ESA Case Study

In the period 1987 - 1994, PSC performed a series of assignments for the European Space Agency (ESA) – www.esa.int - on the Columbus Programme Management System (CPMS); on the Science Projects Programme Management Information System (PMIS); and for the Coordination & Monitoring Office at Headquarters, developing the system for Quarterly Reporting to Council.

In 1994, PSC – as our joint venture partnership Semtec AG (Bern AG) - began a series of over a dozen assignments with the European Space Agency, focused on improving operational efficiency and performance of key Information Systems (IS). PSC’s objectives were to provide flexible and responsive Consulting Services to support the definition and execution of these IS Projects; as well as contribute subject-matter expertise in our areas of competence. Our primary ESA Executive Sponsor was the Associate Director, Information Systems.

Overview of more recent engagements - Our early 1994 work on the Information Systems Master Plan led to three major streams of activity covering:

• Replacement of the Agency’s Financial Management systems (the AWARDS Project)
• Implementation of an improved management system for the Agency’s Technology R&D Programme (the MISTER Project)
• A series of projects and studies addressing Cost and Performance Management, and their interaction with the Agency’s financial management processes.

These Projects represented a vast change in the management systems and operations in ESA’s highly complex organizational environment. This change was achieved through a series of incremental projects with shared objectives, approaches and resources.

Our engagements were within the Manned Space Directorate, the Administration Directorate and the Industrial Matters & Technology Directorate – as well as with several Head Office staff functions. Our ESA Project Managers/Clients were typically 1 or 2 organizational levels beneath the indicated Director. These assignments were based variously in ESA’s Centres in Paris (FR), Noordwijk (NL) and Frascati (IT), while the Agency Project Teams were all cross-Centre. Klaus Eichenberger, Semtec AG Managing Director was responsible as Contracts Officer for all our ESA assignments, while Terence Calnan was Technical Officer and Projects Director.

PSC’s Deliverables – these included Project Plans, Scope Definitions, WBS and OBS schema; Project Reports, ESA Contractor Progress Reviews and Risk Assessments; Business Cases, Management Recommendations and Final Reports; RFI and Vendor Questionnaires; Operations Concepts, As-Is and To-Be Business Process Maps. Most Projects involved several briefings to ESA Directors and/or the Director General, and a key PSC task was the preparation of these Management Briefings.

Outcomes

• The IS Master Plan provided the Agency with a valuable strategic, conceptual and management framework for these and other Information Systems Projects over a 5-year period.
• The AWARDS Project successfully met its key objectives and was operational in January 1999, in good time to mitigate a major Y2K problem.
• The MISTER Project was successful in improving the management process and overall effectiveness for the Agency’s Technology R&D Program.
• The series of projects in the Cost and Performance domain served to identify how the Agency should align its Financial and (Project) Cost Management processes and systems, and improve the quality of the Agency’s financial, cost and performance ‘information for management’.