OV-6c Template

Product Definition. The Operational Event- Trace Description provides a time-ordered examination of the information exchanges between participating operational nodes as a result of a particular scenario. Each event-trace diagram should have an accompanying description that defines the particular scenario or situation.

Product Purpose. OV-6c is valuable for moving to the next level of detail from the initial operational concepts. The product helps define node interactions and operational threads. The OV-6c can also help ensure that each participating operational node has the necessary information it needs at the right time in order to perform its assigned operational activity.

Product Detailed Description. OV-6c allows the tracing of actions in a scenario or critical sequence of events. OV-6c can be used by itself or in conjunction with OV-6b to describe the dynamic behavior of business processes or a mission/operational thread. An operational thread is defined as a set of operational activities, with sequence and timing attributes of the activities, and includes the information needed to accomplish the activities. A particular operational thread may be used to depict a capability. In this manner, a capability is defined in terms of the attributes required to accomplish a given mission objective by modeling the set of activities and their attributes. The sequence of activities forms the basis for defining and understanding the many factors that impact on the capability.

Integrated architectures with DOTMLPF information provide a structured and organized approach for defining capabilities and understanding the underlying requirements for achieving those capabilities. By describing the sequence and timing of activities, tying them to the operational nodes (representing organizations or human roles), relating them to their supporting systems or system functions, and specifying the actions, events, and related guard conditions or business rules that constrain those activities, the full spectrum of DOTMLPF is modeled and related, so that analyses and decisions can be supported. Below is a detailed description of how DOTMLPF is tightly woven into this and related products.

Doctrine is represented as guard conditions, which are associated with events, which, in turn, map to controls in OV-5.
Organization is represented via the lifelines or swimlanes, which map to operational nodes of OV-2; which, in turn, map to organizations, organization types, or human roles of OV-4; and mechanisms in OV-5.
Training is represented via the lifeline or swimlane, since the operational node (shown on the dia gram as a lifeline or swimlane) may represent a human role, which, in turn, embodies a certain skill set or knowledge domain required to perform the actions (which are, in turn, related to operational activities of OV-5).
Materiel is tied to the elements in OV-6c because this product is tightly coupled with OV-5, where mechanisms may be used to represent systems that support operational activities. In addition, further materiel detail may be related to the activities via SV-5, by relating those activities to the system functions that are executed by systems that automate them (wholly or partially). Each operational thread or scenario (represented by an OV-6c) is associated with a certain capability, since a capability is defined in terms of the activities and their attributes depicted in OV-6c. Consequently, an SV-5 may also be used to relate a capability to the systems that support it, by labeling a set of activities with their associated capability (defined in OV-6c), and by labeling the system functions with the systems that execute them (defined in SV-1, SV-2, and SV-4).
Leadership may be represented either directly via the lifeline or swimlane or indirectly through the relationships of an operational node (shown as a lifeline or swimlane on the diagram) in OV-2 to organizations, organization types, or leadership human roles in OV-4.
Personnel may be represented directly via the lifeline or swimlane, or indirectly through the relationships of an operational node (shown as a lifeline or swimlane on the diagram) in OV-2 to organizations, organization types, or human roles in OV-4.
Facility is tied to the elements in OV-6c because the lifeline or swimlane representing an operational node is directly tied to the systems node (facilities) that house the systems, which may be shown as mechanisms that support operational activities.