Main Project Capabilities & Focus Areas
Challenge
Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Army’s process for aligning individual tasks with the optimal training site.
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Solution
CPG worked closely with NCO Academies and the Institute for NCO Professional Development to develop a front-end analysis methodology that aids in differentiating tasks that are optimally trained in institutional, unit, or self-study settings. The methodology was incorporated into an Excel-based Site Selection Tool, which supports individuals who are highly-skilled Soldiers but novice site selectors in considering the key factors when making site recommendations.
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Result
The Site Selection Tool is based on CPG’s analysis of the most critical factors used by SMEs to identify optimal training sites for individual tasks. It is intended for use by Critical Task Site Selection Boards, or CTSSBs, which review and validate each MOS’s critical task list, then recommend the site in which each task should be trained — institution, operational unit, or via self-study. CTSSBs are generally comprised of experienced and respected Soldiers who represent the MOS, however, these individuals rarely have experience recommending training sites.
The Site Selection Tool improves the effectiveness of human judgment in selecting sites for training, by ensuring that the full range of discriminating factors is considered by board members. It also makes the process more efficient, by calling out those tasks for which board member agreement is low, so that time is optimized by discussing only low-consensus tasks.
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This effort was sponsored by the US Army Research Institute, Ft Benning unit, under the shared guidance of the Army’s Institute for NCO Professional Development (INCOPD).
