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I. INTRODUCTION.

The concepts and techniques I am presenting are the work of over seven years of focused effort.I have discovered something which can benefit many organizations, public and private sector, after a short period of development, at low relative cost. The scope and implications of this discovery can best be addressed at the higher levels of an organization.

The discovery is a technique of applying relatively simple and inexpensive information technology, systems theory, and information resource management concepts in a synergistic new way. I believe this technique can decrease the cost of operating any networked organization by 20% annually, as well as increasing its effectiveness by at least 100%, without decreasing its performance level, all within a period of months. I call the technique Individuated Associative Matrix (IAM).

I believe that IAM can make a positive contribution to resolving much of our current national and international productivity crisis. IAM is needed now. I therefore feel obliged to raise IAM's visibility and make it freely available to better the chances for its possible contribution.

IAM allows any "thing" that an organization controls or manages to be uniquely viewed in terms of its composition and distribution throughout the organization. IAM employs concepts no more complex than that of a family tree, a table of contents, a concordance, a parts list for an item, or the plans for a family vacation. Howerver, some complexity does arise within IAM because of the integration of simple concepts into a single system.

IAM could serve as a Directory/Registry/Table of Contents/Repository/ Encyclopedia/Catalog/Cross-Index/Cross-Reference/++++ of those things the corporate body uses, produces, and/or disposes of, displayed in terms of locations, organizations, production units, staff functions, business activities, resource configurations, and specific accountable resources.

IAM is relatively easy to use, but IAM would require an engineer's or an accountant's discipline and consistency to build and maintain. It would inhibit thousands of sub-optimal automonomous behaviors, but would create an engineered organization that has the potential of achieving its optimal behavior. Do not construe this to mean that a mechanical, non-humanistic organization will result. It would be like the difference between Marine basic trainees upon entering and leaving boot camp. When they enter the camp, they are separate individuals, thinking in individual terms. When they leave the camp, they are socialized members of a team, a unit, a society. They have not lost their creativity or their individuality, they have gained a broadened sense of identity and of kinship, and new and powerful skills in producing results.

IAM need not be implemented as one huge "grand-design" initiative from the top downward. It can be implemented by most organizations, large or small, dispersed or consolidated, government or private sector. As long as the implementing organizations use the same starting structures for the IAM base, they can be integrated when necessary, to the degree necessary, within hours. A minimum requirement for IAM is an enterprise-wide computer network, with appropriate processing and storage capacity. With networks and internetworks, IAM is not only possible, but logically indicated. I believe IAM would be most efficient in a distributed processor and distributed data environment. IAM would provide increased adaptability to an organization or group of organizations. Planning for and implementing reorganizations, realignments, task organization, distributions, consolidations, resource leveling, etc., could be done in significantly less time than is currently required.

IAM could be used for most activities that required something to be analyzed (i.e., decomposed into simpler components), and then associated with other analyzed structures. IAM is therefore a general purpose entity/relationship tool for building or finding patterns of things, and then building or finding the relationships between those patterns.

IAM could be provided as a management technique to the businesses and governments that are facing such massive and complex challenges in productivity. It is my observation that an entity will not grow beyond the limits of its information (interchange) and transportation (exchange) infrastructure (networks), and that peripheral elements of that entity will wither and die (or break off to take up their own existence) from lack of direction and resources as the existing infrastructure decays or is overwhelmed by the dynamism (i.e., chaos) of existence. IAM is intended to provide the ability to build a more complete and dynamic information infrastructure for any group of people, whether in a formal or informal organization - to form a "nervous system" for the organization. Effective implementation of IAM by government or business organizations would give them a competitive advantage, but would also make all of the participants mutually supportive and interdependent (more cooperative). For IAM to be effectively applied and implemented, the organizations must remove barriers to communication and mobility of information, goods, and people. IAM will create organizations which are transparent to the public, customers, and shareholders, within limits of security and privacy. IAM would be an "anti-Orwellian" system where the operations of government or business would be visible. Obviously, competitors would want to limit access to critical information. These considerations have been built into IAM from its inception.

