On 18 and 19 October 2017, the JALLC welcomed representatives from the NATO Command Structure (NCS) Lessons Learned (LL) community, as they arrived to participate in training on the improved functionalities of the NATO Lessons Learned Portal (NLLP). The NLLP is the Alliance’s centralized hub to share to LL related information. It includes, among other things, a searchable database of NATO's Lessons as well as areas where Communities of Interest can share related information, ideas, and upcoming events. The NLLP is being upgraded in conjunction with NATO's efforts to improve its overall LL process, through a dedicated Optimization Action Plan, as agreed during the NATO LL Conference organized by the JALLC in November 2016. The ultimate goals of the improvement of the NLLP are to ensure greater accountability and transparency of the process in addition to improved sharing of Lessons and related information NATO-wide.

Participants arrived from various NATO locations in Europe and North-America and were presented with new concept of decentralization of NLLP management as well as a demonstration on how to use new and improved NLLP functions which will allow better tracking of Lessons as they are run through the NATO LL process. They were then invited to trial the new NLLP themselves, working through each step of the process of inputting and managing Lessons into the NLLP. JALLC staff conducting the training took the opportunity to remind participants (which will be future trainers of their own staff) of the importance of assuring the quality of the data being included in the NLLP.

The second day was mainly dedicated to receiving from the audience their requirements for adaptations of the NLLP and discussing their relevance and feasibility. The workshop concluded by setting the agenda and agreeing the next steps in the process for the roll-out of the improved NLLP. You can find out more about the NLLP here.

Taking advantage of the gathering of the NCS LL community, on 17 October JALLC also hosted a LL working group (NCS size) chaired by HQ SACT IDLL as well as a trilateral LL working group dedicated to the adaptation of the Bi Strategic Command Directive on the Lessons Learned (Bi-SC 80-06) on the 16th of October. This gathering of different Lessons Learned working groups, together with the LL Portal Workshop, has been referred as “the LL Week in Lisbon”.