The United Space Alliance (USA) Industrial Engineering and Human Factors (IEHF) department of USA Florida Technical Services (FTS) supports Space Shuttle processing as part of the Space Flight Operations Contract (SFOC)/Space Shuttle Program (SSP). The objectives of IEHF are to reduce the potential for mishap and improve process efficiencies. These objectives are accomplished by applying scientific methodologies and techniques from both Industrial Engineering and Human Factors disciplines. By achieving the IEHF objectives, the department supports the USA goals to provide safe operations for all aspects of the business and to improve, grow, and diversify the business.

At KSC Ground Operations (GO), engineers and technicians closely involved with any Space Shuttle ground processing operation are trained to recognize the potential for accident mishaps during processing. Similarly, their experiences enable them to identify processing efficiency improvements. USA systems and procedures, such as Operational Area and Safety Improvement System (OASIS) and Risk-Associated Trouble Spots (RATS), are tools available to document accident reduction and process improvement ideas. The IEHF department may also be contacted. Opportunities assessed by IEHF analysts historically result in process efficiency improvements and reductions in the potential for mishaps to occur.

An engineer, technician, or manager of any process may contact the IEHF department with an idea to improve the process efficiency or reduce the potential for mishaps. General data is collected about the idea and is documented into a database. All ideas are categorized as potential IEHF activities that may take the form of projects or studies such as a systems analysis. A priority assessment questionnaire is completed to quickly assess the benefits gained by implementing a project improvement recommendation from the original idea.

Each IEHF activity has a set of boundaries. A priority assessment questionnaire defined by a priority assessment hierarchy (PAH) is used to assess each bounded system for potential benefits. The benefits, unrelated to risk assessment, represent the potential results of recommendations that may be implemented against the bounded system. The PAH is mapped to a process observation hierarchy (POH). The POH dictates a basis for collecting important Shuttle-related ground operations processing characteristics. Both the POH and the PAH are mapped to the risk assessment scorecard categories (RASC), which include safety, mission success, schedule, supportability, and cost.

The responses to the priority assessment questions reflect the potential benefits gained with respect to the risk assessment scorecard categories and the SFOC/SSP goals, if the proposed solutions of the IEHF activity are implemented. Each question is asked in a way that solicits a response to determine if the implementation of the proposed activity will have (1) positive impact, (2) no impact, or (3) negative impact to the bounded system with respect to the parent category or next level in the PAH. The question is assigned a value so a positive impact scores a high benefit in contrast to a negative impact that scores a low benefit. The scores noted for each question are multiplied by a weighting previously assigned to that question. These products are multiplied by specified weights of the RASC and in accordance with a predetermined mapping between the PAH and the RASC. The weighted products are summarized into a single weighted score that represents the benefit score of the IEHF activity.