project management plan for the square kilometre array, 2008-2012

Name Designation Affiliation Date Signature

Submitted by:

J.C. Greenwood Executive Officer SPDO 2010-02-09

Approved for release as part of SKA System CoDR documents:

R.T. Schilizzi Project Director SPDO 2010-02-09

PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE SQUARE

KILOMETRE ARRAY, 2008-2012

Document number ............................................................... MGT-040.030.000-PMP-001

Revision ........................................................................................................................... C

Author .................................................. R.T Schilizzi, P.E. Dewdney, and J.C. Greenwood

Date ................................................................................................................. 2010-02-09

Status ............................................................................................... Approved for release

MGT-040.030.000-PMP-001 Revision: C

2010-02-09 of 19

DOCUMENT HISTORY

Revision Date Of Issue Engineering Change

Number

Comments

A 2010-02-04 - First draft release for internal review

B 2010-02-08 - Update by Schilizzi.

C 2010-02-09 - Enlarged figures and minor text changes. Approved for

release for system CoDR.

DOCUMENT SOFTWARE

Package Version Filename

Wordprocessor MsWord Word 2003 MGT-040.030.000-PMP-001-C_ProjManPlan

Block diagrams MsOffice Visio2007 100204__PrepSKA_WP2_SPDO_Organogram.vsd,

100204_PrepSKA_Organogram.vsd,

OrgStructure.vsd

ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name SKA Program Development Office

Physical/Postal

Address

Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

Alan Turing Building

The University of Manchester

Oxford Road

Manchester, UK

M13 9PL

Fax. +44 (0)161 275 4049

Website www.skatelescope.org


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 5

1.1 Purpose of the document ....................................................................................................... 5

1.2 Scope of the document ........................................................................................................... 5

2 REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 5

3 PROJECT OVERVIEW ...................................................................................... 5

4 OVERVIEW OF DESIGN PHASE AND RELATED ACTIVITIES ............................................ 6

5 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS AND NATIONAL

INSTITUTIONS ..................................................................................................... 6

6 INDUSTRY PARTICIPATION ............................................................................... 8

7 PROJECT ORGANISATION ................................................................................ 8

7.1 International ........................................................................................................................... 8

7.2 SKA Program Development Office ........................................................................................ 12

7.2.1 Roles and Responsibilities ............................................................................................. 12

7.2.1.1 Project Director ......................................................................................................... 12

7.2.1.2 Project Engineer ........................................................................................................ 12

7.2.1.3 Project Scientist ........................................................................................................ 13

7.2.1.4 Project Manager ........................................................................................................ 13

7.2.1.5 Executive Officer/Business Manager ........................................................................ 13

7.2.1.6 Office Manager ......................................................................................................... 14

7.2.1.7 Administrative Assistant (part-time) ......................................................................... 14

7.2.1.8 Outreach Officer ....................................................................................................... 14

7.2.1.9 Manager, Industry Participation Strategy ................................................................. 15

7.2.1.10 Project Officer ....................................................................................................... 15

7.2.1.11 System Engineer .................................................................................................... 15

7.2.1.12 Site Engineer ......................................................................................................... 16

7.2.1.13 Domain Specialists ................................................................................................ 16

7.2.1.14 Liaison Engineers ................................................................................................... 16

7.2.1.15 Institution Design Teams....................................................................................... 17

7.2.1.16 SPDO Resources Committee ................................................................................. 17

8 PROJECT STRUCTURE AND CONTROL ................................................................ 18

8.1 Work Breakdown Structure .................................................................................................. 18

8.2 WP2/WP3 Project Control .................................................................................................... 18


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8.2.1 Project Book .................................................................................................................. 18

8.2.2 Project dictionary .......................................................................................................... 18

8.2.3 Documentation ............................................................................................................. 18

8.2.4 Project management tools ............................................................................................ 19

8.2.5 Schedule ........................................................................................................................ 19

8.2.6 Risk management .......................................................................................................... 19

8.2.7 Project reporting ........................................................................................................... 19

8.2.8 Meetings and reviews ................................................................................................... 19

