# New day for DORRA as Analytics Center of Excellence

/ Published May 3, 2018

The team formerly known as DLA Operations Research and Resource Analysis has a new name and home. As a key element in the design of Information Operations’ newly established Strategic Data Services, DORRA was recently realigned under Information Operations and is now known as the Analytics Center of Excellence. 

As a center of excellence, ACE is working hard to expand its capabilities to support the agency with cutting edge, operations research and data science analytics and by leveraging the latest developments in analytics technologies and methods. ACE’s primary mission is to provide DLA senior leaders with credible and actionable insights through objective research and analyses in support of strategic-level initiatives and major operational process improvement efforts. Under Strategic Data Services, ACE expands this mission to provide support to the agency in the development, implementation and validation of enterprise data and analytics capabilities.

Under the Strategic Data Services Director and Chief Data Officer Teresa Smith, ACE is led by Tom Meyer, the acting division chief. In addition to its reorganization, ACE has realigned its branches to better support its expanded roles. The four branches target specific analytic demand areas.They include:
      - The Operations Analytics Branch — focuses on analytic support for DLA operations and provides analytic capabilities in wargaming, logistics supportability analysis, game theory, risk analysis, and resource analysis.
      - The Modeling & Data Science Branch — focuses on predictive/prescriptive analytics, data science, models & simulations development, and advanced analytics.
      - The Business Analytics Branch — focuses on DLA business operations and provides analytic capabilities to support business-facing and business intelligence initiatives for the MSCs/J-codes, developing and fostering partnering opportunities and providing expertise in business case analysis, data analysis, and root cause analysis. 
      - The Emerging Capabilities Branch — explores the implementation of cutting edge, emerging analytic and data technologies, methods and capabilities; evaluating analytic and data options, advising on their implementation and use, developing new tools, and facilitating their transition to production.

In its expanded role, ACE is exploring the latest advancements in analytics and is working with stakeholders to develop models and tools to provide predictive and prescriptive analytic capabilities to DLA. One such initiative is a collaborative effort with DLA partners to develop a strategy that will leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning methods and platforms to enable analysis and navigation of DLA’s big data environment.

Additionally, ACE is working to expand its capabilities into the realm of data science. Although many of the knowledge, skills and attributes associated with data science have been a part of ACE (DORRA) for decades, ACE is looking to enhance and expand its data science capabilities to best meet the analytic needs of the agency.

“Data science seems to be the new, exciting buzzword these days both in government as well as industry, but it’s actually what DORRA, now ACE, has been practicing for over 30 years,” said Angelo Vigil, Modeling and Data Science Chief in ACE.

In addition to its analytic mission, ACE continues its role as the executive agent for the DoD-mandated Joint Lessons Learned Program. The mission of the DLA JLLP is to enhance joint force collaboration and learning through visibility and transparency of issues and lessons learned throughout DLA and across the spectrum of DLA’s joint force and interagency partner communities. DLA is a master tier participant in JLLP.

In today’s environment of big data and data science driving decisions across organizations big and small, DLA requires the best and latest in analytic capabilities to support strategic decisions to effectively support the warfighter and reduce costs.With its new home, new identity and expanded mission, the ACE team is postured and committed to living up to its new name as DLA’s Analytic Center of Excellence.