Automatic Electronic Transcription of Handwritten Forms Amlan Kundu, Principal Investigator
Enterprise Dynamics: An Architecture-based, Decision-driven Approach Ken Hoffman, Principal Investigator Problems:
Large complex systems acquisition programs have high failure rates attributable to various systemic factors. The national challenges addressed in these acquisitions require multiple agents working in a heavily networked environment at both technical and organizational levels. Improved quantitative and qualitative methods are needed to resolve the performance, organizational, and information dynamics of enterprises and improve acquisition processes and the transition to effective operations.
Objectives:
We will describe, model, and analyze the interactions within an enterprise, stakeholders, and the external environment, as large-scale systems acquisition programs are undertaken. Research will focus on strategies and governance policies in general use and on alternative fast track strategies for heavily networked enterprises that involve organizational interoperability among agencies, as well as sharing of services, data, and technical infrastructure.
Activities:
This collaborative project with MIT's Engineering Systems Division will integrate qualitative and quantitative factors. We will develop a framework and a model that covers all aspects of enterprise architecture and the decisions that drive its evolution and implementations. We will analyze the dynamics of acquisition policies and strategies, enterprise transformation attributes and metrics, and collaborate with research on complex adaptive systems, enterprise systems engineering (ESE), and other MITRE resources.
Impact:
Enterprise dynamics will provide a foundation discipline for ESE that incorporates enterprise architectures and decision theory. The research will provide insights into critical success factors in the acquisition of large-scale systems in complex operational environments. Specific recommendations will be developed for improved management and governance policies that are sensitive to the operational patterns and the dimensions of the system to be implemented.
Approved for Public Release: 07-0376 Presentation [PDF]
Enterprise Systems Acquisition Using Venture Capital Concepts Renee Stevens, Principal Investigator Problems:
Federal acquisition confronts long-standing, well-publicized challenges. Enterprise systems, characterized by evolving requirements, complex linkages across boundaries, and political, organizational, and economic issues, introduce additional challenges. These challenges are being recognized and there is a growing interest in tailoring the acquisition process to deal with the complexity and uncertainty inherent in enterprise systems.
Objectives:
The goal of this research is to contribute a strategic, forward-looking view of enterprise systems acquisition. Specifically, the research objectives are to explore venture capital (VC) approaches and determine whether and how they can be used to improve the acquisition of enterprise systems in the federal arena, and to develop and pilot elements or an enterprise systems acquisition model.
Activities:
Research activities will be organized into three overlapping phases. Phase I entails inventorying VC and federal acquisition methods, developing a VC-derived enterprise acquisition model, and identifying opportunities for early pilots. Phase II will validate and refine the model features. Phase III will leverage early pilots to apply the proposed approach to a government program.
Impact:
The research will develop within MITRE a rich understanding of enterprise systems acquisition as a complement to the evolving discipline of enterprise systems engineering. It will foster a rich dialogue across the federal acquisition community, including policy makers, practitioners, and academicians, and develop the basis for an alternative set of processes for the acquisition of enterprise systems.
Approved for Public Release: 07-0282 Presentation [PDF]
Key Success Indicators of Integrated Project Teams in Civil Agencies Rob Creekmore, Principal Investigator Problems:
The IRS and other agencies frequently create cross-functional teams, also known as "Integrated Project Teams" (IPTs), to assure input and consensus from all stakeholders during key phases of the project life cycle. Despite frequent and increasing reliance on IPTs there is little guidance or research on how to form, sustain, and assess successful IPTs within the IRS or other civilian agencies.
Objectives:
Determine key success indicators of IPTs and how they can be applied to create successful IPTs in the future with a measurable positive impact on MITS modernization efforts.
Activities:
Identify similar models on forming and sustaining IPTs based on existing research and guidance. Gather data from IPT participants at IRS and other agencies through interviews, focus groups, and documentation. Conduct an initial thematic analysis of the data then partner with a cross-section of the IPT interviewees to develop key success indicators.
Impact:
Skillful use of IPTs can potentially avoid the miscommunications, misunderstandings, and lack of coordination that can plague modernization projects. It would begin to fill a deficit in understanding a critical factor in our sponsor's modernization efforts: reliance on IPTs to effectively bring together key stakeholders. This could be incorporated into essential ELC guidance and training of future government leaders.
Approved for Public Release: 06-1464 Presentation [PDF]
Laika EHR Testing Framework Rob McCready, Principal Investigator Problems:
Accelerating the adoption of interoperable Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is in the national interest of the United States. This is highlighted by President Bush's 2004 stated goal that "every American should have an electronic health record by 2014." MITRE's system engineering skills were identified by Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) to automate interoperability testing of EHR systems.
Objectives:
MITRE is leading the design and development of Laika, an open source tool to assess interoperability of EHR continuity of care data. Laika will provide an "interoperability report card" of candidate EHR systems. This analysis will be beneficial to the CCHIT evaluation process, vendors seeking certification, and United States healthcare provider community considering selection of an EHR for their practice.
