A Toolkit for the Assessment of Effects-Based Operations (TAE-BO)

To address the need for effects-based assessment (EBA) tools, we propose to design and demonstrate a Toolkit for the Assessment of Effects-Based Operation (TAE-BO). Five core components characterize our effort: One, we will perform a Cognitive Tasks Analysis to understand the tasks, tools, and information employed by analysts performing EBA. We will analyze data from these studies to identify and define opportunities for supporting analysts. Two, we will identify and develop composable computational components for filtering, associating, aggregating, and reasoning over incoming intelligence. Three, we will develop complementary visualization methods for these components, and a user interface for authoring tools by combining components, connecting these tools, and using these tools. Four, we will design the TAE-BO toolkit, which will provide the framework and runtime environment for these tools and user interfaces. Five, we will develop a plan for evaluation of analysts’ productivity while using the TAE-BO system, including an experimental methodology and specific metrics. We will leverage our team’s expertise in data fusion methods and human-centered design to rapidly develop adaptable and composable data integration, management, and analysis tools and to integrate these methods with real or representative data sources.