DoDAF Architecting

OV-5b Operational Activity Model

The OV-5a and the OV-5b “Operational Activity Model” describe the operations that are normally conducted in the course of achieving a mission or a business goal. It describes operational activities (or tasks); Input/Output flows between activities, and to/from activities that are outside the scope of the Architectural Description.

Guide: DoDAF Architecture Framework Version 2.02 – Page 152

The OV-5a and OV-5b describes the operational activities that are being conducted within the mission or scenario. The OV-5a and OV-5b can be used to:

The OV-5b describes the operational, business, and defense portion of the intelligence community activities associated with the Architectural Description, as well as the:

  • Relationships or dependencies among the activities.
  • Resources exchanged between activities.
  • External interchanges (from/to business activities that are outside the scope of the model).

An Operational Activity is what work is required, specified independently of how it is carried out. To maintain this independence from implementation, logical activities and locations in OV-2 “Operational Resource Flow Description” are used to represent the structure which carries out the Operational Activities. Operational Activities are realized as System Functions (described in SV-4 “Systems Functionality Description”) or Service Functions (described in SvcV-4 Services Functionality Description) which are the how to the Operational Activities what, i.e., they are specified in terms of the resources that carry them out.

The intended usage of the OV-5a and OV-5b includes:

  • Description of activities and workflows
  • Requirements capture
  • Definition of roles and responsibilities
  • Support task analysis to determine training needs
  • Problem space definition
  • Operational planning
  • Logistic support analysis
  • Information flow analysis
   DoDAF Viewpoint Matrix
AV 1 2                      
CV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7            
DIV 1 2 3                    
OV 1 2 3 4 5a 5b 6a 6b 6c        
PV 1 2 3                    
SvcV 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7 8 9 10a 10b 10c
StdV 1 2                      
SV 1 2 3 4 5a 5b 6 7 8 9 10a 10b 10c

AcqTips:  

  • The DoDAF descriptions in this website are very generic and are mostly taken from the DoDAF Architecture Framework website. Make sure you visit the actual website for the most update information and a more thorough explanation of each viewpoint.
  • DoDAF Version 1.0, although outdated, has some good examples on how to construct AV’s, OV’s, and SV’s.

AcqLinks and References:

Updated: 9/27/2017

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