USIGS Operational Relationship Chart

USIGS Operational Architecture documentation, in accordance with the guidelines provided in the C4ISR Architecture Framework and the 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, which are illustrated at a high level in the USIGS Operational Concept Diagram, are linked to organizational elements - again at a high level - in the USIGS Operational Relationship Chart.

The USIGS Operational Relationship Chart presents an illustration of the operational relationships among NIMA business units (offices), with particular emphasis on the NIMA Directorate of Operations, and between those organizational elements and the Imagery and Geospatial Community.

20.1.3 Scope

According to the C4ISR Architecture Framework, the Command Relationship Chart is used to "show the operational elements involved in a particular military operation and the relationships among them." Thus, the chart identifies command, control, and coordination relationships among operational elements or organizations.

Within the context of the USIGS Operational Architecture, the Operational Relationship Chart focuses on the same relationships addressed by the Command Relationship Chart. The name of the chart was modified in the USIGS Architecture Framework document in recognition of NIMA's role as a combat support agency, as opposed to the operational / tactical organization envisioned in the C4ISR Architecture Framework.

This document presents the USIGS Operational Relationship Chart at two levels: an Organizational View and a Directorate View. The Organizational View depicts lines of "command and control" within NIMA. The Directorate View illustrates the flow of information and services between NIMA directorates, and from those directorates to the Imagery and Geospatial Community.

The USIGS Operational Relationship Chart provides the foundation for the development of the USIGS Activity Diagram, which depicts information and service flows between organizational nodes. The Operational Relationship Chart also influences the USIGS Operational Scenario and Evolutionary Phase Implementation Plan and offers guidance to the planning process, requirements process, acquisition process, resource management, and community interaction.

Figure 20-1 represents a depiction of the Operational Relationship Chart: Organizational View, which focuses on the lines of command and control within NIMA. Essentially, NIMA is presented in a "line and block chart" format, overlaid on the Operational Concept Diagram (NIMA View). In one respect, it fulfills the purpose ascribed to the Operational Relationship Chart, in that it links information and service flows to organizational elements instead of to functional nodes. Simply stated, Figure 20-1 illustrates how NIMA is organized. What it does not illustrate, however, is how NIMA actually operates.

In order to fulfill its operational mission, NIMA increases its functionality through cross-organizational matricing, and through the establishment and maintenance of a "workgroup" environment which is not clearly captured in Figure 20-1. Illustrating the operational environment in terms of the many lines of coordination that exist between and among business units (office-level organizations) would be confusing and would have little utility in the architecture development process. An additional illustration is needed, to better capture the flow of information and services between organizational entities within NIMA, and between those entities and the Imagery and Geospatial Community in general.

The Operational Relationship Chart: Directorate View is used to illustrate the links from functions and high-level activities to organizational elements within NIMA, at the directorate level. It is at this level, that we can begin to assign specific functions and depict the interactions between the directorates in terms of what each directorate provides to the other two, and what each provides to the community external to NIMA. The functions and interactions are described in the following paragraphs.

The Directorate of Operations is the source acquisition, exploitation, and dissemination arm of NIMA. As illustrated in Figure 20-2, it manages the following processes:

• Information and Services Acquisition. Defined as a core business in the NIMA Business Plan 1997, this process supports the gathering of customer requirements and the acquisition of information and services which will lead to the satisfaction of those customer needs.

• Information Production. This is another core business, which generates imagery intelligence and geospatial information, in digital and hardcopy formats, in response to customer needs. It also processes and makes available source imagery. Focus is on the exploitation of source material and the production of the information needed to satisfy the customer needs.

• Information Access and Delivery. Also a core business (three of the four are found principally within the Directorate of Operations); this process enables customers to receive information as needed, whether produced by NIMA or acquired from others.

• Customer Service. Although "customer service" is an underlying value of all of NIMA, the Directorate of Operations - specifically, the Customer Support Office - serves as NIMA's focal point for external customer satisfaction, providing end-to-end support of all NIMA products and services, and serving as the point of accountability through which requirements are identified and needs are met.

A more detailed description of the core businesses is found in the NIMA Business Plan 1997 and in the Operational Concept Diagram documentation.

The principal output of the Directorate of Operations to the Imagery and Geospatial Community is the provision of information and services in fulfillment of NIMA's operational mission. In terms of its interface with the other NIMA directorates, the Directorate of Operations provides the Corporate Affairs Directorate with feedback (both internal and from the Imagery and Geospatial Community) and requests for guidance. The Directorate of Operations also interacts with the Systems and Technology Directorate in delineating systems requirements.

The Systems and Technology Directorate is responsible for the development, acquisition, and sustainment of systems, standards, and technology related to the processing and dissemination of imagery intelligence and geospatial information. As depicted in Figure 20-2, this directorate manages the following processes:

• USIGS Architecture Systems & Technical Support. All directorates play important roles in the development of the USIGS Architecture, but the overall management of the effort is found in the Architecture Office, which is part of the Systems and Technology Directorate. The Architecture Office has the mission to develop and evolve the USIGS Architecture, within the C4ISR Architecture Framework, for all of NIMA.

• Standards. An important component of the USIGS architecture is the standardized development of data models and data dictionaries which contain metadata elements that have been standardized across DoD and the IGC. Standardizing data models and data elements increases interoperability and serves as a foundation element for NIMA's information service.

