Assimilating NASA data into a crop production estimation system: Risk management

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) data and products are being assimilated into an existing decision support system (DSS) operated by the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division (PECAD) of the United States Department of Agriculture - Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS). The primary goal of PECAD is to disseminate global crop condition and agricultural production information for selected commodities. The perceived benefits of the assimilation of NASA data in PECAD's evolving DSS are: improved quality of crop assessment and production estimates and decisions, cost reduction and time savings. The main objectives of this research were to design a benchmarking strategy and develop a protocol that can help define DSS requirements and provide insight into the risks and mitigations that are critical factors for the adaptation and assimilation of enhancements to a DSS. Both qualitative and quantitative information were gathered to benchmark PECAD's present DSS using data from questionnaires and interviews. An interactive risk management tool (DDP-Defect Detection and Prevention) was used to 1) identify and formulate PECAD's DSS requirements, 2) estimate the impact of risks on the requirements, and 3) evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation factors that alleviate risks and enhance attainment of requirements. The DDP tool allowed us to evaluate mitigation scenarios that balanced and minimized the residual risk factors and achieved the best requirements attainment. Performance metrics were used to examine the effectiveness of the assimilation of NASA products into PECAD's DSS.