REQUIREMENTS AND TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION WORKING GROUP CHARTER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85-00142R000100100009-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 9
• Content Type: MISC

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Requirement and Technology Acquisition Wortng Group
arter
Purpose
The purpose of the ISB and its working groups as a whole is to improve
the effectiveness of Agency information handling activities. The focus of
our working group is the requirements process. In particular, we are to
examine, with an Agency-wide perspective, the process of formulating,
validating, coordinating, and transmitting Agency requirements for
information handling services, and propose improvements where they are
warranted.
Objectives
Our objectives, stated in order of importance, are as follow:
1. To examine critically the Agency information handling requirements
process.
a) Identify major requirements functions, responsible components,
and deliverables.
b) Identify shortcomings in the structure of the system and
failings in the use of the system.
2. To make recommendations to the ISB for correcting any deficiencies
in the requirements process, including recommendations for
organizational changes that might be needed to overcome structural
or operational problems, and produce a model requirements system.
3. To identify and address specific requirements as raised by the ISB,
group members, and members of other working groups.
Scope of Work
For the Requirements Working Group's purposes, information handling
sytems of interest consist of, but are not limited to, electronic
technologies, including text, data, voice, video, communications, imagery,
and graphics, as well as related processes and services, included in the CIA
Program.
Organization and Responsibilities
The Requirements Working Group is responsible to the ISB. Requirements
Working Group members shall select a Chairman to serve at the pleasure of
the group. The chairman will prepare the agenda for group meetings, be the
group's spokesman, perform final editorial review on written material
prepared by the group, and arrange for the taking of minutes of the working
group meetings. The working group will forward minutes of its meetings to
the ISB Executive Secretary and present its findings and recommendations to
the ISB Chairman orally or in writing, at his discretion.
CONFIDENTIAL
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GUIDELINES FOR AN OFFICE AUTOMATION (OA) DEVELOPMENT PLAN
1. Pupose: Office Automation development imposes a need to determine
requirements and develop a formal plan. The initial planning effort requires
two ad hoc organizational groups: a senior management steering committee and a
planning team. The goal is to strive for overall management coordination and
improved strategic planning that will result in a clear statement of short-
term and long-term direction for office automation, data processing and
telecommunications-. The plan should describe the most cost-effective approach
to meeting defined-business needs. Planners should not attempt to utilize
technology for its own sake or apply a philosophy of making the users a test-
bed for the latest product announcements. :The=reat objective of OA is-not the -.
rtstallat ion ofraut mated: ystems .into~ai off ce- environment,. but, the erthanc&L
:meet' of -tape business _ob3ectlys of the organization; using new technology only
when and where it is appropriate.- Development should proceed by following the.
steps and procedures listedr below. Paragraphs a, b, and c contain procedures
to follow which lead to preparation of the final plan described in paragraph d_
a. ? Attain.:effective,senior-rsoonsorshin! Establish a senior management
steering committee which sets goals and constraints for a plan and identifies
potential members of a planning team. _
b. 'Cre"a- f "al nriin dam This group should include decision-makers
knowledgeable in office automation, data processing, telecommunications, the
administrative support environment and key user departments.
(1) Conduct several short sessions and produce-an overall picture:
(rough plan)" of short-term and long-term direction. This is essentially a
survey process, in which key segments of the organization are identified and
business goals, information needs, and work processes are described. Figure 4
is a diagram-showing items to be addressed in.top-down strategy planning.
(2) Review the, rough-cut plan with other key managers in order to
"verify assumptions related. -to business needs.
-
(3) The planning team should review the plan several times until it is
satisfied with the high-level statement of objectives and scope for the OA -
development effort. Results-of this review should identify key problems,
potential solutions and performance paybacks.
(4) The plan and results of review should go back to the steering
committee, which then decides whether to proceed with a further effort that
will produce a more detailed definition of requirements and the initial systems
desion specification- The total plan would then be enhanced to include a
proposed investment schedule; implementation milestones, and staffing/training
needs.
A-1
Attachment A _
?Enclosure (1)
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c Define the focus. _iectives and scope for recuir ents definition
The planning team efforts thus far will have provided a good idea of what
major functions and support needs will be addressed in the short-term and what
_.:`~- "
broad objectives have been defined for the long-term. Defining requirements a..;:,
may include any or all of the following basic steps:
177
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(1) Form a requirements analysis group. This should consist of =-
individuals whose backaround includes system, analysis skills, technical
expertise and knowledge of the organization.
