Defense Business Systems (DBS)

Each page in this pathway presents a wealth of curated knowledge from acquisition policies, guides, templates, training, reports, websites, case studies, and other resources. It also provides a framework for functional experts and practitioners across DoD to contribute to the collective knowledge base. This site aggregates official DoD policies, guides, references, and more.

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Directly quoted material is preceeded with a link to the Reference Source.

Reference Source: DoDI 5000.75 Appendix 4B

 

Although content will differ from program to program, an effective capability implementation plan will include:

 

References to the capability requirements that the capability implementation plan supports.

 

A description of planned decision points with governance details that describe decision authorities, information requirements that will support the decision, and actions the decision will authorize.

 

A description of business process actions and leaders responsible.  Common business process actions include:

• Implementation of law, regulation, policy or business process changes, including those that do not require business systems and those that must occur before the business system can be acquired.
• Development of training materials in support of business process changes.
• Conduct of user training and deployment in support of the business system.

 

A description of acquisition actions and leaders responsible.  Common acquisition actions include:

• Requests for information, peer reviews, RFPs, and contract awards.
• Definition and modeling of functional requirements, inputs and outputs, and design specifications.
• Software design, development and testing.
• Developmental and operational test and evaluation.
• Technical and management assessments (e.g., engineering, test, and program management) to identify and mitigate risks and manage issues.
• Development of training materials in support of the business system.
• Coordination and approval of memoranda of agreement, interface control agreements and service level agreements.

The combined schedule actions needed to deliver and support the capability.

 

A component-based representation of the decomposition of the work to be executed to deliver and support the capability (e.g., work breakdown structure or capability roadmap).

 

Acquisition objectives: a description of the organizational or strategic business goals for the development and delivery of the business capability in terms of cost and benefits, schedule, return on investment, and affordability.  These should include indicators to identify when a program may be at risk. Baseline: a reference against which to measure progress of the business capability.  The desired end state of the business system and associated business processes at the program or release level, expressed in terms of cost, schedule, performance, and other measures as appropriate.  Baselines should be established no later than 24 months after the original Solution Analysis ATP.

• If at the program level, the baseline will be set prior to the development of the first release/deployment.
• If at the release level, the baseline will be set prior to the development of each release or deployment.

 

Tailored business system acquisition strategy.

• Acquisition content: a description of the program approach to leverage competition to acquire the required capability at reduced cost and risk.  The approach must describe the business strategy, including major contracts planned, contract type(s) and incentives, market research, potential sources, sustainment capability support strategy, subcontracting opportunities, special contracting considerations and special clauses, the business case for or against obtaining warranties, payment methods, contract management and administration, intellectual property strategy, and use of COTS or reasons not to use COTS.
• Technical management content: a description of the program approach to leverage systems engineering, test and evaluation (T&E), cybersecurity, and data management processes to reduce technical risk.  Specific T&E management content requirements include:
  • • Test events to collect data must be defined, scheduled, and resourced in the capability implementation plan, including a Developmental Evaluation Framework matrix.
    • Cybersecurity T&E should be based on a zero-trust model and incorporate automated testing practices as much as practical (e.g., static/dynamic code analysis) early in the lifecycle to remediate and mitigate vulnerabilities.  It will include continuous monitoring and will consider appropriate application of the DoD Cybersecurity Test and Evaluation Guidebook for cybersecurity T&E activities.  The MDA will not tailor cybersecurity T&E solely to meet authority to operate requirements.  For business systems on the DOT&E oversight list, cybersecurity operational T&E must also include a Cyber Economic Vulnerability Analysis as outlined in current DOT&E Memoranda.
    • T&E planning will include mission-oriented development T&E with actual operators performing end-to-end scenarios in a controlled environment, which may be conducted as integrated tests to also address operational test goals.
    • Interoperability developmental T&E will include testing with actual representations of interface systems in a controlled environment.
    • Business systems on the DOT&E Oversight List will document T&E management content in a test and evaluation master plan.
    • Automated test tools and scientific test and analysis techniques should be considered to increase test efficiency.
• Other content if needed: international considerations, multiyear procurement and integration of intelligence assessments, and expected benefits for potential prototypes as well as the approach for making them operational.

 

Capability Support Plan:  a strategy for executing capability support activities and the leaders responsible for these activities.  The plan will be developed in a transparent manner and will be made readily available for reviews as needed.

• The capability support plan should include:
  • • A governance structure that provides resources, prioritizes changes, and establishes plans for executing changes that fall within the scope of the original capability requirements.
    • A plan for conducting periodic program reviews, including the frequency, content, and format of these reviews.
    • A threshold for changes to determine whether or not the change requires re-entry into the BCAC process.  Major capability changes that do not fall within the scope of the original capability requirements will require re-initiation of the BCAC process to integrate the new capability.
    • Tailored capability implementation plans for each new set of capability requirements addressed in this phase.
• The capability support plan will be continuously maintained throughout the capability life cycle and will be reviewed and updated as appropriate to accommodate for capability modernization or new capability requirements.

