Personnel identity management and the expeditionary strike group

Abstract

Identity management (IM) plays a critical role in virtually every management process involving personnel or material, particularly in the Department of Defense (DoD). "Identity management" means the ability to uniquely and unambiguously identity people and entities and their interactions and interrelationship, and also the ability to track their mobility in a timely fashion. Currently, Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) IM suffers from inefficient data sharing because of a lack of systems integration, just as in the civilian domain. For many ESG IM processes, technology is not being used at all. Large reports and manifests are being generated by hand, are then re-typed and E-mailed, to manually update systems. The lack of timely fielding equipment and proper training is resulting in problems with implementing IM information technology (IT) solutions. The purpose of this thesis is to establish and identify best practices and technologies to help resolve ESG IM problems. The scope for this thesis is limited to personnel IM issues at the operational, unit level to show ESG Commanders and other decision makers how best practices and technologies can be implemented. These best practices and technologies may provide similar results outside the ESG and be applicable to other DoD operations and the civilian domain as well. Chapter I provides background information to define the many different aspects of IM and explains why IM is important for the DoD. Chapter II provides an overview of DoD human resource management and Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) information systems. It also reviews the Non Combatant Evacuation Operation Tracking System (NTS) and the Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS). Chapter III provides an introduction to the ESG and then explains how IM plays a role in everyday operations. The challenges of ESG personnel IM and IT are addressed, including the NTS and the DBIDS. Chapter IV provides a brief introduction to metrics, Business Process Redesign (BPR) and the Knowledge Value Added (KVA) theory. Those concepts are used in a study to derive an answer to the question, "What does the NTS do for ESG commanders?" Chapter V summarizes the challenges with personnel IM, IT and the ESG, and recommends changes for the DBIDS and NTS. Finally, the conclusion summarizes the main points of the thesis.