Internal Revenue Service (IRS): The IRS received
authority to develop a compensation system designed to meet its unique needs.
SAG's goal was to devise a system that would allow the IRS to attract and retain
sufficient numbers of qualified workers as well as motivate those workers to
be productive. SAG conducted an in-depth analysis of compensation practices
in the IRS in order to uncover better ways to pay its employees. Based on the
detailed review of the major occupations and functions on both the taxpayer
compliance side (audits, enforcement) and the processing side, SAG recommended
(1) a "broad band" pay system, together with binding budget constraints
on managers, for personnel in the compliance-related activities; and, (2) a
modified piece rate system for personnel in the processing activities. The analysis
measured the long-term impact of proposed structural changes in compensation
on the shape of the IRS workforce and, in turn, on how the alternatives would
improve the ability of the IRS to satisfy its mission.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Surface Warfare Officer Continuation Pay (SWOCP): SAG analyzed
the compensation structure of Navy surface warfare officers. Recent changes
in Navy requirements decreased the number of junior billets for these officers.
This project looked at the costs and benefits of alternative pay systems designed
to sufficiently increase retention in the early years to reach a desired end-strength
goal with few accessions. SAG analysts developed different scenarios and used
an in-house inventory projection model to forecast the expected change in retention.
SAG then estimated the expected costs under each scenario. Based on the analysis,
SAG recommended a new incentive pay for this community that was later adopted
into law. SAG is currently analyzing the effect the SWOCP has had on the retention
of junior officers.
**For additional
information concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice
President, Business Development
EDO Study: SAG analyzed compensation and force-shaping tools for
the Engineering Duty Officer community. SAG evaluated ED community manning requirements
and developed alternative tools that will help achieve those requirements efficiently.
Options that were taken into consideration included accession and retention
pay incentives as well as new accession policies that would make optimum use
of laterals and new accession ED Option programs.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Concurrent Receipt: Military retirees with
service-connected disabilities may receive their military retired pay from the
DoD and may also receive Department of Veterans Administration (DVA) disability
compensation. Current law, which dates back to 1891, states that DoD retirement
and DVA disability compensation can not be "concurrently received."
For the military retiree to receive "tax-free" DVA disability compensation,
he/she must "waive" (or "offset") an equal amount of retired
pay. Since 1986, military retirees and The Military Coalition have lobbied annually
to get Congress to repeal this 1891 statute. As part of the Fiscal Year (FY)
2002 Concurrent Budget Resolution, Congress set the requirement for DoD to conduct
an independent review of the Concurrent Receipt issue.
DoD (OSD Compensation) selected SAG to conduct this independent review. At the outset, to develop detailed cost estimates for a variety of possible review alternatives, SAG analysts met with DoD or DVA actuaries to identify the number of current and future military retirees who may be impacted by any recommended changes to Concurrent Receipt legislation. SAG analysts also examined and evaluated previous DoD (1993), Congressional Research Service (1995) reports and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimates (2001) on Concurrent Receipt. Other SAG analysts examined Federal (Government Service), State (Police) and local (Police and Fire) disability retirement programs that would most closely resemble that of DoD military retirees. Also, SAG analysts examined the military disability retirement programs of the United Kingdom, Canadian and Australian militaries for a closer, benchmark comparison. SAG's final report to DoD (March 2002) presented several possible alternatives (status quo, full or partial repeal) with detailed cost estimates for each.
**For
additional information concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Finding the Most
Cost-Effective Mix of Manpower (April 2003)
SAG presentation on "Finding the Most Cost-Effective Mix of Manpower"
at the recent Third Annual Navy Workforce Research and Analysis Conference.
The Navy employs hundreds of thousands of active-duty, reserve force, civilian and contract personnel to accomplish its missions. Some jobs are "militarily essential" and require active-duty or Reserve component personnel. For other requirements, the Navy must seek the most cost-effective solution. The key to arriving at the right answer is getting manpower costs right. Additionally, recent changes in the rules governing A-76 studies have increased the demand within the Navy's analytical community for accurate manpower costs. This presentation presents a proposed approach for consistently and accurately modeling manpower costs. It discusses the importance of cost granularity (i.e., costs that vary at the skill level) and marginal (variable) indirect costs. The presentation also proposes a methodology for generating, maintaining and disseminating up-to-date cost estimates. (This Powerpoint (252KB) presentation is "animated" so it's best viewed in POWERPOINT's "SLIDESHOW" feature).