• Information Applications and Systems. The only core business not under the management of the Directorate of Operations, it represents the role of the Systems and Technology Directorate in developing and deploying tools - software applications, integrated computer and network system solutions - for both internal (NIMA) and external (IGC) customers.

• System Integration. The Systems and Technology Directorate provides system integration leadership to NIMA programs and projects, to include the integration of requirements into the development, management, and execution of RDT&E and procurement programs; the integration of new production capabilities and re-engineering initiatives; and the integration of migrating NIMA production and imagery delivery systems.

• Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation (RDT&E). The Systems and Technology Directorate formulates advanced concepts, and coordinates and executes research, development, test, and evaluation. Emphasis is placed on studies, evaluations, prototypes, technology development, engineering models, etc.

The Corporate Affairs Directorate provides support to NIMA and its customers through its management of the following processes:

• USIGS Policy Guidance. The Corporate Affairs Directorate provides oversight, guidance, and advocacy for the IGC, as well as policy formulation, execution, analysis, and reporting in the areas of program, budget, manpower, cost, and finance for internal NIMA activities. The Directorate also maintains an external (national) focus for the development and promulgation of imagery and geospatial information policy on behalf of the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) and the Secretary of Defense.

• Infrastructure Services. The directorate provides support in the areas of administration, procurement, financial resources, imagery and geospatial policy, congressional and public relations, human resources, and agency plans, programs, and analysis.

• Security Policy and Releasability Guidance. The directorate develops and promulgates imagery and geospatial information security and releasability policy, and provides policy direction for national imagery and geospatial information relationships with foreign governments and multinational organizations.

• Business Plan Development. The Corporate Affairs Directorate leads NIMA's strategic planning processes; sets standards for and oversees business plan development; reviews and aligns all functional and business plans with strategic plans; and oversees the development, integration, and promulgation of policy directives of the other NIMA directorates.

• USIGS Architecture Development & Guidance. The Corporate Affairs Directorate is responsible for the development of the overall USIGS Operational Architecture and provides guidance to other agencies within the IGC.

Figure 20-2 includes the illustration of an executive management function, connected to each of the directorates by a double-headed arrow which depicts the two-way flow of information: the flow of management information and guidance to the directorates, and the feedback from them.

The Director, NIMA, fills two roles within the Imagery and Geospatial Community:

• Management of NIMA as an information and service provider. The Director provides strategic vision and exercises decision-making authority to guide NIMA in the effective accomplishment of its operational mission.
  
• Leadership of USIGS, to include policy direction, architecture definition, strategy development, program and budget guidance, and performance evaluation. Prosecution of this role is accomplished through the core businesses resident in NIMA's directorates, supported by an end-to-end customer service function and a robust infrastructure.

As previously noted, the Operational Concept Diagram depicts the flow of information and services between functional nodes, e.g., the internal delivery of applications from Information Applications and Services to Information Production. With the high-level Operational Relationship Chart, we can begin to attribute the information and services flows to organizational entities. Thus, using the same example, the Operational Relationships Chart illustrates the internal delivery of applications from the Systems and Technology Directorate to the Directorate of Operations.

Focusing on the major interactions and information flows which support NIMA's operational mission, it is possible to illustrate operational relationships between NIMA business units. Figure 20-3 represents relationships among the offices subordinate to the Directorate of Operations, as well as between those entities and: (a) the other directorates; and (b) the Imagery and Geospatial Community.

The foundation for Figure 20-3 is the Operational Concept Diagram: NIMA View. Core businesses are overlaid on the NIMA directorates; while the supporting functions of Infrastructure and Customer Service are now imbedded, and thus not directly illustrated. The office-level organizations within the Directorate of Operations have been overlaid on the most appropriate core business(s). (Note: the Systems & Technology and Corporate Affairs Directorates are not broken out below the directorate level).

In the Operational Concept Diagram, external arrows start and end at the perimeter of the NIMA box. In this illustration, the arrows extend into, and out of, the appropriate directorates, down to the office level in the case of the Directorate of Operations.

This is done to provide an illustration of information and service flows:

• Between business units within NIMA / DO
  
• Internal to NIMA (i.e., between directorates)
  
• Between NIMA and the Imagery and Geospatial Community

The additional level of detail presented by this chart allows us to more clearly define the interactions between organizational elements. For example:

• The delivery arrow from the supplier to the Tasking Office illustrates the ladder's role in providing imagery from international sources to the IGC.

• The positioning of the Geospatial Information and Services Office (NIMA / GI) over both the Information Production and Information and Services Acquisition businesses, is done to highlight its role in the processing, validation, and satisfaction of requirements for geospatial information.
• Arrows have been added which depict the flow of USIGS guidance and policy information and services from the Corporate Affairs Directorate to the other directorates, and to the IGC, in fulfillment of NIMA's role as the Functional Manager for imagery and geospatial information.

The Operational Relationship Chart is derived from the NIMA Business Plan 1997, NIMA Strategic Plan 1997, the NIMA Operations Directorate Vision, NIMA's organizational structure, and the Operational Concept Diagram. It, in turn, provides input to the development of Activity Diagrams, which depict information and service flows between organizational nodes. The Operational Relationship Chart: Contextual View illustrates these flows at a high level. The flows are broken out in more detail in the Activity Hierarchy, which also feeds the development of the Activity Diagrams. These products are all foundation documentation for the development of perhaps the most critical product in the Operational Architecture development process, the Information Exchange Requirements Matrix.