Strategic Plan provides vision for MTMC's future: this is the second article of three on MTMC's new Strategic Plan 2002

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, March-April, 2002

Military Traffic Management Command's Strategic Plan 2002 is now serving as the vehicle by which MTMC will move forward into the future. Implementation meetings are already taking place. The plan follows in the footsteps of Strategic Plan 2000 and is the natural follow-on to building upon the many successes achieved since enactment of the first plan in January 2000.

Strategic Plan 2002 is published in two parts, Section One and Section Two. Section One is the fundamental document that lays out MTMC's direction for the 21st century. It provides the command's mission and vision, and the strategic imperatives and objectives leading to continued future success. Section Two contains the detailed working documents used to accomplish those objectives. Seen as a "living document," it provides the measures, targets and initiatives--the strategic roadmaps--used to achieve each imperative's objectives.

This article's focus is Section One. A follow-on article on Section Two will be published in the next issue of Translog.

The initial effort, Strategic Plan 2000, led to significant accomplishments in just two short years. However, much has changed since that time.

MTMC's organization has undergone substantial change, as evidenced by the establishment of the MTMC Operations Center at Fort Eustis, Va., on Nov. 7. Meanwhile, the world in which we live has been altered by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The 2002 revision builds upon the clear vision and imperatives set out in the 2000 plan, while adjusting for these and other significant changes.

Starting with the Commander's message, a succinct overview of the strategic environment and planning approach, Section One goes on to document the progress achieved under Strategic Plan 2000. Key organizational and process improvements are highlighted within the context that while MTMC has much to be proud of, many challenges lie ahead--and the MTMC Team is prepared to meet them.

Section One also refines MTMC's mission and vision, highlights critical future challenges, and describes the command's fundamental core processes--Surface Movements, Passenger and Personal Property Movements, and Deployability Engineering. Five strategic imperatives, each a focal point around which MTMC directs its strategic planning execution efforts in pursuit of its vision, are identified, and overarching goals established for each. Each goal, in turn, is supported by a series of related strategic objectives.

The relationship among the five imperatives--each with its own supporting objectives--comprises the heart of the Strategic Management System: its Strategy Map.

MTMC's Strategy Map provides a hierarchical representation of the relationship of each strategic imperative, and how the imperatives support and build upon one another. Understanding these relationships provides a much better perspective on the interdependencies and effects among the imperatives.

Strategic Plan 2002 focuses on these relationships, their alignment and interdependencies, with the fundamental understanding that the organization's success lies in using a coordinated, holistic approach to the strategic planning process and its execution.

Not only are MTMC's strategic imperatives and objectives linked via the Strategy Map, but a cascading relationship also enjoins them to MTMC's vision. Section One describes this relationship, and includes each objective's supporting measures and initiatives.

In essence, attainment of the vision is dependent upon, and cascades down to, five imperatives, which in turn cascade down to 21 objectives, then to 49 measures, and subsequently 36 initiatives. This cascading effect provides another important perspective on how the various elements of the strategic plan are related and the need to consider them as a whole:

Finally, Section One presents each imperative--People, Information Dominance, Operations, Readiness and Customer--with its supporting goal, intent, objectives and Champion, and Office of Primary Responsibility.

While the imperatives remain unchanged from Strategic Plan 2000, their goals and objectives have been refined or modified. In some cases--for example, the People imperative--significant change occurred. In others, goals and objectives were simply refined.

A major focus in the development of Strategic Plan 2002 was the linking of objectives (within each imperative) with measures, targets and supporting initiatives. This Metrics Linkage Concept (see chart below) provides a cause-and-effect relationship whereby strategic initiatives, once undertaken, provide both leading and outcome progress indicators. While not detailed in Section One, comprehensive strategic roadmaps have been developed and appear in Section Two.

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The point here is that each imperative, with its goals and objectives as laid out in Section One, is fully backed up with detailed, measured plans for achieving those objectives.

The Strategic Plan 2002 refines the command's goals, solidifies MTMC's vision, defines objectives, and provides the means to measure progress with specific targets and initiatives. Section One is the underpinning for MTMC's transformation strategy, articulating the command's mission, vision, and strategic goals for each imperative, as well as its objectives to achieving those goals.