By developing and implementing IAM, the enterprise gives a tool to its executives, managers, and operatives that provides them visibility and control over their operation. The development of the software to implement IAM could be done within a few weeks by a competent programmer, in any computer language that allows standard data manipulation. The IAM technique could easily be added to the functionality of most commercial data base management systems. The IAM base data tables could be built in less that 1000 manhours, provided that the data was accessible. This IAM Base should be built and controlled by an authoritative standards body. But this IAM Base could then be supplemented by any organization, with information specific to that organization, in a time frame of weeks for smaller organizations to months for larger organizations. When each organization's IAM is completed, the integration of several organizations information infrastructures can be achieved by combining their IAM data structure and removing the duplications. Smaller IAM could be used as building blocks to build a larger, more complete IAM. For example, IAM Army would be a building block to IAM DoD, then IAM Executive Branch, IAM Federal Government, IAM United States, IAM United Nations, etc.

I hope IAM is useful to you. I am available to provide IAM documentation, a prototype version of IAM, and documented source code of the prototype as requested. I am available for telephonic or personal consultation on a limited basis.

II. BACKGROUND

IAM is now being utilized within the Army Europe to develop a prototype system known as Total Architecture Plans and Execution System (TAPES). TAPES has been well received by the Army and has been recommended for development as a standard Army system, and has also been informally recommended as a DoD standard system.

The closest analogy I can provide to what IAM is and does without getting into computer or management science terms, is in terms of a person's awareness and control of his body. An athlete has a refined and practiced control of his body, and awareness of its performance and operation. The athlete can perform exceptional feats because of his awareness and control. Likewise, the yoga uses his discipline and concentration to gain awareness of his body and gain control of its operation and performance. Both push the body to its limits, causing it to grow and adapt, in the pursuit of their goals.

Now, imagine yourself as one who possesses a body called the "enterprise". The enterprise, like most organizations, is contemporaneously viewed in a generally negative light. Despite its good intentions, it is too big, too convoluted, too segmented to control as a single entity. But if you and your deputies, and their's down to the lowest operational level, could have awareness and control over all aspects of their activities' operation and performance, you would gain much better control, causing the enterprise to respond to your direction like the body of a trained athlete, rather than resisting change due to bureaucratic inertia, the principle malady of organizations.

It would be like a person who suddenly gains insight into controlling the mechanisms of his cells. The cells would no longer be responsive only to the body's autonomous system, but rather, would be under conscious control. If a person achieved this, they need not fear illness or age. They would recognize destructive or wasteful behavior as it occurred, and take corrective action, consciously. It would be no more difficult to rid all of the body's cells of toxins and disease, than it would to run a marathon. Not easy, but possible. If an organization achieved the equivalent of this, it would mean the organization could be directed, resourced, controlled, and evaluated as a single entity. It would be much more effective, efficient, productive, responsive, and unified in purpose and values.

Obviously no one would choose to personally seek full and continuous awareness of everything that goes on within their "body" or area of responsibility. That would overload any person. That is what delegation of authority is for, all the way from the chief executive down to a foreman in a production line or an office manager in a headquarters. IAM would require that the responsibility and authority of intermediate directors be taken seriously within the enterprise, because by its nature, IAM would serve the purpose of giving detailed accountability, visibility, and control of all resources and decisions. Flawed operations by operators, mismanagement of an operation by its managers, and attempts at micro-management by higher authority would be visible to responsible authority.

Obviously there are security, privacy, management, access privileges, and maintenance issues involved in developing and implementing IAM. Consider this however: all of the information and data currently used by any enterprise is already created, processed, displayed, transported, stored, and archived by someone. IAM would not add to that workload, it would only integrate it into a single management system. It would consolidate the babble of information within any enterprise into a single language. If this seems like a huge endeavor, think of it as managing one entity consisting of millions of integrated and coordinated pieces, as opposed to the current situation of managing millions of separate and autonomous pieces which are intended to work as one entity. The reduction in overhead, with the corresponding increase in productivity, is significant.

III. TECHNICAL NOTES

IAM consists of three components: the Information Architecture, the Individuated Coding, and the Associative Matrix.

