Public reporting burden for this collection of information it estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project 10704-0188), Washington, DC 20503. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank)REPORT DATE October 2001 REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVEREDFinal, Aug. 1997 -May 1999 TITLE AND SUBTITLE Development of a Personal Computer-Based Enlisted Personnel Allocation System (PC-EPAS) AUTHOR(S)Peter M. Greenston (U. S SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENTApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited. 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)This report summarizes the development of the PC-Based Enlisted Personnel Allocation System (EPAS) through completion of the Functional Description phase (circa 1998). EPAS is a software system designed to introduce person-job-match optimization into REQUEST, the Army's training reservation system. This report reflects the results of research conducted and sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Institute over the 1993 -1998 period. This work established the feasibility of using sophisticated optimization procedures to improve classification efficiency, as well as the additional classification gains made possible by utilizing measures of soldier performance as assignment composites in the classification process. The production version of EPAS, designed as an enhancement to and subsystem of REQUEST, will be transparent to Army applicant and career counselor. Evaluation field-testing is scheduled for FY 2002-2003. 14. SUBJECT Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. in FOREWORDClassification is the process of assigning new enlisted personnel to initial job training in the Army. Investigations of improved methods for doing this have been a prominent part of the research program of the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) since shortly after World War II. The immediate antecedent of this work was ARI's Project B research, conducted over the 1982 -1989 period, which led to the testing of a mainframe prototype. PC prototype development began in the fall of 1993 and was largely completed by the spring of 1997, at which time the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (DCSPER) recommended that ARI continue the work and move toward implementation. This report summarizes the development of a Personal Computer-Based Enlisted Personnel Allocation System (EPAS), designed to enhance the effectiveness of classification, at the point at which the Functional Description (FD) was co...