Explaining Force Elements and Force Element Structures

Before diving into the specifics regarding force elements, organizational structures and management we at first investigate the solution map for SAP Defence and Security.

The Solution Map is a high-level representation of applicable Industry-Specific and Cross Industry Processes, which act as a guideline for SAP development when building the SAP software for Defense and Security. The solution map reflects the problem domain, and is not meant to be read as a list of functions covered by the specific product SAP D&S.

There are seven sections to the solution map:

• Planning, 
  • strategic, 
  • medium-term and 
  • short-term. 
• Force generation and deployment, 
  • force planning, 
  • force generation, 
  • force employment, and
  • force support
• Capability management, 

  capability planning:

  • needs assessment and
  • investment planning.
• Weapon systems or platform life cycle
  • program management 
  • acquisitions asset
  • management 
  • disposals
• Logistics, 
  • inventory management
  • warehousing 
  • relocation 
  • transportation
• Finance, 
  • planning & budgeting 
  • purchasing 
  • accounting 
  • treasury 
  • operations 
  • GRC.
• Workforce management, 
  • core HR being
  • talent 
  • time management
  • travel
• Strategic management.
  • preparedness 
  • readiness 
  • outcomes
  • risk (Governance, Risk, Compliance).

Each section provides a different group of business processes relevant for the customer sector (Defense/Military).

The Force Element (FE) is the focal point of the Defense Solution. The FE represents a military formation of any size, from Headquarters down to teams. In this unit, we first define what an FE is, what goes into creating it, its functions, what are some foundational building blocks, what are their characteristics, and a recent additions to the FE, including sensitivity (level of classification to be attained in order to be allowed to access the data of this Force Element). We subsequently investigate the data model, i.e. the different attributes that are required for the organizational structure to work. Lastly in this unit, we dive into the detail of how we can structure our FEs and the different usage types dependent on our organizational requirements and operational tempo.

There will also be a number of demonstrations, including how to search for an FE, the User Interface of FE management applications, while focusing on the applications that are useful for any end-user needing to consume information regarding a FE.

This unit will focus particularly on the Force Generation and Deployment section of the solution map. While not being the only way of looking at Force Generation and Deployment, it is commonly found amongst our defence and security customers. The first stage is Force Planning, performed in light of the Capability the Force Element is meant to achieve and once we have planned a particular force element, we can then commence the Force Generation. In Force Generation, we produce the personnel, materiel and skill necessary to achieve the capability goal of the FE. The preparation of the FE includes necessary support in order to maintain its readiness and preparedness or achieve operational effectiveness.

Force Planning may be triggered by multiple means including a force directive, government direction, strategic policy, or a change in posture.

The next stage is Force Generation is guided by the table of organisation and equipment (TOE), which is adjusted for the specific needs of the FE in question, and is therefore known as a Modified TOE (MTOE).

A TOE can be defined as "a document setting out the mission and statements of functions as well as the authorized numbers of personnel and/or amount of major equipment in an organization""A TOE prescribes the normal mission, organizational structure, and personnel and equipment requirements for a military unit and is the basis for an authorization document. (US Army Center of Military History)"

A general TOE is applicable to a type of unit (for instance, an infantry battalion) rather than a specific unit.

MTOE - (SPECIFIC TO DEPLOYABLE UNITS) MTOE

A table which prescribes in a single document the modification of a basic table of organization and equipment necessary to adapt it to the needs of a specific type of unit or unit mission.

The TOE is the main artifact that drives the creation of an FE. The TOE defines the basic requirements of an FE in order for it to be functional. Although it has a range of functions, the TOE's most basic is to dictate the minimum numbers of equipment and personnel.

The Table of Organization and Equipment (TOE) is an organizational design document for a unit type based on current doctrine and available equipment. It defines the:

• Mission
• Capabilities
• Mobility
• Organizational
• Method of Operations
• Positions
• Equipment

The TOE is the cornerstone of the military Force Generation process, while each actual unit may have its own 'flavor' of the TOE, i.e., a Modified TOE (MTOE).

