The Acquisition Intelligence Requirements Task Force (AIRTF) asked RAND Corporation researchers to examine the process for developing, validating, and tasking Intelligence Mission Data (IMD) requirements. In response, the authors prepared process maps depicting the current methods used to identify and manage IMD requirements and researched a set of process-improvement questions that arose from a continuous process improvement (CPI) meeting attended by IMD stakeholders. The authors reviewed the handling of production requirements (PRs) resulting from a Life-Cycle Mission Data Plan (LMDP) against ad hoc requirements. Their analysis sought to validate the hypothesis that efficiencies could be gained by minimizing processing effort and backlog by combining requests. The authors also pursued a theme of determining if efficiencies could be realized by gaining a better understanding of the business rules of the Community On-Line System for End Users and Managers (COLISEUM) and the Defense Intelligence Analysis Program, which determines who produces what in the intelligence community. The researchers aimed to try to understand and correct persistent issues or at least provide workarounds for how LMDPs are processed through the IMD Management, Analysis, and Reporting System (IMARS). They also sought to confirm that intelligence personnel are managing and validating the IMARS system, its processes, and the input.
