A Performance-Based System Maturity Assessment Framework

The lack of system-level maturity has led to the development of many processes and methods for documenting, assessing, and resolving maturity and readiness. Yet, as the literature shows, there is no single integrated methodology to assess system maturity and performance throughout the lifecycle of a system, from concept development, through design, and ultimately to the operational deployment of the system. There is a need to develop a framework whereby emerging technologies and their capabilities may be evaluated up-front with an assessment conducted in terms of both technology maturity and effectiveness. The challenge is to understand the dependence or sensitivity of the technology of interest in terms of its impact on the overall system technology readiness and performance over time. The paper will lay out the specific requirements for such a framework. A system maturity metric is defined "an objective indicator or measure which facilitates system maturity level improvement". This definition will be critical in assessing measures as system maturity metrics since a critical question which is implied by this definition is "does the evaluation of the metric (and both current and projected technology maturity and associated performance) aid in improving the system maturity?" A useful set of metrics and supporting methodology must not only be used to assess the current state of the system but also provide a path to improvement. System performance measures will be introduced to provide a performance foundation for the overall framework. A key system performance measure will include projected system performance or effectiveness based on component performance capabilities. A logical assignment of relevant metrics by program phase will be made based on specific criteria. A "flowchart" type model (or logic "tree") using various readiness/maturity models and metrics to map from system development state to desired measures maturity level will be described.