MTMC Strategic Plan 2002 turns strategy into action; this is the third of a three-part series on MTMC's 2002 Strategic Plan

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, May-June, 2002

Strategic Plan 2002 is providing the vision and strategy that will direct the movement and direction of the Military Traffic Management Command for the next five years.

The plan is in two portions. Section I, discussed in last month's TRANSLOG, outlines the strategy needed to reach new organizational goals to ensure MTMC is the "provider of best value, end-to-end surface transportation solutions: Any time or place, on time ... every time." To that end, the plan calls for instituting measurable enhancements in five imperatives: Customer support, readiness, operations, information dominance and people.

Section II is the working blueprint and guide for the MTMC employees facilitating the plan who will transform the strategy into operational objectives. To achieve desired ends, each imperative has a champion and supporting architects who will use metric measurements as benchmarks and guides to reach the desired objective. As an example, the operations imperative has a "champion," or key leader, in Navy Capt. Kevin Walter. He is supported by a multi-directorate team of "architects," or key facilitators: Greg Sweetland, of the Operations Center; Col. Patty Hunt, Deputy Chief of Staff of Passenger and Personal Property; Michael Meneghini, of Transportation Engineering Agency; and Reuben Bangan, of Deputy Chief of Staff of Resource Management.

This team, similar to others in the other four imperatives, will use a balanced scorecard of objectives, definitions, measures and initiatives linked to the objectives and imperatives in Section I. Metrics found within the scorecard's "measures" are then used as a means to communicate--not control---efforts to achieve the desired imperative's outcome. As an example, the champion and architect working the operations imperative have three objectives: Enterprisewide process improvement, leveraging of commercial capabilities & solutions, and dynamic end-to-end traffic management. The balanced scorecard can be more easily explained by choosing one of the objectives and analyzing it with its definition, measures and initiatives. The objective enterprisewide process improvement is defined as, "Continually review, assess and improve enterprisewide processes to meet customer requirements and ensure a most effective and efficient organization." The measures for this objective include a process improvement index of percentage reductions in: process time, process cost and damage claims. There are two initiatives identified to achieve these measures: One, Establishment of a review council to define, coordinate and measure enterprise wide strategic process improvement initiatives; and Two, Implementation of activity-based costing management. The balanced scorecard will transition the strategy of Section I, via behavior and performance, into operational objectives.

Section II of MTMC Strategic Plan 2002 details the execution in a matrix of naturally flowing, and mutually supporting objectives, definitions, measures and initiatives. It is the action plan of the strategy.

Most MTMC employees will not directly work with Section II. A detailed product subject to recurring changes, Section II will mainly be used by champions, architects and others who are closely involved in the plan's workings. Frequent updates and revisions are anticipated for Section II. As a result, the material has been placed in an electronic format on the MTMC Intranet to allow for efficient updating.

Instead of a disjointed approach, Section II melds MTMC's mission, vision and strategy into a coherent set of objectives and performance measures. It links metrics to provide details of MTMC outcomes. Because of the matrix depiction, the scorecards will make the ideas visible and comprehensible to all MTMC employees.

The balanced scorecard is the key element of Section II. The scorecard provides a roadmap for MTMC on every imperative. It assigns responsibility, sets the target, lists measurement data. It details the people, missions and timelines for which initiatives are to be met in support of reaching imperatives. The scorecard of Section II is designed to identify tasking and financial costs in the attainment of the MTMC visions.

Continuing communication is an essential part of a successful execution of MTMC Strategic Plan 2002. It is of greatest importance that all MTMC employees have a clear understanding of the plan and their own role in the development and attainment of its desired outcomes. Leaders have a crucial role to keep their teams informed. Conversely, timely and accurate information from all MTMC employees will assist with the attainment of the plan's goal.

We have had previous strategic plans. Now, however, we have a plan that will challenge us to change the way MTMC does business. It goes much further.

We will adapt these changes to MTMC in a rational, synchronized and measured process. Section II and its metrics of success will bring the strategic goals of Section I to fruition for MTMC.