ISOPERFORMANCE AS A FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

ISOPERFORMANCE METHODOLOGY IS A SET OF FORMAL RELATIONS (TRADE-OFF FUN CTIONS) AMONG THE DETERMINANTS OF PERFORMANCE; IT IS DERIVED BY FIXING A DESIRED LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE AND THEN SOLVING FOR COMBINATIONS OF THE DETERMINANTS SUFFICIENT TO PRODUCE THAT LEVEL. THE ISOPERFORMANCE IDEA IS NOT ORIGINAL WITH THIS PROPOSAL. WHAT IS ORIGINAL HERE IS ITS USE AS A FRAMEWORK TO GUIDE THE ACQUISITION AND DESIGN PROCESS. ISOPERFORMANCE CURVES ARE EMPIRICALLY ACCURATE DEPICTIONS OF THE TRADE-OFF RELATIONS AMONG THE FACTORS THAT DETERMINE PERFORMANCE, THAT IS, ACCURATE DEPICTIONS OF THE FORM OF THOSE RELATIONS. GIVEN THE RELATIONS, IT IS POSSIBLE TO PUT QUESTIONS OF A VERY SPECIFIC SORT REGARDING POSSIBLE HSI PROBLEMS AND TO REASON ONE'S WAY THROUGH SUBSEQUENT QUESTIONS TO POSSIBLE RESOLUTIONS. THE PRESENT PROPOSAL INDICATES HOW THIS CAN BE DONE. PHASE I WILL RESULT IN THE FIRST DRAFT OF A SCRIPT THAT WILL GUIDE THE USER THROUGH THE DESIGN PROCESS USING A QUESTION-AND-ANSWER APPROACH, WITH SUPPLEMENTAL ILLUSTRATIVE AND INFORMATIVE MATERIALS. IN PHASE II, THIS SCRIPT WILL BE DEVELOPED, REFINED, AND RECAST AS A COMPUTER PROGRAM DESIGNED TO RUN ON AIR FORCE STANDARD MICROCOMPUTERS AND WRITTEN IN ADA. A NATURAL POST-APPLICATION WOULD BE TO TAKE THE SAME APPRAOCH (A QUESTION-AND-ANSWER GUIDE BASED ON ISOPERFORMANCE RELATIONS) TO MOS RESTRUCTURING.