ONR-USC Collaborative Research
on Alternative ONR Process Architectures

Progress Report

* Updated 16 Oct 1996 *

Walt Scacchi
ATRIUM Laboratory
IOM Department
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1421 USA
scacchi@gilligan.usc.edu
http://www.usc.edu/dept/ATRIUM

September 1996

This presentation can be found on the WWW at the URL:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/ATRIUM/ONR-brief-Sept96.html

Overview

ONR Grants Management (GM) Process
- Process capture and documentation
- Process analysis
- Process redesign
Wide-area process enactment environment (demo)
Project research risk areas
Future directions and options

Process capture and documentation

Acquire qualitative process information (who, what, when, how, how much, how long, etc.)
- AS-IS versions of
  - Pre-Award: Postscript diagram, HTML listing, or Process dictionary format.
  - Grant Award: Postscript diagram, HTML listing, or Process dictionary format.
  - Grant Administration: Postscript diagram, HTML listing, or Process dictionary format.
  - CloseOut: Postscript diagram, HTML listing, or Process dictionary format.
  captured and viewable as process decomposition diagrams (Postscript), HTML for browsing, or in PML (process dictionary definitions -- recommended for technical specialists only)
Elicit understanding of current processes
- Distributed across multiple, inconsistent documents
- Refined from interviews with key personnel
- Further refinement and validation by key process experts
Educate process owners in our methodology, and how to document processes in computer-readable form
- Future activity: Choose next set of ONR processes for redesign

Process analysis

Examine organizational landscape and identify relevant issues and challenges
Use knowledge-based tools/techniques for analysis
Collectively select strategy for GM process redesign
- ONR participation was essential and successful
- Critical to identifying missing or overlooked GM steps (e.g., Make_Grant_Folder is first step of AS-IS Validate_PR_Package).
- Opportunities for process streamlining have been identified by ONR participants.

Process redesign

Articulate redesign approach
- Model, analyze, diagnose (measure), identify relevant redesign hueristics, prioritize redesign alternatives, prototype and demonstrate, transition
Identify high leverage opportunity areas, expected outcomes, potential problems
- Follows below
Constrain redesign alternatives according to:
- Do not increase any person's workload
- Do not create new staff positions
- Seek changes that are "self-motivating" or that enable organizational incentives.
Model, visualize, and prototype new process alternatives

Process diagnosis and redesign alternatives for Grant Award

Diagnosis	Applicable Hueristics	Expected ROI
Manual step sequence	Consolidate and automate	Med-High
Linear step sequences	Identify parallelization opportunities	High
Many reviews steps	Joint reviews	High
Many data validation steps	Rule-based review system	Med-High
Many data validation steps	Push validation responsiblities upstream	Med-High
Manual assembly of compound documents	Rule-based document builder	Low-Med
Duplicating and circulating documents	Automate distribution and archiving	Med-Very High
Replace paper documents	Employ electronic proposals and grant documents	High-Very High
Islands of automation	Intranet with process support, data integration, and product navigation	Low-High
Wide-area workflow	Internet-based process enactment	Med-High

ONR Grants Management Process Transitions

Assign Priorities to Transitions

(1 = 30 days, 2 = 60 days, 3 = 90 days, 4 > 90 days)
Consult AS-IS process decomposition diagrams for details

Overall Suggestions for Pre-Award and Grant Award

Consult with O3 to (a) identify and capture any Pre-Award improvements they can provide. For example, can they characterize types or groups of pre-approved, never-approved, insufficient-funds proposals? Automated award notice distribution? Input from O8 for not-approved proposals? Clarify responsibilities for who will verify or validate proposal funding and budget information?
Develop strategy and plan for realizing "full" TO-BE vision. Initial version due 24 September 96.
Need resolution and convergence of electronic proposal definition, design, implementation, and integration.

Pre-Award

Evaluate_Proposal (1a): Update ONR Proposal Submission Guidelines on ONR WWW pages to solicit more complete proposal information (e.g., Identify BAA #, Certifications, Submittals). Consult Code 254 (Terry Young), ONR Webmaster (Code 92).
Evaluate_Proposal (1b): Send Letter to Offeror (University Business Office) requesting additional or missing proposal information; Mail returned to designated GS.
Approve_PR (1c): Determine when O3 can use daily releases or IF actions. (Consult O3)
Approve_PR (3): Automate PR Assignment to GS. Assignments to occur before proposal arrival. Deletes later (AS-IS) process step for manual Assigning PR to GS. Consult Code 21, 24, 25, 92.
Approve_PR (2): Automate "Proposal_Received" Notice in Code 25. Consult Tricia.
Assemble_PR_Package (1d): Eliminate Hard Copy PRs. This deletes AS-IS steps for Print, Sort, Compare, and Carry Hard Copy Proposals.
O2 Handle_Approved_Proposal (3): Delete manual Assignment of PR to GS. Activity done earlier with automated support.
Validate_PR_Package (1e): Delete Validate Hard Copy with PR. Discuss and clarify validation and verification responsibilities with O3 (already noted). Rename Verify_CAGE_SCCC_Codes to Verify/Obtain_Codes.
Obtain_Missing_Information (1e): Delete FAX_Request Missing Information, unless 1a and 1b fail. Also, rename to Update_Missing_Data_Received.