Once a relevant TOE or MTOE has been established, the actual reflection in SAP D&S system may start by the means of an FE. Following the initial data entry for the force element, reflecting the structure, authorized material and authorized personnel, the planned force element can be submitted to the necessary approvals.

There are a number of approvals that must be obtained prior to an FE being operational. By default, an FE will begin its creation process in the status of PLANNED. The next status is SUBMITTED, and up until this point, it could be considered a planning object. The third status is APPROVED, and the final status is ACTIVE. An FE cannot skip or leapfrog between the different statuses, they must go through each one in the described order due to a number of automated processes and work-flows. These may be triggered or initiated based on progressing between statuses (for example cost centers needing to be generated.

Remember, the creation of an FE is based on the TOE or MTOE, as without it we do not know the FE's specific capabilities, how many positions it requires, the equipment necessary, the required infrastructure, or the estimated budget.

After the FE has been created, it needs to undergo Force Generation processes including acquisition of material, personnel, personnel skill and collective training. These processes ensure that the FE adheres to the logic created in the TOE or MTOE.

Force Employment may not necessarily happen during peacetime, but is likely to occur using employment-specific structure, which is ORBAT (Order of Battle).

TORBAT derives its origins from a time when battles were marched into by large formations. Often a commander was far away from the front line. Therefore, in order for them to be able to effectively employ their forces, commanders needed to understand the layout of their forces on the field, and also the hierarchical structure of their organisation.

There is a difference between TOE and ORBAT. TOE focuses on operational necessities, such as estimated equipment and personnel needed for particular types of warfare. ORBAT focuses instead on how a commander's forces are positioned relative to that authority.

Various abbreviations are used in addition to ORBAT, including OOB, O/B, or OB.

In previous slides, we discussed the importance of two critical artifacts involved in the Force Generation and Employment process, the TOE and ORBAT. Individually they have specific objectives: TOE supports FE Generation, while ORBAT determines how FE is employed. A Defence organization needs to use both for the efficient and effective management of its forces.

Billet (typically used by American Forces) TOE Equivalent

billets; billeted; billeting

•  to put military personnel in a private home to live there temporarily
•  usually used as (be) billeted
• The soldiers were billeted [=quartered, housed] in houses throughout the town.

*referenced Britannica Dictionary definition of BILLET

Billet can mean a specific personnel position, assignment, or duty station which may be filled by one person, most commonly used by the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps, and the United States Coast Guard. Every person reporting aboard a ship or shore installation in the naval services is assigned a billet according to the unit watch, quarter and station bill, which shows the duties, stations and billet assignments for all crew members.

Billet can also refer to the position and weapons of the members of a unit. For example, the billets of a fireteam include a fireteam leader (M16), a rifleman (M16), an automatic rifleman (M249), and a grenadier (M16 with M203 grenade launcher).

Organizational elements of armed forces, police, and aid organizations are represented in the SAP system by Force Elements (FE). A Force Element (such as an armoured battalion, department, fighter bomber squadron, and so on) is integrated into the organizational structure. The objective of the FE is to combine descriptive attributes, personnel and material categories, and accounting objects in one object. All FE resources can be displayed in a transparent manner and form the basis for making command decisions.

FEs are mapped in the SAP system using Organizational Management resources. However, from a functional perspective, they are considerably more extensive than the organizational unit that was already available in the SAP system prior to the Defence Solution. This involves combining tasks, positions, persons, and material into one organizational structure element by defining the following:

• Task of an element in the organizational structure.
• Authorized material of an element in the organizational structure and simultaneous inventory management for the actual material.
• Authorized personnel of an element in the organizational structure and simultaneous personnel management for the actual personnel and the ability to sustain the processes despite the continuous reorganization of the organizational structure.

In other words, you are able to reflect the applicable Table of Organization and Equipment (TOE or MTOE) and sustain a deployed operation.

