Delivering Successful Acceptance Strategies on Complex Programmes
A major defence company was engaged as Prime Contractor and Systems of Systems Integrator for an extensive and transformation tactical voice and data communications system for the UK Armed Forces. Maintaining user requirement sets and development documentation to support customer acceptance was a major challenge and Harmonic was asked to provide support.
This represented a step change in operational capability through improved situational awareness, access to new on-line planning tools and improved ways to exercise command and control, all within a secure environment. The extensive set of user requirements was compiled from diverse communities and implemented across a wide variety of user platforms. Harmonic provided programme coordination and project management for a number of key threads including systems release tests, Qualification and Verification, and Acceptance.
The acceptance programme was a particular challenge as many of the activities had fallen behind due to competing pressures to satisfy urgent operational needs. The resulting informality in some documentation areas threatened to undermine effective acceptance. Harmonic focused on the following key activities:
- Updating user and systems requirement sets to a status agreed between the prime contractor and the MoD and supported by a wide community of subcontracted systems. This required extensive stakeholder management but enabled the DOORS database to correctly reflect the contractually agreed position.
- Developing a new acceptance strategy including new approaches to both Technical Field Trials and Operational Field Trials and developing detailed test plans, procedures and scripts.
- Implementing the test programme and ensuring success. This involved the testing of real equipment in the field under demanding circumstances.
The result was:
- Closure of key contract milestones through a well defined and implemented customer acceptance process.
- A set of enduring improved processes and procedures for customer acceptance.
- A set of baselined project documentation supporting the management of additional capability insertion through the life of the system.
- Improved customer and sub-contractor interfaces for issues around requirements management and acceptance.