Collaborative multinational mission planning system with support for macrocognitive processes

Abstract

The Crisis Action Planning (CAP) process is a collaborative team effort wherein military planners work together to quickly understand an emergency situation and make decisions about a response. Additional challenges to team cognition ensue when planners from multiple nations work in a distributed environment, as is the case with the multinational planning augmentation team (MPAT). A cognitive model of team collaboration provided the theoretical basis for development of a tool to improve the synchronisation of distributed decision-making and information management among coalition planners. The Multinational Crisis Action Planning (MCAP) tool was implemented by configuring a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) collaborative web environment. The tool supports the macrocognitive processes of Individual Knowledge Building (converting data into knowledge), Team Knowledge Building (developing knowledge interoperability among team members) and Developing Shared Problem Conceptualisation (promoting team shared understanding). There is some support for two additional processes: Team Consensus Development and Evaluation and Revision.