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:
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“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 |
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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%).
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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.) |
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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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