Staffing

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Section 6 Staffing and Experience
. . . Timothy A. Klein New Millennium Program
Business Manager
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Staffing and Experience - History

• EO-1 approved in March 1996 with only the ALI
  Instrument
• MIT/LL and subcontractor team well-experienced in
  instrument systems development and spectroscopy
• Swales/Litton spacecraft team selected through
  in-house Engineering Directorate contract strong
  subsystem experience, but first time building and
  integrating a complete spacecraft
• Complement of Eight NMP Technologies Selected
  Through NMP Process in July 1996
• Technologies at different stages of maturation
• Varying degrees of expertise amongst the
  technology provider teams
• Early definition specifically noted three
  technologies which needed to be stretched to
  meet technology validation goals (WARP, GPS and
  Precision Pointing)

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Staffing and Experience - Management

• Despite clear technology challenges, EO-1 was
  originally envisioned as a light touch mission
• Management approach comparable to a small science
  mission
• Emphasis on instruments, not on spacecraft or
  ground systems
• Technologies viewed as payload, not as integral
  components
• Light touch relative to contractor
  insight/oversight (with resulting initial low
  levels of Civil Service staffing, especially in
  Engineering and Mission Assurance)
• Systems Management and Risk Management limited by
  low staffing and availability of experienced
  personnel
• Risk management well beyond what we thought in
  the beginning
• Systems Engineer not assigned to EO-1 Project
  until mid-1997

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Staffing and Experience - Technologies

• Technologies specifically required more staffing
  than originally thought
• Found we needed to be ready to assist contractors
  with science, engineering and management to help
  them meet cost, schedule and technical targets
• Much more technical staffing than we originally
  thought required to stay on top of technologies
• Found it difficult to obtain the needed
  experienced engineers to assist with advanced
  technologies
• Best move EO-1 made creating the Mission
  Technologist position

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Staffing and Experience - Changes

• Hyperion Instrument Added December 1998
• TRW and subcontractor team well-experienced in
  instrument systems development and spectroscopy
• Additional instrument requirements in turn
  required additional staffing across all mission
  elements
• Ground System and Flight Software
• Ongoing additional requirements laid against
  original ground system architecture has driven
  FOT and other staffing
• Need for flight software maintenance has also
  increased staffing levels above original plan
• EO-1 met the challenge of these and other changes

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Staffing - IT Augmentation

• Became clear as EO-1 was moving through IT that
  staffing was insufficient for work remaining to
  meet the 12/15/99 LRD
• GSFC management worked with Swales/Litton team
  and other GSFC contractors to sharply increase
  staffing in August 1999
• Augmenting IT staffing late in the project did
  not enable completion of the work on schedule or
  correction of discovered deficiencies
• Upside additional deficiencies and gaps,
  especially in flight software and ground
  processing, were identified. Able to take many
  risk mitigating activities and add key
  experienced personnel
• Resulted in an outstanding Thermal/Vacuum (T/V)
  test and a more robust system
• We now have the experienced core team to take us
  through the remainder of IT, launch campaign and
  early operations

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Staffing and Experience - FTE History