A tutorial and exercises for the compensation, accessions, and personnel management (CAPM) model

The military has long planning and operational horizons, vast amounts of data that affect the decisionmaking process, and customarily short tours of duty for decisionmaking personnel. The Compensation, Accessions, and Personnel Management (CAPM) system was designed to merge data and tools for analysis and to assist coordination of policy efforts. It is an Excel-based integrated decision support system using several modules written in Visual Basic for Applications. It combines data access, policy projection, and supporting analysis tools in a flexible, integrated platform. The system consists of several levels: (1) a graphic user interface, (2) models, (3) databases, (4) a collection of miscellaneous software tools, and (5) a hardware setup. This document demonstrates the model¹s capabilities in tutorial format and shows how CAPM can be used to model some prototypical policy issues. Its primary purpose is to help users explore the model's capabilities and gain confidence in manipulating its parameters. Companion documents provide the background and theory behind CAPM (MR-1667-AF/OSD) and a users' guide for the model (MR-1668-AF/OSD). The most recent version of CAPM is available on the web at www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1668.