Armed forces, police, and aid organizations require certain personnel to perform tasks or missions. Before you can provide the organizational elements with personnel, you must assign positions to the relevant force elements to define their authorized personnel and to trigger the relevant recruitment or assignment processes. 

Given the fact that SAP D&S solution heavily relies upon industry best practice, the majority of personnel attributes are drawn from a classic SAP Position type object. These are augmented by D&S-specific content that is most relevant to the client's sector within the defence industry.

The classic central objects involved here are as follows:

• Name: The name identifies a position.

  Since the entry is time-dependent, you can create more than one entry. However, only one entry can be active at any time. If you activate a second entry, this automatically delimits the first entry to the day before the active entry starts.

• Specific Characteristics: The entries shown in the fields here correspond to the data you entered when you created the position.
• Vacancy: The Vacancy facet shows information about any open vacancies.
• Description: You can enter different types of descriptions, such as legal and technical descriptions that are defined by the subtype.
• Relationships:
  • In the Organizational Structure section, you can assign a position to a force element in Basic Organizational Structure.
  • In the External Relationship section, you can assign a position to a force element with a wartime or peacetime relationship (SAP D&S specific functionality).
• Job:
  • You assign a job to positions to provide a collective description of multiple positions with the same properties. The properties of a job are inherited by the assigned positions.
  • Jobs can be assigned to positions even if these positions are assigned to reference force elements.
  • Requirements: The Requirements facet shows the qualifications for the position. In the two sections it contains, you can add additional qualifications and you can group the requirements that qualify the position under Qualification Block.
  • Actual Personnel: On the Actual Personnel facet, , the system reflects the relationship between a position and a person (also known as staffing or appointment). This is a display function only. The relationship is set by the HR department in the Personnel Administration component using personnel actions..

Now to look at the SAP D&S specific components:

• Authorized Equipment: Flexible material planning objects (FMPOs) are used to map the non-consumable goods (NCGs) required for the relevant position.
• Rank: Ranks classify a position from a military perspective.
• Sensitivity: You can maintain the grade of sensitivity at the position level on the Sensitivity facet (not available in 2021 release).
• NATO:
  • On the NATO facet, you can define the NATO-specific properties of a position.
  • The position can only be filled by persons from the countries/regions defined in the NATO Rotation fields. You can enter a maximum of six countries/regions, but the system does not map these in any particular order.
• Operations and Exercise:
  • The Operation/Exercise Relationship section displays the operational force element. You can also view the relationship type for the operational force element.
  • In the Operation Rotation Assignment section, you can assign any existing operation rotation. You can only assign to the rotation assigned to the force element. This means that if the operation has two rotations, but only rotation 1 is assigned to the force element, rotation 2 for the position is not available.

The FE also maps Materials Requirement (Authorized) and Materials Fulfillment (Actual). Both objects (personnel and material) have their own line of business, product and solution in SAP, yet they are crucial to FE.

On the Authorized side, the association is performed through an "Assignment" between FMPO and FE. In Materials Fulfillment, the FE is assigned to Organizational Elements in Materials Management (MM) – namely MRP Areas and Storage Locations. This maps actual material (on the shelf or loaned to a service person) – as exclusively owned by a specific FE.

The management of Force Element’s Materiel combines two SAP components: SAP Materials Management (MM) and SAP Enterprise Asset Management (EAM). While Materials Management includes the quantity and value management of the goods in use and on the shelf, Enterprise Asset Management attends to the maintenance of individual (serialized) items.

Some of the SAP MM components relevant to FE Generation/Employment are:

• Material Requirements Planning:

  MRP is a system designed to plan materials support for manufacturing production. It identifies necessary materials, estimates quantities, determines when materials will be required to meet the production schedule, and manages delivery timing - with the goal of meeting demands and improving overall productivity.

• Stock:

  Stocks are defined as materials, which represent non-consumable goods, relevant to the readiness and capability achievement of a Force Element, assigned to a force via a stock storage location (stock element).

