Process and Organizational Analysis - Selected Case Studies

Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO)

Client Objective: JIEDDO, a newly established entity within the Department of Defense, has been given the uniquely critical mission of organizing and focusing the DoD’s efforts to defeat Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) as weapons of strategic influence.  The organization itself has expanded to address the changes in mission and responsibility that have occurred since it was initially founded.  To manage this rapid growth and take a step back and assess itself, JIEDDO sought out an external review of its organizational structure and staffing to determine if its current structure and staff were well suited to accomplishing its ongoing mission and functions.     

FMP Approach: FMP worked closely with JIEDDO’s leadership to understand the history of the organization and its current mission and responsibilities.  Our goal was to provide JIEDDO’s leaders with the information they needed to better understand their organization and to make effective decisions about its structure and staffing.  Specifically, FMP:

• Conducted a Manpower Mission Analysis (MMA) to determine how JIEDDO’s staff is currently aligned to its mission and goals.  The results showed JIEDDO’s leadership where they were allocating their personnel resources. 
• Conducted a benchmarking analysis of comparable DoD and Federal agencies to better understand how JIEDDO’s staffing compared to that of similar organizations.  The results clearly indicated that JIEDDO staffing levels were either lower than or comparable to these other organizations, especially when funding levels were considered. 
• Reviewed the mission and function of each of the divisions within JIEDDO to better understand the structure of the organization.  Part of this analysis included identifying areas of apparent overlap as well as potential organizational gaps. 

Results: Although the project only began in 2006, FMP has already made important contributions to JIEDDO.  The benchmarking studies allowed JIEDDO to present a strong case for its most recent staffing requests, clearly illustrating that the proposed additions were well within the range of staffing observed at other organizations.  The MMA results highlighted the need for better oversight of JIEDDO’s acquisition function and the recent decision by the leadership to create the Acquisition Oversight Division (AOD) is one outcome of that analysis.  FMP will continue to support JIEDDO’s efforts to build a work-class organization with a work-class workforce through careful analysis and well-reasoned recommendations.

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)

Client Objective: In June 2002, the OCC charged each Executive Committee member with developing methodologies and projection models for estimating staffing needs that justify the size and skill mix needed to produce the outcomes and work products for which their department is responsible. OCC contracted with FMP to provide expert consultation and analytical support in developing staffing models and workload tracking/accounting systems.

FMP Approach: Working with OCC’s central program analysis and budget staffs, FMP developed overall OCC policies and guidance for the staffing model program and provided hands-on support to individual departments and offices in identifying key workload drivers, outputs and products, as well as time values or standards for use in projecting FTE requirements.  Specific FMP activities included:

• Reviewing and analyzing existing processes for determining staffing requirements.
• Developing recommendations for how to make the process more consistent and transparent across the agency.
• Conducting external benchmarking analyses and best practice studies to provide qualitative, comparative data for use in evaluating agency resource requirements.
• Developing a standard methodology for developing staffing models and using the models to calculate and justify staffing requirements that are linked to the departments’ program plans.
• Conducting rigorous review, evaluation and feedback processes for OCC departments’ initial round of staffing model submissions.
• Developing and presenting a series of training workshops for key agency staff and managers on staffing model methodologies.
• Developing validation systems and protocols for independently substantiating department-level FTE requests and staffing model outputs.
• Working closely with individual departments to help develop their staffing models and validation plans.
• Producing a User’s Guide for managers responsible for developing staffing models.

Results: All of these efforts resulted in moving OCC towards its goal of institutionalizing a more rigorous, quantitative annual process for making FTE and resource distribution decisions