1. Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Chapter 6: Managing Process Improvement Projects

2. 6-2 Overview

3. 6-3 Décor Cabinets Décor Cabinets adopted a goal of 100 percent on time delivery –Long-term customer loyalty –Enhance profitability Having clear objective helped them assemble a project portfolio focused on that goal Meant declining some seemingly profitable project ideas

4. 6-4 “Big Dig” Boston’s “Big Dig” highway/tunnel project is one of the largest, most complex, and technologically challenging highway projects Original cost estimate was $3 billion Final cost was over $14 billion 1.Major underestimate of initial scope 2.Lack of cost control Estimated benefit is $500 million per year Expected to have a 78 year payback

5. 6-5 Mississippi Power and Hurricane Katrina Primary and secondary storm center knocked out Third location had no electricity or running water Within days, had 11,000 repairmen Needed housing, beds, food, water, 5,000 trucks, 140,000 gallons of fuel a day, 8,000 tetanus shots and much more Directing was a massive project

6. 6-6 Introduction Project management concerned with managing organizational activities Often used to integrate and coordinate diverse activities Projects are special types of processes

7. 6-7 Defining a Project Projects are a special type of process Projects are a set of activities that, taken together, produce a valued output Each project is unique with a clear beginning and end They are performed infrequently and ad hoc, with a clear specification of the desired objective Limited budget Extremely important to the organization

8. 6-8 Examples of Projects Constructing highways, bridges, tunnels and dams Building ships, planes, rockets, or a doghouse Erecting skyscrapers, steel mills, and homes Locating and laying out amusement parks, camping grounds, and refuges Organizing conferences and conventions Managing R&D projects Running political campaigns, war operations, and advertising campaigns

9. 6-9 Reasons for Growth in Project Operations 1.More Sophisticated Technology 2.Better-Educated Citizens 3.More Leisure Time 4.Increased Accountability 5.Higher Productivity 6.Faster Response to Customers 7.Greater customization for customers

10. 6-10 Planning the Project Planning is probably the single most important element in the success of the project Will discuss: –Project portfolio –Project team –Actual project planning tools

11. 6-11 The Project Portfolio Long-term purpose of projects is to achieve the organization’s goals Accomplished through the project portfolio –Also know as the aggregate project plan It is vital to consider the interactions among various projects Must manage projects as a set

12. 6-12 Four Categories of Project 1.Derivative projects –Seek to make incremental improvements in the output and/or process 2.Breakthrough projects –Seek the development of a new generation of outputs 3.Platform projects –Fall between derivative and breakthrough projects 4.R&D projects –Entail working with basic technology to develop new knowledge

13. 6-13 The Aggregate Project Plan Figure 6.1

14. 6-14 An Example of Aggregate Project Plan Figure 6.2

15. 6-15 The Project Life Cycle Project progress is rarely uniform Tend to be either stretched or exponential With stretched, the project starts slow but gathers speed during implementation With exponential, there is continuous activity but no output until everything comes together

16. 6-16 Two Project Life Cycles (a) Stretched-S and (b) Exponential Figure 6.3

17. 6-17 Projects in the Organizational Structure In a functional organization, projects are frequently housed in the department with a major interest in its success –More generic projects might report to a vice president Some organizations are structured by projects –Called projectized organizations Some firms use a matrix structure to get the benefits of both structures

18. 6-18 Organizing the Project Team A team is required to run a project Some team members report directly to the project manager –Those having long-term relationship with project –Those needing to communicate closely with project manager –Those with necessary skills Not common for project manager to have reward authority

19. 6-19 Four Major Attributes for Project Managers 1.Credibility 2.Sensitivity –To both politics and personalities 3.Leadership, ethics, and managerial style 4.Ability to handle stress

20. 6-20 Project Plans Initiation of a project should include the development of a project charter –Also known as the project plan Elements form the basis for more detailed planning –Budgets –Schedules –Work plan –General management

21. 6-21 Complexity of Scheduling Project Activities 1.Large number of activities 2.Precedence relationships 3.Limited time of the project

22. 6-22 Tasks Involved in Planning and Scheduling Projects Planning –Determining what must be done and which tasks must precede others Scheduling –Determining when the tasks must be completed –When they can and when they must be started –Which tasks are critical to the timely completion of the project –Which tasks have slack and how much

23. 6-23 Scheduling the Project Schedule based on activities that must be conducted to achieve the project goals The Length of time each activity requires Order in which they must be completed

24. 6-24 Terminology Activity –One of the project operations Event –Completion of an activity Network –Set of all project activities shown graphically

25. 6-25 Terminology (Continued) Path –A series of connected activities from start to end Critical path –Any path that delayed will delay project Critical activities –The activities on the critical path

26. 6-26 Project Scheduling with Certain Activity Times Inputs –List of the activities that must be completed –Activity completion times –Activity precedence relationships Outputs –Graphical representation of entire project –Time to complete –Critical path or paths with critical activities –Slack time –Early and late start/end times

27. 6-27 Data for a Mortgage Refinancing Project Figure 6.1

28. 6-28 Network Diagram for Process Improvement Project Figure 6.8

29. 6-29 Activity Slack Time T ES = earliest start time for activity T LS = latest start time for activity T EF = earliest finish time for activity T LF = latest finish time for activity Activity Slack = T LS - T ES = T LF - T EF

30. 6-30 Project Scheduling with Uncertain Activity Times Inputs –Optimistic (t o ), most likely (t m ), and pessimistic (t p ) time estimate for each activity –Activity precedence relationships Outputs –Graphical representation of project –Expected activity and path completion times –Variance of activity and path completion times –Probability project completed by specified time

31. 6-31 Expected Activity Time and Variance of Activity Time

32. 6-32 Six Sigma Activity Times Table 6.2