Using Work Domain Analysis to evaluate the impact of digitization on command and control

This paper introduces a new approach for evaluating the impact of technological change on complex sociotechnical systems. The approach uses Work Domain Analysis as a theoretical base for extracting the key factors that influence system performance. The process has been designed to be expeditious, both in terms of construction and data collection. The approach uses the opinion of subject matter experts to evaluate the impact of each of the abstraction hierarchy nodes on system performance. This approach was used to evaluate the effects of digitization within land based military headquarters, at brigade and battlegroup levels. The proposed approach proved sensitive enough to reveal clear differences between the old analogue and new digital system. The description of the same system at a number of levels of abstraction allows the analyst to develop a high level rating of the system as well as understanding of the key factors that have influenced this opinion.