Supporting Force Structure Review through graph visualisation and capability view improvements

Abstract

Program Viewer is a prototype Defence decision support tool for whole of portfolio capability management that focuses on schedule, cost, personnel and capability. The tool has already supported a number of decision-making activities in Defence including the current and previous Force Structure Reviews. Close interaction with stakeholders has enabled access to a rich source of Defence portfolio data for populating a Unified Profile for DoDAF and MODAF (UPDM) (Hause, 2010) compliant repository. So far, Program Viewer has facilitated understanding of project costs and slippage, scheduled milestones and milestone relationships between projects, and potential issues (Bulluss et al., 2014, Lo et al., 2015). Our software tool has been augmented herein with temporal graph visualisation (Lo et al., 2011, Lo et al., 2009) to support exploratory analysis of the taxonomy of Defence capabilities and capital acquisition projects juxtaposed with cost information. Through employing the Java universal network/graph (JUNG) toolkit (O'Madadhain et al., 2005), the prototype supports graph visualisation through (a) spring, (b) Fruchterman-Rheingold (1991), (c) Kamada-Kawai (1989), (d) circle and (e) Inverted Self-Organising Map (Meyer, 1998) layouts. Temporal mode enables users to visualise the graph evolving over time, gaining an improved understanding of relative budget allocation to projects on a year-by-year basis. By scaling node areas proportionally to project costs (total or on a yearly basis), relative budget allocation to projects can be quickly gleaned from the graph. Customisable node shape and colour, and ability to zoom and filter out data by context promote greater understanding of data from different perspectives. An adapted capability view (CV-3) based on the DoDAF viewpoints has also been implemented. As project numbers within the repository increased, the understanding of project dependencies and interrelationships has correspondingly become more complex. The CV-3 provides an improved contextual understanding of projects mapped against capability, simplifying the visualisation for decision-makers. Our prototype tool provides a unique capability that merges data that is typically held locally within Defence groups, processes the information and provides visualisations that improve management of the whole-of-life capability systems lifecycle. The First Principles Review (2015) recommendations for enhancing performance and accountability of Defence capability acquisition and sustainment, and enterprise-wide information management have highlighted the need for improved focus in the area that Program Viewer seeks to innovate in.