The DII COE : An Enterprise Framework

I n 1994, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) began development of the Global Command and Control System (GCCS). The goal of GCCS was to link the commander-in-chief (CINC) sites into a single planning and logistics network. It utilized an architecture that was developed in the Navy Joint Maritime Command Information System (JMCIS) program for integrating software modules developed by multiple contractors. In 1995, GCCS was operational and DISA had begun work on the Defense Information Infrastructure (DII). In 1998, GCCS version 2.0 was the first Department of Defense (DoD) system to utilize the DII Common Operating Environment (COE) as the basis for its implementation, being deployed on top of the DII COE Version 3.1. Since then, the DII COE has been or is being used as the framework for more than 100 DoD computing systems (see Figure 1). The term " COE " has moved into common parlance for corporate Chief Information Officers, and foreign governments are looking to construct common operating environments for their computing enterprises. Although the DII COE has been in existence for more than three years and has enjoyed remarkable success, it is not widely understood. This article offers insight into the DII COE architecture and the rational for its design. The DII COE is a framework for the development of enterprise computing systems. In order to understand the decisions made regarding its design, it is important to first understand what an enterprise computing system is, and what it means to be a framework. An enterprise is a venture – the act of an organization working toward a common goal. Enterprise computing is the establishment and use of a computing system that supports this venture by implementing the business processes of an organization. The DoD is a grand-scale organization with approximately 11 million military and civilian participants. Its purpose is equally grand: the defense of the United States of America. This is, of course, too large an organization and too complex a venture to be understood as a single enterprise. Thus the DoD is partitioned into many smaller organizations, each executing their own enterprise. However, these are collaborative enterprises – the organizations work together to support common goals. The DoD enterprise computing system is a system of systems in which information and services are shared across enterprise boundaries. A framework is a software package that supports the creation of architecture by guiding developers toward a …