RICHMOND, Va. –
There’s a mystery quietly lurking behind every procurement delay, planning hiccup or unexpected backorder at Defense Logistics Agency Aviation – and no, it’s not sabotage or system failure. It’s something more subtle: a poorly framed question.
At DLA Aviation, where supplying the military with the right parts at the right time is the mission, data acumen isn’t a “nice-to-have,” it’s a full-time detective partner.
According to the Data Acumen – Procurement guidance from Carl Allen, deputy director of Procurement Process Support, understanding the proper value and use of data enables buyers and others in the acquisition community to make better, more informed decisions. “Data analysis can be used to identify cost-saving opportunities, negotiate better pricing with suppliers,” he wrote, “with the goal of ensuring the right goods and services are acquired at the best possible price and quality.”
But as any good analyst will tell you, the most challenging part of solving a problem isn’t the data – it’s defining the problem in the first place.
DLA Aviation’s Adam Hardee, who heads up its Research, Reviews and Analysis Division in the Business Process Support Directorate, projects that concept in his mantra: “Don’t bring a solution – bring the problem.”
“Framing opportunities helps ensure that resources are focused on the right analysis at the right time by clearly defining the problem, aligning efforts with business objectives and prioritizing analyses that drive the most impact,” Hardee said. “We encourage our mission partners to approach us with the ‘problem’ rather than the perceived solution to a problem we haven’t even discussed.”
That step – problem framing – is like a detective stopping at the scene of the crime and asking, “What actually happened here?” before diving into a list of suspects. It might sound simple but correctly framing a problem can turn a dead-end investigation into a breakthrough.
Several years ago, there was a big push to improve timeliness at shop service centers, or SSCs, located alongside repair operations at Robins, Tinker and Hill Air Force Bases. The Distribution Standard System used at the time suggested inventory levels for SSCs, but something wasn’t adding up. Delivery times weren’t improving – and neither were fill rates.
Instead of rushing to reinvent the wheel, Hardee’s team stepped back and examined the business rules behind the data. What they discovered was a game changer.
"The then-current approach did not factor in replenishment timeliness to the SSC from DLA Distribution, and it excluded certain items based on stockability rules that were assumptions rather than true policy," he said. "This resulted in DSS recommending inadequate levels to Aviation shop managers which degraded performance."
In other words, they found the false lead – and reframed the case.
The team developed a new algorithm and introduced the SSC Fill Rate Tool, which factored in Air Force ordering patterns and replenishment times. It worked – so well, in fact, that those historic fill rates are still achieved today. The tool even laid the groundwork for a new supportability system capable of predicting supply chain issues 24 months in advance.
Now, that’s solving the case before it even hits the desk.
Supply Chain Analyst Nick Bekelja had his own detective moment. When the final product on a particular project needed to be trimmed for usability, some stakeholders saw it as a downgrade.
Instead of letting it spiral into skepticism, Bekelja framed the pivot as an improvement.
“Using visualizations to clearly demonstrate the benefits and engaging in deliberate communication tailored to their perspectives, I secured stakeholder buy-in,” he said. “This collaborative approach ultimately enabled me to deliver a superior product despite the necessary pivots.”
Turns out, how a case is presented matters just as much as solving it.
Supply Chain Analyst Lead Eric Milliner’s team has embraced a software called Jira – commonly used in the corporate world for project tracking – and a collaborative framework called Scrum.
“We are using modern tools to improve data acumen via data analytics for DLA Aviation,” Milliner said.
The result? A more agile, responsive team that can break down a big problem and track its parts like a seasoned investigator following multiple leads.
Problem statements, data dashboards, algorithms – they all make great tools. But only if the right problem is being worked in the first place.
Stay tuned for Part II of our data acumen detective series: “Case of the Rogue Gut Feeling: when data isn’t driving the bus.” Because the real danger isn’t in what the data says — it’s in what we assume it says.