A meeting of CODAP USERS GROUP was held on Wednesday, June 7, 1995, at the offices of Metrica, Inc., 10010 San Pedro, Suite 400, San Antonio, Texas. Representatives from the Air Force Armstrong Laboratory (AL), the Air Force Occupational Measurement Squadron (AFOMS), Metrica, Inc., and the Institute for Job and Occupational Analysis (IJOA) attended this meeting and included:

          SqLdr. John Herlihy (AL/HRMJ), Chair
          Mz. Janice Buchhorn (AL/HRTD)
          Mr. Jay Tartell (AFOMS/OMY)
          Maj. Randy Agee (AFOMS/OMYO)
          Mr. Jim Keeth (AFOMS/OMYO)
          Mz. Cindy Luster (AFOMS/OMYO)
          Mz. Elena Weber (AFOMS/OMYX)
          Mr. Timothy M. O'Neil (AFOMS/OMYXS)
          Mr. Joe Bergmann (AFOMS/OMYA)
          Mr. Johnny Weissmuller (Metrica, Inc.)
          Mr. Darryl Hand (Metrica, Inc.)
          Dr. Jimmy Mitchell  (IJOA)
          Mr. Bill Phalen  (IJOA)
          Mz. Patricia Waldroop (IJOA)

By common consent, SqLdr. John Herlihy, AL/HRMJ, Royal Australian Air Force exchange officer, chaired the meeting. A discussion ensued about continuance of the monthly meetings of the group and it was generally agreed that they should continue for several reasons: 1) it is useful for tracking changes and problems with CODAP software; 2) it is a means of tracking practical and conceptual issues; 3) it is a means of interaction between representatives of the various interests of AL, AFOMS, Metrica, and IJOA.

Mr. Darryl Hand, Metrica, reported several CODAP maintenance issues:

1) A CODAP update tape and all new documentation was left at the hotel desk, during the recent International Occupational Analysts Workshop (IOAW), for FltLt Kiley Garman to take back to Australia. However, it is not certain that she definitely received it. Since she is taking an extended vacation here in the States, it may be a month before we know if Australia is updated.

2) What strategy should be used with the Army since they do not want to use CODAP any longer and prefer Rayosoft? After some discussion, it was decided that Mr. Hand should not actively delete CODAP from the Army computers. Mr. Hand also asked if he should try to extract the data from Rayosoft so that he can put it on CODAP and use Rayosoft as a data collection tool only. Mr. Tartell suggested calling the Army (Col. Wagstaff) to see if they were willing to support the idea. Dr. Mitchell added that Dave Tucker had talked to the president of Rayosoft at the IOAW conference about their formats and standards and believes that it would be fairly easy to download the material that is developed in the authoring shells into Rayosoft as well as other engines to administer computer-based surveys. A discussion ensued and it was generally agreed that we should not fund such a step. Mr. Tartell expressed that we potentially have three or four different ways of collecting data and that we should be prepared to employ only one. Should it occur within or across services? Mr. Weissmuller stated that Dave Tucker's authoring shell is structured to generate surveys and reformat programs and would be no problem. Mr. Tartell stated that the Army told him that Rayosoft is more than willing to generate more analytic tools via use of CODAP. Dr. Mitchell said that a meeting has been set up by Capt. Bennett between HRMJ, (Walter Albert) and AF Military Personnel Center (AFMPC, Charlie Hamilton) for later this month to discuss problems with Rayosoft and whether or not the Air Force computer-assisted software can be used for Air Force Attitude Survey, and that later we will be looking at whether or not the software we are developing will be useful for them. He also stated that part of Winston's sponsorship of the development of this software is to be able to develop computer-based surveys of several sorts. Dr. Mitchell stated there are some initiatives through ARI involving their potential use of TIDES and other things that might make it necessary for the Army to go back and collect more specific task or task module information, but that we would have to wait and see how it works out.

3)The Canadian exchange officer at OMS is scheduled to return to Canada next week. Therefore it was agreed that a new CODAP update tape should be created ASAP for the Canadians.

