CNA’s Slider Software Now Accessible on Navy/Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI)

Alexandria, Va., August 2—Slider, the naval scheduling program developed by analysts and programmers at CNA's Center for Naval Analyses, is now available to classified users through the Department of the Navy’s network, the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI).

The Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research and development center for the Navy and Marine Corps, is operated by CNA, a not-for-profit research organization.

Slider, a Windows desktop application, provides users with graphical tools they can use to build, manipulate, display, and analyze top-level employment schedules for their operational forces. Development of the program, which began in 2000 as a CNA-initiated research project, was originally focused on Navy ship scheduling. It has since expanded to include a wide variety of forces, including Marine Corps units.

In 2006, the Navy’s U.S. Fleet Forces (USFF) Command, based in Norfolk, Va., assumed sponsorship of Slider development, and has worked with the Center to evolve the software into the top-level tool the Navy needs for force employment schedule development, exploration, analysis, and display. One of USFF’s goals for Slider this year has been to complete NMCI certification of the software so that it could become available to operational planners.

“Completing NMCI certification is a very important milestone for Slider,” said Dr. Stuart G. Dunn, the program’s lead developer. “We’ve seen growth in Slider usage among Navy schedulers in recent years, but on non-NMCI machines—mostly stand-alone PCs. This new availability of the software on NMCI will provide convenient, networked access at most Navy facilities.”

The Marine Corps' use of Slider is also growing. Marine force planners at Marines Corps Forces Command (MARFORCOM) began using Slider in fiscal 2008. MARFORCOM, also based in Norfolk, is currently sponsoring Slider developments aimed at more fully meeting Marine Corps needs for a force scheduling tool.

For more information on Slider, contact Dunn at dunns@cna.org or 703.824.2444.

If you have access to a classified computer network, you can access Slider through CNA’s SIPRNet website, www.cna.navy.smil.mil.