Marine Corps Officer Assignments: There Has to be a Better Way - Using the Ground Officer Assignment Tool (GOAT) Decision Support Tool for Better Talent Management and Billet Optimization

This informative report from March 2019 has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. One of the most crucial aspects of the development and retention of quality officers in the Marine Corps is effective assignment. This study takes an innovative approach to an old problem by proposing a technical solution: the Ground Officer Assignment Tool (GOAT) offers an optimization-based decision aid as well as a means by which to evaluate an existing personnel assignment based on several metrics. As a single commodity network flow problem, the GOAT tackles the personnel assignment problem using Python-based computational software packages. The model uses weighted penalties for the attributes of each assignment to calculate a cost for that assignment. The GOAT then minimizes those costs based on user-defined inputs and assigns each Marine to his or her optimal billet. With the added flexibility of testing multiple sample solutions in a short period of time and seeing the comparative cost, the GOAT can save monitors vast amounts of time while better equipping them to make crucial decisions that drive the efficiency of officer assignments. This study introduces a system that can aid in data processing with the intended purpose of better arming monitors, who are almost solely responsible for the effective assignment of Marine Corps officers.

This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

The Marine Corps is responsible for ensuring nearly 200,000 active duty Marines have appropriate jobs to fill. The assignment of these Marines falls squarely on the shoulders of assignment personnel known as monitors, and it is no small feat. Inside Manpower Management Officer Assignments (MMOA), monitors are responsible for placing thousands of Marine officers, approximately one-third of whom rotate each year. The gravity of this responsibility, coupled with the access to an over-abundance of information for each individual Marine, creates a substantial data-processing challenge. This study takes an innovative approach to an old problem by proposing a technical solution: the Ground Officer Assignment Tool (GOAT) offers the monitor an optimization-based decision aid as well as a means by which to evaluate an existing assignment based on various metrics. Using the GOAT, a monitor can quickly weigh multiple assignment options and, with greater deficiency, make the best possible decision. This saves time and money while offering a better service to both Marines and the Marine Corps at large.