Enterprise Systems Engineering Theory and Practice, Volume 9: Enterprise Research and Development (Agile Functionality for Decision Superiority)
December 2006
Dr. Kevin A. Cabana, The MITRE Corporation
Dr. Lindsley G. Boiney, The MITRE Corporation
Robert J. Lesch, The MITRE Corporation
Christopher D. Berube, The MITRE Corporation
Dr. Lewis A. Loren, The MITRE Corporation
Linsey B. O'Brien, The MITRE Corporation
Craig A. Bonaceto, The MITRE Corporation
Harcharanjit Singh, The MITRE Corporation
Robert L. Anapol, The MITRE Corporation
ABSTRACT
Volume 9 lays the groundwork for the D400 Enterprise Systems Engineering Research and
Development paradigm. Motivating our paradigm is a fundamental goal of Network-Centric
Warfare and Operations (NCOW): "getting the right information to the right people at the
right time to make the right decisions." To contribute to the realization of this goal, we have
identified agile information generation, management, and exploitation as the three canonical
function areas that underpin our paradigm. Information generation addresses the problem of
"getting the right information" by collecting, fusing, aggregating, and drawing inferences
from data gathered from any and all sources on the extended battlefield—and in a networkcentric
world, any entity that can make observations can function as a data-generating sensor.
Information management addresses the critical need of constructing sufficient infrastructure
to ensure that this information is made available to "the right people at the right time,
constrained by the right budget" in the highly distributed and fluid force of the future. The
primary focus of information exploitation is the combination of people and technology to
process this information to make "the right decisions." Our paradigm addresses the agile,
flexible combination of these functions across multiple enterprise scales and military
echelons for both the conventional and asymmetrical threats that characterizes the 21st
century security environment.
An important aspect of the paradigm is that warfighters and their mission areas are the
"forcing function" for the development of information technology and collaborative
processes that serve to promote innovation in decision making. Within this framework, we
recognize that a large part of enterprise complexity comes from the fact that its performance
and evolution are driven by creative and adaptable people interacting with systems,
organizations, and external influences. Identifying both positive and negative effects of this
"emergence" is an important research goal.
Section 1 motivates the need to transform the military into a network-centric enterprise,
describes the defining characteristics of this enterprise, and summarizes key building blocks
of the research paradigm. Sections 2 through 4 describe information generation,
management, and exploitation in greater detail by highlighting the critical design principles
and research needs to ensure their agile combination. To highlight anticipated returns-on-investment
from this research, Section 5 considers a complex, time-sensitive operational
scenario in which all three functions of the paradigm come together fluidly to improve
military effectiveness and impact.
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