Allocate Functions and Define the Roles of the Human

The objective of modeling the role of the human is to identify areas where human performance is mandatory and/or where automation is proscribed, and to define the roles of the human in each system function. The role of the human modeling is used to identify alternative strategies for allocation of system functions and subfunctions to human, machine or a combination of both. The role of the human modeling is also used to select feasible function allocation strategies.

The approach to determining the role of the human addresses the issue of establishing the optimum role of the human in a three step process: 1) identifying candidate roles of the human; 2) identifying specific requirements attendant to these roles; and 3) modeling human performance as expected in the selected set of assigned roles.

During this step, alternative feasible roles of the human in system operation and maintenance based on allocations of functions to human, machine, or a combination of the two are identified and evaluated. The human element includes manpower, capabilities, skills available or achievable, forecasted training capabilities, and training burden. An allocation strategy is then recommended.