Specification Shortfall Impact Analysis

KEEPING ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT ON TRACK
During a program's engineering development phase, it sometimes becomes apparent that the current design or implementation will not meet the original specification. Because design changes at this point in the process may have serious program schedule and budget consequences , it is imperative to understand the effects of each specification shortfall on the program's overall performance objectives.

ANALYSIS TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
In order to quantify the effects of a given specification shortfall, our engineers use an array of standard and Avtec proprietary modeling and simulation tools to measure the predicted system performance against originally articulated requirements. We often develop custom test platforms to better model complex systems that cannot be adequately simulated with standard tools. Rapid prototyping of key problem areas within affected systems and subsystems may also be required to supplement the data generated by simulations.

DATA FOR INFORMED PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
Often, specific small specification shortfalls have little or no effect on overall performance, and the requirement in question can be waived. In other cases, a decision must be made between fixing the problem (with program budget consequences), or granting a waiver (with program performance impacts). Avtec's detailed impact analyses allows program managers to make informed cost-benefit decisions when shortfall situations arise.