The Knowledge Application and Utilization Framework Applied to Defense COTS: A Research Synthesis for Outsourced Innovation

Purpose -- Militaries of developing nations face increasing budget pressures, high operations tempo, a blitzing pace of technology, and adversaries that often meet or beat government capabilities using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies. The adoption of COTS products into defense acquisitions has been offered to help meet these challenges by essentially outsourcing new product development and innovation. This research summarizes extant research to develop a framework for managing the innovative and knowledge flows. Design/Methodology/Approach – A literature review of 62 sources was conducted with the objectives of identifying antecedents (barriers and facilitators) and consequences of COTS adoption. Findings – The DoD COTS literature predominantly consists of industry case studies, and there’s a strong need for further academically rigorous study. Extant rigorous research implicates the importance of the role of knowledge management to government innovative thinking that relies heavily on commercial suppliers. Research Limitations/Implications – Extant academically rigorous studies tend to depend on measures derived from work in information systems research, relying on user satisfaction as the outcome. Our findings indicate that user satisfaction has no relationship to COTS success; technically complex governmental purchases may be too distant from users or may have socio-economic goals that supersede user satisfaction. The knowledge acquisition and utilization framework worked well to explain the innovative process in COTS. Practical Implications – Where past research in the commercial context found technological knowledge to outweigh market knowledge in terms of importance, our research found the opposite. Managers either in government or marketing to government should be aware of the importance of market knowledge for defense COTS innovation, especially for commercial companies that work as system integrators. Originality/Value – From the literature emerged a framework of COTS product usage and a scale to measure COTS product appropriateness that should help to guide COTS product adoption decisions and to help manage COTS product implementations ex post

A generic operational simulation for early design civil unmanned aerial vehicles

Contemporary aerospace programmes often suffer from large cost overruns, delivery delays and inferior product quality. This is caused in part by poor predictive quality of the early design phase processes with regards to the operational environment of a product. This paper develops the idea of a generic operational simulation that can help designers to rigorously analyse and test their early product concepts. The simulation focusses on civil Unmanned Air Vehicle products and missions to keep the scope of work tractable. The research agenda is introduced along with ideas, initial results and future work. Designers specify details about their product, its environment and anticipated operational procedures. The simulation returns information that can help to estimate the value of the product using the value-driven design approach. Information will include recurring and non-recurring mission cost items. The research aim is to show that an operational simulation can improve early design concepts, thereby reducing delays and cost overruns. Moreover, a trade-off between mission fidelity and model generality is sought along with a generic ontology of civil Unmanned Air Vehicle missions and guidelines about capturing operational informatio

The business of invention: considering project management in the arts and industry

Project management has well developed theoretical constructs and is becom- ing increasingly well established in core strategy beyond the industrial and corporate sec- tors from which it first emerged. With a concurrent increase in the significance of innova- tion, project managing for creativity is an area of research and enquiry of considerable sig- nificance. Notionally occupying polar opposite cultural positions in terms of perspectives and processes of creativity, project management in the arts is widely considered to vary significantly from corporate strategy and process. If business were to be more generally characterised by ‘organisation’ and discipline, the arts are more commonly celebrated for disorganisation, indiscipline, and the fundamental challenge to organisation itself. Consid- ering both the confluences and variations between established project management theory in business and practice in the arts, this text introduces theoretical constructs pertaining to creative processes and highlights areas for consideration in the understanding and further development of project management theory