4) Electronic transfer of CODAP updates is restricted by MILNET policy (Internet access only in direct support of government contracts). Metrica plans to establish a commercial World Wide Web (WWW) site, to possibly include CODAP information such as documentation, downloadable executables, tutorials, and a listing of recent changes. We could force the users to take responsibility for getting updates; an e-mail list or user group could be establishing for notifying users of updates.

5) The need for a user-friendly interface for CODAP was discussed at some length. The group was generally highly supportive of the need for the development of such software. Mr. Tartell stated that he would like for OMS analysts to be able to run the common procedures for production, but not the highly technical (or experimental) ones. Ms. Weber said PCX ware would eventually be available. Discussion ensued about what the analysts should be able to do for themselves (versus what a programmer should provide).

6) Dr. Mitchell inquired into the status of the UNISYS, and was told that 1) it would go on forever and 2) Mz. Buchhorn stated that she believed that it would be gone by 1 October 1996 at the latest. Dr. Mitchell said that rumor had it that there would be no maintenance funds available for UNISYS as of 1 October 1995 and that the RISC machine is supposed to be operational by then. Mz. Bucchorn said it's plugged in and working, but didn't know the status of it. Dr. Mitchell suggested that someone should look into their plans for it and CODAP.

7) Darryl Hand said that the AL RISC is up and running, but only system programmers have access. They have FORTRAN, C, and ADA compilers installed, but are not ready for regular users (including CODAP programs and data files).

Dr. Mitchell stated that he had some concern about the experimental CODAP programs on the UNISYS that were being tried out including knowledge clustering and more advanced clustering, and asked where they should be hosted in terms of continuing operations. Discussion followed concerning the fate of these programs, such as where to transfer them, in what form (e.g., ASCII), accessibility, money to pay for Darryl's time. Mr. Tartell suggested using lab money to pay for this work.

Discussion took place concerning who should chair meetings and where they should be held. Dr. Mitchell suggested that the SqLdr. Herlihy (AL) should continue as chair and the group agreed. It was also agreed that minutes should be processed. SqLdr. Herilhy suggested that the lab be more involved in the future. There was a discussion about whether or not the lab would exist in the future given the impending closing of Brooks AFB (made moot by later BRAC decision to keep Brooks).

Dr. Mitchell made the observation that FltLt. Garman had discussed an authoring system for mastering inventories at the IOAW and wanted to know whether anyone had used it. Mr. Joe Bergmann said he had tried without success. Dr. Mitchell stated that IJOA had copied the software onto its computer and would reproduce copies for anyone who wanted one. It was his understanding from FltLt. Garman that it was in the public domain. SqLdr. Herlihy said she may have jumped the gun, since it is to be shown at the October 1995 IMTA meeting.

Building a new authoring system or making the existing one work was discussed. Dr. Mitchell suggested an update of Dave Tucker's work. Mr. Weissmuller said the authoring tool is currently designed to be strong in structuring inventory and in designing the presentation and that type of stuff, but not in generating the tasks themselves. So, task lists can be pulled in from TIARA or from the Austrailian software. Additional future possibilities were also discussed.

Mr. Phalen asked about task clustering modules and discussion followed about this experimental work.

Discussion ensued about future meeting places. It was suggested that rotating between Metrica, AL, and OMS, would ensure more analyst turnout (and make political points).

Maj. Agee, though this may be his last meeting, requested to be kept on the mailing list. He suggested the need for tools to look at job structure, not just time spent on tasks, and the need to rank order via difficulty, and the need for other research initiatives but was unsure what is needed and suggested getting some MPT needs (research requests) created and that this group would be a good starting point for deciding what the CODAP research needs are and forwarding them to the lab and for finding funding. He mentioned that Capt. John Williams in Washington is concerned with what has been done for the AF and other patrons and would probably be asking questions about improvement of computer-based surveys. He stated that Williams may be able to provide funding.

Discussion followed about duplication of disks and surveying via computers and possible use of absolute time rather than relative time scales. Dr. Mitchell asked about repeating the 2675 (behavioral scientists) study and was told it is being repeated.

It was decided that the next meeting of the group will be held Thursday, July 13, 1995, 2:00 P.M.at Armstrong Lab, and the meeting was adjourned.