Optimising skillsets of Operationally-Ready National Servicemen for Redeployment

Lim Shaofeng Osel, Senior Data Scientist, Enterprise Digital Services, highlights the need for MINDEF/SAF to efficiently deploy Operationally Ready National Servicemen (NSmen) with technical expertise, especially given the rising demand in fields like Data Analytics and Cyber Defence. The main challenge encountered by the team was the lack of standardized education and employment data. The team introduced a string-matching algorithm aligned with SingStat’s national standards to categorize this data. This resulted in a more precise mapping of NSmen’s skills and qualifications. Through a visualization dashboard, the process of identifying suitable NSmen for specific roles was reduced from hours to just 5 minutes. Future enhancements are focused on ensuring up-to-date employment records and further refining specializations. The Challenge With declining National Service (NS) resources, and increasing demand in new growth areas such as Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Defence, it is critical for MINDEF/SAF to optimise the deployment of Operationally Ready National Servicemen (NSmen) with niche technical skillsets, to key domains that require their expertise. Most NSmen are deployed based on their full-time NS vocations and competencies acquired during their full time NS stint. Previously, the SAF identified potential NSmen for re-deployment by seeking recommendations from various units. A small proportion with niche skills (e.g. Medicine, Dentistry, Cyber, Legal etc) would then be re-deployed under specialised deployment schemes each year. <a href="https://medium.com/d-classified/optimising-skillsets-of-operationally-ready-national-servicemen-for-redeployment-786df4465f08">Click Here</a>