(2) Define objectives and scope. These can be stated in terms of
broad needs (e.g., document processing support), the type of intended user
(e.g_, clerical staff), and an intended user group (e.g., Fleet Support-
Division). When-objectives and scope have been clarified, evaluate the amount - of time and number of people -that can be devoted to defining requirements.
Then determine where to concentrate efforts during the remaining steps.
(3) Select study participants. To minimize time expended, select the
smallest number of organizational units that are representative of those
receiving the systems. Then select the smallest number of positions that need
to be interviewed to provide a representative sample of the intended users.
(4) Gather information. This may be done using questionnaires and/or
interviews. Both should be brief and focus only on areas of interest needed
for the study. Replies should be analyzed and a summary made from the
results. In order to simplify both requirements documentation and the con-
struction of the plan, it is suggested that a copy of the activity's organi-
zation manual be used as a base. Inserts containing summarized systems
requirements information can be placed next to each branch, division and
directorate as applicable. This information should reflect decisions which
address existing equipment as well as proposed needs.
d. PreDare, development plan.---,
(1) The plan should consist of two parts: a report and a chart. Time
.savings can come from writing bullet-style rather than-with excessive narra-
"tive prose. The report should "succinctly describe requirements and systems
configurations for satisfying short-term and long-term needs. Issues such as
training, system administration and organizational impacts should also be
addressed. By consolidating requirements information for each directorate, an
overall blueprint can be constructed. -The framework or backbone of the chart _
-should be-the information flow and communications network. Interface -
considerations-for dissimilar-equipment should be reflected. Protocol
conversion and vender-to-vendor communications between desk-top computers,
multi-function workstations, mainframes and word processing equipment are-
critical to an organization`s distributed resource network- _
(2) Properly prepared, the development plan provides all the
information required to prepare budget submits, make systems acquisition
decisions, develop requests for proposal, and manage phased implementation
milestones.
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CORPORATE STRATEGY
ORGANIZATION
GOALS
l
ORGANIZATION
5 YEAR PLAN/GOALS
- - - - - - - - - --- - - - - ------------------------
i
DEVELOP AS FIRST STEP
OA/OFFICE INFORMATION
STRATEGY
HOW COULD OAJOI SYSTEM
AID IN REACHING
ORGANIZATION GOALS?
ESTABLISH ORGANIZATION
OA/O1 STRATEGY {GOALS)
ESTAIUSH RESPONSI1WTY
FOR EACH GOAL
1r1
? TOP DOWN PLANNING OF DATA
RESOURCES
? DAl A BASE STANDARDS
? SE' E CTTION OF DATA BASE MGT
? SS' CTtON OF DATA
DIc IONARY
? DATA BASE ADMINISTRATION
STRUCTURAL PLAN
ESTABLISH RESPONSIMITT
FOR EACH OBJECTIVE
DETAILED OA/01
EQUIPMENT/NETWORK
PLANNING
STRATEGY AND PLANNING FOR
OFFICE AUTOMATION
Figure4
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d
ESTABLISH ORGANIZATION
OBJECTIVES FOR DATA
AND FILES
ESTABUSH RESPONSIBILITY
FOR EACH OBJECTIVE
DETAILED
DATAIFILE PLANNING
TECHNOLOGY
NOW & 5 YEAR
TREND
-WHAT IS MANAGEMENT STRATEGY?
- HOW DOES INFORMATION FLOW R# ORGANIZATION?
?ARE THERE CENTRAL OR DECENTRALIZED
RFSPONSIIIIRIES? -
-WHO ENFORCES STANDARDS?
I
ESTABLISH ORGANIZATION
OBJECTIVES FOR NETWORK.
OA/O1 SYSTEM
NFTWORY, FOX VOICE AS WELL
AS DATA? _
? ELECTRONIC MAILAS WE LL AS
DATA?
? W HAT NETWO RNC ARCFHTECTURE?,
? NETWORK STANDARDS?
?STAGE BY STAGE NETWORK
EVOLUTION
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