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: International Organisation for the SKA .................................................................................... 9

Figure 2: PrepSKA Organisation, showing the SPDO as Coordinator of WPs 2 and 3. The Coordinators

for WPs 4-6 are NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research), INAF (National

Institute for Astrophysics, Italy), and STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK)

respectively ................................................................................................................................. 10

Figure 3: The Organisation of the SKA Program Development Office. ................................................. 11

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: PrepSKA WP2 Programs .......................................................................................................... 18

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

ASG ............................... Agencies SKA Group

CAC ............................... Contribution Audit Committee

IEAC .............................. International Engineering Advisory Committee

IFAG .............................. Informal Funding Agencies Group

MC ................................. Membership Committee

PrepSKA........................ Preparatory Phase for the Square Kilometre Array

RFI ................................. Radio Frequency Interference

SAC ............................... Science Advisory Committee

SKA ............................... Square Kilometre Array

SPDO ............................ SKA Program Development Office

SSEC ............................. SKA Science and Engineering Committee

WG ................................ Work Group

WP ................................. Work Package

XC ................................. Executive Committee


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1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the document

This document describes the management of the international SKA project for the years 2008 to

2012. During this period, SKA partners around the world will participate in the SKA Preparatory

Phase, PrepSKA, in order to prepare a proposal for construction funding for the SKA to be submitted

to governments in 2012.

1.2 Scope of the document

In this version of the Project Management Plan, the main focus is on a top-level description of the

management of PrepSKA Work Packages 2 and 3. The principal objectives of WP2 are to produce an

implementation plan for the full SKA and a detailed costed system design for Phase 1. For WP3, the

objectives are to further characterise the two candidate SKA sites in Southern Africa and Australia

and to analyse the various risks associated with locating the SKA at each of the sites. The “Guiding

Principles, Activities and Targets for PrepSKA Work Package 2” document by Peter Dewdney

describes, in detail, management issues for Work Package 2.

2 References

[1] P.E. Dewdney, ‘Guiding Principles, Activities and Targets for PrepSKA Work Package 2’, V2.4

dated 2 November 2008.

3 Project Overview

The SKA will have a collecting area of up to one million square metres spread over at least 3,000 km,

providing a sensitivity 40 times higher than the Expanded VLA. Its instantaneous field of view will be

tens of square degrees, many times that of existing instruments, with potentially several large,

independent fields-of-view for multiple simultaneous users. The SKA will be an extremely powerful

survey telescope with the capability to follow up individual objects with high angular and time

resolution. The SKA science impact will be widely felt in astro-particle physics and cosmology,

fundamental physics, galactic and extragalactic astronomy, solar system science and astrobiology.

The Reference Design for the full SKA is an interferometer array capable of imaging the radio sky at

frequencies from ≤100 MHz to 25 GHz, and providing an all-sky monitoring capability at frequencies

below 1 GHz. The concept involves parabolic dishes with innovative feeds to maximize a

combination of spatial and frequency coverage; at lower frequencies phased arrays can become

cost-effective and offer new operational capabilities. Data transport rates will be in the range of 100

Giga-bits/sec to multi-Tera-bits/sec, with Petaflop capacity required for the central processor. Much

of the required technology is currently being developed in the course of specific design studies and

the construction of several SKA Pathfinder instruments around the world.


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4 Overview of design phase and related activities

The major tasks ahead of the international SKA project in the period 2008-2012 are 1) the successful

integration of the R&D activities around the world into a costed System Design for the SKA for the

first phase of construction (WP2), 2) the characterisation of the environmental and physical

properties of candidate sites, and the costs of deploying the required infrastructure, as part of the

selection process (WP3), and 3) developing an implementation plan for the full SKA.

