6.1. Total System Approach
The total system includes not only the prime mission equipment and software, but also the people who operate, maintain, and support the system; the training and training devices; and the operational and support infrastructure. Human Systems Integration (HSI) practitioners assist program managers by focusing attention on the human part of the system and by integrating and inserting manpower, personnel, training, human factors engineering, environment, safety, occupational health hazards, and personnel survivability considerations into the Defense acquisition process. Consistent with DoD Instruction 5000.02, Enclosure 8, when addressing HSI, the program manager must focus on each of the "domains" of HSI. These domains are outlined and explained beginning in Section 6.3. The focus on the domains; however, should also include a comprehensive integration within and across these domains as outlined in Section 6.2.
6.2 HSI - Integration Focus
The key to a successful HSI strategy is comprehensive integration across the HSI domains and also across other core acquisition and engineering processes. This integration is dependent on an accurate HSI plan and includes the comprehensive integration of requirements. The optimization of total system performance and determination of the most effective, efficient, and affordable design requires upfront requirements analyses. The HSI domains (manpower, personnel, training, environment, safety and occupational health, human factors engineering, survivability, and habitability) can and should be used to help determine and work the science and technology gaps to address all aspects of the system (hardware, software, and human). The program manager should integrate system requirements for the HSI domains with each other, and also with the total system. As work is done to satisfy these requirements, it is vital that each HSI domain anticipate and respond to changes made by other domains or which may be made within other processes or imposed by other program constraints. These integration efforts should be reflected in updates to the requirements, objectives, and thresholds in the Capability Development Documents.
In today's Joint environment, the integration across systems of systems is necessary to achieve a fully networked Joint war fighting capability. The warfighter requires a fully networked environment and must be able to operate efficiently and effectively across the continuum of systems from initial recognition of the opportunity to engage through to mission completion. To accomplish this, HIS domains and human capabilities and constraints, should be considered in analytic assumptions, through system-of-systems analysis, modeling, and testing. This provides opportunities for integration, synchronization, collaboration, and coordination of capabilities to meet human centered requirements. A fully integrated investment strategy with joint sponsorship from the Materiel Development Decision on through the series of incremental developments may be required.
Values for objectives and thresholds, and definitions for parameters contained in the Capabilities Documents, Manpower Estimate, Test and Evaluation Master Plan, Acquisition Plan and Acquisition Program Baseline, should be consistent. This ensures consistency and thorough integration of program interests throughout the acquisition process.
6.2.1. Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) and Integrated Product Teams (IPTs)
DoD acquisition policy stresses the importance of IPPD. IPPD is a management technique that integrates all acquisition activities starting with capabilities definition through systems engineering, production, fielding/deployment and operational support in order to optimize the design, manufacturing, business, and supportability processes. At the core of the IPPD technique are IPTs. Human Systems Integration (HSI) should be a key consideration during the formation of IPTs. HSI representatives should be included as members of systems engineering and design teams and other IPTs that deal with human-oriented acquisition issues or topics. The various HSI domain experts should have the opportunity to work in an integrated structure to comprehensively impact the system. Domain experts working separately and in different IPT structures may make significant changes / inputs to the system without fully appreciating effects their changes may have on other domains. Only by working closely together can the HSI practitioners bring an optimum set of human interfaces to the Systems Engineering and Systems Acquisition Processes. HSI participants assist in IPPD as part of the IPTs by ensuring the following:
- HSI parameters/requirements in the Initial Capabilities Document (ICD), Capability Development Document, and Capability Production Document are based upon and consistent with the user representative's strategic goals and strategies. These parameters/requirements are addressed throughout the acquisition process starting in the Capabilities Based Assessment CBA and ICD and continuing throughout engineering design, trade-off analysis, testing, fielding/deployment, and operational support;
- Performance and HSI domain issues, identified in legacy systems and by design capability risk reviews, are used to establish a preliminary list for risk management. These issues should be evaluated and managed throughout the system's life cycle at a management level consistent with the hazard;
- The factors, tools, methodologies, risk assessment/mitigations, and set of assumptions used by the acquisition community to assess manpower, personnel, and training requirements, measure human-in-the-loop system performance, and evaluate safety, occupational health hazards, survivability, and habitability are consistent with what the functional communities/user representatives use to evaluate performance and establish performance based metrics;
- The factors used by the acquisition community to develop cost estimates are consistent with the 1) manpower and personnel requirements reported in the Manpower Estimate; 2) training requirements reported in the DoD Component training plans; and 3) assessments of safety and health hazards documented in the Programmatic Environment, Safety, and Occupational Health Evaluation; and,
- The Manpower Estimates and training strategies reported during the acquisition milestone reviews are reflected in the manning documents, training plans, personnel rosters, and budget submissions when the systems are fielded.
