2021 ICEAA Online Workshop

ICEAA’s live 2021 Online Workshop was a tremendous success!  Registered attendees can log on to the Workshop platform until November 15, 2021 to view recordings of the sessions they missed or sessions they’d like to watch again using the same links used to log in during the live event.

Sponsors Best Papers

Breakout Sessions Keynote Presentations  Speaker Bios

 

Thanks to our sponsors and exhibitors!

 

        
        

               

2021 Best Papers

ICEAA’s Best Paper process begins when authors are selected to present at the ICEAA Professional Development & Training Workshop, who may choose to submit a narrative-format paper along with the presentation they plan to give during the event. Those narrative papers submitted by the Best Paper Judging deadline are broken into theme-based categories and the best paper of each category is chosen by a panel of judges who name the best paper per category. Those winners are then rated by all of the judges from the various categories and the highest scoring paper among the winners is named Best Paper Overall.

Soft Skills & Communication Track:
Does Cost Team Leadership Matter
Christina N. Snyder

An anonymous survey of 150+ cost analysts unanimously reported that a cost-team lead’s effectiveness ultimately impacts the team’s products. However, there has been minimal guidance as to what defines good leadership. Using the ten behaviors identified by Google’s Project Oxygen, this paper seeks to understand what skills are necessary for successful cost leadership. The findings lead to a simple conclusion that mirrors that of Project Oxygen: improving our soft skills will improve cost leader efficacy.

 

Machine Learning & Data Science Track:
Machine Learning and Parametrics for Software Joint Confidence Level Analysis
Sara Jardine
Christian B. Smart
Kimberly Roye

Joint Confidence Level analysis has proven to be very successful for NASA. It is typically conducted using bottom-up resource-loaded schedules. However, the use of high-level parametrics and machine learning has been successfully used by one of the authors. This approach has some advantages over the more detailed method. In this paper, we discuss the approach and provide an example of the application of machine learning and parametric analysis to software programs.

 

2021 Best Paper Overall:
How Green Was My Labor: The Cost Impacts of Manufacturing Personnel Changes
Brent Johnstone

Estimators are frequently confronted with manpower increases or decreases and asked to calculate shop performance impacts. However, existing learning curve literature offers little guidance how to do so. This paper identifies issues associated with both new hires (so-called “green labor) and workforce reductions and offers an analytical format. Based on a study of a large workforce expansion on a mature aircraft program, a model to analyze future manpower changes is presented as well as several example cases.

Keynote Presentations

A Fool with a Tool is Still a Fool: What’s Your Value Proposition?
The ‘best’ cost analysts recognize that their potential value extends well beyond the confines of a particular program. Sure there is a tremendous sense of satisfaction in contributing to creation of realistic budgets via a credible program or independent cost estimate. Sure you are proud of a proposal evaluation resulting in a contract value that maximizes the probability of stakeholder success. Sure you feel great about your contract cost and schedule performance analysis translating to the best estimate at completion (EAC) this side of the Mississippi. But there are larger ‘problems’ that cost professionals are capable of solving if willing and able to leave their comfort zone and grow!

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Moderator:


An Interview with the Estimator
I started off with the aim of understanding what makes a cost estimating professional. How did you enter the field, how do you help decision-makers, and where do you see the profession going in the future? The format is simple, not a webinar, but more personable. Now, more than 20 episodes on, and with participants from Australia to the United States, I have learned a few things about the cost estimator’s experience. In this presentation I will talk about some of the common themes from the interviews so far.


Implications of Accelerated Acquisition for Cost Analysis: What Are We Learning?
There have been many flavors of DoD acquisition reform initiatives over the years. Some have achieved success, others haven’t. Some have been declared dead and risen from the ashes under a different name in hopes that the second (or perhaps third) time is a charm. Regardless of a particular initiative’s eventual success or failure in relation to acquisition program outcomes, the cost analysis community will have done its due diligence to understand and quantify the potential cost implications of the initiative. Accelerated acquisition has provided yet another ‘opportunity’ for our community to temper decision maker expectations via objective, data-driven analysis!

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Cost Estimating in the AI Age
Driven by increases in computing power, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are revolutionizing data-driven industries. This presentation will explore the application of Artificial Intelligence to Cost Estimating with a focus on leveraging data not just to predict costs more accurately, but to provide decision makers with additional insights for developing their strategies. Presenter Eric Druker will provide his unique perspective derived from his decade spent as a cost analyst and current role as a Principal in Booz Allen’s Artificial Intelligence practice.