AETL-RM (25-1a)

MEMORANDUM FOR CINCUSAREUR, AEAIM-X, APO 09043

SUBJECT: USAREUR Data Administration and Information Engineering Guidance

1. Reference. a. DA Pam 25-1, Army Information Architecture, 17 Sep 86.

b. HQDA Memorandum, SAIS-PPP, Subject: Information Management Planning (IMP) Guidance, dtd 29 Jan 88.

c. AR 25-1, The Army Information Resource Management Program, 18 Nov 88.

2. Our command has reached a point in the development of its Information Resources where we must have guidance from USAREUR on Data Administration and Information Engineering as identified in references a and b.

3. Effective security and operation of our future information systems requires detailed planning in terms of network access and security, data stewardship/maintenance/access approval, physical security, personnel security, data dictionaries, data directories, data flow, logical and physical data structures, storage requirements, distribution of data and applications, network topology, telecommunication capacity, network protocols and operating systems, database design, database servers, application servers, communication servers, and so on. We cannot reasonably proceed in planning any of these elements until such time as we are working within the policies, procedures, and tools established as standards by USAREUR and the Army. To pursue these information resource elements without a guiding standard would result in potentially wasteful utilization of resources, because we would eventually have to retool our information architecture to meet a later imposed or adopted standard.

4. Reference a., Chapter 5, provides guidance on Data Administration and Data Base Administration. We fully support the statement in paragraph 5-2.c that "Data Administration is the means for managing the information resource. The objective of data administration is to plan, document, manage, and control the data resources of an organization." If we do not design and develop our information systems around our defined information requirements, we are probably going to have ineffective information systems.

AETL-RM

SUBJECT: USAREUR Data Administration and Information Engineering Guidance

5. Reference b., Appendix C, Section II, and AR 25-1, paragraphs 3-2. f and g, identify the four building blocks of the Army Information Architecture (AIA). We perceive the first three blocks of Information Models, Data Architecture, and Application Architecture as being the responsibility of the Data Administrator. The fourth block of Geographical/Technical Architecture is perceived to be where the five subdisciplines of IMA are applied. In this light, Data Administration is not concerned with the five subdisciplines of the Geographical/Technical architecture, but is only concerned with the organizational data itself. We therefore believe that the Data Administrator should be assigned to the organization for whom he is managing the information resource, not to an organization that provides geographical/technical support.

6. Please provide the name, position title, phone number, and office symbol for the USAREUR Data Administrator. We request a copy of any current Data Administration policies and procedures for USAREUR, especially those that would deal with the data dictionary and information inventory. We request the same information regarding USAREUR's Data Management program as identified by AR 25-9.

7. AR 25-1, paragraph 3-2.h (5) tells us that we will use the Army Information Engineering (AIE) methodology to identify and refine information requirements for new initiatives and for upgrade or redesign of existing information systems. We are aware of Information Engineering and of several PC based tools to perform this complex task. The stages of Information Engineering correspond exactly to the AIA building blocks. However, we have seen no further guidance on the Army Information Engineering methodology. In addition, no guidance is given on what systems analysis and design methodology we should use in software development (e.g. Yourdon, Gane and Sarson, Demarco, Jackson, etc.) within the Application Architecture stage of Information Engineering.

8. If USAREUR or the Army has identified a specific AIE guidance document or automated tool, please provide us information on it. If not, may we suggest Computer Aided System Engineering (CASE) products such as Information Engineering Workbench by Knowledgeware, Inc. (supports Martin Information Engineering; Gane/Sarson and Yourdon methodologies for Sofware Engineering, and code generators). This product is recommended because it is the only such product we are aware of that supports Information Engineering, Software Engineering, and Code Generation. It therefore provides automated support in analyzing, designing, developing and maintaining the Information Model, Data Architecture, and Application Architecture of an organization, as well as generating documented code.

2AETL-RM

SUBJECT: USAREUR Data Administration and Information Engineering Guidance

9. POC, this office is Mr. Roebuck, AETL-RM, APO 09175, 348-6536.

FOR THE COMMANDER:

YOLANDA K. CRIDER

Captain, AG

Assistant Adjutant General

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