Implementing transformation: an analysis of Marine Direct Air Support requirements

• Main Author: Willette, Scott E.
• Other Authors: Doerr, Ken
• Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/9836; http://hdl.handle.net/10945/9836

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited === MBA Professional Report === Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited === The purpose of this MBA Project was to focus on the Marine Direct Air Support Center and the information systems the Marine Corps is fielding to it as part of the Department of Defense's Transformation. As the nexus between air support and the ground combat element, the DASC executes and integrates the current day's Air Tasking Order with the ground element's fires. Interview responses from participants in Operation Iraqi Freedom identified difficulties the DASC encountered in implementing this emerging technology. This project analyzed the strategic alignment of the DASC by identifying any gaps in the links between its business strategy, organizational infrastructure and processes, IT strategy, and information systems infrastructure and processes. It did so by first determining how the current transformation effort was perceived by members of the DASC community; analyzed how transformation technology was implemented in Operation Iraqi Freedom from a Systems Analysis perspective; and developed an operating definition of what a transformed DASC will be like. These perspectives were then applied to the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM), developed by Henderson and Venkatraman, to help clarify the fit between the current state of the DASC and where it needs to be in terms of organization and IT to meet the requirements of Transformation.