Case study assignment

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Case Studies

Case One The NASA Knowledge Map

At 11:38 a.m. on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle orbiter Challenger launched from

Cape Canaveral, Florida. Less than a second later, gray smoke streamed out from a hot

flare burning in the rocket motor. The flare ignited liquid hydrogen and nitrogen inside

the fuel tank, which exploded 73 seconds after liftoff. The Challenger was torn apart,

and all seven astronauts were killed.

In the days and weeks following the disaster, it became clear that two O-ring seals

within the rocket booster had failed. Engineers working for the space agency had

warned of just such a failure. In particular, they had expressed concerns that the O-ring

seals could fail when outside temperatures dropped below 53 degrees Fahrenheit. On

the morning of January 28, the temperature was 36 degrees. The launch pad was

covered with solid ice.

In response to the Challenger disaster, NASA established the Program and Project

Initiative whose purpose was to improve individual competency for NASA employees—

and to prevent another catastrophe. The Challenger, however, was followed by the

failure of three expensive Mars missions. The software system used for the Mars

Climate Orbiter mission erred when one part of the software used pound-force units to

Book Title: eTextbook: Fundamentals of Information Systems Chapter 7. Knowledge Management and Specialized Information Systems Case Studies

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calculate thrust, whereas another part used the newton metric unit. Less than a month

later, the Mars Polar Lander crashed into the surface of the planet at too high velocity—

triggering the failure of a concurrent mission, the Mars Deep Space 2 probes. A review

of the Deep Space 2 mission revealed that NASA engineers had decided to skip a

complete system impact test in order to meet the project’s tight deadline. In the wake of

these failures, NASA sought to improve communication and collaboration among teams.

Yet in 2003, a large piece of insulation foam broke off from the Columbia space shuttle

during launch, creating a hole in its wing, ultimately causing a catastrophic breach of the

shuttle during reentry; again, all seven astronauts on board were killed.

These terrible losses brought about a fundamental change in NASA’s approach to

knowledge management. In 1976, NASA had created the Office of the Chief Engineer

(OCE), which was initially staffed by only one employee whose job was to offer advice

and expertise on NASA’s administration. In response to the Challenger disaster, NASA

established the Academy of Project/Program and Engineering Leadership (APPEL) as a

resource for developing NASA’s technical staff. In 2004, the agency moved APPEL to

the OCE in order to promote talent development through the analysis of lessons learned

and through knowledge capture—the codification of knowledge. The purpose was to

improve not only individual but also team performance and to overcome the disconnect

between the different engineering and decision-making teams across the huge

organization. The overarching goal was to create an organization that learns from its

mistakes. APPEL emphasized not only technical training curriculum but also the sharing

of practitioner experience, storytelling, and reflective activities. In 2012, NASA furthered

this initiative and established the role of chief knowledge officer whose mission is to

capture implicit and explicit knowledge. Today, the agency has an extensive knowledge

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management system called NASA Knowledge Map, which is a tool that helps

employees navigate the enormous collection of knowledge within NASA. The map

encompasses six major categories:

Case Studies and Publications,

Face-to-Face Knowledge Services,

Online Tools,

Knowledge Networks,

Lessons Learned and Knowledge Processes, and

Search/Tag/Taxonomy Tools.

Fifteen organizations within NASA contribute to Case Studies and Publications. The

Goddard Space Flight Center, for example, publishes studies that range from analysis of

the Challenger disaster to an analysis of a protest submitted by a NASA contractor who

lost a follow-up contract. The latter case may not seem critical, but in one such case, the

Office of Inspector General had to launch a formal investigation that cost NASA time,

money, and energy. This case study was then integrated into the APPEL curriculum with

the goal of avoiding the mistakes that led to the protest. The Johnson Space Center

issues oral history transcripts, as well as newsletters, case studies, and reports. The Jet

Propulsion Laboratory publishes conference papers and a Flight Anatomy wiki that

tracks prelaunch and in-flight anomalies.

Face-to-Face Knowledge Services comprise programs that are conducted in person at

many locations, including, for example, workshops presented by the NASA Engineering

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and Safety Center. Within the Online Tools category are video libraries, portals,

document repositories, and synchronous and asynchronous collaboration and sharing

sites. Some of these tools are quite sophisticated. For example, Human Exploration and

Operations (HEO) deploys a GroupSystems Think Tank decision support tool to improve

group decision making. The Knowledge Networks category includes information about

formal and informal communities of practice, mass collaborative activities, and methods

for locating and accessing experts, and group workspaces for projects such as static

code analysis.