Activities:
MITRE is collaborating with CCHIT, the sole body recognized by US Health and Human Services to certify EHRs. The Laika software is freely available to anyone via an Apache open source license. Anyone can download, use and modify the Laika software. Through Laika, MITRE is helping to build an open source healthcare IT community which includes government, commercial and non-profit organizations.
Impact:
Starting in July 2008, CCHIT will use Laika to test and certify US EHR systems for data interoperability. MITRE is providing an open source tool to allow anyone to assess data interoperability of EHR systems. MITRE is combining technical software capabilities with an understanding of the clinical healthcare culture to increase use of interoperable EHR systems in the US.
Approved for Public Release: 08-0517 Presentation [PDF]
Multimodal Medical Data Capture and Representation Qian Hu, Principal Investigator Problems:
An obstacle to widespread adoption of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems is the difficulty of capturing structured clinical information from unstructured data. Automatic speech recognition (ASR) and handwriting recognition (HR) have been applied to EMR systems without much success, due to lack of required accuracy, poor integration with hospitals' workflow, and the problem of converting doctors' natural speech or handwritten notes to a standard format.
Objectives:
This project will research and develop algorithms and methodologies to (1) enhance and adapt ASR/HR to the medical domain/specialty to enable speech and handwriting as reliable data capture methods, (2) use a multimodal method to interface with EMR systems, and (3) use information from multimodalities, medical domain knowledge, and prior EMRs to interpret and convert captured free speech and handwriting to standard expressions.
Activities:
We will evaluate medical ASR engines and HR to identify areas for enhancement and adaptation, evaluate open source EMR systems, interview doctors, and visit hospitals to understand the workflow and EMR requirements. We will establish baseline performance using existing technology and build training corpora for ASR/HR, and then design a multimodal research prototype.
Impact:
Multimodal technology and methodologies for medical data capture and representation can revolutionize the creation of EMR. Going beyond verbatim conversion to encode conceptual underpinnings is critical for interoperability among healthcare and research institutes. We have shared our evaluation methodology and some results of ASR/HR with non-profit health organizations and have been invited to consult on their design and evaluation of EMR systems.
Approved for Public Release: 07-0268 Presentation [PDF]
Simulating Human Response Charles Worrell, Principal Investigator Problems:
When an environment changes, the people within that environment respond based on how they perceive the change. Estimates of expected responses that are based on simulations can be wrong due to attitudinal factors such as a natural tendency to resist change. Responses are also influenced by the social context within which decisions are made.
Objectives:
The objective of this research is to demonstrate a change response modeling technique in multiple domains. The performance of that model will be evaluated in order to quantify the accuracy of the model estimates, and validate its suitability for use in appropriate environments.
Activities:
This project will demonstrate the DAP-E method in multiple environments. DAP-E is a technique for estimating responses that people will make to perceived changes in their environment. This method combines selected psychological models, a Bayesian inference technique, and a gravity model calculation to reproduce the process of sensing the environment and reaching a conclusion, incorporating the influence of social contacts.
Impact:
The DAP-E method is being used to estimate: Workforce reaction to enterprise change initiatives; Responses by undocumented immigrants to changes in U.S. Immigration Policy; Public responses to environmental threats; Reactions to change in healthcare delivery practices.
This method can be used to manage risk, and to improve the effectiveness of planned communications about coming change.
Approved for Public Release: 08-0467 Presentation [PDF]
Social Contexts of Enterprise Systems Engineering Jo Ann Brooks, Principal Investigator Problems:
The Government programs that MITRE supports are suffering changes in requirements, cancellations, and shifting work areas. These difficulties reflect shifting interactions among powerful stakeholders who have competing interests, with no one effectively in control. While MITRE has always managed social, organizational, cultural, and political aspects of its business in tandem with the technical, these needs exceed our existing skill set.
Objectives:
The objective of this research is to develop social science capabilities complementing MITRE's increasingly sophisticated technical capabilities for enterprise systems engineering (ESE). We plan to develop a database of metadata about cases of ESE, extend Renee Stevens' Mega-Systems Framework, and develop a "Roadmap" for ESE within its social contexts, through adapting results developed by MIT's Lean Aerospace Initiative (LAI).
Activities:
We will generate case studies of enterprise systems engineering efforts, highlighting key participants, events, decisions, and outcomes. Data will be gathered through interviews, ethnography, and workshops with MITRE site staff and interested members of sponsor organizations and contractors. During the third year, we will apply and test the value of our insights and products in field experimentation through partnering with an ESE effort.
Impact:
This MSR will baseline how the discipline of ESE is currently being applied across a range of sponsor programs while it advances social science research as a complement to MITRE's technical ESE efforts. The MSR will also strengthen MITRE's relationship with MIT's Engineering Systems Division and Lean Aerospace Initiative through the active participation of two MIT researchers.
Approved for Public Release: 05-1215 Presentation [PDF]
Last Updated:05/05/2008 | ^TOP | 