The information architecture looks at everything an enterprise must control to achieve its goals. I have identified seven fundamental classes of objects/entities that any enterprise must manage. Their object titles and object codes, with selected subclasses, are:

locations (.01.)

organizations (.02.)

production units (.03.)

subunits (.03.1.)

positions (.03.1.1.)

staff functions (.04.)

work activities (.05.)

process abc (.05.1.)

process xyz (.05.2.)

process pqr (.05.3.)

work center (.05.3.2.)

task (.05.3.2.4.)

procedure (.05.3.2.4.1.)

performance standard (.05.3.2.4.2.)

output (.05.3.2.4.3.)

input (.05.3.2.4.4.)

resource configurations (.06.)

fund types (.06.1.)

information configurations (.06.2.)

information technology (.06.2.1.)

automation (.06.2.1.1.)

communication (.06.2.1.2.)

printing and publication (.06.2.1.3.)

audiovisual (.06.2.1.4.)

records management (.06.2.1.5.)

information repository (.06.2.2.)

data (.06.2.2.1.)

reference element xyz (.06.2.2.1.1.)

data element abc (.06.2.2.1.1.1.)

data field name 123 (.06.2.2.1.1.1.1.)

publications (.06.2.2.2.)

forms (.06.2.2.3.)

work activity software modules (.06.2.2.4.)

libraries (multimedia files) (.06.2.2.5.)

records (.06.2.2.6.)

active (.06.2.2.6.1.)

inactive (.06.2.2.6.2.)

archive (.06.2.2.6.3.)

personnel configurations (.06.3.)

civilian occupation SOC # 1420 (.06.3.1.)

skills (.06.3.1.1.)

knowledge (.06.3.1.2.)

abilities (.06.3.1.3.)

experience (.06.3.1.4.)

education (.06.3.1.5.)

military occupations (.06.3.2.)

materiel configuration (.06.4.)

facility configurations (.06.5.)

standard production capability sets (.06.6.)

services (.06.7.)

time configurations (.06.8.)

activity schedule (.06.8.1.)

activity duration (.06.8.2.)

activity frequency (.06.8.3.)

specific resources (.07.)

going from the macro (.01.) to the micro (.07.) level of management.

Each object class has its own internal structure or subclasses. As an example, for the location object class, our planet has its continents and oceans, each continent has its nations, each nation has its states, each state has its counties or equivalents, each county has its towns and/or autonomous cities, each city has its subdivisions, each subdivision has its facilities, each facility has its buildings, each building has its rooms and engineering plant, etc., etc., with each location object having detailed data about its geographic or geologic coordinate attributes.

As each object class's internal structure is decomposed down to the lowest managed level, each subelement is individually tagged ("individuated") with a non-random unique code. This code, as shown above, relates the subelement to its parent object, any descendant objects, and all sibling objects. This type of code when used by editors is called a "numerical attached outline number". When used by project managers it is called a "work breakdown structure" (WBS) code. They are simple to construct, use, and maintain, and most critically, they keep each object in its proper context. This outline or WBS code individuates each and every element of all object classes, and yet keeps them in proper relationship to each other.

This parent/child type of structure would apply to all object classes. The internal structure of each object class, and its association with other object classes, forms the information architecture of the enterprise.

The previously discussed IAM Base would consist of: all geographic locations down to the 170+ nations; all international organizations and national governments; a listing of common business and government functions; a catalog of command business and government process, work center, and task manual procedures or software modules; a catalog of common fund, information, personnel, materiel, facility, production unit, service and time categories.

The seven object classes are related together in one to one, or one to many relationships, always going from macro to micro level.

OBJECT CLASS "COMPOSITION":

LOCATION->ORGANIZATION->UNIT->FUNCTION->ACTIVITY->CONFIGURATION->RESOURCE

OBJECT CLASS "DISTRIBUTION":

LOCATION<-ORGANIZATION<-UNIT<-FUNCTION<-ACTIVITY<-CONFIGURATION<-RESOURCE

OBJECT CLASS COMPOSITION AND DISTRIBUTION (using object code):

.01. <-> .02. <-> .03. <-> .04. <-> .05. <-> .06. <->.07.

