As explained above, INSPECT embeds a library of problems in air
campaign plans. These problems (sometimes referred to as
inconsistencies) can be classified in two ways. The first
distinguishes categories of problems by their significance or
seriousness. The second distinguishes categories of problems by areas
or aspects of the plan they are related.
In order to indicate the significance or seriousness of the
problems found by INSPECT, we define three types of
problems corresponding to the usage of the terms in Air Force
manuals:
Warning -- this is a serious problem, that requires
urgent attention.
Caution -- this is a reasonably serious problem, that
requires some attention but not immediately.
Note -- this is a less serious problem, that does not
require immediate attention.
Each type of problem checked by INSPECT belongs to one of these
categories. They are displayed in the INSPECT agenda ordered from the
most serious to the less serious, i.e., first warnings, then cautions,
then notes.
The problems in INSPECT's library can be divided into four main types,
distinguished based on major aspects of the plan:
Completeness
These are problems that relate to the completeness
of the plan, i.e., whether some element or connection between
elements is missing. In this group there are currently five
problems:
Objective with no child (Caution). According to the
strategy-to-task approach to air campaign planning, all objectives
must be subordinated to higher objectives (their ``parents'') and
decomposed into lower objectives (their ``children''). This
problem occurs when there is an objective that was not
decomposed into objectives of a lower level.
Objective with no parent (Warning). This problem occurs
when there is an objective that is not serving any higher level
objective.
Objective with no MOM (measure of merit) (Note).
According to the strategy-to-task approach to air campaign
planning, all objectives must contain a measure of merit (MOM)
that defines in measurable terms when the objective has been
achieved. This problem occurs when there is an objective for
which no measure of merit was defined.
Objective with no structured specification (Note). In
order to maintain consistency in the way objectives are written,
it is preferable that they are specified also in the structured
language defined for this IFD-4, and implemented in a special ACPT
editor. Further, this structured specification enables systems
like INSPECT to interpret and better understand the semantics of
the objectives, therefore enabling automation of several tasks
relative to air campaign plans. This problem occurs when there is
an objective for which no structured specification was provided.
No objective fulfilling one of the basic tenants of air
power (Caution). Air Force doctrine suggest that an air
campaign plan must contain objectives of certain types, related to
the so-called ``basic tenants of air power''. These tenants are:
force deployment, force protection, air superiority, force
application, conflict termination, and force redeployment. This
problem occurs when one of the basic tenants of air power is not
fulfilled by any objective in the entire plan.
Reasonable structure
This type of problem relates to
the fact that the structure of the plan must obey certain
standards. Specifically, two types of problems are
currently checked:
Objective with too many parents (Note). An objective
with too many parents is an indication that the parent objective
is either too general (and should thus be divided) or the
connections are somewhat artificial. This problem
occurs when there is an objective with more than three parents.
Incompatible sequence restrictions (Warning). Sequence
restrictions specify when a given objective should (or must) be
accomplished before or after other objectives. This problem
occurs when one sequence restriction specifies that an objective
should or must be accomplished before another, and another
sequence restriction specifies the opposite.
Feasibility
This type of problem examines some broad
aspects of the feasibility of the plan (more detailed aspects are
verified by e.g. SIPE in IFD-4).
No primary aircraft currently available for an Objective
(Note). For each type of aircraft, there is a limited number of
types of missions it is suited to execute, and a few types it was
primarily designed to execute. This problem occurs when an
objective requires a type of mission that is not the primary
mission type of any of the aircraft available in the Friendly
Order of Battle.
No adequate aircraft currently available for an
Objective (Caution). This problem occurs when an
objective requires a type of mission for which none of the
aircraft currently available in the Friendly Order of Battle is
adequate.
Plan contents
This type of problem analyzes the semantics
of the plan contents (e.g. the definition of the objectives).
Incoherent decomposition (Warning). In principle, an
objective must be decomposed into objectives which are more
specific or more detailed than their parent. This problem occurs
when a parent objective is more specific than one of its child
objectives.
Appendix A provides examples of agenda items, fixes and explanations
for each of the types of problems discussed above.