• Provisions:

  Provisions are defines as materials in bulk consumption in use by a force element or the materials stored by a certain Force Element in order to be provided to other Force Elements

  Note

  You can find an in-depth discussion of Stocks-Provisions separation.

A Material Master Record features the following views:

• Accounting
• Basic Data
• Classification
• Costing
• Forecasting
• Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
• Production Resources/Tools
• Purchasing
• Quality Management
• Sales
• Stocks, Plant and Storage Location
• Storage
• Warehouse Management
• Work Scheduling

Ability to make decisions is a crucial aspect of command and control. Unfortunately, the types of decisions that must be made in a military context, are done without the luxury of time. Therefore, the reliance on information becomes much greater, so when consuming such data, we must have full faith that it is accurate, up-to-date and reliable. An example of a decision that must be made quickly is when a higher level Headquarter requests a sub-unit commander to assess whether they have the capacity to execute a mission essential task. The sub-unit commander must be able to quickly look at the personnel levels, as well as their equipment levels and make an educated decision as to how they will answer the request.

Accurate information is not only reflected in an accessible way, but is also actionable on-request. An example of such an activity is called Authorized vs Actual Comparison (AAC), where the authorized material quantities for a unit or substructure are compared with available material in the unit’s warehouses or loaned to soldiers in that unit. While for most users, the functionality mentioned is sufficient, for those in the supply and maintenance streams it is important to act immediately on any items in low stock. Once the AAC has run, the user can then create a Purchase Request, directly or using a proposal mechanism, as a follow-on action from the report. The process mentioned uses multiple organizational definitions in SAP D&S, such as organizational structure in multiple versions, mapping of authorized material objects to reflect packages of materiel authorized together, authorizations to force elements and positions, integration between organizational and logistics structure and reflecting supply dependencies between the different logistics levels by the means of supply relationships.

When using the AAC for equipment it should be noted that it is geared more towards reflecting numbers rather than statuses. For example, as you can see in the figure above the authorized quantity of our personnel, material, and infrastructure has been determined by our (m)TOE, and this is compared to the FE actuals.

This diagram helps visualize the complexities and dependencies that may be employed in order to accurately reflect the authorized personnel, its roles and its requirements in materiel and skills. The objects in this diagram can be categorized into 3 groups; the organizational unit objects, the HR or personnel objects and the material objects. Again, this handful of objects is not the complete list.

By now you are aware that a Force Element is a Defence-specific object/name. It is used in a similar way to the traditional Organizational Unit and extends on it.. Every force element has its own name and FE ID number. Given the hierarchical nature of a Defense organization, every FE other than the root will have at least 1 relationship/assignment, being a subordination to a superior Force Element, every FE must have at least one. By this logic, we can determine that from a Org Unit perspective there is a one to many (1:N) link.

Next is the requirement of the FE to have positions. Without positions (exceptions being some scenarios in operations andexercises) a person cannot be assigned/posted to that force element. In the Basic Organizational structure, each position has an exclusive assignment into a force element. While a master position can be used for referencing, every actual position is exclusive. Some Positions, can be marked as "chief positions" or "deputy positions", reflecting the role of the position holder as a leader of a formation, or deputizing for one. Like traditional SAP HCM positions, the preferred method is having one person per position. However, you may if required, have multiple individuals assigned to the one position (for example to reflect a period of handover).

A single job (can be used as trait, or military profession) describes several positions in your organization. You assign the job to positions to provide a collective description of multiple positions with the same properties. The properties of a job, such as qualification requirements, are inherited by the assigned positions.

Qualifications are a skills, knowledge, or abilities, which are of interest to an employer.

Qualification Block (QB) is a bundle of multiple qualifications required together. A qualification block can be used to group together individual qualifications from different qualification groups (based on different scales) and assign them together to other objects for the mapping of skill requirements.

To cater for position-specific differentiation, additional qualifications can be assigned to the position on top of the ones already required by a job.

