1.         Identify the most important elements of the supply chain. 2.         Identify the key issue or issues one must consider when collecting operational data for evaluating and establishing the supply chain. 3.         Identify 2 issues with a real world supply chain of your choice.  Make recommendations to improve the supply chain including logistical and operational problems.   4.         Create and insert the before and after diagram of the supply chain identified above.   To demonstrate effective analytical skills, explain how you would communicate the improvement to senior leadership.  

Book:http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a606328.pd... INITIAL FORUM Question: "Your readings this week also goes on to discuss the capabilities-based assessment (CBA) process, which is the “backbone” of JCIDS Defense Acquisition University, 2010, p. 35). There is an excellent chart on page 36 of your textbook that details the CBA process. The CBA is an analytical approach utilized by the DoD to identify the needs of the warfighter. The purpose of the process is to find out what requirements the warfighter has. “Requirement” is just the acquisition way of saying needs, supplies, or equipment. In a DoD contracting activity, the “requirement” is the item or service that is being acquired. The ground work discussed in the lesson for this week is imperative to set the stage for the acquisition process. Without solid research and analysis early on, the acquisition process will go down the wrong path and result in lost money and time. So, your question for this week, and some of what we discussed last week, is "What is wrong with the requirements" analysis that goes into our federal or defense contracts today? Bring in examples of any problems you have experienced to help round out the discussion this week." INSTRUCTIONS: Respond to the two student initial posts below, the replies should be directly to the individual student, a minimum of 150 words and include direct questions. Student names are included next to each corresponding post. STUDENT 1( Fraser)It is a fairly simple question when you think about it. But it can be expanded and torn apart to make it more complicated. We could look at every word and examine its meanings, but that will become a problem in and of itself. This problem is something that lends itself to what is wrong with the requirements analysis in the defense contracts world. Time, it seems like a simple concept, when a time line has been established and needs to me you would think this is the easiest part of getting a contract done. When you begin to add different processes and teams and multiple offices and individuals into the process it begins to get truly get mucked up. A simple process on line with a fixed timeline can stay the course easily but the more people and processes added will slow things down greatly. In todays world we all know the longer you take to buy things we can see the prices change. Now when it comes to electronics and small things they may get cheaper, but when It comes to large projects like building a destroyer or aircraft means it gets more expensive. So as the process gets more mucked down and the timeline expands to unforeseen delays the more expensive something may become. This is something that the government does not want. Once a budget has been approved it shouldn’t have to flex to meet time costs. The United States Government doesn’t want to change its budget every few weeks to fit the ever changing timeline. It should be one of the easiest things to control. STUDENT 2 (Stacy)One of the biggest issues I see with requirements analysis at the operation level is lack of technical experts employed by the government and/or the resistance to partner with industry leaders during the requirements phase in order to create the best package possible. At my current location we recently awarded a project (small dollar…less than $1M) for a company to come in to provide rubber removal services and painting airfield lines. This is about a simple of a requirement as one could get. Literally every airport in the world requires these services at least once a year, if not more, depending on how busy they are. However, in this case, the end users were very knew to working on the airfield, the engineer graduated college less than 1 year ago and the contracting officer left in the middle of the process with no turnover with their replacement. This was a trifecta of a Charlie Foxtrot. The overall lack of experience with the requirement, the PWS was generated without reaching out to anyone in the industry to see if even made the slighted bit of sense or was in line with commercial practices. During the execution of the work several ambiguities were found along with several miscalculations that has not lead to the contractor and the government in a dispute over a Request for Equitable Adjustment in excess of $250,000. The inexperience of the Government was clear from the start and ultimately did not allow for a true requirement to be formed. Federal Times advised that SOWs are often just cut and pasted from old documents and are rarely checked for accuracy, which results in conflicts of the requirement (Goodrich, 2017). Reference: Goodrich, S. (2017, July 22). 6 simple fixes for the federal procurement process. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from https://www.federaltimes.com/opinions/2015/02/20/6...