As part of the costed system design, the principal outcomes for WP2 will be:

A statement of the science capabilities of the design ;

Selection of the technologies to be used in the design;

A system design to include o The expected technical performance including frequency limits, imaging dynamic

range, polarisation purity, etc; o A cost estimate including an estimate of the required contingency; o The performance, cost and schedule risks;

A plan for detailed design and deployment that includes: o designs with sufficient detail to include in tender documents, o a manufacturing plan for major sub-systems, o an infrastructure development plan for the chosen site, o a deployment plan for telescope sub-systems

A top-level build schedule; and

An analysis of the costs and benefits of changes over the base design. The principal outcomes for WP3 will be:

A statement on the current levels of Radio Frequency Interference in the candidate countries;

A statement of the measures taken at government and local level to protect radio astronomy measurements with the SKA at each site;

A statement on the effects of ionospheric and tropospheric turbulence on measurements with the SKA at each site;

An optimum array configuration for the SKA in each location, consistent with the science case;

A statement on the potential influences of the physical characteristics of each site on the telescope design, operations and costs;

A statement of the infrastructure deployment costs and timescales, and operational costs for each site; and

A statement on the sustainability of the sites for science on the long term in the face of potential RFI threats.

5 Roles and responsibilities of international organisations and national institutions

Scientific and technical guidance for the international project is provided by the SKA Science and

Engineering Committee (SSEC). It is the primary forum for interactions and decisions on scientific

and technical matters for the SKA among the partners in the SKA Collaboration. The SSEC represents

the SKA to the regional and national funding agencies and governments, and advocates the project

to the scientific and engineering communities and the general public. Its activities are governed by


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an International Collaboration Agreement for the SKA Program that came into force on 1 January

2008.

One of the bodies to which the SSEC provides guidance is the PrepSKA Board. The principal

responsibilities of the PrepSKA Board are to oversee all activities defined in the work programme for

WP2 and WP3 as well as for the “Policy Work Packages” (WP4-6) on options for SKA governance,

procurement and interaction with industry, and funding. As far as WPs 2 and 3 are concerned, it

takes direction from the SSEC on SKA science and technology issues. The PrepSKA Board ensures

adherence to the overall strategy for PrepSKA, approves allocation of resources, and maintains

control of the project contingency.

The Agencies SKA Group (ASG) was established, under the leadership of the UK’s Science and

Technical Facilities Council, as the successor to the Informal Funding Agencies Group (IFAG) in

February 2009. The ASG comprises a membership of national government-related funding and

policy organisations from 12 countries with an interest in realising the SKA as a global project. The

ASG aims to deliver a non-binding Joint Agreement on the Implementation of the SKA, with

emphasis on Phases 1 and 2, to coincide with the conclusion of PrepSKA project in 2011-12. It looks

to achieve sufficient consensus and make decisions on key policy areas of the SKA Project, where

appropriate. Where not possible, the ASG looks to recommend an appropriate framework for such

decisions. The ASG is preparing the groundwork for the subsequent establishment of a formally-

constituted SKA Steering Group at an appropriate time.

The SKA Program Development Office (SPDO) was established on 1 January 2008 under a

Memorandum of Agreement amongst Parties representing institutions in Europe, the USA and the

Rest of the World. The SPDO provides overall leadership and management of the international

development of the SKA program. It reports to the Executive Committee of the SSEC, and supports

the SSEC in its deliberations and its interactions with Funding Agencies and Governments. It

coordinates the work of institutions involved in SKA development to achieve a structured and

efficient global effort in order to achieve the primary goal of generating a costed design for the SKA.

The SPDO supports the site selection process including the further characterisation of the candidate

sites for the SKA. It stimulates development of the scientific goals and requirements of the project,

and is responsible, together with national industry strategists, for coordinating outreach to industry

and governments in the participating countries as well as to the academic community and general

public. The SPDO manages the registration of Intellectual Property, and in-kind contributions to the

international project.

The SPDO is Work Package Leader for PrepSKA WPs 2 and 3, and is responsible to the PrepSKA Board

for ensuring that the agreed work programme is followed and that the dates of milestones and

deliverables are met. It also has an important contributing role in the three Policy Work Packages,

WPs 4-6.

Each Program within WP2 is being carried out by a number of Contributing Institutions working with

the SPDO. For each Program, there is a Lead Institution1 that is responsible for coordinating the

completion of the work described in the Work Breakdown Structure for the Program, and Supporting

Institutions that assist the Lead Institution to complete the work. Funds for this work are

1 For the purposes of this document, the US Technology Development Project (TDP) is regarded as being a Lead Institution.


