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How ERA™ Addresses Specific Military Challenges

The Landscape is Changing
As we can see, the military enterprise has its own set of challenges, and it also shares some challenges with other government and commercial enterprises. The landscape is changing. In recent years, the DoD has implemented major acquisition and operational reforms. These reforms have purposely resulted in less adherence to specifications and standards, with more attention focused on users’ (evolving) needs and providing effective solutions for those needs.

This new environment presents both threats and opportunities for the military enterprise. For example, today it is not uncommon to see different military depots competing with each other for the same business. In fact, some might be found competing with certain private sector interests for the same commercial opportunities. In today’s environment, such an enterprise would be wise to adopt a strategy of “We need to go after their business before they take ours.” It might sound sinister, but the end result will be a more lean and agile environment that better serves the needs of the taxpayer without short-changing the war fighter.

The ERA™ Solution
ERA™ is a holistic approach that embraces the DoD’s new directives and leverages the latest in industry and academic research and development. US DoD Guidance for transformational activities is outlined in “Transformation Planning Guidance” dated April 2003.

Click Here to view “Transformation Planning Guidance” it’s entirety.

ERA™ can help military organizations address their very special needs over a broad range of areas. Here’s How:

“Some argue that the United States should not change what are demonstrably the world’s best military forces. History and current trends suggest that merely attempting to hold on to existing advantages is a shortsighted approach
and may prove disastrous.”


- Excerpt from DoD-Issued “Transformation
Planning Guidance,” dated April 2003

Acquisition and Procurement – There are many constraints placed on military procurement and acquisitions that go beyond typical federal regulations. ERA™ methods can use these constraints as design attributes to achieve the highest level of enterprise performance under them. Changing some of the FARs would require changes to the laws they were developed under, so this is not even an option.

Manufacturing – The development of military manufacturing capabilities is unlike most commercial activities. The military manufacturing enterprise has to adhere to an additional host of regulations and will only exist while there are active contracts to make such products. ERA™ is a process whereby a lean and agile enterprise can be designed and implemented taking into account a wide range of key performance parameters including surge capability, agility, quality, cost, etc.

Operational – Operational military architectures are in a constant state of change; and lethality, flexibility, agility and jointness are the current key performance parameters. ERA™ has the capability to address the assessment of current architectures and the impact of the changes to them. ERA™ will not only consider the operational enterprise, but will also include additional parameters such as logistics.

Sustainment, Supply Chain and Logistics – The biggest potential gain for the DoD overall is in the transformation of the sustainment enterprises. Sustainment usually represents the longest portion of the systems life cycle and also the most expensive (often 50%).

DoD must find innovative solutions to support legacy systems that are cost effective and flexible. The DoD must economically manage these system life cycles in order to address obsolescence and modernization issues without degrading readiness, cost and performance objectives. ERA™ is able to assess the impact of these monumental changes and through simulation, estimate the best performance under the constraints. The enterprise architecture changes that accommodate these potential improvements can also be assessed for cost effectiveness as well as for a host of additional key performance parameters.

(Click chart on right to enlarge.)

The Desired End Result
ERA™ can help the military enterprise better serve its customers now and as their needs change. The enterprise will be both lean and agile so that it is no longer one-dimensionally focused on just the mission at hand. Rather, it will be positioned to become a value-added “partner” to its customers … a proactive problem solver whose enterprise mission is in concert with its customer’s mission.

 

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