Collaborative effects-based planning and adversary modeling: Lessons learned from JEFX '04

The Strategy Development Tool (SDT), sponsored by AFRL-IFS, supports effects-based planning by tightly integrating adversary modeling and analysis with plan authoring in a collaborative environment. At Joint Expeditionary Forces Experiment (JEFX) '04 the SDT was evaluated as part of an AFRL-sponsored initiative integrating tools for effects-based operations and predictive battlespace awareness. SDT was used primarily in the Strategy Division of the Combined Air Operation Center to build and analyze plans for the air campaign strategy played out in JEFX '04. This paper focuses in particular on the successes and lessons learned from user experiences with SDT's collaborative planning and adversary modeling capabilities. Initially, collaboration in SDT employed a workflow-based process by which high-level planners delegate lower-level planning tasks to planning specialists. This approach was rejected in the first JEFX spiral due to the bottleneck it imposes on senior officers such as the Strategy Chief. The final version supporting real-time collaboration greatly improved planning productivity compared to previous spirals, as it allowed users at all levels to freely contribute to the plan. SDT's adversary modeling capability initially appealed to a more selective user base, namely operational assessment specialists with analytical backgrounds. Over time, the capability won a wider audience due to the planning insights resulting from a shared understanding of the enemy. Users found novel applications of the tool in other areas of the planning process such as wargaming and branch planning.