1. 20 ISMOR DATA: Presentations and Syndicate Exercises
Introduction by
Roger Forder
on behalf of Geoff Hawkins

2. Today’s Programme 1000 - 1030 Introduction 1030 - 1300 Presentations
Lunch
Presentations
Tea
Syndicate Exercises x 3
Syndicate Feedback

3. Accepted Wisdom
Poor data results in poor studies - data are important.
Data are expensive to acquire, so do so only once.
Data are often required by more than one person.
Data are easy to store.
Data retrieval is cheaper than data collection.
Use of common data gives consistency.
Data management is a good thing.

4. Hawkins’s Propositions
If you collect all of the data that is available you can not store and retrieve it.
There is no way to store data that makes retrieval easy.
The data that is stored is never quite what you want.
It is easier to obtain your own data than use a database.
You can never trust the data in databases.
Data management is an expensive overhead

5. Forder’s Reminder ‘Data’ come in all shapes and sizes:
The maintenance demands of the Warrior AFV as recorded in Gulf War II
Six months of reports and signals from a brigade HQ in Kosovo
Trials results for an in-service weapon
The expected performance of the weapons carried by JSF when it enters service
Output from a low-level combat model for a range of circumstances
The bad guy’s order of battle in 2015
etc, etc

6. Syndicate Topics
Red
It is impossible to manage data collection from real operations - discuss.
Green
Raw data should not be stored - only collated and analysed data is of any value - discuss.
Blue
What is the minimum level of data review that analysts should conduct before a study?

7. Syndicate Composition
Red Organiser: George Rose Recorder: Ian Mitchell
Green Organiser: Miles Hunt
Recorder: Simon Purton
Blue Organiser: Terry Hooper
Recorder: Jason Field

8. Syndicate Rules
Organisers appoint a chairman and spokesman (volunteers get drinks paid for all evening by other syndicate members)
Organisers makes sure that progress is made
Chairs should ensure that nobody dominates
All views are valid
Disagreements are a good thing