Dear Grthumongous,
Nice to see you again, and apologise for not being to help you with
your other question.
In the administrative science, "Operational planning is setting out
clearly the implementation of the strategic plan against specific
objectives. " (SOURCE: Administration and Cost of Elections Project,
<http://www.aceproject.org/main/english/em/eme01.htm>). Military
operational planning is no exception, and its implementation in the
tactical level (see exaplanation of the tactical level bellow) is the
tactical execution.
A Danish site clarifies a little more:
"Operational planning is the process of producing operational plans.
An operational plan is a description of military operations, with a
prescribed order, that are intended to achieve a desired end state.
Operational planning is one of the functions in military command and
control " (SOURCE: Model-based Operational Planning Using Coloured
Petri Nets <http://www.daimi.au.dk/CPnets/workshop02/cpn/slides/l_zhang.pdf>).
If you don't trust the army of a country that last dominated the world
several centuries ago, here are several further explanations:
Military activity is usually defined in three hierarchical levels:
- Strategic
- Operational
- Tactical
These three levels also imply the level of planning and execution.
While the goal is (at least in theory) supposed to be formed by the
political level; it is supposed to be translated into a strategic
command/goal in the administrative level. It is supposed to be
transfered to the main operational units - those who actually
specialise in one arena or in one military discipline. The heads of
these operational units should translate these commands into a
tactical execution, that would really depend on (relatively)
small-scale orders: a very specific area, how it applies to a specific
unit and its abilities, etc.
It could look like that:
Leader ---> Defines goal: to protect our country and its interests; to
promote those interests.
Chief of Staff - receives strategic goal; defines a strategic plan and
commands (among others) his head of admirality ---> Secure the marine
arena (strategic/operational command).
Head of Admirality - receives operational command and orders (among
others) his head of marine commando ----> Make sure that no enemy ship
crosses the ABC line! (this could be still considered an operational
command, as the head of the admirality is responsible for the whole
marine arena, and does not forsee tactical details).
Head of Marine Commando - tells his officers ----> :
1. Attack with small forces of unit A ship XYZ that is heading towards us.
2. Small forces from unit B should sink the enemy ship on Port BBB
before it launches
3. etc.
The officers execute it on the tactical level.
I hope this answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it.
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