p. 61
Monitoring Components' Reliabilities, or Demand Rates	p. 61
Measuring Flow-Time Leading Indicators	p. 62
Monitoring Hands-On Repair Time, Capacity, and Spare-Part Inventory Changes	p. 63
Special Case: Repair Capacity	p. 65
Deliveries and Transportation Capacity as Leading Indicators	p. 66
Component-Repair Location	p. 67
Priority Changes	p. 68
Setting MOEI Alarm Thresholds	p. 68
When Thresholds Are Exceeded	p. 70
The Issue of Cost	p. 71
Allocating Decision Rights	p. 72
Current DLR Planning Decision Rights and Available Information	p. 72
Current DLR Execution Decision Rights	p. 78
Using the DLR MOEs and MOEIs to Guide and Monitor DLR Sustainment	p. 82
A Common Operating Picture for DLR Planning	p. 86
A Common Operating Picture for DLR Execution	p. 92
Adjusting Incentives	p. 97
Periodic Review and Refinement of the COP and Decision Rights	p. 98
Conclusion	p. 99
Some Foreseeable Implementation Challenges	p. 100
Beyond DLRs	p. 101
How Decisions Occur in Organizations	p. 103
References	p. 107
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