The Development and Validation of a Human Systems Integration (HSI) Program for the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND)

From 2000 to 2004, Defence Research and Development Canada conducted multi-year Research and Development RD activities under contract to develop, demonstrate and validate a Human Systems Integration HSI approach for the Canadian Department of National Defence DND with the aim to transition this approach to an operational program within the DNDs Material Acquisition and Support community. The foundation of an HSI Program was applied to 31 Defence acquisition projects from 2001-2004. Various components of the HSI Program were researched, developed, demonstrated, and iteratively improved. A cost benefit analysis derived from this effort was used to determine whether a permanent HSI Program within the DND would be worthwhile. 3,331,000.00 was spent on exercising a full or partial HSI process. This resulted in 3,515,000.00 in immediate savings based on observed data, providing a 106 payback. The cost of HSI application compared with immediate savings plus at least 133,000,000.00 in extrapolated savings based on the impact the application of HSI had on projected life cycle costs resulted in a 4000 payback, suggesting that HSI is a worthwhile investment. The possibility in hundreds of millions of dollars in further downstream savings based on lives saved or re-engineering costs avoided also existed but was not calculated. This study found that HSI costs ranged from 4 20 of a projects engineering budget and that Canadas integrated approach to HSI, whereby analyses are shared between HSI domains, can save up to 25 of HSI costs. This RD effort developed and validated the Canadian HSI approach and supports the implementation of a formalized and enhanced HSI program within the Canadian DND.