The 2011 NATO Operational Analysis Workshop concluded June 16 at the Virginia Modelling, Analysis and Simulation Centre in Suffolk, Virginia.

The NATO Operational Analysis (OA) Workshop is an annual 2-3 day event that seeks to coordinate and improve the contributions of Operational Analysis to NATO operations and capability development.

With the overarching theme of this year’s event, “Institutionalizing Operational Analysis within NATO,” more than 90 representatives from the nations and NATO command reviewed the various ways that OA is currently contributing to NATO operations and capabilities.

Attendees also discussed challenges, best practices, external insights and potential improvements, and how to improve the synergy, cohesion, and coordination between OA within NATO commands and the nations.

In his welcoming remarks, ACT Assistant Chief of Staff Capability Engineering, Italian Army Brigadier General Giovanni Fungo, spoke about the importance of the workshop. “This workshop will help to improve the synergy, cohesion and coordination of OA within NATO commands, force structure and the nations,” said Fungo.

Attendees heard from a diverse group of speakers as 23 speakers presented topics in five discussion clusters. Discussion clusters included Institutionalizing OA within Organizations, Emerging Security Challenges, Simulation and Data Analysis, Analysis and Experimentation, and Social Science and Analysis.

ACT OA Branch Head, Mr. Han de Nijs remarked, “The presentations covered a wide spectrum of OA topics supporting NATO operations and capability development.”

The workshop also included an OA customer requirements discussion panel, which brought together five consumers of OA to help generate a better understanding through a discussion between analysts (the majority of the workshop attendees) and the various customers of analytical products (panel members).

The panel discussion objectives included: to better understand the general requirements for analysis, the expectations held by analysis customers, to identify issues with institutionalising analysis processes and products in large and politically complex organisations such as ACT, and to identify issues with utilising analysis products.

The NATO OA Workshop series began in 2007 and the next session is tentatively scheduled in the spring/summer of 2012 at NC3A in The Hague.

For more information about the workshop, visit http://www.act.nato.int/.