Sense & Respond Logistics:
Definitions

Several books have been written about S&RL directly and dozens more about similar and related concepts. To be analytically useful, the concept has to be narrowed. The key to this is to move S&RL from a generic management paradigm to one with a military focus that can be implemented. The following provides several referenced sources that put the concepts and benefits of S&RL into concise terms.

S&RL Definitions and Concepts

Haeckel’s definition

An enterprise’s ability to adapt depends on how it processes information. From complexity theorists we learn that all successfully adapting systems have something in common: They transform apparent noise into meaning faster than apparent noise comes at them. Sense-and-respond organizations leverage this information into a generic way of fostering adaptive sense-making and action. The particulars of what is sensed and of how it is interpreted are role-specific, and depend on the amount of adaptability required. No role requires more careful design of its adaptive loop than the one accountable for translating apparent noise into meaning about when and how to adapt the way the organization adapts. That role, of course, is leadership.

(Ref: Stephan H. Haekel, Adaptive Enterprise: Creating and Leading Sense-and-Respond Organizations, 1999, page xviii)

Office of Force Transformation

In adapting the concept to military use, OSD used this definition. Sense and Respond Logistics is a transformational, network-centric, knowledge-driven concept that enables Joint effects-based operations and provides precise, agile support.

Sense and Respond Logistics relies upon highly adaptive, self-synchronizing, and dynamic physical and functional processes. It predicts, anticipates, and coordinates actions that provide competitive advantage across the full range of military operations. Sense and Respond Logistics promotes doctrinal and organizational transformation, and supports scalable coherence of command and control, operations, logistics, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

(Ref: Department of Defense, Office Of Force Transformation, Operational Sense And Respond Logistics, May 2004.)

OFT described S&RL across business, network and technology areas.

Sense and Respond Logistics, as previously described, is grounded in NCW theory and Joint Adaptive Expeditionary Warfare practice. It also borrows, with modification, ideas from commercial analogs, particularly an S&R adaptive managerial framework originally developed by IBM. It also draws from the sciences: network theory, complex adaptive systems, and chaos theory.

Some of the key ideas of Sense and Respond, which can be found in science and business literature and practice, reflect the application of network-centric theory and principles:

• Demand is ultimately unpredictable, so success depends on speed of pattern recognition and speed of response.

• The best supply chain is no longer highly optimized; it is highly flexible, and is considerably more networked and less linear.

• Organization of business units and subunits into modular dynamically re-organizable capabilities that negotiate with one another over commitments, and that have adaptable control via brokers, negotiators, and arbitrators, replaces fixed organizational structures.

• Networks self-synchronize via a common environment and set of shared objectives - typically commander’s intent (CI) and mission/task/effect achievement measures, focusing on operational effectiveness.

• Adaptable enterprises depend on sophisticated information technology support to enable data sharing, knowing earlier, commitment tracking, predictions, adaptation, cognitive decision support, and role reconfiguration.

The unique properties of military operations require adaptation of the scientific bases and commercial analogs, including:

• Diversity of the range and scope of military operations, in general, and logistics support, in particular.

• Simultaneous accommodation of multiple physically and functionally disparate activities.

• The real-time non-linear and complex nature of conflict. • Risks of military operations impact on national objectives, military forces, and societies in battlespaces.

• The life and death nature of warfare.

The Sense and Respond Logistics Concept is based upon the power of the network. At the business end, there are natural connections to reconfigure or change flow. S &RL has several strengths and attributes of the network:

• The support network is dynamic.

– Support doctrine anticipates event-driven, reconfigurable support nets.

– Greater access broadens the logistics resource base.

– Emphasizes distribution flexibility and support network responds to need.

• Relationships are negotiation-based across the network.

– All entities use commander’s intent, planned/executing effects, missions, and tasks, and detailed situation awareness to negotiate, broker, arbitrate, and synchronize functions and operations.

– Roles and commitments of entities are dynamically defined and adaptable within a specific context.

– All entities are described in terms of current capabilities; not as static forces.

