MORS Workshop on Improving Defense Analysis through Better Data Practices, held in Alexandria, Virginia on March 25, 26 and 27, 2003

The Military Operations Research Society sponsored a workshop on data best practices at the Institute for Defense Analyses 25-27 March 2003. Over 125 analysts and decision makers representing a cross-section of the Department of Defense (DoD), government agencies and the Ministry of Defence in Great Britain participated in the Workshop. This report summarizes the discussions, observations and data best practices identified at the meeting. The purpose of the Workshop was to identify best practices for generating, collecting, developing, maintaining, disseminating and applying data and metadata to help support better analyses within the DoD. In addition, meeting organizers hoped to lay the groundwork for improved data policy and procedures within the DoD. Over the course of the three-day meeting, workshop attendees were exposed to a number of current data practices within the DoD and other communities. A plenary session set the stage for small working group discussions by providing strategic perspective and high-level insights into the issues. Following the plenary sessions, participants attended separate working group sessions, each addressing a different aspect of the data enterprise. A separate technology working group assessed available tools and their potential for facilitating DoD data objectives. Document includes briefing charts along with text.