Grant_Award

Print_Sign_Document (2): Add Obligate Grant Data in STARS.
Prepare_Deliver_Package_to_FM (2): Delete AS-IS steps for: Copy Cover Page, Copy FAD, Copy Signatures, Place on Pending Review Shelf, Log Data Sent to FM in INRIS, and Deliever Package to FM. Consult Codes 08, 21, 25, 92.
Prepare_Deliver_Package_to_FM (2): Delete Obligate Data in STARS (moved up earlier in process).
Distribution (2): Delete Pickup Document, Log Date Returned, Match File.
Distribution (4): Automate 100% Distribution (by 31 March 97). This depends on availability of adequate ADP information infrastructure. Consult Codes 08, 24, 25, 92, DFAS, and selected Universities for pilot tests.
Distribution (4): Need approval to forego File Hard Copy Documents. Consult Codes 08, 25, and OOCC.

Overall suggestions for improvements in Grant Adminstration and Close-Out Processes

All improvements to Grant Administration and Close-Out are priority "4" items, requiring more than 90 days to complete.
ONR Field Operations perform Grant/Contract Administration and Grant/Contract Close-Out for ONR and other government agencies (e.g., Darpa, NASA), However, we only address improvements in ONR Grant Administration and Close-Out at this time. Handling Contracts and non-ONR grants is likely to benefit from the same kinds of improvements identified here, but getting them implementing is a major challenge.
Improvements in Grant Administration Functions were not specified at this time, since these activities are demand-driven. Capturing these processes requires further effort. Nonetheless, the provision of an electronic proposal and grant document folder was expected to help streamline the efficiency and effectiveness of these ongoing grant administration functions.
Three transitions or transition events are needed to redesign nearly all of Grant Administration and Close-Out. These are
- 4a: Provision of Electronic Grants Packages using INRIS. Scheduled for delivery by February 1997. This eliminates all tasks and actions involved in Grant Administration that receive, sort, distribute, and resolve problems with grants, except for the remaining need to handle new contractors, as they occur.
- 4b: Integration of CAMIS and INRIS. Scheduled for completion by March 1997. This streamlines away all tasks and actions that involve the manual transfer and re-entry of information between INRIS and CAMIS.
- 4c: Provision of an Electronic Proposal and Grants Documents Folder. Not yet scheduled. This represents a new technical capability that could be prototyped using USC's Distributed Hypertext (DHT) information infrastructure that could integrate INRIS, CAMIS, and other information systems together over a Grants Management Intranet for ONR.
Develop strategy and plan for realizing "full" TO-BE vision.
- Need resolution and convergence of electronic proposal and grant folder definition, design, implementation, and integration.

Proposed redesign of ONR GM Processes

TO-BE version of ONR GM processes for
- Pre-Award: Postscript diagram, HTML listing, or Process dictionary format.
- Grant Award: Postscript diagram, HTML listing, or Process dictionary format.
- Grant-Admin: Postscript diagram, HTML listing, or Process dictionary format.
- Close-Out: Postscript diagram, HTML listing, or Process dictionary format.
designed and presented as process decomposition diagrams.
Note, in Grant-Award, if legal requirement for archiving Hard-Copy documents can be waived or removed, then Grant-Award process collapses to three steps (in contrast to 24 steps in AS-IS version)! Similarly, in Grant Administration, adoption of improvements with INRIS and its integration with CAMIS, Administration Preparation is streamlined from 21 steps in the AS-IS to 1 step in the TO-BE version!

Dynamically process modeling and prototyping

Incrementally model and "enact" prototypes of process redesign alternatives
Provide role-specific views of process task structure
Demonstration of as-is version of Grant Award process (shown at USC)
Develop prototype transition strategy and reimplementation (next).

Wide-area process enactment environment

New process markup language (PML) for modeling process architectures
PML compiler (generates process decomposition diagrams and WWW-based process enactment automatically)
Internet-based execution system
WWW-browser as Graphic User Interface (GUI) to process enactment environment
Distributed hypertext-based object management system
Integration mechanisms for incorporating new/legacy IT systems (INRIS, etc.)

Future directions and options

Select, specify, and prototype GM redesign alternatives for Grants Administration and Grant Close-Out.
Prototype and review demonstration GM process using candidate "electronic proposal" and "electronic proposal document folder".
Begin process capture and redesign of other ONR designated processes.
Add automated support for process execution monitoring and audit trails
Add (automated) support for process improvement process, remote analysis and simulation.
Add on-demand process training mechanisms and content generation
Integrate with OLE/ActiveX/ODBC, Java/JDBC, Oracle
Extend PML to cover more complex conditions and responses
Add support for automated process enactment guidance
Add tools to facilitate capture and specification of processes in PML
VRML-based GUI and process enactment
Other training and transition support

ONR-USC Collaborative Research on Alternative ONR Process Architectures