COMET (Cost Of Manpower Estimating Tool):COMET was developed by SAG for the Naval Center for Cost Analysis in 1997, to meet the emerging Total Ownership Cost (TOC) requirements within the Navy Acquisition Community to better manpower costs, both direct and variable indirect, predominantly throughout the Operations and Support (O&S) phase of a platform or weapons system.
COMET is a PC-based, Windows application, downloadable from the NCCA (freeware) website and supported by Owners, Users and Self-Paced Tutorial documentation. Additionally, COMET v2.0 is provides detailed manpower costs for active duty, reserve (v1.1) and civilian (v1.0) components. For the active duty component, the user can generate default or customize highly accurate manpower costs for 118 enlisted ratings or 38 officer communities (to include All-Navy options for each).SAG programmers redesigned the Billet Cost Factor (BCF) model to the Windows format and fully customized each direct, variable indirect or other non-Navy cost item to allow the user to tailor their cost estimate to the exact scenario contemplated.
To develop the detailed "direct" Military Personnel, Navy (MPN) costs displayed in COMET, SAG analysts interpreted actual member's pay data collected from the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC). For the active duty component, often overlooked aspects of direct manpower cost estimating such as Retired Pay Accural (RPA), Permanent Change of Station (PCS), Federal Income Contribution Act (FICA) are available to ensure all MPN line items are captured in a TOC estimate. SAG programmers have included "customized" switches that easily allows the user to include or exclude a direct cost item, and in the case of Officer bonuses and Officer/Enlisted Special and Incentive pays, the added feature of selecting a default, full amount and excluded feature. Designed by SAG programmers to be user-friendly, manpower cost outputs are easily displayed, printed or exported (to XLS).
At the heart of the COMET model that makes it such a valuable TOC tool, is NCCA's incorporation of the "variable indirect" cost concept. "Variable Indirect" costs identify the recruiting, training, supporting and individual's account costs that mire accurate portray the cost of manpower to the user. SAG programmers embed these variable indirect coefficients into the model and again, provide the "customization" option to the user as to whether they will be included or not. A very important part of the "variable indirect" component, is the mapping of training costs down by SAG analysts for enlisted training. SAG analysts gather and correlate data supplied by the Chief of Naval Education and Training (CNET) to develop highly accurate costs for Recruit and Initial Skills ("A" School) Training. Additionally, SAG analysts gathered "other non-Navy" costs from the Veteran's Administration for enlisted members using their Montgomery G.I. Bill benefit. Also, medical and dental costs are collected from the Bureau of Navy Medicine (BUMED) to identify active duty, dependent and retiree TRICARE and dental costs. Since medical and dental costs are the responsibility of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs), neither these costs or MGIB costs are considered "Navy" costs. But, for the user who has to identify TOC, these are important costs to capture.
Once all of the direct, variable indirect and other non-Navy costs are identified, SAG programmers built a simple user-interface to develop O&S cycle costs. Users can easily aggregate individual members into divisions, departments and platforms (in the case of squadrons) or with NCCA's Ship Manpower Document (SMD) Library, the user can easily import 19 current NAVSEA ship class platforms (again, downloadable from the NCCA website). This feature allows for simple unit cost identification (by ship, department or division granularity) and provides an invaluable feature by allowing user's to conduct future (X) class platforms by altering, creating or importing manpower within departments and divisions. After the user identifies the number of platforms (ships or squadrons) needed, SAG programmers added a 0-99 year life cycle option so that a platform's life cycle from pre-commissioning to decommissioning can be captured.
The most important feature of the Life Cycle Cost Module (LCCM) is the interface designer by SAG programmers to "tie" the entire TOC estimate together. The number of platforms, over time (life cycle) are integrated with a choice of constant of then year dollars, discount rate (time value of money as determined by OMB Circular A-94) and inflation rates (either user determined and those forecast by NCCA inflation indices). Cost projects can be displayed, printed or exported (to XLS) for further ease-of-use to the analyst. One last feature added by SAG programmers is the ability to perform "side-by-side" delta analysis between two similar platforms.
