A Laboratory Turnkey Project Company in Streamlining their Project
Management Processes and Systems

clusterapproch

The cluster approach

The Essae Project Management Cluster is designed to fulfil a three-fold objective:

  1. Embed systems and processes that would streamline the Project Management Process to reduce time and cost overruns
  2. Enable CEOs to understand and use key Project Management tools and metrics for running their business successfully
  3. To strengthen and educate the Project team on streamlining various processes in Project Management

The programme is structured to assist the Cluster Anchor to review progress every 30 days. The Tools & Techniques are explained in a classroom session, along with other cluster member organisations. Post this, the team is given 15 days to implement the learnings and embed the systems and processes.

The Anchor reviews this during the mentoring sessions and provides inputs, specific to each organisation, and course correction is made, wherever necessary. This cycle of learning, implementation, and course correction is repeated for a period of 15 months. The frequency of interaction slowly tapers off to facilitate independent thinking and implementation.

A. Background

The organization is a global leader, involved in the design and build turnkey laboratories with a vision “To be the global supplier of choice with customers in the lab furniture and infrastructure markets.” Their customer base mostly remains constant but each order is new- unique in design, manufacturing and installation.

The organization aims to deliver their Projects on-time, within the estimated budget and ensures Quality standards. However, there were lags which resulted in time and cost overruns. Therefore, they approached the Institute to enable them to achieve their vision and objective of High Quality, On-time delivery and within budget Projects.

B. Business challenges faced

  • The organization has a reputation, in the industry, for being a trusted supplier. However, when orders increased, they were able to deliver the Projects on time only 80% of the time.
  • The organization felt that there may be a possible erosion in their projected profits, as there was a lack of focus on commercial aspects. This required a larger working capital than anticipated as well as cost overruns
  • The CEO and senior leadership team were involved in monitoring micro level activities and the big picture was not visible to all members of the Project team
  • The organization experienced delays in dealing with unexpected challenges which further led to cost overruns and delivery delays
  • There was a lack of clarity on when, how, and who would be responsible for the Project deliverables
  • The quality check for vendor products was absent, leading to possible delay in execution
  • The project closure audit was missing, leading to an inability to evaluate business impact of the Project
  • There was a pressing need to educate all the Project team associates to sustain PMP process across 100% of the project sites
  • Improve the Project Execution transparency at the customer end

C. Cluster intervention to overcome challenges:

1. Project Management life cycle/ Project Planning:

As a first step, the Anchor asked the team to define the Project based on the statement of work described in the contract document. This document was duly signed by the customer and the organization. The sponsor then issued a Project Charter, and the Project Manager was named accordingly.

Due to the absence of Stakeholder Management, there was a delay in dealing with contingencies. The Project Manager and the Project Management team identified the stakeholders associated with each Project. A Project Stakeholder Register was subsequently prepared in a comprehensive manner through brainstorming sessions. A stakeholder analysis was then conducted to prioritize the stakeholders.

The Project Charter and the Stakeholder Register clarified the business importance of the Project. All stakeholders were aligned regarding Project outcomes and were able to manage stakeholder expectations from the Project

The Project life cycle was charted by the Project Manager to effectively deliver the final product. This included the Starting stage, Planning and organizing, Execution and Project closure stage.

2. Planning and organizing Project work stage/ Project Initiation Documents (PIDs)

As a next step, it was suggested to prepare the Project Initiation Documents (PIDs) by the Project Manager and the Project Management team.

  • A Project Requirement Documentation was created to capture all the Project requirements. This helped the Project Manager to ensure that all stakeholder expectations were met.
  • A Project requirements traceability matrix was then framed and monitored throughout the Project life cycle. This gave visibility to track the Project requirements “forward” by examining the output of the deliverables and “backward” by looking at the business requirement.”
  • A Project scope statement was then defined. This brought clarity for estimating the cost, duration, and resources required for the Project.
  • A Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and its associated dictionary was created with the help of Free Mind, M.S.Project / Project libre to identify the deliverables and activities of the Project.

