Mission Success in Complex Environments (MSCE)

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News and Notes

The first method consistent with MDP is published!

The Incident Management Mission Diagnostic Method (IMMD), Version 1.0 technical report has been published by the CERT program. The IMMD is the first published domain-specific method that was developed to be consistent with the Mission Diagnostic Protocol (MDP). This method focuses on determining the potential for success of an organization’s incident management capability (IMC). The method description includes full descriptions of all activities as well as a set of worksheets and instructions for executing the method.

Mission Diagnostic Protocol, version 1.0 is now publicly available

The technical report, Mission Diagnostic Protocol, version 1.0: A Risk-Based Approach for Assessing the Potential for Success, is now published and publicly available. This protocol provides a time-efficient means of analyzing the potential for success in complex and uncertain environments and can be applied across the life cycle and throughout the supply chain to produce a broad overview of the current state of risk and opportunity for a project or process.

In today's business environment, multiple organizations routinely combine resources in pursuit of a single objective resulting in programmatic, process, and technological complexity that can be difficult to manage effectively. Achieving success in such complex settings has proven to be difficult as well. To determine the chances of succeeding, people managing a program or overseeing a process must have a way to sort through the inherent complexity of multi-organizational objectives.

The SEI MSCE research team is developing a suite of advanced analysis tools for assessing complex programs and processes. These tools, the SEI Mission-Oriented Success Analysis and Improvement Criteria (MOSAIC) are designed to help evaluate success against the set of objectives that define a mission.

Currently, the MSCE research team is finalizing two base protocols for the SEI MOSAIC:

Mission Diagnostic Protocol (MDP) is a basic technique you can employ at any point in the lifecycle that provides a quick, high-level evaluation of a mission. This evaluation allows you to project the mission's potential for success based on current conditions.

Mission Assurance Analysis Protocol (MAAP) is a comprehensive technique you can conduct at strategic points in the lifecycle that provides a more comprehensive analysis of a mission. This analysis allows you to take an in-depth look at the factors affecting a mission's potential for success.

The MSCE research team is currently seeking to conduct pilot studies that provide an opportunity to refine SEI MOSAIC and to extend its capabilities.

For more information about SEI MOSAIC or to contact the MSCE research team, send email to sei-mosaic@sei.cmu.edu.

For general information on risk, visit the Risk Management web pages.