The purpose of Decision Point is to provide a logical methodology to guide Technology Managers (TM's) through the planning and development of their programs or projects. To accomplish that, the Decision Point standardizes planning, programming, documentation, systems engineering, and the review of Technology Programs/Projects. The Decision Point assists the TM in assessing military utility early in the process. These assessments help identify potential customers who become involved earlier and maintain involvement throughout the entire process. The Decision Point provides a mechanism for planning the transition of technologies to a customer, Program Manager, or into an Acquisition Program.

A brief overview of what Decision Point is:

• Decision Point is an activity model for technology development that is partitioned into phases and gate-qualifications using TRL's.
• Decision Point is a best practice standard that expands TRL understanding that include detailed activities, exit criteria, and deliverables.
• Decision Point is a toolset used by the Tech Manager to plan, guide and measure a technology program's development maturity.
• Decision Point is an alignment mechanism that promotes early focus on transitioning the technology to Acquisition Program Customers.
• Decision Point acts as a common yardstick and provides the criteria to evaluate the Technology Development Strategy in all phases of the design process.

The phrase "activity model" typically refers to a map of the activities that make up a process and shows their interconnections and interactions, inputs and outputs, types of resources assigned, and the nature and extent of constraints and controls. In the case of Decision Point, the activities are the steps performed in each stage (phase) and the process deliverables form the interconnection between stages. An "as-is" model is a map of the current process without the suggested improvements, and a "to-be" model maps the process with the improvements implemented.

A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark. In addition, a "best" practice can evolve to become better as improvements are discovered. Best practice is considered by some as a business buzzword, used to describe the process of developing and following a standard way of doing things that multiple organizations can use. Best practices are used to maintain quality as an alternative to mandatory legislated standards and can be based on self-assessment or benchmarking. [From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) has determined the Decision Point as a Best Practice for instilling Systems Engineering activities into technology development environments as seen in:

• Repeatable processes
• Demonstrated to produce the desired result in more than one environment
• Easily adapted to other organizations (tailorable)
• Focuses on needs of users/recipients of technology
• Produces credible data for decision makers

The tools referred to here are the mechanism by which the Decision Point facilitates supporting the Technology Manager in the areas of planning, guiding and measuring a technology development. Tools take the form of Excel spreadsheets for recording "next-phase" activities and other workbooks for calculating Project metrics that help scope the effort as well as identify risk.

Alignment mechanisms are needed to ensure that S&T enterprises are staying ahead of the curve with regard to exploiting possible concepts in the relevant technology domain and keeping pace with the needs expressed by their user - the warfighter.

Decision Point provides a high-fidelity Criteria set for each phase of technology development that can be made into a standard of consistent compliance and an application to those standards when assessing technology maturity. Just as importantly, having a stated minimum set of TRL exit criteria for each phase of development (leading to transition) means that every performer can be handed the "answers to the test" and know with confidence that he or she has made an accurate bid and estimated cost as well as having an unambiguous set of scientific and engineering products to be delivered. If that measure is short, then all are consistently the same and accuracy can be achieved with time and managed change.

As a program definition assistant, the Decision Point:

• Identifies activities that could be performed for each TRL.
• Identifies documents that may be produced/delivered.
• Helps the TM develop and employ "Best Practice" Tools and Methods.

As an aid to assessing technology maturity, the Decision Point:

• Establishes Technology Maturity Assessment Exit Criteria.
• Allows Tailoring for each program.
• Identifies Technology Management Risks.

In order to ensure successful transition of technologies, the Decision Point:

• Facilitates early identification of users needs and transition partners.
• Assists managers in developing a TRL roadmap.
• Incorporates the development of a Technology Transition Plan
.
• This plan defines an evolutionary Technology Transition Agreement phased over time, and identifies other key transition mechanisms that support successful transition.
• Encourages identification of Technology Transfer and Insertion opportunities.