– The network permits/enables any logistics consumer to also be a logistics supplier, for all or a portion of a logistics requirement.

• Logistics networks are robust and difficult to analyze and attack.

– More tolerant of node or communications network failure.

– Adapt to real-time logistics demand signals.

• S&RL uses networks to support distributed, adaptive operations.

– Network adaptation allows logistics decisions to be made continuously and anticipatorily.

– Emphasis on information and distribution allows a greater degree of operational flexibility and risk management.

– No logistics-caused operational pause

– networked logistics functions do not constrain operational and intelligence functions speed.

– Mechanisms are transparent to Warfighters; but results are very apparent.

(Ref: Office of Secretary of Defense and Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC), Sense and Respond Logistics applied to Focused Logistics Final Report, 31 August 2005)

Sense and Respond Logistics, because of these attributes, becomes a potential source of operational advantage and a capabilities multiplier for operational forces. S&RL provides this capability multiplier effect by providing earlier to the Operational Commander an increased range of support options that are synchronized with the operational effects. S&RL can also anticipate support problems, identify potential constraints earlier, and respond to changes in operational tasks and reprioritization.

S&RL is addressing the following support issues:

• Adaptability and speed: Logistics demand is ultimately unpredictable. Effective support depends on adaptability and speed of response. Logistics networks should self-synchronize through a common environment and set of shared objectives to achieve satisfaction of operational requirements, at the point-of-effect.

• Effectiveness: Logistics support must be focused on achievement of evolving commander’s intent, in light of the strategic, operational, and tactical situation, the environment for military operations, and the force capabilities status.

– Options for military tasks and effects should be provided through analysis of support capabilities.

– Operational risk due to logistics must be recognized and mitigated.

• Flexibility: Sustainment of military operations is most effective when the supply chain is highly flexible rather than highly optimized.

– Negotiations for logistics resources and capabilities should be encouraged to support rapidly evolving tasks and effects-based operations.

– Distribution and transportation of support should be independent from geography constraints where possible.

• Modularity: Modularity implies visibility into logistics support organized by modules of support capabilities rather than by traditional service and organizational elements.

• Integration: Cohesive, adaptable, and responsive logistics requires sophisticated IT support that enables data sharing, a common perspective of the battlespace, early awareness of resource consumption and needs, commitment tracking, and support for reconfiguration.

­ Options for military tasks and effects should be provided through analysis of support capabilities, and operational risk due to logistics must be recognized and mitigated.

Other Thoughts on S&RL

What is clear is that there is a tension between the technological, business, people and organization views of Sense and Respond. This is to be expected since it is often forgotten that Sense and Respond is fundamentally an approach to doing business, with technology as an enabler, albeit an enabler whose approach can support or hinder the success of any Sense and Respond effort.

But for Haeckel, all of this talk of technology obscures the real essence of sense-and-respond logistics. “The real question is what military logistics would look like if it were organized to respond efficiently to current needs as opposed to predicted needs,” he said. “The focus on technology promotes higher levels of efficiency but it misuses the concept of sense-and-respond logistics as I meant it.”

The fact that the military is improving its predicative capabilities is a positive development, as far as Haeckel is concerned. “But that does not address the central sense-and-respond issue where unpredictability is predicated,” he added. “Getting better at predicting doesn’t seem to be the logical answer to dealing with unpredictability.”

(Ref: Peter Buxbaum, Military Logistics Forum Online Archives, Volume: 1, Issue: 2, Aug 20, 2007.)

Though it is unclear how much predictive capability the DoD has actually developed recently, it is clear that rather than build capabilities based on predictions, capabilities and their technological enablers must be developed that are flexible to deal with a high degree of uncertainly. Unfortunately, current technology approaches that have been developed to support other business paradigms will not be sufficient to support S&RL. In fact, given their static nature, most current technologies such as ERPs and Application Servers will act as a constraint. To be clear, S&RL is not a replacement of current technologies and practices. Rather it is a way to add a new level of capability and intelligence to existing systems. This is in the same way, that adding Sense and Respond concepts to business leadership does not throw all existing business practices. Indeed, it is designed to make existing processes more efficient, transparent and effective.