In late 2001, a new COMET BETA version was delivered to NCCA
and is currently under evaluation. The BETA incorporates an even easier-to-use
interface and incorporates SQuadron Manpower Documents (SQMDs) for all the major
NAVAIR type/model/series.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
BRAC:Senior economists at SAG have analyzed training
structure and consolidation opportunities in support of the Defense Base Closure
and Realignment Commission (BRAC). In one analysis, our analysts reviewed and
evaluated the Navy's cost and return on investment (ROI) analysis for the proposed
consolidation of Navy recruit training activities at NTC Great Lakes. Our analysis
included a review of the Cost of Base Realignment Actions (COBRA) model and
use of configuration analysis as a proxy for cost analysis.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
LPD-17: SAG assisted the Avondale Alliance in developing a life-cycle cost strategy for evaluating competing diesel ship service generators, main propulsion engines, reduction gears and propellers for the LPD-17. The cost team estimated life-cycle costs as a function of the ship's operational characteristics and projected operating schedule. The team's innovative approach not only successfully estimated system life-cycle costs, but each of the hardware vendors certified that the cost estimates are representative of the best information available.
SAG also analyzed the Wartsila Fault Analysis Knowledge-based System (FAKS) for use on large diesel engines. FAKS uses a variety of temperature and vibration sensors deployed within Wartsila diesel engines. SAG analysts contacted civilian merchant marine users of the FAKS system and ascertained crew reductions (both quantity and quality) achieved by private sector FAKS users. This civilian experience was used to develop best and worst case reductions to the project office's baseline LPD-17 Ship Manning Document. COMET was then used to estimate the changes in costs over a 40-year life cycle.
In addition, SAG worked on a costing project for LPD-17 Amphibious
Transport Dock (San Antonio). The project involved analyzing the Proposed Ship's
Manpower Document (PSMD) for a proposed reduction in the Combat Systems Division's
manning costs due to a new radar system. SAG assisted the team in justifying
the policy recommendations by running various manpower scenarios using the COMET
model and comparing the scenarios to the current manning cost. SAG worked on
a similar project for the Integrated Bridge System on LPD-17 that included not
only manpower analysis but also costing analysis for the hardware as well.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Manpower Cost Mechanism (MCM): SAG examined the
development and uses of a Manpower Cost Mechanism (MCM) for the U.S. Navy (N813).
As a conclusion of the 1999 Integrated Warfare ARchitecure (IWAR), Manpower
and Personnel (M&P) process, the CNO identified the requirement for an MCM
that would go beyond the existing mechanism -- the Standard Programming Rates
(SPR), predominately used in the Navy's Planning, Programming and Budgeting
System (PPBS) process. SPRs only cost officer and enlisted personnel at one
unique rate, regardless of pay grade or skill. The CNO's MCM would provide an
incentive for Navy manpower managers to use manpower much more efficiently by
more accurately identifying the "granularity" (pay grade and skill)
of the manpower that would populate the ships, squadrons and shore establishment
of the Navy. For this project, analysts reviewed all current manpower costing
tools currently being used by the military and other federal agencies, identifying
the tools' strengths and weaknesses and summarizing their attributes. SAG analysts
ultimately recommended an MCM that would be easy-to-use and easy-to-update (annually),
that would identify Navy active duty costs, by enlisted, warrant officer, officer,
pay grade, skill and type duty (sea or shore duty). Additionally, as an enhancement,
the MCM's cost database could be matched to a Navy Manpower Analysis Center
(NAVMAC), Activity Manpower Document (AMD) database, presenting an interface
by which users could easily develop annual unit costs.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard Parodi
(RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Service Week: SAG evaluated ('"short turnaround"/10 weeks) a Navy budget proposal by the Director of Naval Education and Training (CNO N79) to shorten Naval Recruit Training's Service Week by two days (Service Week's duration usually runs between 6-12 days depending on the time of year and number of Recruits onboard) . For this project, analysts visited the Recruit Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois, and interviewed individuals involved in recruit training supervision and development to better understand the impact of Service Week to the staff and to the Recruit. Then analysts identified the actuals costs, benefits (both pecuniary and non-pecuniary) and possible ramifications of any Service Week modifications and explained how the total Recruit Training budget would be affected by shortening or eliminating Service Week. SAG analysts ultimately identified a more accurate (E-1, vice average E-4) budget proposal cost and potential curriculum and galley impacts, causing the proposal to be deferred until 2002 when the Navy's Training Requirements Review (NTRR) process could better evaluate the proposal.
