NASA SBIR 2007 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Odyssey Space Research
1120 NASA Parkway
Houston, TX 77058 - 3364
(281) 488-7953

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Ron Flanary
rflanary@odysseysr.com
1120 NASA Parkway
Houston, TX 77058 - 3364
(281) 488-7953

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 6 to 7

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
The proposed innovation is:

A data and information integration (DI2) system built from the methods and tools used to create Wiki websites. Wiki (Hawaiian for "quick") is software that allows users to create and edit Web page content using any Web browser.

The significance of the innovation is that a Wiki-based DI2 system will:

(1) Produce a collaborative, interactive website designed for the unique needs of government and commercial spacecraft projects for capturing, disseminating, managing and linking data resources across multiple projects and among distributed teams,

(2) Provide "out of the box" advanced DI2 capabilities needed by project management and technical personnel from day one,

(3) Provide a low cost DI2 solution for small companies and teams needing alternatives to expensive, complicated and inflexible project management tools,

(4) Be easy to install, use and maintain without requiring programming or webmaster skills.

The proposed innovation merges the Wiki philosophy of fast, easy and rewarding online content creation with standard project management functions and capabilities for data and information integration within secure, user-authenticated environments. This facilitates critical elements of communication, interaction and data capture/synthesis that are often missing or underdeveloped in many traditional project management efforts. Phase 1 TRL will be 6.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Project Management. A WikiDI2 system will eliminate the business as usual approach of "juggling" applications to conduct project management functions.

System engineering projects. Provides a low-cost alternative to expensive commercial tools (e.g. DOORS).

Flight S/W design and simulation development projects. Facilitates action and issues tracking, build management, communication forums, content management, test and verification control.

Engineering analysis and testing. Provides user-friendly and accessible mechanisms for data capture and sharing, technical issues forums, report generation, test planning and coordination.

Lab administration. Allows lab administrators to manage user configurations, collect user feedback, facilitate anomaly resolution, disseminate news and information, and coordinate resources.

Financial control and reporting. Provides capabilities for project timekeeping, statistics/metrics generation, budget control/visibility, standardized reporting, disciplined data input and capture, scheduling, etc.

Multi-center projects. Geographic distribution of team members is eliminated as a barrier to effective collaboration.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
- Timekeeping. Odyssey implemented a Wiki-based timekeeping system that replaced paper timesheets.

· Project Management. A commercial manager will find that the WikiDI2 system provides a solution that addresses the critical needs of project management in a single package.

- Software development. Facilitates issues tracking, release management, communication forums, content management, test and verification.

- Engineering analysis and testing. Provides user-friendly mechanisms for data capture and sharing, technical issues forums, report generation, test planning and coordination.

- Computer systems administration. Facilitates user configuration management, user feedback, anomaly resolution, announcements, and resource coordination.

- Financial control. Provides capabilities for timekeeping, statistics/metrics generation, budget control/visibility, standardized reporting, disciplined data input and capture, scheduling, etc.

- Multi-office collaboration. Time and distance are eliminated as barriers to effective collaboration.

- Sales. Allows sales personnel to upload orders quickly, change orders, check order status, check inventory, provide marketing information, etc.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management Database Development and Interfacing Human-Computer Interfaces Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation