Air Education and Training Command Cost and Capacity System

This report examines the Air Force’s training management and decision processes to determine the need for data to support informed decisionmaking. It briefly reviews training management systems and associated organizational arrangements in the other services and the private sector to draw insights for a model management system for the Air Force. Impediments to training planning and management in the current Air Force organizational structure inhibit the flow of cost and capacity data and hinder effective decisionmaking. A four-level model of management is developed to evaluate the flow of data in the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) training pipeline. In the model, a corporate level validates and arbitrates training requirements; a strategic training management level concentrates on the training system’s long-term effectiveness; a training management level handles the day-to-day operations of training; and a direct training level delivers training in the classrooms. It is concluded that a consolidation of the strategic management functions would resolve many current data flow problems. Methodological tools, including simulations to evaluate tradeoffs in the training pipeline, should be developed to improve data combination and interpretation, particularly in the cost area. A minute-by-minute data tracking system would not be cost-effective, but cost and capacity data could be fit into the AETC Decision Support System/Technical Training Management System.