Automated tracking initiative offers visibility of unit moves

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, Fall, 2004 by Patti Bielling

Commanders now have near real-time visibility of redeploying unit cargo thanks to a new Web-accessible database compiled by employees of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command's Operations Center.

Five employees leveraged several SDDC systems to provide a low-cost, quick fix automated tracking solution, said Larry Lawrence, a marine cargo specialist who helped develop this capability.

The utility became operational August 10, 2004.

Now with just a vehicle bumper number, commanders will be able to see what ship or truck or rail car that vehicle is on and when it's scheduled to get to the port or fort.

The utility of this initiative is that it's a one-stop database for information, said Steve Lord, manager, Global Distribution Customer Service Division.

"This is not meant to be a long-term solution," said Lord. "But it is a low-cost, in-house capability we can use now that can easily be plugged into future systems."

Unit cargo data continues to reside in various systems, each of which documents a different part of the equipment's journey.

Cargo moving over land, for example, is tracked in the Global Freight Management system, while data on ocean-borne cargo is resident in the Integrated Computerized Deployment System.

In the past when commanders needed to know the status of unit cargo, they contacted SDDC personnel who ran queries in the various systems.

The search for a better way began with a lunchtime discussion in May, said SDDC customer service representative Brian Ridgway.

"Over a bowl of lo mein, Larry Lawrence and Dennis Williams and I started talking about our various in-house systems," said Ridgway. "We realized there had to be synchronicity among them."

Ridgway had a good team. Lawrence works with the Integrated Computerized Deployment System and Williams is chief of operations, Personal Property.

The trio consulted traffic management specialist Steve Beck to see if the data was compatible with Global Freight Management.

Realizing that a commonality existed, the three enlisted the help of information technology specialist Deborah Stokes to pull and merge the data from Integrated Computerized Deployment System and Global Freight Management.

Within an hour, said Lawrence, they were looking at a wealth of information.

"We started out looking for a way to track trucks," he said. "But when we merged the data, it was like an atomic bomb--it mushroomed and we were looking at much more information than we were even hoping for."

When deciding on the best way to make use of the newfound capability,

the group turned to another SDDC system, the Intelligent Road/Rail Information Server.

"Integrated Computerized Deployment System is the perfect presentation portal," said Lord. "It's a Web-just within the building but with those in the field who have a need to know."

During a recent demonstration of the capability, Capt. Tim Christiansen said he liked what he saw.

"Just a few years ago, we didn't have this much visibility of cargo in transit," said the operations officer for the 1205th Transportation Railway Operating Battalion, Middletown, Conn. "This is fantastic. I would like to see this grow and develop even further."

Users of the server will have dozens of ways to query the system, to include using transportation control numbers, point of origin or destination, and cargo dimensions.

Integrated Computerized Deployment System can even send an e-mail to notify users when equipment has passed through certain nodes, Lawrence said.

The application provided its utility for the first time when a problem occurred during a recent rail movement.

"The application was still under development, but we ran a query to find out what was on a particular rail car," said Lawrence. "Information that had sometimes taken four hours to find, took just minutes.

"We were able to respond quickly and get the cargo moving again."

Lawrence said that he hopes to integrate a few more systems to be able to gain visibility of deploying equipment, too.

"We are still exploring ways to integrate data from either the Worldwide Port System or the Integrated Booking System so customers can see equipment moving from the fort to the port," he said.

A utility like this will be valuable for the Warfighter, said Lt. Col. Mike Balser, commander, 833rd Transportation Battalion, Seattle, Wash.

"An in-transit visibility system like this is simply one more way for a commander to be able to exercise command and control over his or her own move," he said. "Near real-time visibility will give a commander the knowledge and power to make better decisions."

Lt. Col. Patrick Lyons, commander, 840th Transportation Battalion, Izmir, Turkey, said the enhanced capability would make everyone's job easier.

"The beauty of the Web-based system is that commanders don't really have to know who we (at SDDC) are, but what we can do for them," said Lyons.

"This is just one more tool a commander can put in his kit bag to help him understand part of his operation that he used to not be on top of."