Information and Data Management in a Military Enterprise

 1. Transformation Journey Towards Data-driven Military

The Military has been following their societies in digitisation, digitalisation, digital transformation and, recently, the "datization"  of reality. As the world's biggest companies (MAMAA)  are creating revenues from data, the military also creates value from increasing amounts of data. The old wisdom of "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles" (Sun Tzu) is still valid. The journey has taken longer for military enterprises because of their size and cultures, but, for example, open-source data has revolutionised the transparency of the battlefield in Ukraine.  Therefore, data has become capital  even for the Military.

Figure 1 illustrates a view of a military roadmap  towards data-driven affairs and operations. Here are some snapshots along the journey:

• - 1990:  The Commander was briefed in the afternoon, and situational review was provided in the morning. Briefings used paper maps hanging from walls with graphs and symbols on transparent plastic sheets. All documentation was managed on paper, although it was written with computers but printed for distribution and presentation.
• 1990 – 2000: The Commander was briefed twice daily on the situation. Branches provided their part of the awareness, each with their specific information system. Some were graphical presentations, but most information was summarised in presentations, consuming staff time. There were hardly any inter-branch estimations, and the Commander composed the bigger picture himself. Plans and orders were stored as files and transferred over email.
• 2000 – 2025 Commander has a real-time battlefield model through his battle management system. Intelligence provides him with an estimated deployment of the adversary, and logistics provides their estimation of friendly forces' sustainment if the combat continues at the current rate. He reflects on his thoughts with the planning staff. They draft the Commander's intent and share it in a planning collaboration platform to initiate parallel planning among the subordinate commands.
• 2025 - Immersive user interface and visual effects created by Military Companion (artificial intelligence bot) hosts the Commander in digital twin Enterprise or Battlespace, where she is constantly aware of the situation, gains insights from vast amounts of data prepared by the Companion, runs war games to estimate outcomes from options, or ask her Companion to create possible courses of action analysed from structured data, unstructured information, history records, doctrinal knowledgebase, and real-time data flows.

Figure 1: A View to roadmap towards Data-driven Military enterprise

The timely sequence does not apply linearly as some militaries have all the above behaviour within their large enterprise, some forerunners are already in immersive reality, and others are journeying somewhere on the roads of evolution. There is a difference in outcome when the military governs data usage and development (preadaptation) compared to the technology driven floating along the stream (adaptation).  The following sections provide a framework for data governance and describe arrangements for data management.

2. Data Governance Approaches in Military Organizations

2.1 Common Data Governance Model

While the value the Military can gain from available data is increasing, the information and data assets become resources that need governance, management, and operation to enable the optimum outcome. The data are different assets to manage compared to paper documents. Hence, the previous material item-based management culture  needs to be transformed. Figure 2 provides a common Data Governance structure for line command and an example of arranging the data governance transformation program.

 

Figure 2: A General Data Governance Framework

2.2. Benchmarking some Military Organizations

Table 1 provides a view of various military organisations' ways of governing their data and transforming towards data-driven enterprise. The following tendencies emerge from comparison:

• Defence Forces of Finland data governance follows their line command because of their readiness requirements. Emphasis is on capability owner, their ownership of data and their responsibility to develop new capabilities. ICT is an enabler, and X6s act as data stewards in their area/organisation of responsibility.
• US DoD also follows the line command as their Services are independent and strong. DoD level focuses on policies, strategies, and compliance measuring but extends their governance deep towards the defence industry and partners. 
• UK MoD has data governance similar to Finland; only their titles differ. The capability owner is the data policy owner, and an organisation has an executive data steward.
• Australian Defence Forces also follow line command in their data governance. Still, their strategic level board focuses beyond the borders of the organisation (partners and providers) and nation (5 eyes).

