In our aerospace and defense domain, a Concept of Operations is a common, and sometimes mandated, document. We rarely see these documents in the commercial domain. But in the commercial world, a ConOps would be a critically important piece of information for the project - for exactly the reason it is critically important for aerospace and defense.
The ConOps describes the "How" in "How to Accomplish the Mission." The Mission in commercial terms can be the business case, the strategy, the Raison d'être for the project.
The ConOps answers these key questions:
- What is the "Mission" to be accomplished?
- What is the intent of the business leaders for this project?
- Who are the key participants in the "Mission?"
- What are the relationships between these key players? The heart of this question is Who's in Charge?
- What resources are needed for the project to be successful?
- What are the high-level operational tasks that must be performed for the "Mission" to be a success?
- What connectivity is required between the participating system elements? People, Processes, Tools.
- What are the training needs?
- How will we recognize that the results of the project meet the needs of the buyer?