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forthcoming from national and regional sources. A Resource Committee has been established to

ensure that sufficient resources are made available to complete tasks on time; membership of the

Resource Committee will comprise decision-makers with control of resource allocation in each Lead

Institution.

The SPDO receives funds for its activities from two sources: the Common Fund established as part of

the MoA setting up the SPDO, and the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission via

the PrepSKA Programme. The Common Fund provides operations funds for the SPDO and its officers

(Director, Project Engineer, Project Scientist, Executive Officer/Business Manager, Outreach Officer,

Office Manager and Administrative Assistant), while PrepSKA provides operations funds for the

Project Manager and engineering staff working on Work Packages 2 and 3.

6 Industry Participation

The SKA presents a set of technical challenges that require a combination of community engineering

expertise, and industry capability and best practice. There are four main roles for industry in the

SKA:

As partners in pre-competitive R&D with SKA institutions and international organisations;

As consultants/advisors;

As providers of goods and services for the construction and operation of the SKA;

As influential organisations (many with global presence) in the circles of governments and politicians, who will assist in advocating funding for the SKA under the right conditions.

Together with national industry strategists and the PrepSKA WP5 Working Group, the SPDO

Manager for Industry Participation Strategy (see section 6.2 and the Guiding Principles, Activities and

Targets for PrepSKA Work Package 2 document) is formulating an industry strategy that addresses

the needs of industry in the contributing countries, while providing guidelines for a uniform

approach to industry around the globe and throughout the project. The strategy addresses both

WP2 and WP5 tasks, and include fostering relations with industry and providing input for WP5 on

procurement and industrial participation.

7 Project Organisation

7.1 International

The organisation of the international collaboration for the SKA is shown in Figure 1. The roles and

responsibilities of the SSEC and SPDO have been described in section 5. The SSEC receives, or will

receive, advice from the Science Advisory Committee (SAC), the International Engineering Advisory

Committee (IEAC), the Contribution Audit Committee (CAC), and the Membership Committee (MC).

The SAC will be established in 2010 as a Standing Committee of the SSEC charged with reviewing the

science case for the SKA and advising the SSEC on priorities.

The IEAC will undertake a number of engineering reviews, the first having taken place in Q2 2009.

The CAC is a Standing Committee of the SSEC charged with providing advice to the SSEC on

submissions by SKA partners for inclusion in the in-kind register of contributions to the SKA Program.


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The MC is a Standing Committee of the SSEC charged with providing advice to the SSEC on the

Membership of the SSEC.

The SPDO has established Working Groups for engineering, science, site characterisation,

simulations, operations, and outreach, with membership from the engineering and astronomical

communities. These WGs provide advice to the SPDO in carrying out the responsibilities outlined in

section 5. The Task Forces focus on particular aspects of the engineering, science, and site issues.

Contributions

Audit Committee

(CAC)

Membership

Committee (MC)

Executive

Committee

(XC-SSEC)

SKA Science and

Engineering Committee

(SSEC)

International

Engineering Advisory

Committee

(IEAC)

SKA Program

Development Office

(SPDO)

Science Advisory

Committee

(SAC)

Working Groups

(x5)

Task Forces

(x14)

PrepSKA WP2

Lead institutions

(x10)

PrepSKA WP2

Supporting

institutions (x6)

Figure 1: International Organisation for the SKA

As noted in section 5, the SPDO is Work Package Leader for PrepSKA WPs 2 and 3. The organisation

for PrepSKA is shown in Figure 2.


