NASA IG: Lessons Learned System Rarely Used, "Marginalized"

NASA’s Lessons Learned Information System (LLIS) is rarely used by NASA managers and is of “diminishing and questionable value.”   Those are the findings of a new report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG). 

After surveying 28 of NASA’s 32 science and space flight projects initiated between January 2005 and May 2011, the OIG found that only 57 percent of the project managers used the LLIS at all and only 43 percent contributed to it.  They told the OIG their spotty utilization and input to the system was based on their belief that the LLIS is outdated, not user friendly, and lacking information relevant to their projects.  “Taken together, the lack of consistent input and usage has led to the marginalization of LLIS as a useful tool for project managers,” the report says.  Instead, it continues, other NASA knowledge management tools such Ask Magazine and an annual Project Management Challenge seminar are used.

Consequently, OIG questions whether the “three quarters of a million dollars” spent on LLIS annually is a “prudent investment.”  The LLIS is overseen by NASA’s Chief Engineer, who acknowledged to the OIG that the system has not received sufficient attention.  The OIG recommends that he “develop and implement a cohesive, strategic plan for knowledge management and sharing” and determine “if or how LLIS fits into this plan….”