**For
additional information concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice
President, Business Development
Army SRB/Army Retention: For the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, we estimated the effect of reenlistment bonuses on the retention rates of Army soldiers. The model was estimated separately by occupational group and by first, second and third term reenlistment decisions. An Annualized Cost of Leaving (ACOL) variable was constructed to estimate the net financial returns to reenlisting in the Army compared to leaving for the civilian sector. The model was estimated using data on actual reenlistments from the period FY 1990 through 2000.
The results suggest that reenlistment bonuses have a positively
and statistically significant effect on reenlistment rates at the first reenlistment
point. Moreover, pay responsiveness varies appreciably across skills and reenlistment
zones.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard Parodi
(RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Navy SWO: SAG estimated a model of voluntary retention
decisions among Surface Warfare Officers for NPRST. The analysis used a sample
of officer retention decisions spanning the period of 1980 through 2000. The
retention equation contains a number of factors thought to affect the officer's
stay/leave decision, including a measure of relative military and civilian pay,
as well as personal attributes (race, sex, marital status) and service characteristics
(source of commission, prior enlisted status). The model also incorporated other
variables in an attempt to measure the impact of quality-of-life factors, such
as the type of ship on which officers served their division officer tours and
the average length of department-head tours.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard Parodi
(RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Navy SRB: SAG designed, developed and maintains
the U.S. Navy's Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB) Management System. This software
allows the user to design alternative SRB plans and immediately view predicted
changes in reenlistments and program costs. The model automatically processes
data from the Navy's enlisted personnel data warehouse and determines the number
of eligible sailors for each SRB offered. The report generator will display
predicted total SRB takers for the execution fiscal year, predicted remaining
SRB actions or actual reenlistments year-to-date.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Navy ECM: SAG estimated a series of econometric
models of Navy enlisted retention behavior for the Bureau of Naval Personnel.
The first step in this project was to determine the most appropriate economic
model. SAG estimated a panel probit, a multinomial probit and a conditional
logit and compared the historical results with the actual retention behavior.
The conditional logit model provided the most consistent estimates and had the
added advantage of allowing a three-way decision to be included. This means
that not only is the stay/leave decision captured, but also the reenlist/extend
decision. The next step was to estimate the conditional logit for nine enlisted
occupational groups. The elasticities that were produced are being used in both
the Selective Reenlistment Bonus Management System and the Enlisted Cohort Model.
All estimates were validated using historical retention data.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
OPICC: SAG estimated an econometric model of Army officer retention behavior and developed the Officer Personnel Inventory, Cost and Compensation (OPICC), a PC-based policy analysis model that incorporates the resulting parameters. The underlying econometric model is a panel probit (ACOL-2), thirteen-period decision model covering the time-span between the end of initial obligation and the end of the fifteenth year of service. The OPICC model operates in a PC-environment that allows analysts to examine the inventory effects of alternative personnel management and compensation policies over a six-year projection period. OPICC contained custom software procedures to estimate equations using the Butler/Moffitt quadrature technique. In addition, OPICC controls for unobserved heterogeneity and censoring effects.
OPICC is a policy tool designed to predict officer career decisions as a function of economic factors, demographic distribution, personnel policy and officer requirements. This tool allows analysts to calculate the level of separation incentives needed to achieve the number of voluntary losses required by the Army's downsizing strategy. It also allows the user to enter in RIFs and changes in retirement policy. The Army Research Institute's Officer Longitudinal Research Data Base serves as the primary underlying data source. The model's estimates yielded highly significant pay effects in directions consistent with theoretic expectations. Research findings also indicated that fixed, unobserved preferences for Army service exert a large influence on observed retention behavior.
