Air Force Human Systems Integration – Capabilities and Requirements Tool

Abstract

Establishing human-centered requirements early in the system design, development and acquisition process is key to delivering effective and useable systems to the warfighter. To achieve this goal, it would be beneficial for the HSI practitioner to have a standardized, data-driven tool to assist in generating, tracking, and documenting human-centered requirements. The Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center created the Human Systems Integration – Capabilities and Requirements Tool in order to provide a means for identifying human related risks and concerns. The HSI-CRT uses domain-based questions to analyze human related risks in Capabilities-Based Assessment, Analysis of Alternatives, and Concept Development. The questions were developed by leveraging Department of Defense and Air Force requirements guides for these three processes. HSI-CRT is based on a risk management approach that is familiar to system engineering and program management disciplines. The practitioner responds to a set of questions with simple yes/no answers that query the status of human centered risks at any point in the requirements planning process. The practitioner is then prompted to rate the potential human performance risk using the standard DoD risk methodology. The tool also allows the practitioner to document the HSI status by entering data that supports the risk rating. Based on user responses, the HSI-CRT provides a report documenting the human performance risks associated with the analysis being performed. The tool was released to the Air Force in July 2015.