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PrepSKA Board

PrepSKA Coordinator

& Deputy Coordinator

European

CommissionSSEC

Agencies SKA

Group (ASG)

WP2/WP3 Coordinator

(SPDO)

WP7: Production of

Implementation

Strategy

WP4 Coordinator

(NWO)

WP5 Coordinator

(INAF)

WP6 Coordinator

(STFC)

PrepSKA

Project Manager0.5 FTE (based at UMan)

PrepSKA

Admin Assistant0.5 FTE (based at UMan)

PrepSKA

Admin Assistant0.25 FTE (based at STFC)

WP2: SKA System

Design

WP3:

Characterisation of

Sites

WP1: Management

of PrepSKA Contract

WP4

Admin

Assistant

WP5

Admin

Assistant

WP6

Admin

Assistant

WP4: Governance &

Legal Entity

WP5: Procurement

Policy, Industry

Mapping

WP6: SKA Funding

Model

SPDO

Resources Committee

Communication lines

Reporting lines

Figure 2: PrepSKA Organisation, showing the SPDO as Coordinator of WPs 2 and 3. The Coordinators for WPs 4-6 are NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific

Research), INAF (National Institute for Astrophysics, Italy), and STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK) respectively


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Lead Institutions

Site Engineer Site Characterisation

System EngineerSystem Design

SPDO Domain Specialists

Signal Transport

& NetworkDomain System Design

Signal

ProcessingDomain System Design

Software

& ComputingDomain System Design

Project Scientist

Science

ReceptorsDomain System Design

Office ManagerAdministration

Liaison Engineers(x10)

Management and Design

Institution Design Teams

EngineersDesign

Communication lines

Reporting lines

Project Manager Project Management

Manager, Industry

Participation

Strategy External Interactions

Outreach OfficerOutreach

Executive Officer /

Business Mgr.

Administration

System Engineers (x10)

Management and Design

Project Director Project Management

Project EngineerEngineering

Project OfficerProject Management

SPDO Resources Board

Senior Managers of

Lead Institutions

Admin.

AssistantAdministration

Figure 3: The Organisation of the SKA Program Development Office.


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7.2 SKA Program Development Office

The organisation of the SPDO, including communication and reporting links with PrepSKA WP2

contributors, is shown in Figure 3 and described in more detail in subsequent sections of this Plan.

7.2.1 Roles and Responsibilities

7.2.1.1 Project Director

The Project Director is responsible to the SSEC Executive Committee for the execution of all SPDO

co-operative activity. Other responsibilities include:

reporting to the PrepSKA Board;

chairing the SPDO management team and appointing SPDO staff;

guiding the work of the SPDO, including the engineering team, consultants, seconded personnel, and Work Packages distributed to partner institutions;

overseeing the execution of the Work Program and the expenditure of the budget;

managing relations with Contributing Institutes;

development of an operations plan for the SKA;

establishment and maintenance a register of in-kind contributions to the international SKA Work Program;

providing the SSEC with an Annual Report, and

contributing, as appropriate, to the development of governance and financial policies for the international project.

7.2.1.2 Project Engineer

The Project Engineer leads the technical effort required for PrepSKA Work Packages 2 and 3, and

reports to the Project Director who is Coordinator for the WPs. The Project Engineer has overall

responsibility for the development of top-level engineering decisions, and management of

engineering staff, tasks, and schedule. More specifically, he/she has the responsibility for:

establishment, implementation and maintenance of the overall project engineering strategy, including interaction with industry and procurement planning;

together with the Project Scientist, managing the process of convergence of scientific requirements and engineering feasibility;

participating in the SPDO management team;

chairing the Engineering Working Group;

maintaining the integrity of the project schedule and work breakdown structure;

assignment of deliverables to partner institutions and interfacing with the Lead Institutions;

resource planning within the budget assigned by the Project Director;

supervising and directing the SPDO engineering staff;

establishment and maintenance of management processes;

establishment and maintenance of project support functions;

working with the Outreach Officer to generate information about the SKA program.


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7.2.1.3 Project Scientist

The Project Scientist reports to the Project Director and is responsible for:

developing the Reference Science Mission, which is the basis for the flowdown of technical requirements to the SKA project.

managing, in conjunction with the Project Engineer, the process of convergence of scientific requirements and engineering feasibility;

co-ordinating the development of the science case for the SKA, with the assistance of the Science Working Group;

chairing the Science Working Group;


working with the Outreach Officer to generate information about the SKA program, and;

assisting the Project Director in the development of an operations plan for the SKA.

