USIGS Operational Concept Diagram

USIGS Operational Architecture documentation, in accordance with the guidelines provided in the C4ISR Architecture Framework and the USIGS Architecture Framework (UAF) document, describes the context (i.e., mission), activities, operational relationships, and the internal and external flow of information and services. These functions and processes are illustrated, at a high level, in the Operational Concept Diagram.

NIMA's role as a provider of imagery and geospatial information and services is clearly defined in the NIMA Business Plan 1997. This plan translates NIMA's mission and responsibilities, as defined in Department of Defense Directive (DoDD) 5105.60 (the NIMA Charter), into core businesses and support functions. The interactions of these businesses are described in the NIMA Operations Directorate Vision, which provides a high level view of NIMA's Operations Directorate's objectives for enhancing customer satisfaction.

The Operational Concept Diagram illustrates the core businesses and functions defined in the NIMA Business Plan 1997 , and their interactions. In essence, the diagram depicts what is done, and how.

10.1.3 Scope

As defined in the UAF document, the USIGS Operational Concept Diagram is used to illustrate the "big picture" view of the operational context. The diagram is aimed primarily at senior-level decision makers; it uses a graphic to represent a high-level view of the operational environment in terms of operational elements and top level connectivity.

NIMA has two distinct views of its operational concept: a community-level view and a more detailed NIMA-centric view. The community-level view broadly depicts NIMA as one of a number of organizations in the category of "imagery and geospatial information producers," operating within the IGC. The NIMA-centric view depicts information flows within NIMA, and between NIMA and its customers and suppliers, again within the environment of the IGC. This document illustrates these views of the operational concept as they apply to, and are reinforced by, the Operations Directorate Vision.

The USIGS Operational Concept Diagram, provides the conceptual overview of the operational environment. The diagram forms the basis for mapping functions to NIMA offices in the USIGS Operational Relationship Chart; and those functions constitute the top level entries in the USIGS Activity Hierarchy (which breaks the functions down into activities). The Operational Concept Diagram also influences the USIGS Operational Scenario, the USIGS Evolutionary Phase Implementation Plan, and offers guidance to the planning process, requirements process, acquisition process, resource management, and community interaction activities.

The operational concept at community-level includes all organizations which produce imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information. These organizations are found at the national level (e.g., NIMA, DIA/MSIC (Defense Intelligence Agency/Missile and Space Intelligence Command), and service intelligence centers), at the theater (e.g., Joint Intelligence Centers (JIC)) and tactical (e.g., Force Imagery Interpretation Unit (FIIU)) levels, and in the civil, academic, and commercial communities.

In the USIGS Operational Concept Diagram: Community View, NIMA and the other production organizations are illustrated in a non-linear arrangement around a blue ring, to emphasize the non-hierarchical relationship of those organizations. While NIMA maintains a definitive role within the Community as the manager of USIGS, many of the production organizations fall under the operational control of a command or agency other than NIMA. As the "linkage" among the production organizations, the blue ring represents the flow of information and services between (and among) the production organizations, signifying:

• Delivery of data to assist in the production process supporting collaboration and co-production

• Universal access to data holdings

• The flow of USIGS policy information and guidance from NIMA, in its role as the USIGS manager

External flows - request, response, delivery, and feedback - exist between each production organization and its supplier and customer base; however, in the Operational Concept Diagram: Community View, external information and service flows are presented at a high level, both to simplify the diagram and to emphasize the collaborative, cooperative nature of the production process, which is a fundamental precept of the NIMA Operations Directorate Vision. The ring connecting the production organizations, representing the flow of information between levels, echelons, or categories of organizations (e.g. national to theater, theater to tactical, national to civil, etc.), thus serves to reinforce the concept of universal access to imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information.

The production organizations are presented in the same context as NIMA, in terms of external information flows and their relationship to a supplier base and a customer base. For example, a theater-level JIC may define its organic collection assets and its connectivity to national collection capabilities as its "supplier base," with the Unified Command staff and component commands and assigned or attached units as the "customer base." At the tactical level, a Marine Corps Force Imagery Interpretation Unit (FIIU), when equipped with the Tactical Exploitation Group (TEG), will have the capability to receive data from "suppliers" such as the F/A-18D (carrying ATARS), the U-2S, and tactical and theater-level UAVs. In turn, the FIIU will produce imagery intelligence for the supported Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) and its major subordinate commands (MSCs)--its "customers."

The USIGS Operational Concept Diagram: NIMA View depicts NIMA within the environment of the IGC. Internally, NIMA is portrayed in terms of its mission-related "functions," which are based on the core businesses and support activities defined in the NIMA Business Plan 1997 :

• Information Access and Delivery (IAD)
• Information Applications and Systems (IAS)
• Customer Service (CS)
• Infrastructure (IN)

The relationship between NIMA and the supplier and customer communities is illustrated in general terms. The lines connecting the functions inside the NIMA box represent the flow of information and services within NIMA; the arrows outside of the NIMA box depict the exchange of information and services between NIMA (at the organizational level) and its suppliers and customers.