OPICC is a self contained DOS based, desktop application. It
was written in "C" and emulated some database functionality through
the use of embedded BTRIEVE function calls to an indexed file. It employed a
user interface written in HI-SCREEN and linked to the "C" code encapsulating
all the visual elements into the executable.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
NORM: SAG constructed a model to allow the Nuclear Officer Community
Manager to measure the retention effects created by personnel policy changes
and fluctuations in economic conditions. The model accounts for the unique career
paths of nuclear officers who face two kinds of retention incentives, each featuring
different lengths of service commitment. SAG used a sequential three-way choice
modeling process to account for the dynamics of officers making a series of
irregularly spaced retention decisions. The model used a panel probit structure
to explicitly control for unobserved heterogeneity. This method cannot incorporate
the obligation dimension of the stay choice so SAG generated a separate estimation
to model the length of an officer's commitment conditional on having remained
in the Navy. NORM's estimates of retention behavior are also sensitive to alternative
civilian opportunities available to nuclear-trained officers.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard Parodi
(RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Advertising Effectiveness: SAG estimated a time-series/cross-sectional
model of enlistment supply (recruiting) for the Chief of Naval Recruiting. This
fixed-effects model measures the impact of Navy advertising on recruiting. SAG
also developed a spreadsheet model for implementing these findings to determine
the least-cost mix of resources necessary to achieve specific recruiting goals.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard Parodi
(RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
QACOL: SAG re-estimated the ACOL (annualized cost
of leaving) coefficients used in OSD's Compensation, Accession and Personnel
Management (CAPM) modeling system, a model of enlisted retention. This is a
four-service model that is used in support of the 8th QRMC. SAG analysts estimated
a panel probit (ACOL-2) model of reenlistment behavior for all four services
across the first three reenlistment decisions. The econometric parameter estimates
generated are used by the Office of the Secretary of Defense to model enlisted
personnel responsiveness to compensation changes.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
IRS Attrition: Under this research effort, SAG
constructed an econometric attrition model to analyze stay/leave behavior of
IRS permanent employees. The model predicts changes in attrition behavior for
key occupational groups as a function of changes in expected pay, retirement
benefits, policy actions and the state of the private-sector economy and to
the occupational and demographic mix of IRS employees. Additionally, the model
facilitates a more general understanding of the determinants of workers' stay/quit
decisions. The research findings suggest that unobserved factors related to
preference for government service play an important role in determining which
employees remain with the IRS. Moreover, financial incentives are found to exert
a clearly significant, but somewhat modest influence on attrition behavior.
The magnitude of correlation varies by occupation and worker characteristics.
Private sector labor market conditions, as measured by the unemployment rate
are shown to have only a marginally significant effect on career decisions.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
IRS Compliance: An Analysis of IRS Compliance
Measurement Techniques. Detailed the methods used by ASD and Compliance Research
to calculate filing and reporting compliance. Commented on the usefulness of
the measures as monitoring tools.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
DoD Civilian Separation: This report-conducted for the Office of the Secretary of Defense-contains cost/benefit assessment of the FY93 DoD Civilian Separation Incentives Program. SAG catalogued eligibility/take rate behavior across services and identified benefits in the form of reduced RIFs, severance pay, health insurance benefits and unemployment liabilities. In conjunction with this study, an attrition model was created for organizations that participated in the program during FY93. Manganaris and Mackin (1994) found that retirement-eligible employees were 74% more likely to retire in the presence of a $25,000 buyout, while early-retirement eligible employees were about 20% more likely to leave.
Results from the analysis are guiding DoD assessment of the cost-effectiveness of the Civilian Separation Incentive Program relative to that of involuntary separations. The study also involved calculating savings realized in the form of avoided RIFs, reduced unemployment and medical benefits paid, and the impact of the voluntary incentives versus RIF actions on the shape of the force. In addition, a choice model from which DoD organizations can estimate the probability that eligible individuals will accept incentives was developed.
