Development and Deployment of NASA's Budget Execution Dashboard

This paper discusses the successful implementation of a highly visible company-wide management system and its potential to change managerial and accounting polices, processes, and practices in support of organizational goals. Applying the conceptual framework of innovation in organizations, this paper describes the development and deployment process of the NASA Budget Execution Dashboard and the first two fiscal years of its use. It discusses the positive organizational changes triggered by the dashboard, such as higher visibility of financial goals and variances between plans and actuals, increased involvement of all management levels in tracking and correcting plan deviations, establishing comparable data standards across a strongly diversified organization, and enhanced communication between line organizations (NASA Centers) and product organizations (Mission Directorates). The paper also discusses the critical success factors experienced in this project: strong leadership and division of management roles, rapid and responsive technology development, and frequent communication among stakeholders.