7.2.1.4 Project Manager

The Project Manger reports to the Project Director and works closely with the Project Engineer, Project Scientist, Site Engineer and the collaborating institutes and organisations around the world. The Project Manager has a line management responsibility for the Project Officer. He/she is responsible for:

co-ordinating the project management of the global technical effort to develop and deliver the costed system design for the SKA on time;

providing project management guidance to ensure the site characterisation is completed on time;

interacting with the Director, Project Engineer, Project Scientist and Site Engineer to ensure alignment of activities and outputs;

supervising and directing the work of the Project Officer;


developing an effective working relationship with the institutes and organisations in the SKA collaboration;

establishing and managing project communication protocols, including reporting, for the collaboration;

developing, implementing, and managing a project management system incorporating project schedules, critical paths, risk analysis, project change control, and ensure delivery against project milestones; implementing and managing activities in support of agreed processes and procedures such as the project management plans, system engineering management plans, quality assurance project plans, etc;

developing and implementing review processes for the project;

carrying out risk identification, management and reporting; and

generating reports as required to the Director and SKA Science and Engineering Committee

7.2.1.5 Executive Officer/Business Manager

The Executive Officer/Business Manager reports to the Project Director. He/she is SSEC Secretary

with responsibility for the agenda and minutes of SSEC and SSEC Executive Committee meetings, and

for monitoring progress of action items. The Executive Officer/Business Manager is responsible for:

management of SPDO finances;


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supervision of the SPDO Office Manager and the Public Outreach Officer;


supporting the Project Director to establish and maintain a register of in-kind contributions to the international Work Program;

establishing and maintaining a Program Reference Book;

establishing and maintaining a register of Intellectual Property for collaborators in the SKA program;

maintaining the content of the international SKA website; and

assisting the chairpersons of the international Working Groups in drawing up and maintaining project and resource plans.

7.2.1.6 Office Manager

The Office Manager reports to the Executive Officer / Business Manager. He/she is responsible for:

providing administrative, financial and organisational support to the SKA program;

resource planning, reporting schedules, and coordinating reporting activities of all SKA partners;

organising meetings and international conferences associated with the SKA project;

management of the SPDO/SKA archives, contracts and financial records;

providing support and initiatives for public relations activities; and

supporting the Executive Officer / Business Manager in administration of the international SKA website.

7.2.1.7 Administrative Assistant (part-time)

The Administrative Assistant (0.4 FTE) reports to the Office Manager. He/she is responsible for:

assisting the SPDO Office Manager in administrative, financial and organisational activities;

providing secretarial support for senior SPDO managers, such as diary management, and arranging appointments/meetings/travel/accommodation;

supporting finance administration in the SPDO; and

helping to organise SPDO events.

7.2.1.8 Outreach Officer

The Outreach Officer reports to the Executive Officer / Business Manager. He/she is responsible for:

executing the outreach strategy;

disseminating information about the SKA program among scientists, policy makers, and general public, in coordination with the Project Scientist and Project Engineer;

organising the development of outreach resources, such as animations, displays, booklets, brochures, and web-based information;

chairing the Outreach Committee whose members include outreach officers at the Contributing Institutes ; and

overseeing and stimulating SKA-related activities and events.


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7.2.1.9 Manager, Industry Participation Strategy

The Manager, Industry Participation Strategy reports to the Project Director. He/she interfaces with

national industry strategists and the WP5 Working Group to foster relations with industry and

consultants, and provides input for PrepSKA WP5 on procurement and industrial relations. The

Manager, Industry Participation Strategy is responsible for:

developing an Industry Strategy including IP policy together with the Project Engineer and national industry strategists, with guidance from the PrepSKA WP5 Working Group;

the establishment of a register of industries potentially interested in aspects of the SKA, in consultation with industry strategists in the Contributing Institutions;

acting as an information resource for Contributing Institutions:

together with national industry strategists, promoting the development of trans-national consortia as a means of sharing risk and industrial benefits;

supporting the Project Engineer in the PrepSKA WP5 Working Group framing long-term procurement and related policy for the SKA project;

management of the Intellectual Property accessible to the SKA, according to policies developed as part of the Industry Strategy;

leading the development of an Agreement on IP to replace the 2003 Statement of Intent on IP; and

in consultation with the Site Engineer, establishing an external consultancy contract to investigate infrastructure deployment costs and timescales, and operational models for the two candidate sites as part of WP3.