**For
additional information concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
SRB Management System: SAG redesigned and currently provides ongoing support to the Selective Reenlistment Bonus Management System. The old system was a combination of several models that were outdated, difficult to maintain and insufficient to handle the complexity of the current SRB program. The new system takes advantage of improvements in technology as well as improved data sources. SRB is an interactive PC-based model. SRB allows the user to add, delete, or change skill categories and descriptions as well as edit various data inputs used by the model such as basic pay, SRB bonus levels, and so on.
The SRB model functions as a one-year inventory projection and reenlistment analysis tool, with an emphasis on six-year obligors. At the beginning of each fiscal year the model produces a series of ACOL (annualized cost of leaving) calculations that will forecast reenlistment for the coming year. As the year progresses the model reads quarterly extracts of all personnel data generated from the Navy's Enlisted Master File. The program uses these extracts to update its forecasts of reenlistment with the actual reenlistment data and then recalculates the forecast for the current quarter to the end of the fiscal year. These changed inputs can be saved as different named scenarios and then various scenarios can be compared to each other using multiple reports that are generated on screen, printed, or exported into another Windows' application for a more detailed analysis.
The SRB Model is written in Visual Basic and links to several
data sources in both Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server 2000. The model
automatically generates starting inventories and eligible tables. The model
also detects any actual reenlistments and applies reenlistment rates generated
by the ACOL calculations to project future reenlistments from anywhere within
the fiscal year. The model also provides interfaces for user modified economic
inputs, as well as a host of custom reports from raw inventory, to costs, to
comparisons of multiple SRB reenlistment plans.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
RSLES: The Recruit Station Location Evaluation System (RSLES) is a model developed by the Naval Postgraduate School for OSD Accession Policy. The model takes demographic inputs from the user and runs an optimizer that shows strategic locations for recruiting stations as well as suggested manning levels of these stations. SAG validated the code of a previous two-service version and upgraded it to a four-service version. SAG programmers also updated the database and redesigned the user interface and mapping function for greater ease-of-use and efficiency.
RSLES is a multi-layer GIS model with code written in a MapBasic
and powered by a Microsoft Access Database. The user selected Service, Geographic
location, and edited demographic data. The model then employed the GAMS optimized
to locate optimal recruiter station locations as well as recruiter staffing
needs and placed service emblems on the map where these recruit stations should
be placed. Also provided drill down capability and region color coding to display
population density of recruit eligible individuals, number of high schools,
and percentage of market share/production.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
WINSTEAM: WINSTEAM is a recruiting tool for the Navy. It enables users at different locations to pinpoint the origin of accessions and contracts. WINSTEAM uses maps and written reports to identify major population centers for key demographic groups such as high school seniors. It also breaks out the population by such categories as race, sex, and AFQT score. The model calculates the number of recruiters required for each area and allows the user to view this information at any of the specified map levels. The drill-down utility allows the user to both drill down to the zip code level as well as roll up to the national level.
Users can change the underlying mathematical algorithm by using a custom-designed equation editor. This editor allows the users to select and deselect variables from the database and set the coefficients for each variable. It includes a logic-checker to ensure that all of the coefficients add up to one. The reports are then internally customized to reflect this new algorithm.
WINSTEAM is a multi-layer GIS model written in Visual Basic
and using the MapX object to manage map layers with all map and demographic
data being stored in a Microsoft Access database. The user has the ability in
the model to drill down 4 layers with quick access to demographic data aggregated
to what ever layer the user is currently on. The user also had the ability,
through manipulation of the data, to redraw map boundaries on any or all map
levels.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
NOPPS: SAG converted the Naval Officer Personnel Planning System (NOPPS) used by the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BuPers) from APL language to a Windows-based application. The original NOPPS proved difficult to maintain and update as needed. NOPPS II is PC-based with a Novell-compatible Btrieve data base manager and supporting C programs. The strength planner and Officer Community Mangers (OCM) use an Excel interface for most editing and maintenance activities. NOPPS II allows the strength planners to receive monthly changes to the Officer Master File and reconcile them across months and designators. It also allows strength planners and OCMs to build and modify strength plans. OCMs can feed their plans on disk directly to the strength planner, eliminating a great deal of data entry.
NOPPS II contains two databases-one relational and one multidimensional. The system receives a monthly download of personnel changes from the OMF and loads it into the system; the strength planner runs the module that places each change into a category based on a category assignment table. This table assigns categories based on grade, designator, source of commission and sex. SAG analysts collected information from Navy manuals, the strength planners and the OCMs to develop the category assignment logic.
