SmartStaff: a support concept for staff planning

A new concept has been evaluated to support decision making in teams, The concept encompasses a shared representation and interactive use of planning information in a team environment, and consists of individual workplaces, generation and representation of ideas, and shared interactive large screen displays. This so-called SmartStaff concept has been evaluated during a simulated operation by the Task Group Staff of the Royal Netherlands Navy. By means of questionnaires the staff members were asked to assess their current work environment and the potentials of SmartStaff. The results show that the concept provides better general support for group decision making. SmartStaff supported better the presentation and conveyance of ideas, facilitated time management and decreased the ambiguities of the plans presented. However, the quality of the final plan did not improve.