Every specific resource is contained within a single configuration (category/type/classification) of resources (e.g., a part within an automobile). Every configuration is applied to some business activity(s) (e.g., the automobile within the business activity "deliver products"). Every business activity is performed by a larger business activity in a line operation, or by staff(s) to achieve functional responsibility. All business activities and staff functions are performed within some production unit(s). All production units belong to some organization(s). All organizations occupy location(s). All of these are "associations". Each object is individuated and therefore unique, and yet all objects have some associations, and are therefore never separate or isolated.

By selecting any object from any of the above object classes, we can display its composition in terms of lower objects, or its distribution in terms of higher objects. Suppose for example, that you selected a specific configuration of computer system such as a single user platform (.06.2.1.1.3.) for viewing. You could display the "composition" of that configuration in terms of associated configurations and specific resources of:

purchase, maintenance, and operations funds (.06.1.... and .07.)

loaded software, stored files/data, publications, forms, peripherals, data comm circuits (.06.2.1...., .06.2.2.... and .07.);

personnel skills/knowledges/abilities necessary to operate the system vs. ska's available (incumbent's training record) (.06.3.... and .07.);

materiel (supplies, repair parts) (.06.4.... and .07.), etc.

facilities used (power, space, room conditioning) (.06.5.... and .07.);

and could display the "distribution" of that configuration:

across any or all work activities (.05....),

across any or all functional areas (.04....),

across any or all units (.03....),

across any or all organizations (.02....),

across any or all locations (.01....).

Over time the various objects can be optimized and standardized at increasingly higher levels within an object class and between object classes.

I have covered the information architecture with its seven object classes and the individuation of each object within the object classes. The next area to cover is the associative matrix.

INDIVIDUATED ASSOCIATIVE MATRIX - XYZ Corporation

CROSS-INDEX

CATALOG|.01. |.02. |.03. |.04. |.05. |.06. |.07.

-------|---------|*--------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------

.01. |.01.>.01.|.01.>.02.|.01.>.03.|.01.>.04.|.01.>.05.|.01.>.06.|.01.>.07.

-------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------

.02. | |.02.>.02.|.02.>.03.|.02.>.04.|.02.>.05.|.02.>.06.|.02.>.07.

-------|---------|---------|---------|*--------|---------|---------|---------

.03. | | |.03.>.03.|.03.>.04.|.03.>.05.|.03.>.06.|.03.>.07.

-------|---------|---------|---------|---------|*--------|---------|---------

.04. | | | |.04.>.04.|.04.>.05.|.04.>.06.|.04.>.07.

-------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|*--------|---------

.05. | | | | |.05.>.05.|.05.>.06.|.05.>.07.

-------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|*--------

.06. | | | | | |.06.>.06.|.06.>.07.

-------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------

.07. | | | | | | |.07.>.07.

-------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------

NOTE: ">" reads as "associated with".

The associative matrix is not really a matrix in the form of a table, but is a relational database application that simulates a matrix. See the figure below. At this point is gets a little technical if you are not familiar with the esoteric terms of computer databases and programming. The best way I can describe this "matrix" is to say that it is a standard computer database technique called "relation" between two data tables. The first table (H1 - the Catalog) contains only records showing the objects which form the internal structure of each object class. The second table (H2 - the Cross-Index) contains the associations between an object in one column that repeats for every occurrence of an association with a lower object in the second column. This forms the "architecture" of the enterprise.

Note that this architecture could be used as the basis for a model-based expert system management-environment. An expert system could also be used to close the "gap" that exists when the data is available for the .01.>.03. associations and the .02.>.03. associations, but no data exists for the .01.>.02. associations. It would do this by creating an .01.>.03.<.02. association and would simplify that to .01.>.02. Once the .01.>.02. and .02.>.03 association data exists, then the .01.>.03. data is redundant and would be purged. The goal situation is to build all associations to the lowest level object possible, with no gaps across object classes. Also, the lower the object level associated, the more coordinated and complete the information architecture becomes, but the greater the data processing requirements.