The heart of NOPPS II is its ability to build and modify strength plans. It uses a multidimensional database to do this. The database is updated monthly from the OMF download. This database allows plans to be built across grade, designator, year and category. At the end of each year, the strength planner runs an end-year program that archives that year's actuals and moves each plan year up one (so the plan for current year plus two becomes plan current year plus one).
NOPPS II is completely modular. This has allowed the strength planner to use the system while additional features are added. The old NOPPS system became completely unusable while changes were being made. SAG is currently working on a module to allow plans created in the APL system to be imported into NOPPS II. The strength planner needs to look at old plans that have been archived to disk or tape. Therefore, the import module will be flexible enough to handle any type of plan that has been built since the inception of the system.
**For
additional information concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
COMET (Cost Of Manpower Estimating Tool): this link will direct you to the description of the COMET project that is also listed under the Economic/Cost Analysis projects
Ecuador: SAG Corporation designed and developed
an Excel spreadsheet program for the Partnership for Health Reform to be used
in the estimation and display of the National Health Accounts of Ecuador. The
model was developed in Microsoft Excel 2000 with Visual Basic Applications as
the programming language. The model has a graphical user interface that allows
users to adjust the economic parameters to see the effect changing conditions
have on healthcare costs. The user is prompted to select the exchange rate,
the inflation rate and the type of currency necessary for the desired results.
These results are then displayed in the proper format through the use of various
spreadsheets and detailed charts. The model also acts as a data archive of all
sources and calculations used.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard Parodi
(RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Nurse Demand Model: SAG developed the Nurse Demand
Model (NDM) for the Department of Health and Human Services. This is a PC-based
model that forecasts nurse demand out to 25 years at the national, state and
county levels by type of demander (ER, inpatient care, home health care, etc.)
by using regression equations along with inputs that can be imported or edited
by the user. These inputs include population, nurse totals, utilization rates,
and health care use. The user can then assign values to the variables and tables
and then save these values in a user-created scenario. This scenario can then
be compared with other scenarios where other populations, variables and rates
have been stored to see how nurse demand will vary under differing economic
and demographic situations. Aside from running the regressions, the user can
also produce a whole host of tabular and graphical reporting options that can
show trends along such dimensions as year, nurse type, health care setting,
and geographic location. The model also has a custom-built equation editor that
allows the user to store and edit the underlying equations. The model was developed
in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 with an Access 2000 database backend accessed
and powered by ADO procedures generated and managed by the model.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard Parodi
(RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
RMS: SAG designed and developed a historical data warehouse for the Navy Bureau of Personnel that allows users to generate both standard and ad-hoc reports across many dimensions including time. Currently, the data warehouse contains just enlisted personnel data. Officer personnel data will be added during the next year. There are plans to add other types of data (training, enlistment, etc.) in future years. The data warehouse contains an update feature that takes data from the Enlisted Master File and places it into the database.
The database was developed in SQL Server 7.0 and uses a Visual
Basic interface that allows the user to generate, view, print and export standard
retention reports. The user selects the location, skill and sex of the target
population from a series of drop-down boxes, and the Retention Management System,
which is built to interface with the data warehouse, generates a report for
that group. The program allows the system administrator to set varying levels
of access for each user.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
OSD S&I Pay Model: SAG Corporation, working
with the Naval Postgraduate School, developed a Special and Incentive Pays model
for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The model allows compensation analysts
to empirically determine and justify changes in Special and Incentive Pay levels.
It provides an extremely flexible interface for describing - and modeling changes
in - virtually every component on military pay. It allows the user to estimate
the impact on changes in compensation on retention behavior.
**For additional information
concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
Army SRB(Prototype): For the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, SAG developed a prototype Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB) management tool. This spreadsheet-based model allows Army planners to predict changes in reenlistment behavior as they explore alternative SRB configurations. The model incorporates econometric parameters recently estimated by SAG for the Army.
**For
additional information concerning this project, Please contact:
Richard
Parodi (RParodi@sagcorp.com)
Vice President,
Business Development
