The evolution of Defense M&S Management spans over thirty years starting with the establishment of the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO) to serve as the DoD focal point to promote effective and efficient use of modeling and simulation.  While historically having broad responsibilities covering multiple “communities enabled by M&S” plus international technical collaboration, the more recent DoD issuance have narrowed that scope to support acquisition-centric activities.  This evolution is made more complex by the emphasis in the Department on model-based systems engineering, and digital engineering. Thus, there is a need to reexamine governing and collaborative best practices to allow stakeholders and decision makers to redefine roles and responsibilities to best manage and modernize M&S capabilities.

This paper provides insights on the evolution of Defense M&S Management and assesses the more recent capabilities and methodologies of both M&S functional communities and Service-specific management offices.  The discussion details the key phases of Defense M&S Management, from an emerging technology (1991-2005), to a focus on transformation (2006-2014), to high level coordination and engagement (2015 and beyond).  This is followed by a scoping methodology to investigate areas of need from the current M&S organizations to the desired outcomes from key stakeholders of M&S capabilities.  Discussion topics include governance and collaboration best practices, and comparison of roles and responsibilities across the department, to include the applicable issuances and resourcing.

Finally, the paper assesses cross-community and service-centric challenges in M&S modernization from planning to implementation and evaluation.  This includes examination of existing management functions and recommendations on strategy development, policy formulation and workforce development as it affects the Defense M&S enterprise.

Keywords
COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE, LEADERSHIP, M&S

Additional Keywords
Digital Engineering