H1 CATALOG H2 CROSS-INDEX H1 IMAGE (H2 TITLES)

-OBJECT-----OBJECT TITLE------ -OBJECT---ASSOC---- --ASSOC----ASSOC TITLE---

|.01. |LOCATIONS | |.01.1. | .02.1. =|==>|.02.1. |ORGANIZATION X|

|.01.1. |CONTINENT A =====|==>.01.1. | .02.2. =|==>|.02.2. |ORGANIZATION Y|

|.01.1.1. |NATION A | |.01.1. | .02.3. =|==>|.02.3. |ORGANIZATION Z|

|.01.1.1.1.|STATE A | |.01.1. | .03.1. =|==>|.03.1. |UNIT A |

|.02. |ORGANIZATIONS | |.01.1. | .03.2. =|==>|.03.2. |UNIT B |

|.03. |UNITS | |.01.1 | .04.3. =|==>|.04.3. |FUNCTION C |

|.04. |FUNCTIONS | |.01.1. | .05.2. =|==>|.05.2. |ACTIVITY B |

|.05. |ACTIVITIES | |.01.1. | .06.1.1.|==>|.06.1.1.|FUND TYPE A |

|.06. |CONFIGURATIONS | |.01.1. | .06.2.1.|==>|.06.2.1.|INFORMATION A |

|.06.1. |FUND TYPE | |.01.1. | .07.1. =|==>|.07.1. |RESOURCE A |

|.06.2. |INFORMATION CONFI| ------------------- -------------------------

|.06.3. |PERSONNEL CONFIG | D1-D7 MIS

|.06.4. |MATERIEL CONFIG | -OBJECT 1-7--- --OBJECT 1-7----

|.06.6. |CAPABILITY CONFIG|>=============>DATA =====>PRODUCTION |

------------------------------ -------------- ----------------

I've done all of my prototyping in dBase IV, 1.1, but it could be done in any standard data manipulation language. The individuated objects are loaded into a single table H1 (the Catalog) and sorted and indexed in object code order. H1 has three fundamental fields, parent/c/30, object/c/30, title/c/60, and descriptn/m/10. Several other fields are also in the H1 structure for system control purposes.

Another table H2 (the Cross-Index) contains only three fundamental fields, object/c/30, associatn/c/30, and relation/c/30 which are sorted in object order and indexed both on object and association. Association is just an object code which is extracted from H1 showing the selected object/association. Relation describes the relationship between the H1 object and its H2 associations, (i.e., it allows the H1-H2 system to serve as an entity/attribute/relationship model, a.k.a. data model, for the enterprise). Several other fiels are also in the H2 structure for system control purposes.

Combining H1 and H2 form a self-referencing data base application which can contain objects and associations of infinite depth and complexity, dependent only upon the storage and processing capacity of the operant computer network.

D1 through D7 are detail data structures specific to each object class/sub class. MIS access would be gained from the corresponding detail modules.

D7 could serve as an inventory and accounting system for each resource listed as an object in object class .07.

Statistical data could be calculated and/or tabulated on H2 for each association, and on H1 for each object, and on D1 through D7 for object class specific data. The statistics could then be displayed in whatever type of chart best presents the information.

H1->object is related to H2->object to show the H1->object composition. When H1 is displayed in a preselected order, all of the h2->objects that are associated as components of an H1->object are displayed.

H2->object is related to H1->object to show H2->associatn distribution. When H2 is displayed in a preselected order, all of the H1->associatn that contain the H2->associatn are displayed.

Note that the IAM technique exhibits many of the properties of relational, hierarchical, network, and object-oriented database technologies in a single system. Also, by using a sophisticated database engine, with the ability to manipulate and store complex data types, IAM can serve as an enterprise network repository for all enterprise information (e.g., multimedia), not just character based information. IAM could serve as the root structure by which all existing "stovepipe/vertical" software could be reengineered into open-system, repository based, "horizontally integrated" systems. This would require integration of computer aided software engineering (CASE) tool/enviroment repositories with IAM.

