Considerations for Implementing a Defense Personnel Research Environment

To build and manage its workforce effectively, DoD oversees an extensive military personnel policy research portfolio. The DoD seeks to develop a new data-hosting analytic computing resource—the Enterprise Data to Decisions Information Environment (EDDIE)—to enable faster, broader access to defense personnel data throughout the research community supporting these efforts, and to foster cross- organizational collaboration and modeling. This report supplements the research community’s user requirements for EDDIE. Here, we describe our methodology for collecting and synthesizing user requirements from the research community, highlight core findings, and give illustrative case studies of other government initiatives for providing data or collaborative resources. We observe that sustained commitment from senior leadership, adequate legal and regulatory authorities, and thoughtful design contribute to success in these programs. Additionally, we develop a model for EDDIE governance, provide use standards to facilitate modular modeling development in the environment, and document risks and recommendations to consider when acquiring and implementing EDDIE.