FM 5-0, The Operations Process - Federation of American Scientists

Appendix A
commanders, staff, and other partners. Who attends depends on the issue. Commanders establish these
meetings to integrate the staff and enhance planning and decisionmaking within the headquarters.
Commanders also identify staff members to participate in the higher commander’s meeting, including
working groups and boards. (See JP 3-33 for a discussion of the various working groups and boards used
by joint force commanders.)
A-53. The number of meetings and subjects they address depend on the situation and echelon. While
numerous informal meetings occur daily within a headquarters, meetings commonly included in a unit’s
battle rhythm and the cells responsible for them include—
• A shift-change briefing (current operations integration cell).
• An operation update and assessment briefing (current operations integration cell).
• An operations synchronization meeting (current operations integration cell).
• Planning meetings and briefings (plans or future operations cells).
• Working groups and boards (various functional and integrating cells).
A-54. Often, the commander establishes and maintains only those meetings required by the situation.
Commanders—assisted by the COS (XO)—establish, modify, and dissolve meetings as the situation evolves.
The COS (XO) manages the timings of these events through the unit’s battle rhythm. (See paragraphs A-49
through A-51.)
A-55. For each meeting, the unit’s SOPs address—
• Purpose.
• Frequency.
• Composition (chair and participants).
• Inputs and expected outputs.
• Agenda.
A-56. Working groups and boards are types of meetings and are included on the unit’s battle rhythm. A
working group is a grouping of predetermined staff representatives who meet to provide analysis,
coordinate, and provide recommendations for a particular purpose or function. Working groups are
cross-functional by design to synchronize the contributions of multiple CP cells and staff sections. For
example, the targeting working group brings together representatives of all staff elements concerned with
targeting. It synchronizes the contributions of all staff elements with the work of the fires cell. It also
synchronizes fires with future operations and current operations integration cells.
A-57. Typical working groups and the lead cell or staff section at division and corps headquarters include
the—
• Assessment working group (plans or future operations cell).
• Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance working group (intelligence cell).
• Targeting working group (fires cell).
• Information engagement working group (information engagement staff section).
• Protection working group (protection cell).
• Civil affairs operations working group (civil affairs operations staff section).
A-58. The number of subjects that working groups address depends on the situation and echelon. Battalion
and brigade headquarters normally have fewer working groups than higher echelons. Working groups may
convene daily, weekly, monthly, or on call depending on the subject, situation, and echelon.
A-59. A board is a grouping of predetermined staff representatives with delegated decision authority
for a particular purpose or function. Boards are similar to working groups. However, commanders
appoint boards with the purpose to arrive at a decision. When the process or activity being synchronized
requires command approval, a board is the appropriate forum.
A-10 FM 5-0 26 March 2010