A decision support methodology to support military asset and resource planning

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a decision-support methodology to support the development and assessment of military asset and resource strategies. The methodology is built around a system dynamics model that allows users to examine the performance of a strategy over time. The novelty of the model lies in its flexibility and ability to address questions about asset planning from both holistic and lifecycle viewpoints. From the user perspective, the decision-support methodology is structured around three phases: (1) Design an asset management strategy, (2) Evaluate strategy using system dynamics simulation model, and (3) Generate performance indicators and analyse results. The methodology is developed and used in a real case study to support the modernisation of the Australian Defence Force. This paper demonstrates that system dynamics offers useful methods to study the dynamics of supply-demand, and support the development of systemic asset and resource management strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Defence
• system dynamics
• asset and resource planning
• decision analysis

Acknowledgment

We qualify that the analyses in this paper are not a reflection of the position, intent or opinions of the Royal Australian Navy or any defense organization.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Live simulations consist of real people using real systems. Field exercises fall into this category.

2. Virtual simulations involve real people using simulated systems. These can be thought of as flight simulators or virtual environments. These types of simulations also include combined exercises where real people, using real systems, interact with and react to the actions of simulated people or systems (Hill et al., 2001).

3. We provide implementation screenshots of stock and flow diagrams in AnyLogic Software in the Appendix A Section in Figure A1, A2, A3. Further, the web page (https://unswcsc.bitbucket.io/) contains several supplementary materials for the manuscript including a video demo containing some implementation insights.

4. The fleet transition options discussed in this subsection are mainly motivated from the technical report written by Hellyer (2018).

Additional information

Funding

 This work is funded by the Capability Systems Centre, supported by the Australian Defence Force.