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Marines

ENTERPRISE DATA

Data Drives Models and Simulations!
NMSO provides support on all matters related to the development, management, and appropriate use of data needed for the creation and execution of models and simulations. Data that support models and simulations include data used to: build conceptual models; verify requirements; develop or modify models and simulations; inputs needed to operate the models and simulations; and data used to validate model and simulation results. In addition, NMSO assists DASN(RDT&E) by coordinating with industry and academia, DoD, other Government agencies, and international and foreign organizations, on matters related to data.

SECNAVINST 5000.36A establishes policy for DON applications and data management and establishes responsibilities for DON IT processes and tools to transform applications and data into net-centric naval capabilities consistent with DoD policy for interoperability and data sharing.

Learn About Other Data Interests:

  • Net-Centric Data Strategy

In May of 2003, the DoD Chief Information Officer signed the DoD Net-Centric Data Strategy (NCDS). Subsequently, DoD Directive 8320.02 was signed (December 2004), directing the implementation of the NCDS. This was followed by DoD Guidance 83203.02-G (April 2006), providing guidance for its implementation. Recently, the DoD Directive 8320.02 was reissued as instruction DoDI 8320.02 (August 2013), establishing policies, assigning responsibilities, and prescribing procedures for securely sharing electronic data, information, and IT services and securely enabling the discovery of shared data throughout DoD.

  • Sharing Data, Information, and Information Technology Services

DoDI 8320.02, “Sharing Data, Information, and Information Technology (IT) Services in the Department of Defense” (August 2013), states that all metadata will be discoverable, searchable, and retrievable (to the maximum extent allowed by law or DoD policy) using DoD-wide capabilities and tools, such as the Data Services Environment (DSE).

The instruction relates Metadata to the NCDS goals as follows:

Data, information, and IT services will be made VISIBLE to authorized users by creating and associating metadata, including discovery metadata, for each asset.

Data, Information, and IT services will be considered UNDERSTANDABLE when authorized users are able to consume them and when users can readily determine how those assets may be used for specific needs. Data standards and specifications that require associated semantic metadata and structural metadata, including vocabularies, taxonomies, and ontologies, will be published in the DSE, or in a registry that is federated with the DSE.

Data, information, and IT services will be considered TRUSTED when they have provided sufficient pedigree and descriptive metadata for consumers to rely on them as an Authoritative Data Source, and comply with applicable information assurance and cyber security policies.  

DoD Components will ensure data, information, and IT services INTEROPERABILITY by making data assets understandable and enabling the reuse of business and mission processes in compliance with established technical, data, and services standards.

  • Metadata for Resource Discovery and Reuse

Data is a subset of information in an electronic format that allows it to be retrieved or transmitted.  Often viewed as a lowest level of abstraction from which information and knowledge are created, data, by itself, may be of limited use without applying to it some useful descriptions and properties that allow it to be quickly and easily understood and readily used in specific applications.  Metadata, or data about data, is the descriptive, semantic, and structural information applied to data and other resources in order to more fully characterize them.  The application and adherence to metadata standards and specifications makes it possible for automated tools to rapidly discover and access resources for reuse. 

NMSO has an active effort to identify Navy M&S assets, build metacards in DoD Discovery Metadata Specification (DDMS) format, and publish these metacards to the DoD Enterprise Catalog and Data Services Environment. NMSO also assists with federating existing databases and catalogs with the Enterprise Catalog. 

  • Verification and Validation (V&V) of Data

Verifying and validating data used in the development, modification, and application of models and simulations is integral to their accreditation for specific intended uses.  Data producers are responsible for establishing the quality of the datasets provided, such as environmental data.  Data users are responsible for VV&A of data used and produced by models and simulations, including their output results.  Section 3.2 of the DON M&S VV&A Implementation Handbook provides useful information about Data V&V.