MAKING TRAINING DECISIONS PROACTIVELY

The challenge of making training decisions with a high degree of confidence as to the results of those decisions face every DOD, Federal, State, and CHy agency. Training has historically been a very labor and paper intensive system with limited automation support. This paper will outline how one DOD component, the Air Force, 1s approaching that challenge. The Training Decision System (TDS) will provide the Air Force with an automated decision aid to help plan and estimate the consequences of various mixes of resident training, On-The-Job Training (OJT), and field training within a speciality such as security. The system described provides training from enlistment to separation and responds to hundreds of related security task needs. This system will identify what the tasks are, who should provide the training, what training setting should be used, what proficiency should be achieved, and through computer modeling provide an assessment of training effectiveness options and estimate the impact of implementing those options. With current budgetary constraints and with the possibility of further reductions in the future, the most cost effective training mix must be found to sustain required capabilities.