The core businesses and supporting services defined in the NIMA Business Plan 1997, and further guided by the NIMA Strategic Plan, serve as underlying precepts for the NIMA Operations Directorate Vision. The USIGS Operational Concept Diagram depicts them as high-level "functions," as described in the following paragraphs.

The Information and Services Acquisition business function supports the gathering of customer requirements, and the acquisition of information and services which will lead to the satisfaction of those customer needs. Imagery and other source data required by customers, as well as for production, are obtained from all available sources - government, commercial, or academic, as well as domestic or foreign. Services include:

• Imagery requirements brokering
• Imagery acquisition
• Other source acquisition and brokering
• Production services

These services are defined and described in the NIMA Business Plan 1997. Activities associated with the Information and Services Acquisition function include the receipt, review, tasking, and management of all customer requirements in an environment that reduces unnecessary duplication of effort; the research of existing "holdings" to determine their utility for satisfying the requirements; the acquisition and management of new source data; and the acquisition - through on-line search, browse, retrieval, on-line ordering, and profile-based delivery - of other source materials required by the Information Production business, as well as by NIMA customers.

The Information Production business generates imagery intelligence and geospatial information, in digital and hardcopy formats, in response to customer needs. It also processes and makes available source imagery. The Information Production business process populates NIMA databases with digital products and information for the Information Access and Delivery business. Services, as defined and described in the NIMA Business Plan 1997, include:

• Imagery intelligence production
• Geospatial information production
• Tailored imagery production
• Collaboration with co-producers and other
  community specialists
• Expert consulting

Information Production processes focus on the exploitation of source material and the production of the information needed to satisfy the customer needs. Toward that end, imagery intelligence production provides analysis and reporting in a variety of media, while geospatial information production provides topographic, hydrographic, aeronautical and other types of geospatial information, including foundation data and mission-specific intensified data for the geospatial information framework. These activities encompass the creation of specialized imagery and geospatial products and information to address customer needs, collaboration services with co-producers, and expert consulting to customer organizations. Information Production processes also create the information content for the information libraries and holdings, and provides information for direct dissemination to other production locations and customers.

The Information Access and Delivery business operates the NIMA Information Service, enabling customers to receive information as needed, whether the information was produced by NIMA or acquired from others. Catalogs of digital and hardcopy products are available on-line. Digital products are globally accessible and are delivered based on customer profiles or on demand. The Information Access and Delivery business includes the following services, as defined in the NIMA Business Plan 1997 :

• Network access
• Profiling
• Product discovery
• Product delivery
• Spatially referenced information access
• Imagery intelligence broadcast
• Information ingest

The Information Applications and Systems business is responsible for developing and deploying tools-software applications and integrated computer and networks system solutions. Through this business, NIMA provides customers (internal and external) with related hardware and software solutions. Information Applications and Systems activities are aimed at providing an interoperable hardware and software environment that facilitates dynamic teaming and connectivity, and ensures the smooth flow of information from acquisition through production and delivery. In addition to applications software, NIMA provides integrated information systems supporting a variety of activities. As outlined in the NIMA Business Plan 1997, services provided by this business are:

• Information discovery and retrieval applications
• Information viewing and enhancement applications

• Information exploitation and analysis applications
• Information integration and fusion applications
• Order entry and tracking systems
• Information production systems
• Information production management
• Information storage and retrieval systems
• Information delivery systems
• Information reproduction and replication systems
• Customer support systems

Customer Service provides end-to-end support of all NIMA products and services, including needs for new information and services. It is not a core business, but NIMA's commitment to customer satisfaction is a core value of the entire organizations. The most crucial tool NIMA has to measure customer satisfaction is feedback. This function also provides the continuous training needed to enhance readiness and optimize production of the most accurate, relevant information possible. Services include:

• On-line, CD-ROM, and hardcopy user guides
• Customer feedback mechanisms
• Problem resolution and tracking
• Training courseware, guides, and classes
• Referral to NIMA experts
• Special interest groups
• On-line frequently asked questions (and answers)
• Customer HELP System

Infrastructure represents essential planning,

human resources, security, logistics, facilities,

finance, and other services which are necessary

for the core businesses. As with Customer Service,

it is not a core business. It is an end-to-end,

supporting activity which provides the core businesses with the tools needed to interact and accomplish NIMA's operational mission.

