The Dynamic Analytical Reporting Web-based Interactive Navigator (DARWIN) is a classified Web site that supports the command-and-control functional areas of force deployment, redeployment, planning, resupply, and readiness. Currently, the primary customers are U.S. Pacific Command and Pacific Fleet. They use it to source, validate, and move military units to a theater of operations. In addition, the site is used by Seventh Fleet to monitor arrival of units in theater and their eventual return to home base.
DARWIN combines Joint Operation Planning and Execution System (JOPES), Global Status of Resources and Training System (GSORTS), and Global Command-and-Control System (GCCS) data in a single Web site. Using validated accounts, planners can log in to the DARWIN web site to display and print any reports their account is authorized to access. Reports can be viewed as Web pages, Acrobat files, or Excel spreadsheets.
From the outset, DARWIN was developed to simplify Navy and joint planners' access to JOPES data, reduce training costs, simplify life-cycle management, and reduce the costs of managing JOPES access. Over several years, it expanded to offer access to maritime and GSORTS data. From its inception, the site has benefited from direct fleet input.
Technology and Data Sources
The DARWIN web servers do most of the application processing, thus reducing the user's dependence on mobile code (software downloaded from other web sites). This eliminates interoperability problems associated with restrictive network firewalls that block mobile code, and it speeds up processing by reducing client-server interaction between the deployed planner workstation and the database site. The navigation system acts as a middleman between the planner and database sites by running the application on behalf of the planner. Reports are written in Oracle stored procedures for the DARWIN servers; these stored procedures pull input from various remote databases.
DARWIN takes advantage of the regional placement of Web servers at Pacific Fleet in Hawaii and the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. This improves processing speed and provides backup servers. The network links between the DARWIN server and the database sites use fast terrestrial network links, which speed up application processing. Realtime access to theater database sites also eliminates the synchronization problems experienced when using off-line JOPES tools that require planners to repetitively download requirements data.
Oversight of Navy and Joint Operations
One of the key advantages of DARWIN is ease of use. Planners can search reports to reach the information they need without extensive training. They can look up a specific unit in GSORTS and follow the links to the JOPES requirements that designate the unit. Or they can look at specific plan requirements and find the readiness of the unit called for by the plan. It is easy for them to navigate from Time-Phased Force and Deployment Data lists (TPFDDs), to a specific requirement, and then drill down to cargo data for the requirement. In the past, planners had to view data in several different applications to get a clear picture of deployment and readiness data.
The JOPES reports from DARWIN provide Navy and joint planners with TPFDD information. Included are requirements reports for crisis action and deliberate plans, and movement schedule reports. Some of requirements reports are:
* Plan comparisons
* Excel movement requirements
* JOPES force requirements list
* Requirements summary report (with daily totals)
* Cargo detail reports
Other reports list requirements by country and specify the plans a user is authorized to view. The DARWIN query tool allows planners to build and save custom requirements reports for crisis action and deliberate planning. There are reports that show unit movements, including transportation requirements, a quick list of carriers, and passenger and cargo totals. According to planners in the Pacific Fleet operations office, one of DARWIN's most useful components is the Excel spreadsheet format. It allows them to validate cargo data related to the units that are supporting the plan. Other features of the site include e-mail alerts and the JOPES enhanced display interface, a time-line tool for viewing movement of forces.
The GSORTS reports provide Navy and joint planners with unit readiness data for Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Army units. For example, they display readiness in manning, equipment, and training. Reports are available for specific units, by unit type or by naval vessel types and fleets. A combination JOPES-GSORTS report permits planners to see the readiness of units supporting specific requirements in a single summary report.
The GCCS reports provide planners with ship status information, casualty reports (CasReps), employment schedules, and movement reports. This information enables planners to monitor CasRep activity, underway personnel, battle group readiness, and underway ship reports. The CasReps are listed by unit name and unit identification code in the activity report; planners can use Web links to drill down to CasRep displays for a particular unit.
In another report, planners may determine a ship's home port and operational control. The underway personnel report displays the number of Navy and Marine personnel under way and in port, broken down by numbered fleet. Planners can see battle group readiness and the reasons for degraded readiness, and there are links for specific readiness information on units. The underway ship report displays ships scheduled to be deployed.
Conclusions
DARWIN has proved to be an invaluable tool to Navy and joint planners. Study and further development continue at the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific support facility in Hawaii. These efforts are compatible with other Navy and joint initiatives, such as the NavyMarine Corps Intranet, Task Force Web, and JOPES 21.
Mr. Carleton is a computer specialist at the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.