10 DEC 2014
CDT Samantha Dorminey
CDT Daniel Lasche
CDT Angel Santiago
CDT Milton Washington
To present project progress to the primary
stakeholder (Mr. Tillotson) in order to ensure
that the work done thus far is satisfactory,
and to gain approval to move forward with
the next segment of the project.






Initial Stakeholder Interview
Systems Decision Process
Progress of Work
Discussion Pause
Timeline of Future Work
End Notes

How do you force a department that believes
it is successful to change?

The problem with DoD: how do they know
that they are doing well?

Ultimately, has the DoD become more
efficient while maintaining its effectiveness?

Dr. Kwinn broke up the team into two teams:
an assessment team and a visualization
assessment team.

The cadets have been tasked with the
visualization aspect of the problem.

Purpose of the visualization is to effectively
communicate collected data to the client.
Initial Visualization Problem Statement:
Provide a visualization that allows DoD
assessment information to be efficiently
compiled and effectively reported.

The SDP is an iterative process with feedback
loops and starts by gathering an
understanding of the current problem
domain through research and discussions
with key stakeholders.

Developed, taught, and used by West Point
and other established learning institutions
like the University of Arkansas and the Naval
War College.
Focus this semester:
Problem Definition
Phase
-most critical phase of
the process
-longest phase of the
process
-requires careful and
thoughtful analysis
In this phase we conducted :
 Background Research
 Stakeholder Analysis
 Functional Analysis
 Value modeling

Background information on the different DoD
departments

Appearance and functions of a visualization
system

Who is receiving the information

Best methods to communicate the
information







Mr. David Tillotson…Acting Deputy Chief
Management Officer
CAPT Eric Bach…Office of the Deputy Chief
Management Officer
COL Robert Myles… Office of the Deputy Chief
Management Officer Room.
Mr. Alex Gorsky… CEO of Johnson & Johnson
Mr. Joe DePinto… CEO of 7-11.
Mr. Kenneth Hathaway… Chief of Staff for 7-11
Mr. Lesinski… Retired Director of Strategic
Assessment for SOUTHCOM
Purpose: to allow information gathered from
various sources to be binned, synthesized,
and used to develop valuable working
recommendations pertaining to the problem.
Purpose: to break the system down into its
component functions and sub-functions in
order to make the problem more
understandable and solvable.
Tools:
 Systems Context Diagram
 Input/ Output Diagram
 Functional Hierarchy
Purpose: to show the system as a single highlevel process and show its relationships with
external entities in order to view the system
holistically in its environment.
Purpose: to break down the inputs and
outputs of the system in order to make the
system more understandable and solvable.
Stanford Univ., “Visualization, Interface Design & Usability,” Stanford Univ.
CEE373, web.
Purpose: to create a hierarchical display of the
functions and sub-functions that are
necessary and sufficient to achieve the
system objectives.

Initial Visualization Problem Statement:
Provide a visualization that allows DoD
assessment information to be efficiently
compiled and effectively reported.

Redefined Visualization Problem Statement:
Develop a system which provides key leaders
and other departments in the DoD information
that provides a means to assess the
effectiveness and efficiency of the DoD as it
works to achieve its objectives.
Purpose: to depict the fundamental objective
of the system, the system’s values, and the
metrics that will be used to assess alternative
solutions against these values.
Purpose: to associate mathematical weights
with each metric to reflect the metric’s
proportion of value to the overall value of
each alternative solution.

Survey Population: The Army War College

Survey with questions that will assist us in finding out
what attributes of a visualization people who create/
use assessments value the most.

Research Objectives
▪ Determine which are the most valued characteristics of a
visualization communication.
▪ Determine what type of visualization communications with which
the survey population is most familiar.
▪ Determine visual tools that effectively communicate trends in data.
Sir, has the work done by the cadet team thus
far met your intentions for defining and
working towards solving the problem?
Deliverable
Completion Date
Solution Design IPR
Feb 2015
Decision Making IPR (Decision
Brief)
Apr 2015
Projects Day Presentation
(Visualization Team)
30 Apr 2015
Technical Report
8 May 2015
*Additionally, the team is looking to enter the project into several
conferences including the International Council on Systems Engineering
(INCOSE) Conference 2015 and the Military Operations Research Society
(MORS) Symposium 2015.

Outputs of Problem Definition Phase:





Functions Hierarchy
Redefined Problem Statement
Value Hierarchy
Swing Weight Matrix
Next Steps:
 Solution Design Phase
 Decision Making Phase
 Implementation Planning
10 DEC 2014
CDT Samantha Dorminey
CDT Daniel Lasche
CDT Angel Santiago
CDT Milton Washington