7.2.1.10 Project Officer

The Project Officer reports to the Project Manager and is responsible for the project management

support for PrepSKA WPs 2 and 3. He/she uses proven management techniques to assist the Project

Manager, Project Engineer and the senior design team in framing, monitoring and reporting on the

WP2 program. This includes:

choosing and implementing management processes as outlined in section 8;

maintaining project support functions;

project status reporting, including to the SSEC and PrepSKA Board;

managing information interchanges;

document control;

monitoring and reporting of technical progress against project schedules within the SPDO and in the Contributing Institutions; and

tracking technology development of Pathfinder projects and design studies.

7.2.1.11 System Engineer

The System Engineer reports to the Project Engineer and is responsible for the development of the

system level definition and design leading to the SKA Phase 1 system design. He/she is responsible

for

initiating and fostering cross-domain and inter-region links to create an effective system design process incorporating latest SKA technology developments;

guiding the practical demonstration of the Phase 1 design within PrepSKA;


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developing a System Engineering Management Plan that includes: o modelling and analysis of system performance; o management of issues crossing domain boundaries such as power, cooling,

reliability, etc; o requirements and requirements traceability management; o allocation of requirements to sub-systems; o risk identification, reporting and analysis, and development, implementation and

control of risk mitigation strategies where applicable; o definition of criteria for acceptance testing of deliverables; o preparation and execution of system reviews; and o review of sub-system specifications, designs and interfaces;

Ensuring that WP2 and WP3 task definitions adhere to the agreed system engineering approach to the project.

7.2.1.12 Site Engineer

The Site Engineer reports to the Project Engineer and chairs the Site Characterisation Working

Group. He/she is responsible for:

supervising the execution of further measurements and studies of the characteristics of the two short-listed sites;

investigating, in collaboration with regional groups and engineering consultants, infrastructure deployment costs and timescales;

carrying out an analysis of scientific, technical and operational risks associated with locating the SKA at each of the short-listed sites;

leading the SPDO RFI instrumentation and Logistics Task Force;

contributing site-relevant knowledge to the design of the SKA; and

participating in the development of an operations plan for the SKA.

7.2.1.13 Domain Specialists

With direction from the Project Engineer, the Domain Specialists provide leadership in their domain

areas during the SKA design and associated prototyping and integration activities. They are

responsible for:

establishing and maintaining effective engineering interactions with Lead Institutions

generating detailed task descriptions, and coordinating the execution of the tasks by the Liaison Engineers at the Lead Institutions;

integrating technology developments in their domain by the global network of Pathfinder telescope projects and SKA design projects into the WP2 deliverables described in section 4; and

contributing to all aspects of the WP2 design projects.

7.2.1.14 Liaison Engineers

Liaison Engineers are based in the Lead Institutions and communicate directly with the Project

Manager. The roles of the Liaison Engineer are: (i) to lead the Design Teams of engineers from the

Contributing Organisations for which the Lead Institution has assumed responsibility under PrepSKA

WP2, and (ii) to serve as a communication person for relations between the SPDO and the Lead


2010-02-09 of 19

Institution. Together with the Domain Specialists, the Project Engineer and the Project Manager, the

Liaison Engineers are responsible for:

formulating o detailed WBS elements and schedules for the tasks o outcomes, decision points, and specifications (as necessary) o progress tracking and performance measures o other project management components as requested (e.g. risk register items)

organising staff from participating institutions into task-teams

negotiating local resources and assign work to members of the teams

facilitating and managing information flow between the SPDO and the Lead Institution: o setting up and monitoring communication channels and provide high-level reports

to the SPDO; o providing project management reporting, as necessary

organising internal reviews of the tasks assigned to the Lead Institution and as required, participating in external reviews of the PrepSKA work

attending international meetings as required

participating in problem-specific, SKA-wide working groups or task forces in which the Lead Institution is a participant or for which the Liaison Engineer is particularly well qualified, and

where appropriate, carrying out technical work on behalf of the Lead Institution.