Prospective tendencies of coal mining risk management

Purpose. The main purpose is to identify underground coal mining risks as well as approaches for their reasonable and efficient management taking into consideration internal production reserves in order to improve technological processes’ efficiency and operational efficiency. Methods. In order to achieve a target goal, the paper highlights and analyzes production processes involving the highest risk level. Methods of analogous risk characteristics, systematic approach towards developing a system of coal mining risk management as well as methods of distributed control have been applied to develop risk management innovative methods. Findings. The reasons stipulating coal mining risks based upon geologic, technologic, and economic aspects of mining practice as well as imperfection of human psychology, have been defined. Attention is drawn to the necessity to involve efficient counterweights relying upon additional bonuses for detecting violations, innovative trainings, and training of personnel to prevent safety inhibitions. A matrix structure has been demonstrated as the optimum structure for risk management, which should implement the idea of distributed control. Combination of effective operative information support with a system of open communication helps to develop conditions to change attitude of participants of underground coal mining towards risks to ensure safety. Originality. For the first time, the reasonability of combining matrix structure with distributed risk management has been demonstrated as well as substitution of unifactor discrete cumulative characteristic of explosion probability or methane ignition for analogous characteristic, dependent on several factors. Practical implications. Performance assessment throughout coal mines’ operations improves reliability and safety of production processes and mining practices as well as provides for proactive risk management.Мета. Виявлення ризиків підземного вуглевидобутку, а також підходів до їх раціонального та оперативного управління з урахуванням внутрішніх резервів виробництва для підвищення ефективності технологічних процесів і операцій. Методика. Для досягнення поставленої мети в роботі виділені та проаналізовані виробничі процеси, що володіють найбільш високим ступенем ризиків, а для розробки інноваційних шляхів управління ризиками використані методи аналогових характеристик ризику, системний підхід до створення системи керуванням ризиками вуглевидобутку, методи розподіленого управління. Результати. Надано характеристику причин, що визивають ризики вуглевидобутку, заснованих на геологічних, технологічних та економічних аспектах гірничого виробництва, а також викликаних недосконалістю людської психології. Акцентовано увагу на необхідності залучення ефективних противаг, заснованих на додатковому преміювання за виявлення порушень, на інноваційних тренінгах і навчанні персоналу для запобігання порушенню безпеки. Показано, що оптимальною структурою управління ризиками є матрична, яка повинна реалізувати принцип розподіленого управління. Поєднання ефективного оперативного інформаційного забезпечення з системою відкритої комунікації дозволяє створити умови для зміни ставлення учасників процесу підземного вуглевидобутку до ризиків для забезпечення безпеки. Наукова новизна. Вперше показана доцільність комбінування матричної структури і розподіленого управління ризиками, а також заміни однофакторної дискретної кумулятивної характеристики ймовірності вибуху або спалаху метану на аналогову, що залежить від декількох факторів. Практична значимість. Врахування результатів роботи при функціонуванні вугільних шахт підвищує надійність і безпеку виробничих процесів та операцій видобутку, а також забезпечує проактивне управління його ризиками.Цель. Выявление рисков подземной угледобычи, а также подходов к их рациональному и оперативному управлению с учетом внутренних резервов производства для повышения эффективности технологических процессов и операций. Методика. Для достижения поставленной цели в работе выделены и проанализированы производственные процессы, обладающие наиболее высокой степенью рисков, а для разработки инновационных путей управления рисками использованы методы аналоговых характеристик риска, системный подход к созданию системы управлением рисков угледобычи, методы распределенного управления. Результаты. Дана характеристика причин, вызывающих риски угледобычи, основанных на геологических, технологических и экономических аспектах горного производства, а также вызванных несовершенством человеческой психологии. Акцентировано внимание на необходимости задействования эффективных противовесов, основанных на дополнительном премировании за выявление нарушений, на инновационных тренингах и обучении персонала для предотвращения нарушения безопасности. Показано, что оптимальной структурой управления рисками является матричная, которая должна реализовать принцип распределенного управления. Сочетание эффективного оперативного информационного обеспечения с системой открытой коммуникации позволяет создать условия для изменения отношения участников процесса подземной угледобычи к рискам для обеспечения безопасности. Научная новизна. Впервые показана целесообразность комбинирования матричной структуры и распределенного управления рисками, а также замены однофакторной дискретной кумулятивной характеристики вероятности взрыва или вспышки метана на аналоговую, зависящую от нескольких факторов Практическая значимость. Учет результатов работы при функционировании угольных шахт повышает надежность и безопасность производственных процессов и операций добычи, а также обеспечивает проактивное управления ее рисками.The paper did not originate from any project and no funding was raised

How much does a man cost? A dirty, dull, and dangerous application

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This study illuminates the many abilities of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). One area of importance includes the UAV's capability to assist in the development, implementation, and execution of crisis management. This research focuses on UAV uses in pre and post crisis planning and accomplishments. The accompaniment of unmanned vehicles with base teams can make crisis management plans more reliable for the general public and teams faced with tasks such as search and rescue and firefighting. In the fight for mass acceptance of UAV integration, knowledge and attitude inventories were collected and analyzed. Methodology includes mixed method research collected by interviews and questionnaires available to experts and ground teams in the UAV fields, mining industry, firefighting and police force career field, and general city planning crisis management members. This information was compiled to assist professionals in creation of general guidelines and recommendations for how to utilize UAVs in crisis management planning and implementation as well as integration of UAVs into the educational system. The results from this study show the benefits and disadvantages of strategically giving UAVs a role in the construction and implementation of crisis management plans and other areas of interest. The results also show that the general public is lacking information and education on the abilities of UAVs. This education gap shows a correlation with negative attitudes towards UAVs. Educational programs to teach the public benefits of UAV integration should be implemented

Supporting group maintenance through prognostics-enhanced dynamic dependability prediction

Condition-based maintenance strategies adapt maintenance planning through the integration of online condition monitoring of assets. The accuracy and cost-effectiveness of these strategies can be improved by integrating prognostics predictions and grouping maintenance actions respectively. In complex industrial systems, however, effective condition-based maintenance is intricate. Such systems are comprised of repairable assets which can fail in different ways, with various effects, and typically governed by dynamics which include time-dependent and conditional events. In this context, system reliability prediction is complex and effective maintenance planning is virtually impossible prior to system deployment and hard even in the case of condition-based maintenance. Addressing these issues, this paper presents an online system maintenance method that takes into account the system dynamics. The method employs an online predictive diagnosis algorithm to distinguish between critical and non-critical assets. A prognostics-updated method for predicting the system health is then employed to yield well-informed, more accurate, condition-based suggestions for the maintenance of critical assets and for the group-based reactive repair of non-critical assets. The cost-effectiveness of the approach is discussed in a case study from the power industry