IUID is a Key to Success for System Engineering

To enhance life-cycle management of assets in systems acquisition and sustainment, and to provide more accurate asset valuation, Department of Defense (DoD) Instruction 5000.02 (December 8, 2008) requires that Program Managers (PMs) plan for and implement IUID to identify and track applicable major end items, assemblies, sub-assemblies and components of major end items that meet the IUID requirement, and Government-furnished property. The PMs are required to document IUID planning and implementation in an IUID Implementation Plan, which is to be summarized in the program’s Systems Engineering Plan (SEP) for the Milestone A Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) Review and included as an annex in the SEP for Milestone B and C MDA Reviews. The SEPs for ACAT 1D MDAPs are reviewed by the DoD Overarching Integrated Product Team (OIPT). In the period January 2009 through October 2009, 12 ACAT 1D MDAP SEPs with IUID Implementation Plan annexes have been reviewed by the OIPT. The PMs are required to adjudicate the comments made by the OIPT prior the MDA Reviews.

What does this mean for Program Managers? PMs must prepare a SEP for each Milestone Review in which IUID planning must be well documented, reviewed and approved by OIPT. IUID is a mandatory policy requirement – but IUID is more than a requirement; it’s a common, unique data key to distinguish and track individual items throughout their lifecycles. Lifecycle visibility provides for more specific root cause analysis, predictive maintenance and insight into future design considerations.

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UID Forum 2010 Announcement

February 22-24, in San Antonio, TX and September 7-9, in Orlando, FL

Sponsored by the Department of Defense UID Policy Office, the 2010 UID Forums will continue to provide IUID implementation guidance as well as "from the field" information on how IUID is tied to other business processes delivering real benefits and stream-lining operations.

If you do business with the DoD as an industry supplier, you need to be aware of the UID policy and how these requirements affect your business. You need to embrace IUID to improve data quality, standardize serialization, take advantage of automatic data capture and revolutionize existing business processes. The UID policy impacts all acquisition programs and suppliers, including small to mid-sized businesses.

To date, over 8,000 contractors and defense personnel have attended a UID Forum and over 8 million items are currently in the IUID Registry. UID is happening now...do not be left behind!

There are a limited number of FUNDED registrations available to the first 200 DoD personnel (must be a first time attendee) for the February 22-24, 2010 San Antonio, TX location. Make plans to attend one of the 2010 UID Forums!

For the agenda, event information and to register, visit www.UIDforum.com.
 

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IUID Investment Review Board (IRB) Condition

It’s that time of year. You’re the Program Manager of a property accountability, logistics, maintenance, or procurement system. Your system has already exceeded $1 million in RDT&E and needs more funding to support the list of enhancements you’ve got in your back-pocket, in order to comply with the latest directive or policy memo that came out in August. Now, you’ve got to start pulling together an Investment Review Board (IRB) Certification package to ask for more money!

You’ve submitted your package that outlined all that you plan to do with the money you’re requesting from the IRB, but your Chief Information Officer’s (CIO) shop has come back to you with a little more homework.

Based on your system’s description and assertion to the Business Enterprise Architecture (BEA) operational activities in the Defense IT Portfolio Repository (DITPR), the Business Transformation Agency (BTA), Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP), and Supply Chain Integration (SCI) have all asked you and your CIO to complete a questionnaire. After it was completed, the questionnaire was used by the BTA to determine the necessity of IUID compliance within your system, based on the answers provided relating to the business functions and procedures performed by your system in the as-is state.

You’re then informed that your system had the Item Unique Identification (IUID) IRB condition applied to it by the IRB, which means you’ll be authorized to receive the funding you requested…on one condition – that you complete and submit a plan to implement IUID requirements into your system to comply with DODI 8320.04 and DODI 4151.19.

The process described above has been on-going on a monthly basis for almost a year now and to date, the Weapons System Life-cycle Management / Materiel Supplies and Services Management (WSLM / MS&SM) IRB has reviewed 158 systems, while applying the IUID condition to 50 of those systems. While the IRBs are only focused on individual systems performing RDT&E, compliance is also required for legacy systems that interface with target systems tagged with the IUID condition – otherwise, what good is a structure built into a target system to support the IUID initiative of your Component, if it cannot get any data out of its legacy feeder systems?

In order to more proactively determine the baseline number of target and legacy systems requiring IUID compliance and move forward, a few Components have opted to complete overall Component-level implementation plans. These plans have been submitted and are in the process of being reviewed by the functional leads of the IUID initiative.

Meanwhile, other Components have opted to comply on a system-by-system basis as they are applied to the system by the IRB. Those implementation plans are continuously being reviewed as they are submitted.

For more information on how you can get in contact with your own Component’s functional lead for IUID and understand where you fit into the IRB puzzle, please contact Mr. Robert Leibrandt.
 

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IUID Awards - Nominations Due January 11, 2010

The DoD UID Policy Office has initiated the IUID Awards Program to officially recognize individuals, teams, and NEW for 2010, those who contribute to the media arena with successful IUID adoption and lessons learned articles published for others to read. There are three award categories:

• IUID Individual Contribution Award officially recognizes individuals who have consistently made critical personal contributions to help drive IUID implementation.
• IUID Team Excellence Award is presented to project/program/organizational teams that have gone beyond IUID compliance, successfully driving IUID implementation and execution.
• IUID Media Spotlight Award (NEW) officially recognizes those individuals or teams who develop, submit and publish IUID success stories within the logistics, maintenance, acquisition, standards or supply communities.

To be considered for any of these awards, complete the nomination form or visit the UID Website and submit to the IUID and eBusiness Policy Support Center. Winners will be announced at the UID Forum, February 22-24, 2010.

Don’t delay – get your nominations in today!

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