The material requirement definitions are described using Flexible Material Planning Objects (FMPOs). An FMPO is an enhanced material planning object that can be used more flexibly than the preceding MPO object in DFPS. The flexible material planning object can reflect variations and dependencies, and substitutes what could previously be achieved using the material planning object, material container or provisions package categories.

SAP D&S Solution supports the concept of multiple organizational structures. Permanent (Force Generation) structures include Basic Organizational Structure, Wartime Establishment and Administrative Chain of Command. The structures are differentiated in the systems by the dedicated relationships in all 3 flavors. The collection of relevant relationships in each structure flavor is called a Usage Type.

Temporary Force Employment establishments can also be expressed, including Operational Structure and Exercises (collective training).

A common misunderstanding of the military concerns assumptions that it is only prepared for and applied to warfare.

However, in recent times, there have been numerous examples globally of armed forces assisting the public during particular crises, such as the COVID 19 pandemic. These crises underlined the importance of countries having an efficiently administered military, which is not only capable of carrying out military actions, but also responding to non-military crises.

In order to establish processes that promote this efficiency, armed forces must devise a robust, active and tested force structure to support their operations. Previously we covered the value for commanders in seeing how their organisation is structured in garrison (or in peace-time), and now we can take that perspective and apply the principle to other scenarios. A fundamental component of military planning is the "best case-worst case" planning paradox, or "plan for the worst, hope for the best". The worst-case scenario is always defined by the outbreak of war.

Rather than being reactive, having the ability to structure the entire organization for the (unlike and hopefully never eventuated) all out warfare is key to gaining an advantage. Possessing the capability to map what a defense force posture may look like in the unlike outbreak of full on war, while not actually affecting the current peacetime structure is a strategic advantage. Wartime establishment affects the structure in all levels – additional subordinate units to be added (reserves, national guards, shortened training etc); Additional material to be attained, wartime-only additional personnel (e.g. reservists) or a wartime appointment for otherwise peacetime existing positions. Planning such a wartime scenario upfront during peacetime allows for focused and measurable preparation, such as wartime storages, reservists listing and training and training peacetime personnel for their presumed wartime assignments.

Notwithstanding, peace and war, it is commonplace for an FE to be geographically distant from their parent FE. This is most commonly the case where an FE has a specialist skill-set or capability.

While the FE "belongs" to their parent FE, they may be administered to by another. The figure above describes that scenario.

Hierarchically, Heavy Weapons Battalion reports to Admin Battle group HQ in both the Org structure (peacetime) and in the Admin Chain of Command. However, after the outbreak of armed conflict, the relationship changes to Wartime BG HQ.

There are numerous reasons why an organization may have different postures for such instances. A common one is to spread combat effectiveness.

• Admin BG HQ= Admin Battle group Headquarters
• Wartime BG HQ= Wartime Battle group Headquarters
• H-Wpn Company = Heavy Weapons (Mortars Large, .50 Cal MG, Mk 19 AGL, Anti-Armour)
• GSMG = General Support Machine Gun (i.e 7.62 Fabrique Nationale Herstal (FN Herstal) Belt FED)
• SAT-SURV= Satellite Surveillance
• UAV-SURV = Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Surveillance.

The basic structure reflects Admin BDE HQ responsibility to staff, budget and collect costs From the Heavy Weapons BN and its subordinate elements.

In Administrative Chain of Command, Admin BDE HQ is still superior to Heavy Weapons Bn, but UAV-Survelliance company is not part of the structure.

In Administrative Chain of Command, Admin BDE HQ is still superior to Heavy Weapons Bn, but UAV-Survelliance company is not part of the structure.

The reference Wartime Scenario sees the Heavy Weapons Bn realigned to be led by Wartime BCT HQ, while UAV-Survelliance company and Radar Detect company become immediately subordinate to Wartime BCT HQ as well.

In SAP Defense and Security, an application was built to graphically represent the doctrinal structures.