NASA Independent Program Assessment Office (IPAO) and Galorath
Incorporated, the leading provider of advanced modeling tools to plan,
estimate and control projects, today announced NASA has chosen to make
Galorath’s SEER estimation tools available on a corporate-wide basis
for the third consecutive year. The license provides NASA unlimited
access to SEER-SEM (Software Estimation Model), SEER-SSM (Software
Sizing Model), and SEER-H (Hardware Model) and includes SEER-JumpStart
consulting sessions.
“NASA as a whole is trying to get a better handle on costs and
SEER is a big part of that,” said Joe Hamaker, director of the cost
analysis division at NASA headquarters in Washington D.C. “SEER’s rich
diversity of independent variables really make it appropriate for
NASA. Most of our work is research and development so there are at
least a dozen SEER parameters that specifically fit NASA’s needs. Take
requirements volatility, for example. NASA is characterized by change
orders so this parameter in SEER really synchs up well with NASA’s
culture.”
NASA began using SEER-H at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama
in the early 1990’s. Over the years, many of the other centers began
using the tools and it became more economical to buy a corporate
license, stated Hamaker, who worked as a cost engineer and analyst at
Marshall before being promoted to headquarters. “In general, SEER is
just a very good set of modeling tools,” said Hamaker. “We are able to
calibrate SEER to our historical track record and we’ve come to
understand which parameters are applicable to NASA so our estimating
can be continuously refined and more accurate.”
Training employees on the tools is very important. When NASA
rolled out SEER to the new centers, they had a number of new
employees. Johnson Space Center in Houston trained 16 people on the
tools in September. NASA also purchased five SEER-JumpStart consulting
sessions because “most of NASA’s projects don’t fit a formula so
having someone from Galorath get us started and sit by our side really
helps,” said Hamaker.
About Galorath Incorporated:
For more than 20 years, project managers, engineers and costing
personnel throughout the world have turned to Galorath Incorporated
for the industry’s most comprehensive set of decision-support and
process management tools. Complemented by extensive consulting and
support services, Galorath’s SEER estimation and analysis tools
define, analyze and manage software, hardware and DFM projects, from
early concepts through upgrade and maintenance phases.
An innovator in software management parametric analysis,
Galorath’s SEER tools derive cost, schedule and staffing estimates by
assessing the interaction and impact of product, organizational and
even operational variables. This parametric methodology, coupled with
the industry’s most comprehensive knowledge bases, creates a rapid and
powerful view of the critical factors driving program decision and
determining success. Contact Galorath Incorporated at 100 N. Sepulveda
Blvd., El Segundo, CA 90245; telephone 310/414-3222, or outside the
U.S.+44 (0) 1252 737684; email info@galorath.com or visit
www.galorath.com.
Contact:
.
Lara Nelson, 310/414-3222
