| 2006 Technology
Symposium > Enterprise and Systems Architecture and Engineering
Enterprise and Systems Architecture and Engineering
(ESAE)
A primary purpose of Enterprise and Systems Architecture and Engineering
(ESAE) is to guide and direct the evolution and transformation of enterprises
and their systems. It is a practice area that requires integration across
many disciplines, including program management, capital planning, organizational,
business, and technical disciplines. The results of Enterprise and Systems
Architecture and Engineering are used to assist decision-makers manage
the risks inherent in enterprise and systems evolution by planning and
justifying changes while also evaluating their feasibility and impact.
Enterprise Dynamics: An Architecture-Based, Decision-Driven Approach
Ken Hoffman, Principal Investigator
Location(s): Washington
Problem
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.
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IRS Clearinghouse Cost and Operation IR&D
Arnie Greenland, Principal Investigator
Location(s): Washington
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Real Options Analysis of Public Sector Investment
Michele Steinbach, Principal Investigator
Location(s): Washington and Bedford
Problem
Government agencies face dynamic acquisition and investment environments, yet they rely on decision-making methods and tools that force inflexible, fixed commitments to risky, long-term projects. Standard benefit-cost analysis methods consistently undervalue project benefits by ignoring flexibility and the organization's ability to adapt to new information as the system matures.
Objectives
We will develop a system design and planning approach that systematically adds value to risky projects that evolve over time. The approach provides economic advantages by spreading out system costs over time and deferring decisions to deploy additional resources until more information is gained through observing the operational environment.
Activities
We will investigate cases of flexible system design to discover benefits of building flexibility into complex systems. We will create metrics to account for uncertainty and value of flexibility that address inadequacies of benefit-cost criteria. We will then develop a framework for designing flexible systems and accounting for the value of flexibility, and apply it across different programs and agencies.
Impact
The research result will be a framework for system design and investment planning that enables decision makers to account for the value of system flexibility. The framework will contribute to business case development and help reduce the cost and schedule overruns that occur when long-term, fixed predictions about system uncertainty are forced on decision makers early in the design stages.
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Socio-Economic Impacts of Large Programs: Health Care Case Study
Ken Hoffman, Principal Investigator
Location(s): Washington
Problem
MITRE recommendations for transformed health care services, processes, technologies, and policies must incorporate a "big picture" view of the impacts and constraints created by the workforce, the enterprise, and the economic sector it operates in, as well as the national economy, taxpayers, and consumers. Socio-economic issues crossing these levels are of paramount importance to the success of transformation programs.
Objectives
We will develop, adapt, and apply quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze socio-economic impacts of, and constraints on, major modernization programs. Topics will include health care service quality and process improvements; enterprise-level impacts on organizations and the workforce; market impacts on industry sectors, international commerce, population demographics, and the public interest; technology impacts on costs and service levels; and resource constraints.
Activities
The research will involve three tasks to integrate health care quality and economic factors. We will select specific tools and methods to couple services and process analyses with policy and socio-economic methods, and develop the Health Technology and Policy Analysis Workbench. We will then conduct a preliminary analysis of the socio-economic impacts of the Electronic Health Record.
Impact
This research will lead to improved capabilities for policy analysis and technology assessment, including socio-economic factors, demographics, and definition of "the public good" to be achieved by health care programs. The research results will extend to other program domains and applications to illuminate potential strategic contributions of modernization programs and critical infrastructure protection programs.
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System Complexity, The "ilities" and Robustness
John Dahlgren, Principal Investigator
Location(s): Washington and Bedford
Problem
As systems become more complex, systems engineers need to understand the design tenets that have enabled historical systems to be flexible, adaptable, upgradeable, and robust. Concurrently, program managers need objective methods of pricing future investment options to invest in those attributes that ensure a positive return on investment. This combination is needed to support effective spiral development of systems.
Objectives
The research will develop definitions of positive performance in the "ilities" (systemic properties), identify systems that have historically performed well in the ilities and the key attributes that enabled this performance, determine the cost of including these attributes in the sample systems, and develop a methodology to price a future option to include these attributes during system design, development and spiral development.
Activities
The team will query the systems engineering community to find example historical systems, research the design tenets that enabled positive performance, and determine the incremental cost of including the ilities in the original system design. The team will also research comparison systems that failed to perform well in the ilities and will then apply these concepts to current-day systems.
Impact
This research will aid program managers to make wise short-term and long-term decisions, extend the operational lifetime of future systems as a result of adding the ilities related design tenets, and decrease initial and lifetime system costs. This research will apply to both government and commercial systems.
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