PORTFOLIO

The changing face of world events has increased the need to train and exercise military staff as deployment lead times reduce and operational readiness remains paramount.

Role
Armed Forces require a realistic environment in which Commanders and HQ Staff can be practiced in the procedures and processes required in real operations. Lessons need to be identified during exercises so they can be learnt before deployment for real. JEMS facilitates exercise support from a range of capabilities that support multi-level exercises with provision for military, political, cultural, governmental and nongovernmental organisations. In addition input from environmental, SME and information operations sources can be incorporated in order to provide a complete exercise scenario.

Services provided

• A secure and reliable IT infrastructure that can be deployed where it is needed, either in a fixed office space at a military location or to temporary sites in the UK or worldwide.
• Up to 300 clients per node using standard military communications to link two or more sites together. On large scale exercises, this is the equivalent of rolling out an IT system for a medium sized company, all of which needs to be achieved in a matter of days.
• System engineers who understand what exercise planners are trying to achieve, and are able to work alongside military and civilian organisations to design robust networks that will deliver the infrastructure needed to support the exercise.
• Management of the overall equipment holding and development of plans to ensure that the required equipment is delivered to the exercise sites, installed and made operational.
• Specific training on the use of the system during time set aside for training of Exercise Control staff in a short package at the start of the exercise.
• On-line capture of Lessons as the Exercise progresses, viewable by all members of EXCON.
• A dedicated helpdesk that can be manned 24 hrs a day. This has proved invaluable in ensuring that the JEMS system is supporting the EXCON staff in their role of running the exercise, rather than worrying about the technology that is supporting them.

Execution
The core of the JEMS functionality is a process that allows the exercise to be developed dynamically, so it can react to what happens in the exercise HQ rather than trying to dictate activity using an inflexible Main Events List. The core process allows key themes to be identified that are then split into specific interactions with the training audience. The production of the list of interactions is delegated to the subject matter experts within EXCON, which ensures maximum realism. The whole process is visible to the Exercise Directors, allowing them to assess how well the exercise is progressing towards its objectives. The dynamic approach allows the emphasis or priorities to be adjusted to maximise the training benefit in order that a Commander and his staff gain maximum value from the training. The tasking and co-ordination of EXCON is linked to an intuitive and effective information management system that ensures EXCON staff are always aware of the current situation, and what information has been provided to the exercising audience.

Alongside the execution, an application is provided for capturing lessons as they are identified during the exercise. The lessons are held centrally and are viewable by all members of EXCON staff. This approach encourages people to capture lessons as they happen, rather than storing them up until the end of an exercise. This provides scope for a lesson identified at the start of an exercise to be addressed and turned into a lesson learned before exercise end.