A matrix can actually result when a list is printed out from H2 showing a descending list of locations to organizations to units to functions to activities to configurations to resources. This list could be used as a directory, like a phone book, organization chart, or X.500 electronic messaging directory, among other uses. This corporate directory would be achieved by displaying the database records from the associations shown in the above matrix that have an asterisk (*) in their upper left corner.

One of the MIS that is accessed from the activity object class could be a comprehensive Life Cycle Management system for any requirement, with the requirement calling for selected objects from the information architecture. This would facilitate standardization as well as resource management.

All of the tables (H1, H2, D1-D6) except D7 could be centrally developed and controlled, and then distributed electronically or by physical distribution (e.g., CD-ROM). D7 could be loaded centrally, showing the known inventory of required, authorized, and on-hand resource, and then distributed for local updates to show local transactions. Requests (new requirements, budget estimates) for various objects could be created as a separate local H1-H2 type Requirement Statement showing affected locations, organizations, units, functions, work activities, and requested quantities of required configurations. Then the Requirement Statement data tables and the updated D7 inventory table can be forwarded and consolidated through channels to the appropriate approving/controlling authority for permanent posting, and subsequent distribution.

IV. POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS OF THE IAM TECHNIQUE.

Uses of the IAM technique could be:

a public directory (like a public kiosk) containing city/county/state/ national directories of organization job vacancies within a location with matching inventory of available labor, all organized by standard industry code (SIC) and standard occupational code (SOC), directory of occupational title (DOT) code, and/or Office of Personnel Management (OPM) personnel codes. This will allow people to go where the jobs are or business to go to the qualified labor market, as appropriate, with corresponding ability to balance business/government job requirements and educational/vocational institution curriculum preparation;

a public directory of goods and services within a location, along the same lines as the above job directory;

a repository of standard engineered business activity templates and software modules (processes, work centers, tasks, outputs, inputs);

an electronic data interchange (EDI) directory showing, for each task's data output and input, the specific data fields/data element required, along with the data source(s) and data destination(s) by location/ organization/ unit/ function/ activity/ configuration, and data capacity in terms of task frequency and volume;

a software/data distribution tool, sending them to the required work activities by electronic means;

a "Just-in-Time" resource distribution directory patterned along the same lines as the EDI directory, but for tangible goods and services requiring physical transport, rather that data interchange (useful for city, highway, and business planning as well);

planning and resourcing the distribution of essential goods and services to match local population;

balancing of industrial and agricultural production to market demands and distribution;

registry for human genome project, showing genome structure with associated characteristics;

anatomical/physiological/pharmaceutical/psychological/sociological/ ecological/economic/etc. cause and effect matrix;

cause and effect backtracking/correlation for investigative work;

knowledge-domain/academic-discipline/science/research correlation;

on-line documents/publications/forms/procedures/standards/ and MIS access corresponding to specific work activities, appropriate to the IAM user-id (unit + subunit + position number);

a "card catalog" type directory of all publication/reference/image/sound files, with on-line access, using the "catalog" as a pick-list;

work activity simulations;

family trees;

catalog with component listings (parts catalog);

botany and zoology classification;

organization chains/trees/charts;

structural or procedural decomposition/analysis;

structured documents/publications;

cross-reference of structured documents/publications;

chronological record and cross reference for associations between recorded events;

mapping of any structured domain;

a cartographic/geologic coordinates system, with one object hierarchy built for latitute, another for longitude, and a third for distance from sea level. Coordinates would consist of the association between the three location objects;

a general purpose physical coordinate system like the preceding cartographic coordinate system, measuring distances in scales from parsecs to angstroms, including an association to time objects for duration, frequency, and schedule of any events associated with the physical coordinates (e.g., events in history);

any combinations of the above; etc.

The system functional description, executable prototype, documented prototype source code, and base data are available on request. I can send them as internet/ddn email using the lha.com compression utility and the uuencode/uudecode binary to ascii conversion utility (both are public domain), or I can send you some diskettes. Best of both - I'll send you a diskette with lha.com and uuencode/uudecode, then email you the whole bundle, plus any future updates. That's an effective and efficient way of making software/data distribution.