Human Systems Integration

1. Human Systems Integration A Systems Engineering Approach to Organizational/Systems Design

2. What is HSI? • Human Systems Integration (HSI) is a systems engineering process that ensures all human-related technical concerns are properly addressed during system planning, design, development, and testing. HSI integrates technical domains: • Manpower • Personnel • Training • Human Factors • Safety (& Environment) • Occupational Health • Survivability • Habitability

3. What is HSI? • A management strategy to ensure that human-related concerns are properly considered in an acquisition program. • A technical strategy to ensure that human performance issues are addressed early and effectively in an acquisition program. HSI should also be used in the design of jobs and processes within an organization!

4. Goals of HSI Ensure that systems, equipment, and facilities: • incorporate effective human-system interfaces; • achieve the required levels of human performance; • make economical demands upon personnel resources, skills, and training; • minimize life-cycle costs; and • manage risk of loss or injury to personnel, equipment, or environment

5. Antecedents • US Army MANPRINT program • Started in mid-1980s to address tendency for systems to be developed without considering manpower, personnel, training, or human performance during acquisition • Viewed as highly successful in improving Army systems • “Right-sizing” to reduce labor costs and other human capital expenditures throughout the private sector in industrialized countries • Human systems engineering – broadened application of human factors in military and non-military systems, particularly with respect to using advanced technology to reduce requirements for human capital

6. HSI and Human Factors • Human factors, broadly construed, addresses most (but not all) of HSI. “we consider engineering psychology and ergonomics synonymous with HFE, and later, we encompass all of these under the general term human factors, to include, in addition, specialties such as training, manpower, personnel, and safety.” (O’Brien & Meister, 2002) • In some contexts, HFE has been construed rather narrowly (fonts and colors, knobs and dials)

7. But HSI Also Includes … • Explicit consideration of cost • Manpower costs (direct and indirect) • Opportunity cost (those extra people could have been used for something else) • Risk (safety, occupational health, survivability) • Long-term costs associated with attrition and morale • Explicit consideration of value

8. HSI Domains • There are multiple ways to define the scope of HSI and to organize the technical aspects • For present purposes: • There are 8 human-related technical areas that contribute relevant considerations to systems engineering • A domain of HSI is the intersection of systems engineering and a human-related technical area • Thus, each of the HSI domains is a subset of a larger technical area • For example, the manpower domain of HSI is a subset of the technical area of manpower

9. Example Personnel Personnel recruitment Test development and validation Prediction of demographic trends Etc. Assessment of human attributes required versus availability of those attributes in the current and potential workforce Assessment of hardware requirements Etc. Personnel domain of HSI Systems Engineering

10. 5 67 8 Domains of HSI • Human factors engineering • Manpower • Personnel • Training • Safety • Occupational health • Survivability • Habitability • Environment ??

11. Domain Definitions • Human factors engineering The comprehensive integration of considerations related to human capabilities and limitations into system/process definition, design, development, and evaluation to influence human-machine system design for optimal total system performance.

12. Domain Definitions • Personnel The comprehensive assessment of human attributes (knowledge, skills, abilities, and cognitive and physical capabilities) required to operate, maintain, and support a system/process, versus the availability of those attributes in the actual and potential personnel pool.

13. Domain Definitions • Manpower The assessment of human capital requirements in terms of the number of personnel by category (e.g., military vs. contractor; officer vs. enlisted; in-house vs. outsourced; management vs. line; etc.) who are required, authorized, and potentially available to train, operate, maintain, and support a fielded system/organizational process.

14. Domain Definitions • Training The instruction, material resources, and support required to provide operators, maintainers, and support personnel with requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities to properly operate, maintain, and support fielded systems/organizational processes.

15. Domain Definitions • Safety Development and assessment of system/process design characteristics and associated procedures that serve to minimize the potential for mishaps causing death or injury to operators, maintainers, and support personnel or threaten the operation of a fielded system/organizational process.

16. Domain Definitions • Occupational Health Development and assessment of system/process design features and work assignment schedules that serve to minimize the risk of injury, acute or chronic illness, or disability; and/or enhance job performance of personnel who operate, maintain, or support a fielded system/organizational process.

17. Domain Definitions • Survivability The comprehensive consideration of system/process design features and other system characteristics in order to reduce the likelihood of death or severe injury in the presence of life-threatening conditions such as enemy attack, fire, collision or explosion.

18. Domain Definitions • Habitability The integration of considerations about characteristics of systems, facilities, social interactions, and living conditions to promote high levels of personnel morale, quality of life, safety, health, and comfort adequate to sustain maximum personnel effectiveness, support mission performance, and avoid personnel recruitment and retention problems.

19. Why HSI? • Many human-related issues faced during system/process design and development span two or more HSI domains • Effective solutions to these issues may require contributions from multiple domains, or may involve tradeoffs between domains • Example: development of proficiency in certain jobs takes years, requires much training, and suffers from high attrition rates • Personnel selection vs. training vs. human factors

20. Example HSI Issues • Human Factors – Personnel • Unnecessarily stringent selection criteria based on anthropometric accommodation • Occupational Health – Survivability – Habitability – Human Factors • Cumbersome, uncomfortable protective equipment leading to non-compliance • Safety – Human Factors – Training • Poor user interface design increasing the probability of errors and the need for compensatory training

21. Another View of HSI • Systems Engineering • Human factors • Safety • Survivability • Occupational Health • Habitability • Human Resource Development • Personnel Selection • Manpower • Training Human Systems Integration HSI is the confluence of proper systems engineering and proper human resource development.