The Development and Validation of a Human Systems Integration (HSI) Program for the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND)

Abstract

From 2000 to 2004, Defence Research and Development Canada conducted multi-year Research and Development (R&D) activities under contract to develop, demonstrate and validate a Human Systems Integration (HSI) approach for the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) with the aim to transition this approach to an operational program within the DND's Material Acquisition and Support community. The foundation of an HSI Program was applied to 31 Defence acquisition projects from 2001-2004. Various components of the HSI Program were researched, developed, demonstrated, and iteratively improved. A cost benefit analysis derived from this effort was used to determine whether a permanent HSI Program within the DND would be worthwhile. $3,331,000.00 was spent on exercising a full or partial HSI process. This resulted in $3,515,000.00 in immediate savings based on observed data, providing a 106% payback. The cost of HSI application compared with immediate savings plus at least $133,000,000.00 in extrapolated savings (based on the impact the application of HSI had on projected life cycle costs) resulted in a 4000% payback, suggesting that HSI is a worthwhile investment. The possibility in hundreds of millions of dollars in further downstream savings based on lives saved or re-engineering costs avoided also existed but was not calculated. This study found that HSI costs ranged from 4 20% of a project's engineering budget and that Canada's integrated approach to HSI, whereby analyses are shared between HSI domains, can save up to 25% of HSI costs. This R&D effort developed and validated the Canadian HSI approach and supports the implementation of a formalized and enhanced HSI program within the Canadian DND.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA486675

Entities

People

  • Alice Salwaycott
  • Andrea Scipione
  • Carolyn M. Shaw
  • Jeremy Brooks
  • Mike Greenley
  • Walter Dyck

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Biomedical
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Business Administration
  • Computer Programming
  • Computers
  • Employment
  • Engineers
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Human Systems Integration
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Human-Machine Interfaces
  • Information Systems
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Acquisition
  • Operating Systems
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Systems Engineering

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Defense Acquisition Program Management