How TRADOC Modernized its UFR Process

United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC)

The United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) is responsible for recruiting, training, educating, developing and building the Army. TRADOC G-8 enables the mission by providing strategic resource, force, and acquisition management leadership, stewardship, and advice to TRADOC and the Army Enterprise.

A Lack of Transparency and Control over Data

TRADOC was struggling to intake, prioritize, and fund nearly 100 unfunded requirement (UFR) requests annually. It needed a single platform, with more data transparency and a more streamlined and integrated process. UFRs were received and stored on a SharePoint database before prioritization. While the system was functional, management of UFRs was manual, tedious, and time intensive. Tracking changes, who made them, and when they were made was difficult. Microsoft Excel version control issues further compounded the difficulty and inefficiency of collecting, tracking, and managing UFRs.

Turbocharging the Intake Process

TRADOC G-8 and G-3/5/7 partnered with the Decision Lens Customer Success Team to transform their entire UFR process from cradle to grave. 

Decision Lens’s Intake Engine allowed G-8 to quickly create an easily editable UFR intake form with standardized inputs that they could distribute to the field for collection and input. This resulted in higher quality submissions that were aggregated on one platform, and accessible to all stakeholders.

Decision Lens’s activity log listed all details of every change made, who made them, and includes a comments section to track rational for changes. The activity log provided G-8 with a completely transparent and continuous process throughout the year and allowed for a more rapid response to queries from leadership.

"Decision Lens has greatly increased transparency across all levels and reduced version control issues over using Excel spreadsheets...As new emerging requirements are identified during the fiscal year, a new UFR 1-N prioritized list could be generated seamlessly between G-8 and. G-3/5/7 PARD with the push and pull of data all within one system. In addition, a historical tracking of the UFR ranking changes was automatically retained." Deanna Morinec, Senior Budget Analyst, TRADOC G-8. 

Creating a Living UFR List

During the data UFR validation phase, TRADOC used Decision Lens to create a prioritized UFR 1- N list. Prioritizing based on objective, qualitative criteria and metrics provided TRADOC with a defensible, data-driven way to prioritize funding.

TRADOC has more than 100 UFR requests annually. Since implementing Decision Lens, now in its 2nd year of usage, they have seen a 25% time improvement in their UFR process. 

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