Why is a technical baseline important on a non-engineering technical project?

The engineering world understands that a technical baseline is the foundation for success on any major project. This cornerstone of systems development is the official source of critical data that will be used by all project participants, provides the framework for the standard communication language of the project, and most importantly is the reference design where change is identified and controlled over the project lifecycle. Generally a technical baseline includes ground rules and assumptions, a detailed technical description of system characteristics, configuration, quality factors, security, its operational concept, and the risks associated with the system. Often a description of the system's (or the project's) milestones, schedule, management strategy, implementation/deployment plan, test strategy, security considerations, and acquisition strategy are also included. Given the nature of these technical inputs, how can a traditional technical baseline be applied to non-engineering projects and still be relevant and useful? The goal of this paper is to demonstrate how the technical baseline concept and procedure was successfully applied to two non-engineering projects at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). These two projects were Acquisition Process Improvement (API) a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) focused project, and Unified Messaging System (UMS) an Information Technology (IT) project transitioning all 7,000 JPL mail client users from Eudora to Microsoft Outlook. These projects were not run by engineers, nor were they highly technical in nature. By implementing a technical baseline on these projects the project architecture, change protocol, and requirements expectations were all defined early and managed throughout the project lifecycles. The benefits realized by using a technical baseline manifested through improved strategic customer communication, customer expectation and change management, an understanding of cost and risk impacts, increased teamwork, and process improvement efficiencies. These two project examples and the technical baseline benefits will demonstrate how a familiar engineering tool can be used with a non-engineering team with minor modifications and continue to yield impressive results.