CHAPTER 3 - DATA MANAGEMENT
3. Data Management
3.1 Data Management Introduction
3.1.1 Data Collection
3.1.2 Access to Data
3.2 Recommended Authoritative Data Sources
3.2.1 Authoritative Data Sources
Table 2 : Data Source Table
3.2.2 Data Control and Configuration
3. Data Management
3.1 Data Management Introduction
3.1.1 Data Collection
Early in the BCA, the program office should discuss and plan for locating, collecting, verifying, and using data within decision support products. The data collection should include both benefit/non-monetary factors, as well as financial data. The PSM should work very closely with the product support business analysts, logisticians, and contracting officers to ensure that the proper data is contracted for and executed from the beginning of the life cycle of the program. Likewise, due diligence for data collection and availability must be ensured from appropriate government sources. Not collecting the correct functional and cost data can reduce the effectiveness of the BCA and hinder, delay, or inhibit later decision making efforts. As the data is collected, the program office should execute a cohesive plan for archiving and efficiently dispersing the data to applicable stakeholders.
3.1.2 Access to Data
The program office should understand and specifically dictate from the beginning how the data will be made available for the PSM to conduct the Product Support BCA. This should be discussed and agreed upon by all parties following the ground rules for managing intellectual property. For instance, will the data be provided via a web-access system, MS Excel, or verbally? Will it be provided in hard copy or electronically? If it is provided electronically, will it be in Excel or PDF? MS Excel is highly recommended not only for program office and analytical purposes, but also for higher level agency review and oversight.
3.2 Recommended Authoritative Data Sources
3.2.1 Authoritative Data Sources
The governance board should also approve the authoritative data sources from which the Product Support BCA team will conduct the financial and non-financial analysis. This is a critical component to the Product Support BCA and repeatedly cited as a weakness in existing Product Support BCAs by numerous GAO reports.[1] The criteria for the authoritative data source should be: accurate, comprehensive, consistent, timely, available, and accepted. This approval step may occur numerous times in the course of the BCA process as data sources are revealed.
Use the template below as an example for documenting data sources.
|
Data Element
|
Source
|
POC/Office
|
Contact Info
|
Date Data Generated
|
Used for. .
|
|
Example 1
|
Database 1
|
Person 1/Office
|
Email/phone
|
Date data was created
|
Data element used to calculate. . .
|
|
Example 2
|
Database 2
|
Person 2/Office
|
Email/phone
|
Date data was created
|
Data element used to calculate. . .
|
|
Example 3
|
Database 3
|
Person 3/Office
|
Email/phone
|
Date data was created
|
Data element used to calculate. . .
|
Table 2: Data source table
3.2.2 Data Control and Configuration
In addition to collecting quality and relevant data, the PM should encourage open book style accounting for both the organic and contractor support. PSMs should seek out and use information technology tools to automate and reduce the level of effort required to collect and analyze programmatic data. This ensures that the BCA team is able to access relevant information and compare like data points.
As a general note, research and data management is the responsibility of all the appropriate roles involved in conducting the BCA. Each functional area lead is the expert for their particular requirements and sources of data to perform their respective analyses. As such, each functional representative should spearhead the solicitation and configuration control of Product Support BCA data in conjunction with the data manager and other members of the BCA team.
Make efforts to only use non-proprietary methods in a Product Support BCA and ensure that all data and processes will be available to the program office so that subsequent iterations of the BCA may be accomplished or updated by the government or a contractor other than the original creator of the BCA. The government will have the rights to fully use the data and processes contained in a Product Support BCA in any manner and for any purpose the government deems proper, including but not limited to executing BCA recommendations and/or follow-on analyses.
