ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK FOR OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS IN MULTI-DOMAIN OPERATIONS (MDO)

Abstract

The Research and Analysis Center–Monterey lacked a methodical process to assess if the innovative systems of systems technologies demonstrated at Project Convergence (PC) met the operational effectiveness required to provide the Joint Force with the necessary speed, range, and convergence to yield future decision dominance and overmatch for great power competition. To combat this, a conceptual assessment framework was developed using a proven systems engineering (SE) process. Throughout this SE process a stakeholder analysis, objectives hierarchy, functional analysis, and relevant and collectible measures of effectiveness were developed. Value modeling was accomplished using a modified Langford method to rank measures on a constructed scale and the Parnell method of swing weighting was leveraged to afford stakeholders the ability to place a level of importance on each measure. This produced an aggregate weighted value score that indicated the level of operational effectiveness. With this framework and ability to produce an operational effectiveness score, the stakeholders can make more informed decisions related to future PC activities and technology development. It is recommended that the stakeholders utilize the assessment framework on additional use cases to test flexibility and usability, as well as conduct further studies that investigate the influence that human-system interfaces and procedures/doctrine have on operational effectiveness.