The naval officer assignment problem

Abstract

The effectiveness of the officer distribution system of the Navy is strongly dependent on the assignment officers' daily assignment decisions. The officer assignment problem is to determine the optimal assignment of officers to billets on a continuing time basis. A procedure is developed in this study by which ranked assignment alternatives can be provided the assignment officer to assist him in making his decisions. The ranking of the alternatives is based on an index or value measure developed from the quantifiable assignment information. The assignment alternatives are developed for a spec­ified assignment period of interest and represent trade-offs between feasible assignments and times of assignment. The procedure makes long range assignment planning feasible by reducing the problem to one of manageable size for the assignment officer's consideration.