- WHEN TO TRAIN
- WHERE TO TRAIN
- FORCE RESTRUCTURING
- JOB RESTRUCTURING
- BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS
- POLICY MODELING]
By dynamically modeling an occupation's career flow patterns, the TIDES technology provides a "what if' capability to assess the long-term impact of current and future constraints stemming from changing training, personnel and fiscal policies and resources. TIDES analyses also aid decision makers in determining what tasks associated with an occupation to train, when to provide that training (at what career points), and the method best suited for that type of training.
TIDES Data Collection
As part of the TIDES data collection process, analysts identify the resource requirements needed to conduct the necessary type of training. To collect this information, groups of subject matter experts (SMEs) within an Air Force occupational area are assembled. These SMEs first identify the jobs and training courses for a particular Air Force occupation. Next, they describe the jobs and training courses which are identified for the occupation.
The TIDES technology uses task modules (TMs), groups of tasks that share similar characteristics (e.g., equipment, skills, knowledges, etc.). These tasks are collected as part of the Air Force occupational survey process. The current training course and job assignment flows must be identified in order to build a model of the utilization and training (U&T) pattern for the occupation. SMEs also validate the components of the model--the positions within the occupation (jobs), skills and experience required to perform those jobs, and the number of years a person is likely to hold that job. Finally, the SMEs identify locations that are considered to be "critical" or representative sites to assess typical on-the-job training (OJT) programs. This information is used as a baseline for future comparisons. This allows TIDES to describe each of the training courses and training patterns, within an occupation, in terms of training costs and resource requirements.
Cost estimates for conducting training are obtained by collecting information on travel to and from the training sites and the per diem costs while students attend training courses. Information is also obtained on the variable cost per student per formal training site, as well as the number of hours and wage rates of individuals (trainers & trainees) involved in on-the-job training. All cost information is gathered for each TM per each training setting. In addition to the detailed information related to cost, information is also collected on the number of hours required to train individuals to certain levels of proficiency (learning curves) by TM and training setting. Using this information, tradeoffs between different training settings with respect to a given level of desired performance can be identified. For example, if a portion of training were moved from one setting to another, the TIDES can estimate the approximate amount of time and expense involved in each setting by desired proficiency level.
All of these types of information are synthesized into a set of TIDES files which quantitatively model the current Utilization and Training (U&T) pattern of a career field. The U&T simulation is then run and reports generated on the total annual costs for the AFS and training capacity (including identifying critical constraints). Such summery data and reports become the "baseline" against which any proposed changes to specialty jobs and training programs can be assessed.
TIDES "What If" Modeling
In general, TIDES "what if' modeling involves creating alternative job and training patterns reflecting manpower, personnel, and training policy options of interest. This can be done by a TIDES analyst or modeler, or by an Air Force decision maker, such as the functional manager for the career field at Headquarters Air Force or Major Command, or in a group session such as a U&T Workshop. Once an alternative is specified, the model is run on the alternative job and training patterns, and model results are compared to those for the baseline model (the current job and training pattern).
While such relationships may have been intuitively obvious to some managers in the past, it is only now that such relationships can be quantified and reported to support and justify necessary training investment decisions. The types of information and data displays provided in a decision support system such as the TIDES can be crucial for helping managers and other decision makers improve their understanding of the potential impact or consequences of their decisions. Further, such a system will also help them document the rationale for such decisions, and defend such decisions to higher levels of command within the Department of Defense and to Congress.
TIDES Success
During the development of TIDES, tests were run on several Air Force occupations, ranging from fairly homogeneous career fields, such as the B-1 Avionics Test Station (two jobs plus supervisors), to very structured specialties, such as Security and Law Enforcement (85 job variations), to complex electronics career fields, such as the Radar and Inertial Navigation Systems technicians (many distinct jobs by equipment system each with its own advanced skills training course). Occupations with high volume of trainees and complex tasks were analyzed.
One occupation studied dealt with sophisticated computers and switching equipment systems maintenance. The equipment was so complex that the training and personnel were specialized by the type of equipment they maintained. Problems were beginning to show up at a senior level; technicians were so specialized that they knew little about the entire occupation. Therefore, when decisions were being made, certain specialty areas may have been underemphasized due to the lack of the decision makers' experience with some equipment.
TIDES was used to examine various ways to collapse the seven separate tracks into a smaller set of subspecialties; the formal consensus among representatives of the various constituencies (at a U&T Workshop) was for a common (general) track plus three specialized tracks.
This consolidation reduced the overhead needed to manage the occupation and will increase the experience base for future senior technicians. Most importantly, when combined with other Air Force personnel policy changes, including increasing average assignment times from 32 to 48 months, there was a potential reduction or avoidance of $1.7 million in annual training costs, even though each new individual would receive more complete training than in the past.
TIDES Current Efforts
The TIDES technology runs in a PC-based, MS Windows environment Once an initial TIDES data base for a specialty has been developed, TIDES users will be able to sit at their personal computers, formulate and run various scenarios weighing the alternatives, and forecast the impacts of decisions before they become policy. The advanced work underway included a software [MS Word] template for Career Field Education & Training Plans (CFETPs) to service a HQ USAF/DPPE need. In addition, a TIDES user interface validation tool was developed and given to users to provide feedback on their needs with regard to the user interface ultimately used to facilitate manipulation and analysis of data in TIDES.
The payoff to the USAF is a systematic method to enable career field,
functional, and training managers to maximize efficiency and training effectiveness
while minimizing training costs, yet still provide the means to produce
the highest quality mission-ready trained forces.
For further information, please contact Dr. Winston Bennett, Air Force Research Laboratory/AFRL/HEAA, 6001 South Power Road, Bldg 561, Mesa AZ 85206-0904; Comm (602) 988 6561, ext 297, or winston.bennett@williams.af.mil
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