Project/Program Considerations for Future Supplemental Program Portfolios

Funding, as directed by Congress, that is outside of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) base budget is referred to as Supplemental Appropriations. The weather research conducted with this funding comprise the Supplemental Program portfolios. In recent years, the Improving Forecasting and Assimilation (of FY18), the Improving Forecasting of Hurricanes, Floods and Wildfires (of FY19), the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations (of FY22), and the most recent, Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation (BIL) differ slightly from each other. They all come with tight timelines and often accelerate weather research into operations. Adding to a portfolio’s complexity is the required cross-line office coordination that is required.
NOAA’s Weather Program Office (WPO) located within the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) line office, staffs a Supplemental Program team that leads the reporting and monitoring duties associated with these portfolios. Currently that team is composed of Christopher Spells and Ben Woods. They facilitate communication to NOAA Leadership and to the many Project Managers, and their teams. The research work done by the projects align with 3 primary goals of OAR, namely 1. Advance tools to produce the best forecasts and warnings, 2. Manage the advancement and transition of weather research, and 3. Support diversity, inclusion and equality in all areas
It’s important to define the terms product, project, program, and portfolio. For Quarterly Project Reviews, the team coordinates the presentations of each project’s pertinent information (accomplishments, schedules, budget, and risks/issues scores). This information is then synthesized and reported to NOAA Leadership from each portfolio in quarterly Program Management Council briefs. These briefs are an opportunity to address wide-ranging problems such as computing resource shortages and COVID-related supply chain issues. On a weekly basis, the Program Team communicates with various groups ranging from NOAA Budget officials to the ArcGIS StoryMap publishing team that coordinate our communication overview reports utilizing the StoryMap platform.
Looking to the future and possible additional Supplemental appropriations, an effort is underway to take advantage of the team’s experience and the lessons learned from past portfolios to improve our effectiveness and efficiency. Areas we believe we can do that include: high performance computing (HPC), Smartsheet program management, and integrating Transition Plans whenever possible. One very specific lesson learned is to have a dedicated portfolio HPC manager when previously HPC portfolio managers would juggle the needs of multiple programs and portfolios.

One of the biggest challenges to the efficient use of HPC is the coordination and timing of HPC resources with technical staff. Security issues can exacerbate this. Making sure project managers plan to best align appropriate resources with technical staff is of paramount importance. Another recent effort is optimally managing the integration of Smartsheet as a platform for project/program/portfolio management. While Smartsheet is becoming the preferred project management tool for NOAA, there can be a steep learning curve, coupled with the occasional Smartsheet “glitches”, which can hinder the overall acceptance for using Smartsheet.
The use/need for Transition Plans across NOAA lacks consistency. Since most Supplemental Program projects accelerate research to operations, a transition plan might be seen as unnecessary. Still, efforts are underway to address how to best utilize transition plans for current and future Supplemental Program projects.
Questions that may be helpful to various groups ahead of the next Supplemental appropriations include: 1) for project managers - will you have a project “ready to go” and with HPC accounted for? 2) for the program team - how will you improve communication internally and externally? 3) for NOAA Leadership - will there be greater consistency in both the executive teams overseeing these portfolios and in roles and responsibilities of the program team? Lastly, what are some broader, high-level questions for us all to consider?