Designing a Standard Model for Development and Execution of an Analysis Project Plan

Abstract

Within the Operational Simulation and Analysis (OS and A) branch of the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal, there exists no standard model for development and execution of an Analysis Project Plan. A project plan is a formal document which, when agreed upon by parties involved, guides the execution and control of a project. Having such a plan is important to the OS and A branch and ARDEC as a whole because it documents decisions, facilitates communication among stakeholders, and maintains a record of scope, cost, and schedule baselines. By instituting a standardized process, the OS and A branch would ensure that results based on the Analysis Project Plan are reusable, allow for configuration management, better management of overall resources, and better validation and verification. Through Systems Engineering principles, personal observations, team collaboration, and other considerations, the process proposed in this thesis has been developed for the Analysis Project Lead to improve his or her ability to systematically accomplish the job. Ultimately, the proposed processs intent is to establish a flexible process where communication of the problem is precise, the magnitude of the solution is relevant and reliable, and the tools and personnel to execute the analysis are employed at the right times.