Improving Strength Forecasts: Support for Army Manpower Management

Through innovative use of Management Science, manpower management in the Army has been significantly improved. A computer system has been developed by General Research Corporation that is used by Headquarters, Department of the Army, for manpower planning, budgeting, policy development, and monitoring the progress of manpower programs. Use of the system, called ELIM-COMPLIP, is central to the management of Army manpower and has been credited by senior Army officials with making several important contributions to improved national defense, including annual savings of more than $100 million in the Army's budget for military personnel, and enabling the number of Army divisions to rise from 13 to 16. The principal output from ELIM-COMPLIP is the Army military manpower program, which contains forecasts of strength, gains, and losses over a seven-year period, based on both historical time-series data and projected effects of changes in policy and other conditions. Included in the system is a goal programming mo...