Integrating cognitive analyses in a large-scale system design process

This paper describes the integration of cognitive analysis into the early stages of design of a new, large-scale system - a next generation US Navy Surface combatant. Influencing complex system designs in ways cognizant of human-system integration principles requires work products that are timely and tightly coupled to other elements of the design process. Because analyses were conducted simultaneously with the design processes regarding ship functionality and staffing, it was necessary to select and adapt cognitive work analysis methods to fit the demands of a time pressured and information-limited design situation. Interviews were conducted and analyzed based on aspects of an abstraction hierarchy and control task models. An abstraction hierarchy, a series of cross-linked matrices, and a set of decision ladder models were developed to provide a principled mapping between system function decompositions produced by system engineering teams and cognitive tasks, information needs, automation requirements, and concepts for displays. Cross-referencing the matrices supported design traceability and facilitated the integration of cognitive analyses with functional analyses being performed by other design teams. Results fed into design recommendations with respect to level of automation, human roles and initial display prototypes for the ship combat command center. The case study illustrates the utility of cognitive work analysis models (specifically, abstraction hierarchies and decision-ladder models) in the design of large-scale, first-of-a-kind systems, and presents new design artifacts that link concepts used in cognitive analyses to those used in systems engineering for more effective integration within the systems engineering process.