Maj. Mark Menotti, who spent a year as a Marine Corps fellow at IBM, provides an excellent view of S&RL from the point of view of an operator. We quote at length since this description is compelling.

1) Knowing Earlier

The benefits of "knowing earlier (sensing and interpreting)" seem self-evident. It allows you to get an edge on your competition and to manage a business more effectively.

2) Managing by Wire

According to Haeckel, "Today's fighter pilots do not fly airplanes; they fly informational representations of them. This is called 'flying by wire.' It is important to distinguish fly-by-wire, which augments a pilot's function, from autopilot, which automates it. Autopilot systems are much more limited in the number of situations that can be handled and are used only in stable environments. Fly-by-wire systems integrate the pilot's accountabilities and ad hoc activities with software that translates pilot decisions into the instructions that actually modify the plane's behavior. A wide degree of freedom in pilot behavior, including override capability, is a standard feature of such designs"

3) Designing a business as a system

In a sense-and-respond world, organizations must develop and/or adopt new principles, competencies, accountabilities, context and structure in order to survive. It requires the ability to integrate all business functions — at the last possible moment and as close to the customer as possible — in order to create an optimized, efficient and well-coordinated system, which discourages the application of best practices to any specific component and eliminates functional silos and blinders. Consequently, this system is designed as a collection of business functions and elements that produces more than the sum of its parts. Haeckel further analyzes this general system….

If a business or organization wants to produce synergy with its employees, products and places, it must understand and design the interactions amongst them, rather than the actions of them. In other words, a sense-and-respond organization is an "effects-based" structure that is designed as a "roles and accountability" system.

4) Dispatching capabilities from the customer request back (e.g. coordination)

Accountability is to the customer; it is defined by specified negotiated commitments between customer and supplier roles. Within a business environment, this means that power shifts from the suppliers towards customers; likewise, the business focus shifts from an organization's internal performance metrics to the customers' metrics of success. Markets and industries become defined in terms of customers and customer-value propositions rather than products that they offer. Outcomes are continually reviewed, negotiated and renegotiated with the customer. Ultimately, success is determined by the effects produced for the customer and is expressed in terms of increased customer satisfaction; customer loyalty and cooperation become valued over competition. This customer-centric (or customer-back) philosophy provides the foundation for the S&R adaptive business design.

An interesting issue for a military organization is to determine "who is the customer?" Certainly, there are internal customers; but are there others? As Army Brig. Gen. Robert Mansfield noted in a December 2002 brief during an OFT S&R conference, the military's customer is also the enemy. Though this sounds bizarre, it makes sense because effects on the enemy would be the logical design point for an S&R military model. But in this case, the effects produce negative value for the customer (e.g., deterrence, denial of access, destruction of forces, etc.).

5) Context giving leadership

In a sense-and-respond system, senior organizational leadership provides their employees with the proper context in order for the employees to execute their roles; the proper context consists of providing employees with a statement of purpose (or reason-for-being), governing principles (e.g., boundaries), guiding principles and a "role and accountability" structural design. Leaders then populate key roles with competent people and trust in them to run operations without the senior leader's interference or oversight. In this type of structural model, top leaders focus on the interactions between key roles and not on what their specific actions are….

In a military organization, we might define the "reason-for-being" as the ability of that organization to fight and win wars; perhaps, it also has a flavor of what we define as Commander's Intent — providing the ultimate purpose behind a mission. Guiding principles might look like our joint and service doctrines that influence how we see the battlefield. So the key to S&RL is to understand its business roots to enable transformational business concepts which will require at least some transformation technology advances. As will be discussed below, S&RL provides the means to advance both business and technology S&RL in sync in a co-evolutionary way. In the past, the advancement of S&RL has been hindered by inadequate technology, SOP development was hindered. This is changing. As we will show below, adequate technologies have emerged to enable S&RL with the right strategy and investment.

(Ref: Major Mark Menotti, The Sense and Respond Enterprise, Why the US Marine Corps Should Embrace the New Paradigm, August 2004.)