Development of a system for communicating human factors readiness

Abstract

While human factors has been recognized as a key component in research and development efforts, there is a lack of systematic guidance as to how to insert human factors evaluation outcomes into system development processes. The current effort proposes a systematic scale comparable to existing Technology Readiness Level scales to objectively quantify and track human factors readiness throughout the system development lifecycle. The resultant Human Factors Readiness Levels (HFRLs), iteratively developed with input from government and industry human factors practitioners across a variety of domains, prioritize each identified human factors issue based on its risk level and by the status of any resolution. The overall scoring method utilizes a scale of 1 to 10, with a higher score indicating a higher level of human factors readiness. The HFRL scale has been integrated into a software tool, the System for Human Factors Readiness Evaluation (SHARE), that supports tracking and calculation of system level HFRLs that can be quickly and easily shared to support acquisition decision making and product development in an effort to realize return on investment through early identification, prioritization and rectification of issues avoiding expensive, late design changes. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.