Twenty organizations within NASA contribute data to the Lessons Learned and

Knowledge Processes databases, which capture and store knowledge, lessons learned,

and best practices. These include, for example, HEO’s knowledge-based risks library

with topics covering project management, design and development, systems

engineering, and integration and testing. HEO also sponsors lessons-learned

workshops and forums on topics such as solar array deployment, shuttle transition and

retirement, system safety, and risk management.

Finally, the system’s Search/Tag/Taxonomy Tools allow individuals to access

organization-specific sites as well as the abundance of materials offered through the five

other KM programs. This final category within the KM system may be the most

important, as NASA’s own inspector general issued a report indicating that the

tremendous wealth of KM resources is still significantly underutilized. For instance,

NASA managers rarely consult the Lessons Learned Information System (LLIS) despite

NASA requirements that they do so. The Glenn Research Center received $470,000

over two years to support LLIS activities, but contributed only five reports to the system

during that time. Moreover, the inspector general concluded that inconsistent policy

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direction, disparate KM project development, and insufficient coordination marginalize

the system.

NASA is clearly at the bleeding edge of large-scale KM system development, creating

the tools of the future. APPEL and other NASA teams are able to make use of some

amazing tools that are being developed within the agency. It may be, however, that

NASA’s KM system suffers from the same disjointed development and communication

barriers that led to the space shuttle disasters and the failures of the Mars missions. Yet,

it is vital that NASA learn to make use of its state-of-the-art KM system as the success

of every NASA mission requires that thousands of employees are able to make the most

of NASA’s vast collection of knowledge.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. How is the KM system at NASA different from other KM systems that you have studied within

the chapter? How is it similar?

2. What steps can NASA take to make sure that the KM system is better utilized by individuals

and teams?

3. What can NASA do to ensure that individuals and teams can find what they need within the

mountain of data residing within the KM system?

4. Is NASA’s KM system, as it exists now, a good way to combat the type of failures the agency

has experienced in the past? If not, how could the KM system be changed to support mission

success?

5. Are there other measures that NASA should take in addition to or in conjunction with the

development of its KM system?

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SOURCES: Oberg, James, “7 Myths about the Challenger Shuttle Disaster,” NBC News, January 25, 2011, www.nbcnews.com/id/ 11031097/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/myths-about-challenger-shuttle-disaster/#.U2AsyIFdUrU; Atkinson, Joe, “Engi neer Who Opposed Challenger Launch Offers Personal Look at Tragedy,” NASA Researcher News, October 5, 2012, www.nasa.go v/centers/langley/news/researchernews/rn_Colloquium1012.html; “Challenger Disaster,” History Channel, www.history.com/t opics/challenger-disaster, accessed April 29, 2014; “Failure as a Design Criteria,” Plymouth University, www.tech.plym.ac.uk/s me/interactive_resources/tutorials/failurecases/hs1.html, accessed April 29, 2014; Lipowicz, Alice, “Is NASA’s Knowledge Ma nagement Program Obsolete?,” GCN Technology, Tools and Tactics for Public Sector IT, March 19, 2012, http://gcn.com/Articles /2012/03/15/NASA-knowledge-management-IG.aspx; Luttrell, Anne, “NASA’s PMO: Building and Sustaining a Learning Organ ization,” Project Management Institute, www.pmi.org/Learning/articles/nasa.aspx, accessed February 9, 2015; Hoffman, Edward J. and Boyle, Jon, “Tapping Agency Culture to Advance Knowledge Services at NASA,” ATD, September 15, 2013, www.td.org/ Publications/Magazines/The-Public-Manager/Archives/2013/Fall/Tapping-Agency-Culture-to-Advance-Knowledge-Service s-at-NASA; “Knowledge Map,” NASA, http://km.nasa.gov/knowledge-map/, accessed February 9, 2015.

Case Two Doctor on Demand Enables Physicians to Make House Calls

In addition to cost, provider availability and travel time are barriers for many Americans

seeking access to healthcare services. In fact, a recent study of 4,000 patients

determined that, on average, patients spend 38 minutes on travel time to and from

outpatient appointments. Improving patient’s access to care continues to be a priority for

healthcare providers and government agencies across the United States, and an

increasing number of companies have begun offering telemedicine services, such as

video-based doctors’ appointments, as a potential solution.

Founded in 2013, Doctor on Demand, offers the possibility of increasing access to

health care through video visits with doctors who can diagnose and treat a range of

noncritical symptoms for patients who are unable or unwilling to visit a clinic. Using the

Doctor on Demand services, patients can connect with one of more than 1,400 licensed

physicians through the company’s Web site using a Chrome, Firefox, or Safari browser

or via an Android or iOS app. In addition to video conferences, the Doctor on Demand

app allows patients to upload high-resolution images so that doctors can better assess

certain conditions.

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The top conditions treated by the service are cold and flu symptoms, sore throats,

urinary tract infections, skin rashes, diarrhea and vomiting, eye issues, sports injuries,

and travel-related illnesses. The site also offers video visits with board-certified lactation

consultants for women who are breastfeeding. In addition, patients who need

psychological or psychiatric services can consult with mental health professionals via

the service.

According to Adam Jackson, CEO of Doctor on Demand, the most frequent users of the

company’s services are working mothers, who often have questions about their

children’s health but aren’t always able (or willing) to take time off to get every question

answered. According to Jackson, 92 percent of video consultations require no in-person

follow-up.

Although Doctor on Demand suggests that patients have access to Wi-Fi to ensure the

highest quality appointment, the company promises a smooth experience as long as

patients have a 4G or LTE connection. Patients who have connection problems can also

switch to audio only to complete a visit, if necessary. The Doctor on Demand network

runs on a cloud-based platform run by Amazon Web Services. Due to the nature of the

communication, the company had to go through several steps to ensure that all of its

infrastructure was compliant with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability

Act) requirements.

Most experts predict a shift to telemedicine, including video doctors’ visits, will continue.

In fact, a report by analytics company IHS Technology predicts that video consultations

will increase from 2 million in 2015 to 5.4 million by 2020. For some patients, however,

technology limitations will continue to impede their ability to access health care through

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telemedicine services. A grainy connection or one that cuts out in the middle of an

appointment is unlikely to result in a high quality of care. Other hurdles that will also

need to be overcome include patient’s privacy concerns, patients’ uncertainty about

when a video appointment is appropriate in terms of symptoms, and patients’ lack of

trust that a virtual provider can accurately diagnose and treat them. That concern was

reinforced by a recent study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine that found

significant variations in the quality of care provided by different companies offering

virtual visits for the diagnosis and treatment of common acute illnesses.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Would you consider using Doctor on Demand or a similar service to access treatment for a

minor healthcare issue? If not, which aspects of the service are most concerning to you

(privacy, quality of care, security or other technology issues, etc.)?

2. Do more research online about Doctor on Demand and two of its competitors (such as

Amwell, MDLive, and Teladoc). What information does each company provide on its Web site

that is designed to ease patients’ concerns about privacy, quality, and technology-related

issues? Which company does the best job of convincing you that their service is safe and

secure?

3. In the study on patient travel time, researchers found that minority patients and those who

were unemployed faced longer travel times when visiting a doctor. Rural Americans also often

have more difficulty accessing health care. Is a video-based telemedicine app likely to

improve access for those populations? How might this technology be used in a way that

would be more likely to improve healthcare access for those populations?

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SOURCES: Doyle, Kathryn, “Study: How Long You Wait to See a Doctor Is Linked to Race, Employment,” Huffington Post, Octo ber 6, 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/study-how-long-you-wait-to-see-a-doctor-is-linked-to-race-employment_us_561 3b0cbe4b0baa355ad2621; “Troubleshooting,” Doctor on Demand, https://doctorondemand.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/200 218868-Troubleshooting, accessed April 9, 2016; “Our Mission,” Doctor on Demand, www.doctorondemand.com/our-mission, April 8, 2016; Lapowsky, Issie, “Video Is about to Become the Way We All Visit the Doctor,” Wired, www.wired.com/2015/04/un ited-healthcare-telemedicine; Van Thoen, Lindsay, “Healthcare IT is Failing (And It Needs AWS), Logicworks (blog), July 20, 20 15, www.logicworks.net/blog/2015/07/healthcare-cloud-saas-aws; Japsen, Bruce, “Doctors’ Virtual Consults with Patients to Do uble by 2020,” Forbes, August 9, 2015, www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2015/08/09/as-telehealth-booms-doctor-video-cons ults-to-double-by-2020/#639cbc4e5d66; “Press Release: “39% of Tech-Savvy Consumers Have Not Heard of Telemedicine: Heal thMine Survey,” HealthMine, March 27, 2016, www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/39-of-tech-savvy-consumers-have-not-hea rd-of-telemedicine-healthmine-survey-300241737.html#continue-jump; Schoenfield, Adam J., et al., “Variation in Quality of U rgent Health Care Provided during Commercial Virtual Visits,” JAMA Internal Medicine, April 4, 2016, http://archinte.jamanetw ork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2511324.