AEAIM-AR-AA (25)

MEMORANDUM FOR USAREUR Historian

SUBJECT: Total Architecture, Plans, and Execution System (TAPES)

1. FOR INFORMATION. (NOT TIME SENSITIVE)

2. Mr. Floyd Leighton of DCSIM, Architecture capitalized on an opportunity to acquire an expert Systems Analyst and Information Engineer, Roy Roebuck, who was working in one of the USAREUR Major Commands. Mr. Roebuck was detailed during Aug 90-Jul 91 and assigned in Jul 91. Upon his arrival this individual proposed and received approval to create a prototype for a system to manage the majority of the Information Resources Management program, specifically the Information Architecture's building blocks, standards, plans, and execution. This initiative was accomplished with the support of Mr. Jim Bagwell and his Sustaining Base personnel.

3. The progress of the TAPES initiative follows.

A requirement statement with supporting CAPR's was prepared with the intention of using the prototype, along with supporting documentation, to provide a start-point for USAREUR system development. However, the resulting prototype, with its basic concepts, has since been recommended by HQDA DISC4 to the Army Director of Management as an Army MACOM Internal Services Module (MISM) and its functionality has been incorporated into the Army's Sustaining Base Information Services (SBIS Phase II) Request For Proposals (See attachment a). TAPES has been briefed in 1991 to: the DISC4 Information Mission Assessment Team (IMAT), the Vice DISC4, Ms. Browning; Commanding General, DCA, LTG Rogers; the DISC4 Planning Conference; the SBIS Program Manager, Ms. Jean Lakey; the EUCOM IG; and the Mitre Corporation's Vice President for Technical Services - Army, Mr. Slaybaugh. In 1992 the following individuals have been briefed on TAPES: Deputy Program Manager, TAMMIS, Mr. Mike Crabtree; Director, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Center for Information Management (CIM), Mr. Denis Brown, with the Chief, CIM Information Engineering Directorate, Dr. Belkus Leong-Hong, and Chief, DISA Center for Standards, CAPT. Dante Marzetta, USN. All where pleased and laudatory of the proposed system and its prototype. The operational prototype and Functional Description are being prepared for presentation to DISC4 in early spring of 1992, prior to Mr. Roebuck's pending departure at the end of his current tour extension.

4. The significance of TAPES is described below.

a. DCSIM Architecture has developed a working prototype of a corporate information repository with an integrated life cycle management (LCM) system. It is an "open system" approach and can be implemented on most computer/network platforms. It presents a comprehensive and detailed "map" of an enterprise.

b. It would be of use to most government and business enterprises. It can significantly improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and responsiveness of any enterprise.

c. This repository allows every significant object/entity (i.e., things that are managed) within, or associated-with, an enterprise to be uniquely identified and accounted for, while displaying that object's full distribution and composition throughout the context of the enterprise, on an ad-hoc or routine basis.

d. The repository provides a fully structured, contextual, ordered, and holistic knowledge-base for the enterprise as a whole. When integrated with the LCM application it can serve as a comprehensive corporate/ network directory, responsibility/authority/ authorization system, accountability/auditing/inventory system, data management system, data-access determination system, and reorganization/realignment/contingency/force-structure planning system, among other uses.

e. The using organization can create a management environment which is an order of magnitude higher in its quality of performance.

f. This repository-based operating environment enables an organization to become self-accounting, self-regulated, transparent to its leaders, members and customers (within appropriate security/privacy controls), easily navigable in terms of finding information or following decisions or program performance, and which has high richness and synergy in the variety of its productive capabilities. It diminishes the potential for sub-optimal behaviors within the enterprise. It identifies duplication, encourages standardization and streamlining without imposing rigid uniformity, and provides a method to automate most routine communication and transactions. It provides an effective means to balance production, distribution, allocation, and consumption of products, services, or capabilities. It can reduce the cost of operations while increasing the quality and quantity of output. It enables more responsiveness to management direction.

g. With the repository and LCM application, an organization can do more with the same resources. That leads to local decisions such as: do you want smaller, less expensive operations with the same output, or the same scale of operation doing more?

h. The initiators have made it simple enough that an enterprise could implement it with a competent management analysis, systems analysis, programming and data management operation. It should probably move into some sort of standardization process as soon as there are some major participants.

5. System Description. See attachment b. The repository is based on seven classes of objects. The seven object classes are: Location, Organization, Production-Unit, Function, Business-Activity, Resource-Configurations, and Resources. These seven object classes, along with a variety of sub-classes within each, totally encompass an enterprises' managed entities. In this way, they define the enterprise.

a. A matrix, dynamically created from the Catalog, reflects the various functional and technical relationships/associations between these objects. This matrix is called the "Cross-Index". This Cross-Index therefore displays the distribution and composition of the objects, down to the lowest managed level of detail.

b. The final system development could be done in almost any relational data base programming language as a centralized, server, or distributed application/database. It is a simple application using complex data structures.

c. Each object or group of objects is managed through its accountable life cycle: planning, execution, and validation.

d. By applying a few simple rules and constraints, you get a very rich information query/display capability.

6. Such a repository-based endeavor is not only technologically, managerially, and economically feasible, but an operational prototype has been created. This development is about three to five years beyond what many have said is possible for an information repository. It can be relatively easily integrated with Computer Integrated Software Engineering (CASE) tools, project/resource management systems, and accounting/finance systems.

a. It would fit best in those organizations which have already done an Information Systems Planning study in a form similar to the IBM Business Planning study. Once one "type" of enterprise has been done, another of the same "type" can immediately apply about 80 percent of the prior efforts. Subsequent applications for the same type of enterprise are primarily fine tuning with some modifications and additions. This makes it very scalable and marketable.

b. The repository is actual, not hypothetical, and it is a total management repository, not just a data or software repository as might be construed by computer, software, or data management specialists. It fully employs current data base, communication, computer, systems management, knowledge engineering, and information engineering concepts and technologies, but is fundamentally a corporate management environment.

FOR THE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, INFORMATION MANAGEMENT:

2 attachments: J.E. BOLING

incl Colonel, GS

Chief, Architecture and

Requirements Division