Solutions - Defense Solutions

The defense industry has adopted task analysis as the central human factors technique in the acquisition of new systems. With a clear understanding of how equipment will be used throughout its life cycle the monetary and human performance gains can be immense. To quote the US Army’s MANPRINT (Manpower and Personnel Integration) program “We can build the most lethal weapon on the planet, but if it is too complicated for the average soldier to use, we have not increased our war fighting capabilities.”

MANPRINT aims to ensure that the soldier and unit needs are considered throughout the entire system acquisition process and life cycle. Task analysis is a fundamental part of that program. It enables people who people involved in design, acquire, and providing training to base their decisions on a strong understanding of who uses the system. They need to know, what their goals are, the work they undertake and the factors that will impact the effectiveness and life cycle costs of the system. But few of these people see equipment actually being used in the field. Task analysis provides designers with a detailed understanding the context of the roles and tasks that soldiers perform, and a detailed picture of how they are or will be used. Task analysis captures this information in a concrete form for formal review, analysis and use throughout defence program. Activities such as training needs analysis (TNA), workload analysis, system and operator simulation, and the development of documentation (job aids, operating manuals) are all more effective when based on a comprehensive task analysis.

It’s been shown to work – a review of ten major projects of the Canadian Department of Defence (DND) concluded that a properly conducted Task Analysis based on a realistic Mission Analysis makes a major contribution to the development of an effective design. The UK MoD has mandated that task analysis should be used as part of TNA and task analysis is identified as a key step throughout the MoD’s approach to Human Factors Integration.

Task Analysis challenges in the defence industry

There is often limited access to subject matter experts and situations where the equipment is being used in the field. The task information needs to be collected quickly and reviewed as soon as possible. TaskArchitect reduces the cost and time required to develop a task analysis because of the automation features that allow the information to be input on-the-fly with subject matter experts then reviewed as diagrams or text in the same meeting.

Dozens of pieces of information about each task may need to be collected in order to conform to military task analyses standards and deliver the information required for subsequent analysis by different parts of the organization. TaskArchitect provides the flexibility for your team to define and collect whatever information is required for the project (e.g. information required, information available, frequency, potential errors, and difficulty) and rapidly enter it through multiple choice, free text and drop down lists. This information is stored in a coherent database that is easily manipulated by the team to automatically highlight in color the key aspects of the analysis.

The defence context can require very large task analyses, requiring the management of thousands of tasks. While a focus on the critical (or ‘high driver’) tasks in the project can reduce the scope of the work, because safety and efficiency are such predominant factors in defence projects there may still be a large number of critical tasks to be analyzed. TaskArchitect supports up to 4000 tasks per file, with files linked to enable the management of the information across teams and across very large analyses.

The analysis will need to follow the established standards of the defence industry, for instance ‘Mission, function, task’ analysis. TaskArchitect enables analysts to break down tasks according to whatever task analysis method is being used. It’s ready off-the-shelf to support mission/Function/Task breakdowns.

Stakeholders and the varied project teams that will use the product of the analysis need a variety of customized reports. MTAR and other tailored reports can be produced at the push of a button without the need for sophisticated database programming. Templates for reports enable the data output to be standardized across teams and rapidly reproduced as the analysis changes. For instance, for training needs analysis tasks with the highest probability of incorrect performance and the highest cost of error may be selected. For HAZOPS analysis the tasks associated with the severest risks to personnel health and safety can be selected. The data is easily accessible because of the search and publishing features provided by TaskArchitect.

The raw data must be easily available to other teams with their own specialized analysis tools. Data can be easily exported and imported to requirements management tools such as DOORS, with tools for training needs analysis, modeling and simulation tools and any other tools that require XML or comma separated/tab delimited output. We provide support and consultancy to help you to integrate TaskArchitect with your existing tools and methods.

A proven track record

TaskArchitect is the commercial task analysis tool relied upon by the defence industry for mission critical projects. We also offer customization so that our solution integrates seamlessly with your design process. We provide exceptional customer support as a matter of course and can be contracted to provide project specific, on-site support for both TaskArchitect and task analysis. For examples of customers using TaskArchitect for training needs analysis, modeling and simulation, hierarchical goal analysis and task analysis of large systems please see our case studies.

US, Canadian and UK Military task analysis standards

United States

Task Performance Analysis MIL-H-46855

Critical task analysis DI-HFAC-81399 (supersedes DI-H-7055)

Mission/Task Analysis Report (MTAR) DI-SESS-81635

Department of Defense Directive 7730.65 - “DoD Components shall develop mission essential tasks for all assigned missions and collect near real-time data on readiness of military forces to perform their missions.”

Canada

Canadian standards are largely based on the current US standards. See the DND Project Manager’s Handbook, A-LP-005-000/AG-006 ANNEX B, CHAPTER 30 - SYSTEM ENGINEERING

UK

The Tri- Service Guide to Training Needs Analysis JSP 502 describes the Systems Approach to Training (SAT) with staged process leading to from task analysis to a recommended training solution.

Operational Task Analysis and the process for carrying out task analysis is described in STGP 11 HFI Technical Guide

Human Factors Integration (HFI) Practical Guidance for IPTs

See also – Training needs analysis solutions, Modeling and simulation solutions