Table 1: Benchmarking some military ways of data governance

Level/Country	FIN	USA[1]	UK[2]	AUS[3]
Strategic	Chief Digital Officer reports to Chief of Strategy; Defence Board resolves issues over the extended FINDEF enterprise.	Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, CDAO/DoD[4] reports to the Deputy Secretary and governs efforts over the DoD, sets the policy and oversees the implementation of DoD data strategy.	Defence CIO reports to the Secretary and has a subordinate Director of Digital Enablement who chairs the data governance board (main customers represented) overseeing the implementation of strategy and policy compliance.	Chief Data Integration Officer reports to the Chief of Force Integration[5] and develops and releases policies and guidance. CDIO chairs the Defence Data Management Board, which oversees the extended enterprise data governance.
Joint	J6 coordinates over capability owners. Capability owners own their data. Process owners as Stewards develop data usage.	Chief Information Officer/DoD ensures data integration and development. JADC2 cross-functional team, Joint artificial intelligence centre and CIO for C3 provides the coordination. DoD Comptroller/CMO empowers the application of business intelligence.	Data policy owners are setting priorities and developing policies in each business area.	Appointed Data Custodians implement the strategy within their fields of responsibility.
Service	X6 of each force/command is the Steward of the data in use.	CIO/X6 of each service act as Data Stewards of their organisation. Roles of Stewards and responsibilities for Custodians are assigned to line organisation.[6]	Executive data stewards are responsible for improvements. Domain data stewards improve business processes.	Appointed Data Custodians implement strategy and comply with policies in their areas of responsibility.
Transformation	CDO coordinates transformation with the data governance office, impacting each capability development program and measuring annual performance indicators.	CDO Council identifies and prioritises data challenges, develops solutions, and oversees compliance with policy and standards. The council uses working groups to create plans and implement them.[7]	The CIO's arm of the Data Centre of Expertise maintains the data catalogue. It accelerates transformation and strategy implementation through data domain working groups.	Data Management Body of Knowledge supports transformation.

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[1] https://media.defense.gov/2020/Oct/08/2002514180/-1/-1/0/DOD-DATA-STRATEGY.PDF

[2] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/877705/Defence_Data_Management_Strategy_2020_FINAL_FINAL.pdf

[3] https://www.defence.gov.au/about/strategic-planning/defence-data-strategy-2021-2023

[4] https://www.ai.mil/index.html

[5] https://www.defence.gov.au/about/who-we-are/organisation-structure/australian-defence-force-headquarters

[6] https://www.dcma.mil/Portals/31/Documents/Policy/MAN_4502-15_(20220401).pdf

[7] https://www.ai.mil/blog_04_30_20-jaic-leaders-establish-data-governance-council.html

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Benchmarks define the following good practices:

1. Line of command is followed to enforce ownership and responsibilities like in other resources (people, finance, facilities, platforms, and systems)
2. Data governance must reach outside the military organisation as more data resides in other government entities, the defence industry and alliances.
3. Data is nothing by itself but an essential component in platforms and processes. Moreover, the use of data for decision-making needs an innovative and empowering incubator, a Centre of Excellence, where data science, architecture, and engineering meet and create knowledge tools for commanders.

The following Section describes a concept that combines the governance framework with flavours from the good practices.

3. A Concept for Data Governance in a Military Enterprise 

In a military enterprise, the usual information/data management-related roles are as follows:

• Capability Owner  is accountable for the life cycle, combat readiness, sustainability force structure, and performance of a military capability. Since the information is a valuable asset within any military capability, the owner needs at least to govern the data.  Typical Capability Owners are, for example, Commander Land Forces, who owns Land Combat capabilities; J2, who owns Joint Intelligence capabilities; J6, who owns Joint C5I capabilities; and J4, who owns Joint Logistics capabilities. The capability Owner is usually the Data Owner of the information assets.
• The process Owner is responsible for designing an effective and efficient process, using the right people and financial and technical resources to run the process, and delivering quality outcomes as required within the organisation.  The process owner reports to the Capability Owner, develops how the process utilises information and data for performance and output, governs the end-to-end processes, and is usually a Data Steward.
• Organisational Data Steward governs the creation, utilisation, processing and storing of data and information in particular organisations.  Usually, the Chief Information Officer , CIO, is the Data Steward in military organisations .
• Operation centres, Centres of Excellence and process development hubs act as process managers, are responsible for the end-to-end execution of processes, have operational control, facilitate daily activities, and provide insight into where improvement is needed to enhance performance. 
• Users and information creators are the customers of the data. Data users can be individuals or other organisations. The chief responsibility of the data users is to ensure that they store, process, and securely handle the data and work to maintain integrity.  Users and creators are also Data Custodians.
• ICT Service Providers produce ICT services by transmitting, storing, retrieving, or processing information using network and information systems.  Service Provider owns, operates, manages, or provides any ICT service.  Software as a Service (SaaS) or Platform as a Service (PaaS) Providers usually act as Data Custodians. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Provider may have some data backup-related responsibilities but is typically not a Data Custodian.