Management Decision-Making Database

The objective of the proposed research is to demonstrate the feasibility of enhancing program management decision making. This enhancement will be realized through a decision support system that employs a database of systems acquisition information. The database will consist of key parameters affecting program manager decision making. The user interface for the database will employ expert systems technology so as to guide the user through the most effective sequence of searches for the problem that is being faced. Phase I will involve 4 tasks. In task 1, we will develop a taxonomy of critical program manager decisions, issues, and data elements. In task 2, we will define a data collection methodology for developing and organizing the components of the taxonomy into a program managers\ database. Data will be collected from a limited number of program management offices (PMOs) to test this data collection plan and to enable the development of a prototype system. In task 3, we will design and implement a database that supports the decision taxonomy of task 1. A prototype decision tool for using the proposed database via a expert system shell will be developed in task 4.