Coordinated Shipboard Allowance List Optimization: Configuration Data Management

Abstract

The Naval Supply System Command’s Allowancing Department sponsored the thesis topic of Coordinated Shipboard Allowance List (COSAL) optimization. The problem identified was the Fleet’s requisition metrics—specifically, gross, net, and allowance effectiveness metrics—were below stated goals over an eighteen-month period. These metrics measure the ability of the ships’ supply storerooms to issue parts from onboard stocks to work centers. To narrow the topic, the researchers—who completed a multi-disciplinary curriculum in Logistics Information Systems (IS)—focused myopically on configuration data management and how COSAL discrepancies originate. The researchers conducted interviews and literature reviews of Naval Sea Systems Command and Naval Supply System Command publications to create process maps documenting the COSAL creation and its management processes. Next, the researchers utilized fishbone diagrams to help organize cause and effect analysis. The researchers examined configuration data management through the lens of Business-IT alignment theory as well as business process management principles. The data and research lead to two primary conclusions: Auditing of configuration data throughout a ship’s life-cycle is insufficient, and feedback report procedures are not uniformly enforced or incentivized.