1. 9/3/2015 USA Critical Knowledge Retaining Critical Skills & Knowledge at the end of a Project Life Cycle James G. LaRocque SQ&MA Director Logistics & Material United Space Alliance 2/19/08 Copyright © 2008 by United Space Alliance, LLC. These materials are sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Contract NAS9-20000 and Contract NNJ06VA01C. The U.S. Government retains a paid-up, nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in such materials to reproduce, prepare, derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the U.S. Government. All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner.

2. Page 1 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt End of a Project Life Cycle The Space Shuttle Project is currently scheduled to end in 2010, which presents challenges in the project life cycle

3. Page 2 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt End of a Project Life Cycle - Strategy Benchmarked companies to determine what can be done to address out End of Project issues : –Retention –Knowledge Capture

4. Page 3 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Retention Strategy New Business –Provide jobs for future Understand why people stay and leave –Honest and open communication –Survey employees about specific job enhancements to provide the challenges and recognition they value most in the workplace Incentives –Offer incentives for critical skill employees to stay to the end of the project

5. Page 4 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt New Business Goal: Provide Jobs for the Future –Constellation Projects  USA is partnered with other contractors –Other business opportunities

6. Page 5 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Understand Motivations Goal: Understand why people stay/leave –Complete surveys to understand reasons people give for leaving –Conduct interviews to better understand what is truly important to our personnel –Have frequent and frank communications –Find the right mix - some personnel prefer to be challenged while other employees value security most –Stress specific job enhancements to address what management can do to provide the challenges and recognition employees value most in the workplace

7. Page 6 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Offer Incentives Goal: Offer Incentives –Provide a mix of praise and pay –Strive to provide the needed growth challenges internally –Provide an incentive package for critical skill employees –Offer a competitive severance plan to provide employees with security

8. Page 7 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Knowledge Capture Strategy Goal: Retain and leverage knowledge to maintain sufficient technical depth to safely execute the remaining shuttle missions –Everyone “does” knowledge management, but they may not think about it in those terms –Knowledge Capture  Know who has what competency Competency Management System  Ensure knowledge is being retained Knowledge Management Databases

9. Page 8 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Knowledge Cycle Training/Certification, Skills, Processes & Products  Formal Training – Planning Tracking & Authorization  Mentoring & Skills Development  Informal Training  Skills Needed & Identified Employ, Experience, Research & Develop  Gather Data & Information  Research Extraction  Analysis & “Lessons Learned”  Peer Reviews  Panel Reviews Bodies of Knowledge  Ground Systems  Flight Systems  Functional Areas  Core Competences  Key Capabilities Knowledge Transfer, Storage & Retrieval  Capture Methods & Tools  Search Technologies & Tools  Source Identification (Guru)  Storage Practices & Topologies

10. Page 9 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Competency Management System Competency Management System (CMS) –Allows management to identify and assess individual competencies to continue safe operations, increase opportunities and ensure long-term viability of the company

11. Page 10 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Knowledge Management Database “In the Truck” In storage In Engineer’s Files In Ops Area Bookcases In Engineers’ computers (+ floppies in desk drawer) Tacit Knowledge Gone “ Lost, stolen, or strayed ” ? Analyses “Brain Books” Data Reviews Problems & Solutions Engineering Rationale Calcs Studies

12. Page 11 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Knowledge Management Database Capture knowledge and make it available to create, share, and act upon to: –Ensure Shuttle project flight safety and manifest supportability throughout the remaining life of the project –Provide pertinent knowledge for future projects –Reduce duplication of efforts due to capturing historical data from lessons learned / best practices –Reduce research time and effort (one-stop-shopping) –Access to previous experience, including best practices and lessons learned

13. Page 12 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Knowledge Management Database Unstructured Content.doc XML.rtf HTML.pdf TIFF.xls Intelligent Content.txt Personalize it! Search it! Knowledge Management Library Taxonomy & Metadata Management Trending Analysis Conceptual Classification Find it! Scanned Content Automate indexing & categorization enable accurate search, retrieval, and re-use of content across enterprise Information Extraction.ppt COTSCOTSCOTSCOTS COTSCOTSCOTSCOTS KM Librarian Validate Render Version Profile Assist Re-Use it! Indexing & Categorization Portal Staging Company Taxonomy Engineering - Orbiter - SRB SQ&MA - IFAs - Root Cause - C/RA Automated indexing Digital Media

14. Page 13 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Knowledge Management Database Includes: –Analyses –Calculations –White papers –Assumptions –Detailed rationale –Discussions –Presentations –Brain books –Lessons learned, –Design approaches –Questionnaires –Interviews

15. Page 14 9/3/2015 Knowledge Management Overview.ppt Where is USA going from here? Providing better search capabilities across informal and formal archives Formalizing capture of information from potential retirees when identified Improving the organization of the data Exploring how to leverage the data Shortening learning curves for replacement personnel by transferring knowledge from predecessors to new employees Providing library of real-world “Design for Operations” information for use in Constellation