Steven E. Naron
ABSTRACT
At the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), we have succeeded in providing computation application support to all parts of this decentralized research organization by decentralizing our staff.
CNA is divided into four functionally separate departments, each overseen by a Vice President and broken functionally into smaller programs or divisions. Three departments do studies of day-to-day Navy operations, long-term Navy planning, and the Marine Corps; the fourth is concerned with CNA's administration.
Applications Support operates in an environment much like that of any university user services group serving users with a wide variety of needs, skills, and applications. The application consultants are call Group Representatives.
The Group Reps, serving as the first line of consulting support, share office space with the study teams they support. They speed communications throughout CNA and are in a position to gain detailed knowledge about applications peculiar to their projects. They also tend to build close working relationships with their “customers.”
Finally, Group Reps are often major participants in research for CNA's clients in the Department of the Navy and elsewhere. Research results are reported at the highest levels of government and often affect important decisions. There are four useful results of such participation in research. First, the Group Rep gains greater respect from the line organization. Second, being a “user” endows the Group Rep with a little more understanding and even a touch of humility. Third, the Group Rep develops experience with new tools. Finally, the Group Rep who wants a career path into the line organization is thus provided with one.
The remainder of this paper covers issues that may prove useful to anyone who is considering the advantages of setting up a similarly oriented user services organization. The appendix tries to define the Group Rep position in more detail.
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Index Terms
- The Group Rep: Effective decentralization of applications support
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