Thoughts on information to support decision making

GALILEO GeorgiaBEST GeorgiaFIRST Georgia ONmyLINE GeorgiaVIEW GIL PeachNet USG123

Thoughts on Information to Support Decision-Making

Dr. Curtis A. Carver Jr.Vice Chancellor & Chief Information OfficerUniversity System of Georgia


Vocabulary Word of the Day

Overensure: to allow the scope and pace of change to be dictated by the lawyers, naysayers and quartermasters of the world

Author: Rommel


• First Attempt at Decision-Making

• Decision-Making in World War I

• Decision-Making in World War II


First Attack


Enem

yEn

emy

Friendly

Friendly

World War I

Where is Rommel?

Where is Rommel?



• Right information

• Right format

• Right time

What are the Characteristics of Information to Support Decision-Making?


• Problem: Faced with one year tours, an extremely high operations tempo, and the 4th largest and quite hostile army in the world only 15 miles away, the young soldiers assigned to 2nd Infantry Division could not effectively use the Maneuver Control System.

• The problem is so severe that the Commanding General calls Washington to have the software fixed.

Decision-Making through Tactical Web


• Build a new system that is:– Easy to use– Presents information in increasing levels of detail– Runs on a secure 16kbps backbone

• Oh, I almost forgot, you have two weeks.

Decision-Making through Tactical Web



• Right Format– Visual– Exception-based– Increasing levels of detail

• Right Time– Fast– Agile

• Right information– Subjective and

Quantitative– Easy to Use– Based on Army doctrine– Based on leadership

style

Why did it Work?


• Mini informational mutiny: adopted by about half the units in the Army.

• Used as principal command and control by 3rd Infantry Division during Bosnian War.

• Briefed at Microsoft, to Microsoft, of what could be done with Microsoft technology.

• Influenced the redesign of Maneuver Control System

What Happened Long Term?


Questions, Comments,A Conversation: Part 1

Dr. Curtis A. Carver Jr.Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer

University System of Georgia

http://www.srs.usg.edu/

http://gil.usg.edu/gilhome/

http://www.library.gatech.edu/gkr/

http://www.usg.edu/information_technology_services/learning_in_21st_century_georgia/georgiaview/


• Background: President Bush announces Afghan campaign will be the first to employ effects-based warfare which integrates all of the instruments of national power: political, economic, informational, and military

• Problem: No information or decision-support system does that

• Solution: PowerPoint (if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail….)


• Build a New System that is:– Easy to Use– Better than 500 slides of hyperlinked PowerPoint– Supports nuanced decision-making with multiple

instruments of national power at a very local level– Can be briefed to the President

• Really need it now but we will give you six weeks.


• Right Format– Visual– Exception-based– Increasing levels of detail– Historical and real-time

• Right Time– Fast– Agile

• Right information– Based on relationships

between instruments of power

– Provided historical context

– Different view of the real battlefield

Why did it Work?


• Used to brief President Bush

• Used by the Army from at least 2004-2008

• Lead to thinking about war differently

What Happened Long Term?










Problem: We need information to support strategic decision-making for a $7 billion state system of 35 colleges and universities.

Old Approach• Collection of 1,000 reports• Provide the report if asked for • Modify existing report if slight

modification• Ask the campuses for emergency

collection otherwise –sometimes weeks/months pass

Issues?• Data Governance – we don’t need no

stink’in data governance• Strategic alignment – why would we

ask what decisions they are trying to make when we have 1000 reports

• Data validation – we don’t need no stink’in data validation. We will fix the campus errors for them.

• Retire previous system – no time, no need


Build a new System that supports:– Different dashboards for every user– Self-service reporting– Integrates multiple informational stores– Rigorous data validation– No transform of campus data after submit

(accountability)– Extensive data governance with participation and

transparency

GALILEO GeorgiaBEST GeorgiaFIRST Georgia ONmyLINE GeorgiaVIEW GIL PeachNet USG123 21

Dashboard(Think Peeling an Onion)

Top Dashboard Overview

Everyone’s Dashboard

can be Different “Peel the Onion”More detail

on any attribute

“Peel the Onion”Even More detail

on any sub-attribute


Dashboard Engin

eOnion Level

1


Dashboard Engin

eOnion Level

2


Das

hboa

rd E

ngin

eO

nion

Lev

el 3


Analytical Engine• New Question Arises at 3 AM

• Self-Service Model

• Authorized User can build report on the fly without the intervention of RPA or ITS.


Anal

ytica

l Eng

ine


• "This is a positive move from the past , quickest implementation that has been done very well. Thanks that you incorporated all of us into this."

• "These metadata reports are awesome...you should have done a BIG launch for the ODS with all campuses in it...you should consider presenting this in RACRA."

• "These errors reports are so modern, so much easier to use and

access. Much better than the current system we use."

Campus Quotes from New System on Day 1


• "I love the SharePoint website, it is very helpful method of communication."

• "Data submission application is built very well, I am looking forward

to using the error relief option.“

• “You really need to publicly celebrate this – this deserves a moment in the sun”

• “I almost stood up and clapped when I saw what you have done with Cognos: this is amazing”



• “If this is what we are getting then all of this hard work has been worth it – you listened”

• “This system runs two times faster than the previous one and is so well organized from a campus perspective that it changes everything”

• “Thumbs up!”











• Data….• Big Data…..• Location-based Big Data…..• Big Data Driven Decision Making…..

“On the Internet, the First Amendment is a local ordinance,” said Fred H. Cate, a law professor at Indiana University.

What are folks saying about your organization on Facebook?What are doing about what they are saying?Do you even know?

Need decisions nowRequires a reportReport requires a collectionCollection requires months


Study or Die80 Hard Questions

Provided in Advance

Teams of Four Students

Answer Incorrectly

Answer Correctly – more aid kits, armor, and weapons

Last level is an exact copy of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at West Point except the faculty are now monsters

Technology

Thoughts on information to support decision making