Organizational Troop-to-Task (OT3) Wargames

An Organizational Troop-to-Task (OT3) analytic wargame is used to examine the relationship between an organization’s staff size and its expected tasking throughout a likely narrative of events. Players in this style of wargame will experience the challenges of staff limitations, clarity and interpretation of commander’s intent, and information availability (particularly for geographically distributed commands). Analysis of the data collected at an OT3 wargame allows sponsoring organizations to explore

• whether the organization staff is right-sized and right-staffed for the assigned mission;
• the locations of the organization’s gaps and seams relative to assignment of forces for a given task; and
• the organization’s capability to respond to expected and unexpected events within a continuing operational narrative.

OT3 wargames use an organization’s current or proposed manning document and ask players representing staff directorates to assign those personnel to a task for the length of time that the personnel would need to complete it. A player representing the organization’s commanding officer assigns tasks to the directorate players based on a narrative of events delivered by the wargame controllers. The commanding officer player determines the commander’s intent for the events and presents them to the directorate players, who must then decide which personnel to allocate to the task and for how long. Once the personnel are assigned, they are unavailable to the players until they have completed their tasking. The next stage of the narrative of events is then presented to the players and the process repeats.

Throughout this process, CNA data analysts are collecting data on

• the commander’s intent as derived from the narrative of events;
• the directorate players’ responses to the commander’s intent and the level to which it can be achieved;
• which billets from the manning document are assigned to which task and for how long;when and where directorate players are unable to meet commander’s intent due to a lack of personnel or structure; and
• the overall commitment and expected activity of the organization in response to the
  narrative of events.