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

Early Phase Cost Models for Agile Software Processes in the US DoD

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ESEM.2017.10Background: Software effort estimates are necessary and critical at an early phase for decision makers to establish initial budgets, and in a government context to select the most competitive bidder for a contract. The challenge is that estimated software requirements is the only size information available at this stage, compounded with the newly increasing adoption of agile processes in the US DoD. Aims: The objectives are to improve cost estimation by investigating available sizing measures, and providing practical effort estimation models for agile software development projects during the contract bidding phase or earlier. Method: The analysis explores the effects of independent variables for product size, peak staff, and domain on effort. The empirical data for model calibration is from 20 industrial projects completed recently for the US DoD, among a larger dataset of recent projects using other lifecycle processes. Results: Statistical results showed that initial software requirements is a valid size metric for estimating agile software development effort. Prediction accuracy improves when peak staff and domain are added as inputs to the cost models. Conclusion: These models may be used for estimates of agile projects, and evaluating software development contract cost proposals with inputs available during the bidding phase or earlier

Software acquisition: a business strategy analysis

The paper argues that there are new insights to be gained from a strategic analysis of requirements engineering. The paper is motivated by a simple question: what does it take to be a world class software acquirer? The question has relevance for requirements engineers because for many organisations market pressures mean that software is commonly acquired rather than developed from scratch. The paper builds on the work of C. H. Fine (1998) who suggests that product, process and supply chain should be designed together, i.e., 3D concurrent engineering. Using a number of reference theories, it proposes a systematic way of carrying out 3D concurrent engineering. The paper concludes that the critical activity in supply chain design is the design of the distribution of skills and the nature of contract

Naval Combat System Product Line Architecture Economics

Acquisition Research Program Sponsored Report SeriesSponsored Acquisition Research & Technical ReportsA Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach has been developed at the Naval Postgraduate School that integrates parametric cost and product modeling methods for economic trade-off analysis of system product lines. The research assesses the economic consequences of DoD product line options and has been refining a framework for others to use and adapt. This report provides details of the methodology and its application to several empirical case studies. The modeling framework includes a reference architecture and cost model for a general combat system product line that is extensible to other DoD and government domains. It has been applied to assess the economics of Navy combat system product line architecture approaches in coordinated case studies. The case studies were performed for a three-tier cruise missile system, the Aegis ship software product line, and an Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) cross-domain product line architecture for air, surface, and sub-surface applications. An overall business case analysis for DoD product line practices was performed synthesizing the case studies with recommendations generated.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

New Effort and Schedule Estimation Models for Agile Processes in the U.S. DoD

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumThe DoD’s new software acquisition pathway prioritizes speed of delivery, advocating agile software processes. Estimating the cost and schedule of agile software projects is critical at an early phase to establish baseline budgets and to select competitive bidders. The challenge is that common ag-ile sizing measures such as story points and user stories are not practical for early estimation as these are often reported after contract award in DoD. This study provides a set of parametric effort and schedule estimation models for agile projects using a sizing measure that is available before proposal evaluation based on data from 36 DoD agile projects. The results suggest that initial software requirements, defined as the sum of functions and external interfaces, is an effective sizing measure for early estimation of effort and schedule of agile projects. The models’ accuracy improves when application domain groups and peak staff are added as inputs.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

New Effort and Schedule Estimation Models for Agile Processes in the U.S. DoD

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumThe DoD’s new software acquisition pathway prioritizes speed of delivery, advocating agile software processes. Estimating the cost and schedule of agile software projects is critical at an early phase to establish baseline budgets and to select competitive bidders. The challenge is that common ag-ile sizing measures such as story points and user stories are not practical for early estimation as these are often reported after contract award in DoD. This study provides a set of parametric effort and schedule estimation models for agile projects using a sizing measure that is available before proposal evaluation based on data from 36 DoD agile projects. The results suggest that initial software requirements, defined as the sum of functions and external interfaces, is an effective sizing measure for early estimation of effort and schedule of agile projects. The models’ accuracy improves when application domain groups and peak staff are added as inputs.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

An Empirical Methodology for Engineering Human Systems Integration

The systems engineering technical processes are not sufficiently supported by methods and tools that quantitatively integrate human considerations into early system design. Because of this, engineers must often rely on qualitative judgments or delay critical decisions until late in the system lifecycle. Studies reveal that this is likely to result in cost, schedule, and performance consequences. This dissertation presents a methodology to improve the application of systems engineering technical processes for design. This methodology is mathematically rigorous, is grounded in relevant theory, and applies extant human subjects data to critical systems development challenges. The methodology is expressed in four methods that support early systems engineering activities: a requirements elicitation method, a function allocation method, an input device design method, and a display layout design method. These form a coherent approach to early system development. Each method is separately discussed and demonstrated using a prototypical system development program. In total, this original and significant work has a broad range of systems engineer applicability to improve the engineering of human systems integration

System Qualities Ontology, Tradespace and Affordability (SQOTA) Project Phase 5

Motivation and Context: One of the key elements of the SERC's research strategy is transforming the practice of systems engineering and associated management practices- "SE and Management Transformation (SEMT)." The Grand Challenge goal for SEMT is to transform the DoD community 's current systems engineering and management methods, processes, and tools (MPTs) and practices away from sequential, single stovepipe system, hardware-first ,document-driven, point- solution, acquisition-oriented approaches; and toward concurrent, portfolio and enterprise-oriented, hardware-software-human engineered, model-driven, set-based, full life cycle approaches.This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)) under Contract H98230-08-D-0171 and HQ0034-13-D-0004 (TO 0060).This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)) under Contract H98230-08-D-0171 and HQ0034-13-D-0004 (TO 0060)