7.2.1.15 Institution Design Teams

The Design Teams composed of engineers at the Lead and Supporting Institutions report to the

Liaison Engineers on a functional basis, and communicate directly with the Domain Specialists, as

appropriate. They are responsible for:

executing the deliverables agreed with the SPDO and the Lead Institution.

7.2.1.16 SPDO Resources Committee

The SPDO Resources Committee comprises the Directors, or their designates, of Lead Institutions

and is tasked with ensuring that each Lead Institution allocates sufficient resource to ensure timely

completion of tasks. The SSEC Chair, Project Manager, Project Engineer and Project Scientist are ex-

officio members. The SPDO Director acts as Convenor for meetings, which are held on an ad-hoc

basis as the need arises. The members of the SPDO Resources Committee:

note the existence of any gaps in the resource base required to tackle the WP2 and WP3 tasks, as identified by the SKA Program Development Office;

discuss and recommend whether or not to seek additional resources of appropriate level to complete those tasks on the agreed timescales for PrepSKA; and

as representatives of their individual institutes, commit, or seek commitments from their institutes, to provide the appropriate resources needed to complete the PrepSKA tasks.


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8 Project Structure and Control

A system engineering approach is being employed to reduce technical risk, cost risk, and develop a

design within tight timescales using a distributed work-force under the direct control of other

organisations.

8.1 Work Breakdown Structure

In the PrepSKA WP2 Description of Work, there are 7 Programs (see Table 1) containing a total of 28

Tasks. The translation of these Programs and Tasks into a WBS is in progress.

Table 1: PrepSKA WP2 Programs

2.1 SKA System

2.2 Dish Verification Program

2.3 Aperture Array Verification Program

2.4 Signal Transport & Networks

2.5 Digital Signal Processing

2.6 Software & Computing

2.7 WP2 design study management

8.2 WP2/WP3 Project Control

8.2.1 Project Book

The Project Book is compendium of documentation on the project. It contains chapters on all major

systems and sets out the objectives, science requirements, technical specifications, work schedules,

deliverables, budget and management systems of the project. It will serve as a communication tool

for geographically distributed project stakeholders to ensure a common understanding of the

project, the tasks to be completed and the deliverables, while recognising the impact of peripheral,

inter-related and future activities.

8.2.2 Project dictionary

A Project Dictionary will be established and maintained to provide a common understanding of the

terminology to be used throughout the project.

8.2.3 Documentation

All project documentation is being archived following a Document Control Plan that defines the

organisation of the archive, including a filing structure, filing and retrieval security and version

control. All documents will be maintained in electronic form in the archive.


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8.2.4 Project management tools

Industry-standard project management tools to identify the timing and interdependencies of tasks /

milestones over time, are being utilised to assist with planning and monitoring of project progress.

8.2.5 Schedule

A schedule of activities in WP2 and WP3 has been established and is being gradually expanded. It

will integrate the detailed schedules of the WP2 and WP3 tasks in their respective WBS, and will

allow review of all schedule ties between all sub-tasks. This will be used to identify critical paths and

to underpin strategies to mitigate the risk of critical items.

8.2.6 Risk management

A Risk Management Plan has been established and is being maintained to address risks under the

following headings: development risks, schedule risks, production risks, performance risks, and cost

risks.

8.2.7 Project reporting

PrepSKA is a project involving teams that are geographically dispersed around the world. As such,

electronic channels, e.g. e-mail, tele-conferencing and video-conferencing, play an important role in

ensuring that open communication is maintained on a day-to-day basis. The project management

reporting hierarchy is shown in Figure 3.

8.2.8 Meetings and reviews

There are regular management and operational meetings. Internal and advisory meetings are held,

as well as internal/external progress reviews. Meeting minutes are included in the project

document archive, accessible through the international SKA website.

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project management plan for the square kilometre array, 2008-2012

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Transcript of project management plan for the square kilometre array, 2008-2012