6.2.2. HSI Strategy, Risk, and Risk Mitigation
The development of an HSI strategy should be initiated early in the acquisition process, when the need for a new capability or improvements to an existing capability is first established. To satisfy DoD Instruction 5000.02, the program manager should have a plan for HSI in place prior to entering Engineering and Manufacturing Development. The program manager should describe the technical and management approach for meeting HSI parameters in the capabilities documents, and identify and provide ways to manage any HSI-related cost, schedule, or performance issues that could adversely affect program execution.
When a defense system has complex human-systems interfaces; significant manpower or training costs; personnel concerns; or safety, health hazard, habitability, survivability or human factors engineering issues; the program manager should use the HSI plan to describe the process to identify solutions. HSI risks and risk mitigation should be addressed in the program manger's risk management program.
The HSI plan should address potential readiness or performance risks and how these risks should be identified and mitigated. For example, skill degradation can impact combat capability and readiness. The HSI plan should call for studies to identify operations that pose the highest risk of skill decay. When analysis indicates that the combat capability of the system is tied to the operator's ability to perform discrete tasks that are easily degraded (such as those contained in a set of procedures), solutions such as system design, procedural changes or embedded training should be considered to address the problem. Information overload and requirements for the warfighter to dynamically integrate data from multiple sources can result in degradation of situational awareness and overall readiness. Careful consideration of common user interfaces, composable information sources, and system workload management will mitigate this risk. An on-board "performance measurements capability" can also be developed to support immediate feedback to the operators/maintainers and possibly serve as a readiness measure to the unit commander. The lack of available ranges and other training facilities, when deployed, are issues that should be addressed. The increased use of mission rehearsal, as part of mission planning, and the preparation process and alternatives supporting mission rehearsal should be addressed in the HSI plan. Team skills training and joint battle space integration training should also be considered in the HSI plan and tied to readiness. Additionally, HSI issues should be addressed at system technical reviews and milestone decision reviews.
The program manager's Programmatic Environment, Safety, and Occupational Health (ESOH) Evaluation (PESHE) describes the strategy for integrating ESOH considerations into the systems engineering process and defines how PESHE is linked to the effort to integrate HSI considerations into systems engineering. The PESHE also describes how ESOH risks are managed and how ESOH and HSI efforts are integrated. It summarizes ESOH risk information (hazard identification, risk assessment, mitigation decisions, residual risk acceptance, and evaluation of mitigation effectiveness). The HSI Strategy should address the linkage between HSI and ESOH and how the program has been structured to avoid duplication of effort.
DoD Directive 5000.01 prescribes supportability comparable to cost, performance, and schedule in program decision-making. Program managers should establish a logistics support concept (e.g., two level, three level), training plans, and manpower and personnel concepts, that when taken together, provide for cost-effective, total, life-cycle support. MIL-HDBK-29612-1A, -2A, -3A, & -4A may be used as a guide for Instructional Systems Development/Systems Approach to the training and education process for the development of instructional materials. Manpower, personnel, training analyses should be tied to supportability analyses and should be addressed in the HSI plan.
Program risks related to cost, schedule, performance, supportability, and/or technology can negatively impact program affordability and supportability. The program manager should prepare a "fall-back" position to mitigate any such negative effect on HSI objectives. For example, if the proposed system design relies heavily on new technology or software to reduce operational or support manning requirements, the program manager should be prepared with design alternatives to mitigate the impact of technology or software that is not available when expected.
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