Use of Information Technology to Develop a Collaborative Decision Support System for Command and Control

摘要

The need for rapid access to current, relevant, and accurate information is at an all-time premium -- especially for military operations. Many new Information Technology (IT) Tools were introduced to facilitate these information-related interactions in the Global Wargame 2000, held at the Naval War College, in Newport, RI. A web-based architecture, called the Wargame Information Grid System (WIGS), and a collaborative planning and operational environment, the Information Work Space (IWS), provided an alternative means to communicate, collaborate, and share information among decision makers than is seen in today's current operational environments. In addition to WIGS and IWS, the following tools were provided to participants: Text Documents, the Knowledge Wall, Email, Text Chat, Voice, and Video Teleconferencing. Developing an understanding of the implications and effects of distributed gaming was a key goal of Global 2000 with one objective being to provide insight into future operations for a distributed, network-centric joint force. A sub-objective was to obtain empirical data as to the effectiveness of these new tools, and to identify user defined enhancements that would better meet the decision makers' requirements. In order to collect the data with which to assess user perceptions of the utility of IT Tools, an IT Tool Functionality Questionnaire was developed. This paper presents the results of analysis of data from 112 respondents' replies to the questionnaire designed to assess the utility of the IT Tools with respect to supporting the users accessing and sharing of information, decision-making, collaboration, and how they might be improved in future versions.