Optima Systems Consultancy has supported Submarine Combat Systems Group under Niteworks Tasking for the development of a new acquisition operating model to support incremental development of the Common Combat System.
This operating model has taken the principles of the Niteworks ‘Continuous Capability Evolution’ white paper and applied a combination of Systems Thinking and Agile processes to develop an innovative approach to incremental development activities. This work has materially changed the way that the Combat Systems Group approaches development activities and the way that the group is internally organised. It has also clarified and coordinated the work necessary for their enterprise of NCHQ, Dstl, DE&S and Industry suppliers at a number of tiers to deliver common outcomes. The success of the work has been recognised by its adoption by Submarine Combat Systems Group and by a BAES award for innovation that recognises the potential of the work in a number of areas:
- Considerable cost saving to the enterprise over the long term; and
- Materially improve the ability of the enterprise to deliver innovation into capability.
The outcome of the work will also challenge the enterprise in a number of ways:
- Regular and structured sharing of business objectives on an annual cycle;
- Joint ownership and coordination of capability, system and technology road maps;
- Information sharing in a more open and honest way within a Single Architectural Model;
- Significant recommendations to the commercial operations of both DE&S and the supply base; and
- A common approach to specification and acceptance of capability improvements against a shared understanding of performance.
The team is currently engaged with other parts of Maritime Combat Systems above and below water to determine opportunities to exploit this work in other areas.