The Operational Concept Diagram depicts, at a high level, the relationship between NIMA and organizations which provide information and services to NIMA, on the one hand, and customer organizations, on the other. Supplier organizations are providers of information and services required by NIMA's Information Production business, or by customers directly. NIMA has a strategic goal of obtaining and using the best available information. Toward that end, NIMA will increasingly act as an information broker, acquiring and making available imagery and geospatial information from other US Government organizations, commercial activities, and foreign sources. NIMA will also seek to use private sector sources and the best available technology to improve service to its customers.

In the Operational Concept Diagram, NIMA's suppliers are grouped into five highly generalized categories of collector/processor/producer organizations:

• National. This category includes US Government operations from classified satellite systems and attendant processing nodes. It also includes Service-level S&T and functional analysis organizations such as the NMIC (National Maritime Intelligence Center), NGIC (National Ground Intelligence Center), and NAIC (National Air Intelligence Center).

• Military. This category encompasses the Department of Defense, and joint- and service-level assets and platforms, at every echelon - from tactical to national. Examples include organizations with theater-level manned reconnaissance aircraft (U-2s) and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), as well as Joint Intelligence Centers (JICs) and Joint Analysis Centers (JACs); tactical-level examples include organizations with tactical reconnaissance assets such as TARPS-equipped F-14s, ATARS-equipped F/A-18Ds, and tactical UAVs.

• Civil. This category includes civilian government sources of imagery and geospatial information collected, processed, and produced by such agencies as NASA, NOAA, and the USGS.

• Commercial. This category encompasses commercial organizations that collect, process, and sell imagery products. Examples include Space Imaging EOSAT and SPOT Image.

• Foreign. This category includes foreign government and commercial organizations that collect, process, and sell or provide imagery products, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information. Examples include foreign collectors such as allied military and civil air reconnaissance and exploitation organizations, and foreign databases.

Who are the "Customer" organizations displayed in the Operational Concept Diagram? The customers of information and services from NIMA and the IGC include defense and civil users - both U.S. and foreign - who are engaged in policy, planning, and actual operations. Reflecting the high-level nature of the diagram (see Figure 10-4), these organizations have been grouped into six highly generalized functional categories, encompassing both U.S. and foreign organizations:

• National Planning and Policymaking. These organizations use imagery, imagery products, and geospatial information to plan and implement national security policies. Examples include the National Command Authority and the National Security Council.

• Military Operations. These organizations include DoD peacetime organizations, and those engaged in combat, contingency, peacekeeping, and humanitarian operations conducted by the US. Examples include ground (2nd Mechanized Infantry Division), air (1st Fighter Wing), maritime (Nimitz Carrier Battle Group), and expeditionary units (I MEF).

• Military Planning and Policymaking. Organizations in this category include military planning nodes such as the Joint Staff, Unified Command staffs, Joint Task Force (JTF) headquarters elements, combined force staffs, and operations planning nodes of the component commands, such as CENTAF and USARPAC. These organizations use imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information in the conduct of contingency planning and decision making.

• Civil Planning and Policymaking. Planning and Policymaking nodes exist in civil organizations such as FEMA, the Department of the Interior, DEA, and state and local governments, where imagery, imagery products, and geospatial information are used to support, for example, the development of policies on land use, the environment, and transportation.

• Civil Operations. This category includes a variety of organizations engaged in humanitarian, crisis, and disaster response actions. Examples include FEMA disaster response teams, Department of Agriculture field teams, and US Forest Service firefighters.

• Coalition/Allies. The organizations in this category include coalition partners and allied nations which use imagery and geospatial information for their national security policy and military contingency planning and decision making.

The flow of information and services between NIMA and external organizations - both in and out of the IGC - is depicted in the Operational Concept Diagram as a set of annotated arrows. These arrows describe the flow of information and services in a general context. More detail will be added in the course of Operational Architecture documentation development.

The "request" arrows depict the flow of requirements for imagery, imagery intelligence, geospatial information, and services, from customer organizations to NIMA; and the flow,

from NIMA to supplier organizations, for imagery and geospatial

information not contained in NIMA's holdings.

The "response" arrow represents the acknowledgment of the request. The "delivery" arrows refer to the mechanism by which the requested information,

product, or service is provided to the

customer by NIMA (or other producer), or

to NIMA (or other producer) by the supplier.

Customer feedback is the best tool available

to measure the timeliness, relevance, and

accuracy of NIMA's performance in meeting

customer needs. "Feedback" is, in essence,

a response by a customer, triggered by a

delivery, or even by a producer request.

While feedback mechanisms are currently available, NIMA's long-term goal is to create an atmosphere of open dialogue with the customer organizations, with improved methods of collecting, analyzing, disseminating, and utilizing customer feedback to improve overall customer satisfaction. Customer feedback will also enable NIMA to refine customer profiles with which to tailor the "push" of imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information to the customer. The ultimate goal is to strengthen the relationship between NIMA and its customers, and to evolve that relationship to one of close cooperation and partnership.