Reference Source: DoDI 5000.75 Appendix 4B.3

 

During early BCAC phases, the capability implementation plan will contain a low level of detail because knowledge is limited early in the life cycle.  As the life cycle progresses, the amount of information and the level of detail will mature and evolve.  Each program, in collaboration with the MDA, should assess the information requirements for each BCAC phase and determine which ones are applicable to manage the program and inform program decisions.  Information requirements that support requirements validation and the CMO certification process must be completed.

 

Table 6 describes the expected progress of capability implementation plan content as a program progresses through BCAC phases and decision points.

Table 6:  Progression of Capability Implementation Plan Content through BCAC Phases and for Decision Points

Solution Analysis
Information Requirements	References to or updated requirements documentation as applicable. High-level business capability process maps. Results of market analysis and research that reflect engagement with other organizations with similar capabilities to understand their business processes, supporting solutions, and ability to support the capability need. Detailed plans for any business process changes required to successfully deploy the needed capability. High-level schedule and resource plans for potential acquisition actions. High-level decomposition of work (e.g., work breakdown structure or capability roadmap). Rough order of magnitude cost and cost benefit analysis for any potential business system. Initial Acquisition Strategy.
Purpose	Determine if the required business capability can be met by leveraging existing business processes or solutions; or Set the stage for a new business system by establishing program management and funding structure to inform Functional Requirements ATP decisions.
Maturity Level	Capability requirements and associated business processes are mature and documented. Acquisition strategy and rough order of magnitude are high level, since business solutions have not been fully analyzed and/or selected. They should be only as detailed and mature as current program knowledge will allow and should not constrain decision making of possible business solutions.
Functional Requirements and Acquisition Planning
Information Requirements	Functional requirements that include enough detail to inform definition of potential business system solutions and evaluation criteria, but not too much detail that would overly constrain solution selection. Detailed plans and resource-loaded schedules for actions required to implement future business processes. Plan to obtain full funding across the FYDP to support the acquisition activities approved at the Acquisition ATP. Initial capability support plan providing insight as to how future capability solution(s) will be supported and decision making will be governed. A plan for baselining, updating, and managing cost, schedule, and performance at the program or release level as appropriate. As appropriate, draft RFPs that align to the initial Acquisition Strategy for the contract actions that follow the Acquisition ATP. Initial test plan. CCA compliance initial approval (with limited data). Cybersecurity Strategy initial approval.
Purpose	Inform decisions regarding a solution approach and a path to meet validated capability requirements.
Maturity Level	Acquisition Strategy is detailed and the capability support plan includes high-level detail on governance and decision making for supporting the business capability. All other information requirements continue to mature based on execution of the capability implementation plan and Acquisition Strategy.
Acquisition, Testing, and Deployment
Information Requirements	Updated documentation to reflect current plans, including Acquisition Strategy, cost documentation, test plans, and requirements documentation (as applicable). Refined capability implementation plan that reflects most current plans and strategies for releases, testing, and deployments, beginning with the first deployment. Updated draft RFP(s) (if needed). Baseline(s) structured at the release or program level. Updated capability support plan including roles and responsibilities for support activities, a governance structure, a threshold for changes, and a proposed schedule of periodic capability support reviews. Architecture products required by DoDI 8330.01 that provide the necessary data to support interoperability testing. A separate information support plan (ISP) document is not required for business system programs following this guidance. Mature and detailed decomposition of work (e.g., work breakdown structure or capability roadmap). Updated test plan. Integrated testing results. Training materials and training reports. Technical review results. Cybersecurity Strategy final approval before first Limited Deployment ATP. Full CCA compliance before first Limited Deployment ATP. Updated schedule and resource plans for acquisition actions.
Purpose	Supports contract award, development, testing, training, deployment and capability support. Baseline establishment supports effective management of the program. At Limited Deployment and Full Deployment ATPs, training and testing results inform the MDA on the level of operational risk associated with the capability deployment.
Maturity Level	During this phase, all information and documents are fully mature.
Capability Support
Information Requirements	Tailored capability implementation plans for each new set of requirements approved by the Functional Sponsor.
Purpose	Support the business system and the continuous improvement of that solution through the life cycle.
Maturity Level	Original capability implementation plan information and documents are fully mature and are updated at least annually to ensure relevance. New capability implementation plans that are includes as annexes to the original capability support plan will continue to mature throughout the development and deployment of the new capability.