Often, there are multiple technologies under simultaneous investigation to determine which will best contribute to addressing a capability need. In order to view these Projects in relationship to one another they should be grouped into a portfolio and assessed using a common standard.

The Portfolio Manager now has an over-arching view of the projects binned by technical area that are currently under development, allowing them to give guidance to the Project Managers based on the trends, clusters, and gaps observed in the Project distribution.

The Decision Point can provide the S&T Executive with increased visibility into the maturity of technology development at every stage, up through transition to a Defense Acquisition Program, via a set of Decision Point-based measures across all programs.

Additional insight can be gained as Project stage-gate transitions are plotted and scheduled for higher-level management review

A project is considered to be baselined in Decision Point when:

• The Project has been initialized
• The Project’s position is determined in the Technology Maturity Lifecycle
• The Project Manager populates metrics for the project
• The Portfolio Manager positions the Project within the applicable Technology Portfolio
• A Decision Point checklist for the current phase has been drafted, negotiated with the performer, and approved by management
• Requirements Traceability has been established (may be derived requirements)
• A current Technical Review Status brief has been created and maintained by the Project Manager

Read more about baselining projects here.

As a function of establishing (or maintaining) a baseline for a project, an assessment of the Technology Maturity level provides the project Manager with an objective view of the technical status.

By providing the assessment panel with the Project Technical Deliverables, Program Management Documentation, any Transition Plans or Agreements, a Completed Exit Criteria Checklist, the results/findings of project reviews, any models or analytical study results, and all validation testing reports a project manager gives them all the information they need to make a determination.

As noted in the flowchart below, the panel will evaluate the exit criteria items to ensure acceptable:

• Documentation for all “yes” items
• Risk levels for all “no” items
• Suitability for all “n/a” items

Ultimately, the review panel will respond with an “Approved”, “Approved with Conditions”, or “Rejected”, giving you a clear picture of the future of the project.

Learn more about TRL Assessments here.

To ensure proper distribution of existing projects and cultivation of new projects in appropriate areas, the Technology Portfolio Maturity View offers an at-a-glance method for viewing where all projects stand (from a TRL level perspective) across multiple portfolios. This view allows you to quickly analyze any groupings that may represent redundancies, as well as any gaps that demonstrate possible investment needs.

Decision Point gives you the tools to accurately estimate a High-Confidence Maturity Assessment, as well as an estimate of your next transition. As you can see in the graph below, Decision Point allows for easily determining the realistic expectations of when a technology project will mature to the next TRL Level.

The Decision Point can provide the S&T Executive with increased visibility into the maturity of technology development at every stage, up through transition into a Defense Acquisition Program, via a set of Decision Point-based measures across all programs.

Metrics are a set of data that could be collected and monitored to determine the status of technology distribution and specific technology readiness. Below is a notional set of metrics, others may apply to specific technology portfolios.

For Status of Programs

• Transition Agreement in place
• Successful Transitions over time
• Program distribution by:
• TRL
• Technology Domain
• Science Discipline
• Sponsor
• Acquisition Customer
• Funding

Facilitate Strategic Planning

• Technology Gap Analysis
• Domain Analysis
• Skill Gaps/Recruiting Needs
• Diversified Portfolio Analysis
• Sponsor
• Science Disciple
• Technology Transition Agreement status

Ultimately, each metric is designed to help you answer the following questions:

• Technology Advancement Degree of Difficulty- How difficult is it to advance technology?
• Risk- What percentage of identified risk is mitigated?
• Next TRL Achievement- How long will it take to achieve the next TRL level?
• Technology Transition Agreement- What is the level of agreement with the transition partner?
• Phase Cost- What is the planned cost to complete the current phase of development?
• MOE- How much increase in capability/performance will the technology have over current?
• Requirements Trace- Where does the technology trace?

Learn more about metrics (as well as complete a self evaluation) on the Identify Metrics for Progress page.