In response to customer needs, NIMA delivers imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information through customer-defined, profile-driven "push" (see above), or through on-demand "pull" from NIMA holdings by customer organizations. The delivery of management data is shown in the Operational Concept Diagram as a series of blue arrows, which capture the flows between Information & Services Acquisition and:

• Information Production
• Information Access & Delivery
• Information Systems & Applications

The black arrows between the Information Production and Information Access and Delivery businesses represent the flow of imagery and geospatial source data, and imagery and geospatial products, to the NIMA holdings, within the NIMA Information Service, for retrieval on demand, and the retrieval of information for utilization in the production of imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information.

Internal (i.e., within NIMA) deliveries

of applications and systems, as well as

the exchange of support information and

services among functional nodes, are

depicted by the striped lines which

interconnect the NIMA businesses and

Customer Service. The depiction of the

exchange of support information and

services - with connecting lines but no

arrows - represents the multi-

directional nature of the information and

service flows. The overall general

nature of this depiction is appropriate,

given the high-level view which the

Operational Concept Diagram represents.

The interactions among these processes

will be described in more detail in follow-on

Operational Architecture documentation.

The functional interactions depicted in the Operational Concept Diagram: NIMA View are manifested in, and reinforced by, the Operations Directorate Vision, which presents an orientation focused on the concept of a universal, "one-stop shopping" environment for imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information. The Operations Directorate Vision delineates the role of the Operations Directorate as the source acquisition, exploitation, and dissemination arm of NIMA. The Directorate's concept for executing NIMA's operational mission is illustrated in Figure 10-5, which, essentially, represents a directorate-level Operational Concept Diagram.

Apart from the "Suppliers" and "Customers" bases, each of the icons or symbols in Figure 10-5 is linked to a functional node in the Operational Concept Diagram (NIMA View). At this level, we can also begin to attribute functional nodes to one or more organizational elements within NIMA / DO - a preliminary step toward defining flows between organizational nodes, which is accomplished in other Operational Architecture documentation.

• Functions associated with the management of "Customer Requirements" can be attributed to the Information and Services Acquisition business. Within NIMA / DO, this function is performed by the Customer Support Office (CO), the Central Imagery Tasking Office (TO), and the Geospatial Imagery and Services Office (GI).
  
• The "Analysts / Cartographers" box represents the Information Production business; the Imagery Analysis Office (IA) and the Geospatial Information and Services Office (GI) are associated with this function.
  
• The "Layered Data" and the "Info, Data, and Products" icons illustrate the Information Access and Delivery business - which falls primarily under the Information Services and Training Office (IS) - as well as the shift to a data-centric environment from which both standard and tailored views are derived.
  
• The "Help, Tools, Training, Etc." symbols may be attributed to the Customer Service support function, as well as to services provided by the Information, Services and Training Office (IS). It also provides a linkage to the Information Applications and Systems function, for which the Systems and Technology Directorate (ST) maintains responsibility.
  

The Operations Directorate Vision addresses functions and their interactions in this context, and describes the Operations Directorate's objective for optimizing those interactions, and achieving significant enhancements in organizational productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction, through improvements in the areas of processes, people, tools, and infrastructure. The interactions of the functional nodes represented by the icons, supported by a dynamic infrastructure and an end-to-end customer service function, will facilitate NIMA / DO's attainment of its objectives in support of NIMA's operational mission.

It has been noted that the functions and processes described in the NIMA Business Plan 1997 are depicted in a high-level setting in the Operational Concept Diagram (NIMA View). As a vehicle for illustrating how NIMA's mission of providing timely, relevant, and accurate information to the customer is accomplished through the interactions of its core businesses or functions, supported by its end-to-end customer service function and a dynamic infrastructure, the Operational Concept Diagram (NIMA View) forms the basis for mapping functions to organizational entities within NIMA. This mapping is accomplished, again at a high level, in the Operational Relationship Chart, which is the next level of documentation in the Operational Architecture development process. As noted above, associating functions with organizational elements allows us to define "organizational nodes" and begin to define the top-level information flows between those nodes.

The Operational Concept Diagram provides the conceptual overview of the operational environment. The diagram forms the basis for mapping functions to NIMA offices in the Operational Relationship Chart; and those functions constitute the top level entries in the Activity Hierarchy (which breaks the functions down into activities) and the Activity Diagram (which defines the relationships and information flows between those activities).

The Operational Architecture is based on NIMA mission requirements as articulated in directives, policy, doctrine, procedures, and organizational concepts of operation. Information Exchange Requirements (IERs) identified in the Operational Architecture provide the basis for technical requirements, standards, conventions, and new technological capabilities. These, in turn, provide a foundation for systems capabilities and requirements.