text: Appendix B
  Figure B-3. Providing support to situational understanding
  CONDUCT PRE-MISSION ANALYSIS OF THE OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT (2.2.1)
  B-19. Conduct pre-mission analysis is a continuous task driven by the commander. To perform intelligence
  preparation of the operational environment (IPOE) and the other important intelligence tasks that support
  operations, the intelligence staff must conduct a significant amount of analysis before the receipt of a mission.
  As soon as the intelligence officer and other staff sections begin to collect data on the OE, they should
  organize the data into databases that meet the commander’s visualization requirements. The execution of this
  task must follow all applicable policies and regulations on information collection and operations security.
  B-20. The information and intelligence obtained are refined into knowledge for use in mission analysis
  through functional analysis. Information is obtained through intelligence reach; publicly available
  information (PAI) research; data mining; database access; academic studies, products, or materials;
  intelligence archives; and other information sources. Pre-mission analysis is the foundation for performing
  IPOE and mission analysis. Initial data files are a primary product of the conduct pre-mission analysis of the
  OE task.
  B-21. An operational environment is the aggregate of the conditions, circumstances, and influences that
  affect the employment of capabilities and bear on the decisions of the commander (JP 3-0). For Army forces,
  an OE includes portions of the land, maritime, air, space, and cyberspace domains understood through three
  dimensions (human, information, and physical). The land, maritime, air, and space domains are defined by
  their physical characteristics. Cyberspace, a man-made network of networks, transits and connects the other
  domains. Conduct pre-mission analysis of the OE consists of five tasks: