Frank Ponzio Jr., President and CIO of Symbolic Systems Inc., New Providence, NJ presented a brief on May 11, 2004 describing the concept behind and success of holding a Data Review Board to the Army Architecture Tools and Repositories Working Group in Alexandria, VA. The briefing centered on the first Data Review Boards, held on April 15 and 22, 2004 at the Army’s Central Technical Support Facility, Ft. Hood, Texas. These review boards were held to review the initialization data that will be used in the Army’s digitized battlefield systems. (Initialization data is the information that provides addressing and other key information for systems on the battlefield to transmit and receive messages, situational awareness, and other key information. For example, it allows positioning, terrain, and weather information from satellites to reach a war-fighting unit in the field.)

Mr. Ponzio, a proponent of the data review board concept, discussed how many of the issues, which were uncovered and resolved through the board meetings, would have cost the Army tens of thousands of dollars if not noticed until the equipment was in formal testing or deployed.

“The goal,” he noted, “was to have all stakeholders in the process - from the authoritative data sources who provided the data, to the systems developers who will use the data - hold a formal, collaborative session to take a visual look at the product, discuss any issues related to it, and to resolve them before loading the information on systems and networks for testing.” He likened the process to a visual review of building plans and blueprints between the architect, the construction crew, and the customer to confirm there are no obvious issues before construction begins in order to avoid re-work, costs, and time delays later.

For more information on the Data Review Board, click for a related press release.

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