Human systems integration

Human Systems Integration

Human Systems Integration (HSI) is a managerial and technical approach to developing and sustaining systems which focuses on the interfaces between humans and modern technical systems. The domains of HSI include training, manpower (the number of people), personnel (the qualifications of people), human factors engineering, safety, occupational health, survivability and habitability. These domains have all been important aspects of systems design for decades. What is new about HSI is the integration of domain activities across systems engineering and logistics support processes. For example, early human-centered decisions in the domains of human factors engineering, usability and systems safety can reduce life cycle costs in the domains of training, personnel and manpower. Poor design may require more people, more highly qualified people, or more extensive training. Attention to survivability reduces the cost of losses due to equipment damage or fatalities, and improved habitability leads to better performance and retention, reducing lifecycle costs. Numerous tradeoffs are possible for a given system, the ultimate goal is to achieve the highest possible total system performance, with an optimal lifecycle cost.

Origin and policies

Human Systems Integration in the United States originated as a US Army program called the Manpower and Personnel Integration (MANPRINT) program.  MANPRINT focused on the needs and capabilities of the soldier during the development of military systems.  MANPRINT framed that focus in six domains: human factors engineering, manpower, personnel, training and system safety. HSI can be understood as an aspect of systems engineering technical processes that leverages the various HSI domains to arrive at a system that is well integrated with the human operators, maintainers and support personnel.  Another view is more focused on the domain specific outcomes and the value each domain, and their integration, adds to total system performance.

DOD 5000.02

HSI was formally integrated into DoD acquisition policy as a distinct focus area in the Operation of the Defense Acquisition System [1](DoD Instruction 5000.02) issued in 2008. This policy expanded the domains to seven, re-focusing systems safety as safety and occupational health, and adding habitability and survivability to the list [2].  Force protection was added to the survivability domain in the 2013 version of the instruction.  In 2020, the DoD has shifted to an adaptive acquisition framework, which will describe HSI activities tailored to each acquisition pathway, according to the unique characteristics of the capability being required.

SAE 6906

The SAE 6906 Standard Practice for Human Systems Integration defines standard practices for procurement activities related to HSI. The standard is provided for industry to apply HSI during system design, through disposal and all related activities. This standard includes an overview of HSI and the domains, the domain relationships and tradeoffs, systems development process requirements, and a number of technical standard references.

OPNAV 5310.23 Navy Personnel Human Systems Integration (NAVPRINT)

DI-HFAC 81743 Human Systems Integration Program Plan

Domains of HSI

Human Factors Engineering

Human Factors Engineering is an engineering discipline that ensures human characteristics such as perception, cognition, sensory and physical attributes are incorporated into requirements and design.

HFE standards include MIL-STD 46855 Human Engineering Requirements for Military Systems, Equipment and Facilities

Training

In the context of HSI, training is developing the knowledge, skills and abilities of a user group (generally operators, maintainers and support personnel) to maintain and use a system. Training is one of the most expensive contributors to total lifecycle costs, and training is reduced by systems design that are intuitive, and tailored to the humans who interface with the system. Thus, one of the most important tradeoffs occurs between early systems design informed by human factors engineering, and downstream operator and maintainer training.

System Safety and Occupational Health

The safety domain is focused on engineering hazards to human health and physical wellbeing (death, injury or occupational illness), or damage to or loss of equipment, out of a system. In a physical system design, systems safety works closely with HFE in applying human centered design standards to reduce potential hazards. Hazards that cannot be designed out of the system should be mitigated, and those that cannot be mitigated, may be trained. Systems safety also applies environmental and occupational health standards to hazard such as chemical exposure, noise hazards, and thermal exposure. The goal of systems safety is to achieve acceptable risk within the constraints of operational effectiveness and suitability, balancing cost schedule and performance concerns of the program. In DoD programs, program managers must prepare a Programmatic Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Evaluation (PESHE) which is an overall evaluation of ESOH risks for the program.

Systems safety is grounded in a risk management process but Safety risk management has a unique set of processes and procedures. For example, identified hazards should be designed out of the system whenever possible, either through selecting a different design, or altering the design to eliminate the hazard. If a design change isn't feasible, engineered features or devices should be added to interrupt the hazard and prevent a mishap. Warnings (devices, signs or signals) are the next best mitigation, but are considered to be far less beneficial to preventing mishaps. The last resort is personal protective equipment to protect people from the hazard, and training (knowledge skills and abilities to protect against the hazard and prevent a mishap). HFE review and involvement with design interventions introduced to address hazards is an important connection between the systems safety and HFE domain specialists. Design interventions may have manpower and personnel implications, and training mitigations must be incorporated into continued operator and maintainer training in order to sustain the training intervention.

Technical standards for systems safety include:

MIL-STD 882 System Safety

Survivability

Survivability is the probability that an asset will survive an attack. This could mean simply escaping with the asset in tact, or it could mean that some aspect of capability is maintained, a "graceful degradation of mission capabilities". In HSI, survivability is the probability that the human operators and maintainers will survive an attack or survive an attack with minimal injury. Elements of survivability include susceptibility to a mishap or attack (protection against detection for example) and vulnerability to injury, death or destruction. Measures or features to detect personnel are known as force protection, and recoverability is the ability to respond or recover from an attack.