Plan for the management of project data.

Data are forms of documentation required to support a project in all of its areas (e.g., administration, engineering, configuration management, finance, logistics, quality, safety, manufacturing, and procurement). The data can take any form (e.g., reports, manuals, notebooks, charts, drawings, specifications, files, or correspondence). The data may exist in any medium (e.g., printed or drawn on various materials, photographs, electronic, or multimedia).

Data may be deliverable (e.g., items identified by a project’s contract data requirements) or data may be nondeliverable (e.g., informal data, trade studies and analyses, internal meeting minutes, internal design review documentation, lessons learned, and action items). Distribution can take many forms, including electronic transmission.

Data requirements for the project should be established for both data items to be created and their content and form, based on a common or standard set of data requirements. Uniform content and format requirements for data items facilitate understanding of data content and help with consistent management of data resources.

The reason for collecting each document should be clear. This task includes the analysis and verification of project deliverables and nondeliverables, data requirements, and customer-supplied data. Often, data are collected with no clear understanding of how they will be used. Data are costly and should be collected only when needed.

Project data include both acquirer and supplier created data. The acquirer identifies the minimal data required to cost-effectively operate, maintain, and improve the acquired product and to foster source-of-support competition throughout the product’s lifecycle in the acquirer’s intended environment. Data should be available in a format that is compatible with the intended user’s environment and a quality assurance program should be implemented to guarantee the accuracy and completeness of data.

The acquirer considers how data will be shared between acquirer and supplier as well as across relevant stakeholders. In many cases, leaving acquirer data in the physical possession of the supplier and having access to supplier data is the preferred solution. In addition to data access, the requirement for acquirer use, reproduction, manipulation, alteration, or transfer of possession of data should be part of the data management plan. The supplier agreement specifies appropriate acquirer rights to the data acquired, in addition to requirements for delivery or access.

Data, when delivered to the acquirer, are formatted according to accepted data standards to ensure its usability by the acquirer. Planning for managing data, including during transition to operations and support, is addressed as part of project planning to avoid unexpected costs to procure, reformat, and deliver data. Plans for managing data within project teams and the infrastructure required to manage data between the supplier, operational users, and other relevant stakeholders are included.

Project data and plans requiring version control or more stringent levels of configuration control are determined and mechanisms established to ensure project data are controlled. The implications of controlling access to classified and sensitive data (e.g., proprietary, export controlled, source selection sensitive) and other access-controlled data also must be considered.

Typical Work Products

1.    Data management plan

2.    Master list of managed data

3.    Data content and format description

4.    Lists of data requirements for acquirers and suppliers

5.    Privacy requirements

6.    Security requirements

7.    Security procedures

8.    Mechanisms for data retrieval, reproduction, and distribution

9.    Schedule for the collection of project data

10.  List of project data to be collected

Subpractices

1.    Establish requirements and procedures to ensure privacy and the security of data.

Not everyone will have the need or clearance necessary to access project data. Procedures must be established to identify who has access to which data as well as when they have access to which data.

Security and access control are critical when the acquirer provides data access to the supplier. Security and access control includes access lists of authorized supplier personnel and non-disclosure agreements between the acquirer and supplier.

2.    Establish a mechanism to archive data and to access archived data.

Accessed information should be in an understandable form (e.g., electronic or computer output from a database) or represented as originally generated.

The data management plan is ideally supported by an integrated data system that meets the needs of both initial acquisition and support communities. Integrating acquisition and sustainment data systems into a total lifecycle integrated data environment provides the capability needed to plan effectively for sustainment and to facilitate technology insertion for affordability improvements during re-procurement and post-production support, while ensuring that acquisition planners have accurate information about total lifecycle costs.

3.    Determine the project data to be identified, collected, and distributed.

4.    Decide which project data and plans require version control or more stringent levels of configuration control and establish mechanisms to ensure project data are controlled.