566. FAME – Forecasts, Appraisals and Management Evaluations

Paper

Abstract

Good decision making depends on the selection of relevant information and its proper utilization. Decisions inherently affect both today’s actions and future results, thereby indicating a need to forecast and understand the short and long range effects of past and present status: To meet this need and provide decision bases upon which to act, NASA’s Apollo Program Office has developed rigorous forecasting techniques. The technique now in use is not a panacea, but does provide that data necessary to pinpoint critical issues, define courses of action and thereby factually support technical and management judgments.
Providing, to management, accurate forecasts of program strength and potential program weaknesses before they become ‘critical problems’ is a primary responsibility at all levels of Apollo Program management. In discharging this responsibility, the Apollo Program Office, Washington, D.C. in concert with Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, and the manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, TX, has developed rigorous weight/performance status and forecasting techniques in direct support of the management decision making process necessary to achieve program objectives on time and within costs.
By drawing in depth both on mathematics and on management decision criteria, and by utilizing electronic computers, the developed techniques allow a manager to single out the critical issues which require his appraisal and analysis, and provide him with factual bases to support his executive judgment.
This paper has been prepared for both executive and middle level managers to provide them with that information necessary for a clear understanding of the need, scope, and potential of this decision supporting tool.