Polish forces receive help on North Atlantic Treaty Organization procedures.

[The following is a reprint from the Defense Logistics Information Service. For more information visit DLIS on line at www.dla.mil/dlis.]

Experts on international cataloging (aka "codification") from the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) recently provided an overview of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) procedures to key Polish Defense Ministry officials in Warsaw, Poland.

The Polish National Codification Bureau (NCB) sponsored and funded the two-week program. An executive overview was provided to a group of high level officials, one week of training was provided to NCB staff, one day to Military University staff, and three days to an audience of 80 logisticians from the military departments and defense industry. A two-man DLIS team led by Chris Yoder, chief of DLIS' International Cataloging Division, provided 22 separate presentations. These ranged from a history and overview of the US Federal Catalog System which is the basis for the NATO Codification System (NCS) to the technical details of specific types of item identification and how supply item data is managed and distributed in a national/international logistics context.

   "Our challenge was primarily to impress upon the Polish military
   community the importance of codification to national and NATO
   logistics," Yoder said.

The training supported Polish efforts to implement the NATO cataloging procedures nationally. The main challenge for countries such as Poland is to integrate the establishment and management of item related data with the standard logistics operations of their national defense system. The executive audience attending the overview included Mr. Janusz Zemke, First Deputy of the Ministry of Defense; Lieutenant General Lech Konopka, deputy chief of the General Staff; Lieutenant General Marian Mainda, commander of the Warsaw Garrison; Lieutenant General Krzysztof Juniec, general staff-chief of the Logistics Directorate; and Major General Andrzej Pietrzyk, coordinator for the Secretary of State.

The Polish NCB has obtained cataloging software, "SICAD Plus," and they have populated a national catalog file with 13,631 stock numbers. The next phase of the implementation strategy is to begin working with separate item management organizations to develop procedures to expand the range of items cataloged and to integrate use of this data to support daily logistical operations.

John Zellers, Yoder's teammate and DLIS' team leader in international training, described the event as one of many examples of where the US expertise in the development of a national codification system is contributing to the expansion of the NCS system. As a service to countries developing cataloging systems, DLIS operates the eight-week "NCB College," which was attended this year by several of the managers who orchestrated the Warsaw event. The NCS has been the cornerstone for logistics interoperability within NATO, and today almost fifty nations around the world use this system of item identification.

   "The training in Warsaw is one of many initiatives where training
   materials developed by DLIS have been customized to meet the peculiar
   implementation concerns of a country in attendance," Zellers said.

Over the last several years, DLIS has worked with the U.S defense offices in both European and Pacific theaters of operations to provided training or familiarization sessions in a dozen or more nations. A field activity of the Defense Logistics Agency http://www.dla.mil/, DLIS creates, obtains, manages and integrates data from several sources. It shares this data through user-friendly products and services that support logistics operations throughout the Defense Department, other federal agencies, and elements of the private sector. DLIS' expertise in cataloging and information management makes it an important contributor to electronic commerce between the US government and its many suppliers. For additional information about DLIS, visit http://www.dla.mil/dlis or call [phone].

John Zellers, a team leader in international training at the Defense Logistics Information Service, leads one of the 22 classes provided through a two-week program sponsored by the Polish National Codification Bureau for high level officials, bureau staff, Military University staff, and 80 logisticians from the military departments and defense industry.