  • Fixing roles and responsibilities
    • The organization believes that people are key to the Project success, regardless of the size of the Project. With an intention to avoid ambiguity in terms of who is doing what, to reduce unfinished work and avoid a delay of the Project completion, a Responsibility Assignment Matrix and RACI chart were created.
    Roles and responsibilities of the Project team members were clearly outlined; each team member gained visibility on what was happening real-time and ensured that there is only one person accountable for any one task. This increased accountability and ensured no gap in execution.
  • Project scheduling
    Completing the Project on time was one of the most important objectives and a primary expectation of the stakeholders. The Anchor, through the Critical Path Method, helped the team prepare an optimized Project schedule involving all the Project activities. The Project Manager used PERT Scheduling to determine whether the project could be completed within the given time and budget.
  • Quality Plan
    One of the expectations from the Project Sponsor was that all the Project deliverables need to adhere to certain Quality standards and stakeholder requirements. Therefore, to validate and verify each of these deliverables, a Quality Plan was developed and implemented.

    • The team then started addressing the causes creating the greatest number of defects and a PDCA cycle was repeated throughout the Project to improve the quality of the work.

  • Communication Plan

    The Project team felt that it is important to track the communication activities associated with the Project. A Communication Plan was then created to keep all stakeholders properly informed and to distribute the right information to the right people at the right time. An Issue register was then created to identify and track the issues that were directly affecting the Project timeline.

    • The Project team started identifying the root causes for each issue and started taking corrective and preventive actions.

  • Risk Register

    With the help of the Risk Register, the Project team was able to anticipate the risks and develop risk response plans proactively. The Project Manager and the senior management team continuously monitored the high risks associated with the Project through the Project cycle.

    • This brought the focus on minimizing the impact of threats and maximizing the impact of opportunities.

  • Change Request Register

    It was suggested to create a Change Request Register by the Project Manager. The Anchor suggested that a Change Request Register be created by the Project Manager with an objective to implement the changes effectively by involving all stakeholders and by reducing all resistance and obstacles.
    As a result of this, change control system procedures were established in the organization such as RCD- Request for Change in Design (paid by customer) and RPBE- Request for Project Budget Escalation (to be absorbed by organization).
    The Project Manager checked for each Project whether all the elements of Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) were covered in the Project schedule for their procurement, manufacturing, assembly and testing. On approval of these documents, the execution commenced.

    • This brought the focus on minimizing the impact of threats and maximizing the impact of opportunities.

    Carrying out the Project work stage

  • The Risk Response Plans were implemented as required. Issues were addressed. To capture the unresolved issues, it was suggested to prepare an Obstacle Parking lot. The team then brainstormed, and it helped them to think scientifically to solve the issues.
  • The Project was reviewed periodically, and a Progress report was generated and circulated to all relevant stakeholders.
  • The Anchor insisted on maintaining the Kanban Board, as it helped the team to identify bottlenecks and depute works as well as identify team to fix priorities.
  • Project S curve was generated to avoid time overrun and cost overrun. Necessary corrective actions and preventive actions were taken so that the Project remained on track as per approved baseline.

    • Closing Project work

    A Project closure checklist was developed by the Anchor, which was to be reviewed by the Project Manager to determine whether Project activities comply with Project policies and procedures. The Project Manager then documented the lessons learnt on what was executed well and what needed improvement.
    TThis helped the organization to capture all the lessons learned effectively and is now used across the organization in all Projects so that the team does not repeat the same mistakes and can exploit all the good experiences.

    Benefits observed:

  • TRPBE contributed by Project team has been reduced from 14% to 10%
  • On-time completion of Projects has been improved by 10% from 65% to 75%
  • Improvement in Day sale outstanding in market from 92 days to 73 days
  • 100% of the project team associates were aware of the PMP process and they were equipped with different tools and techniques that contributed to the success of the Project
  • Project scope has been clearly defined and standard specific formats are being followed as per PMP
  • Project timeline is now captured in detail along with WBS & PBS and this brought about predictability
  • Execution style of the Projects has improved by 10%
  • Project Monitoring and Control using PMP standard documents has brought about better control over the execution
  • The team is now highly motivated and have gained confidence in their efficiency in handling Projects on a daily basis
  • More than 50% of the project sites are PMP process compliance and the sites now display PMP implementation

    • The below illustration shows the progress made by the organization in key parameters that build sound Project Management systems and processes against the Essae Project Management Systems Maturity Matrix Model.

    Conclusions & Recommendations for future growth and sustainability:

  • In order to maintain the benefits acquired during the cluster program, the organisation was advised to utilize the various tools and good practices gained through the program, like implementing Project Initiation Documents (PIDs) to all their Projects, department-wise Kanban, etc.
  • It was suggested to document the corrective and preventive actions for each Project based on S curve. Variance to be analysed based on Target vs. Actual status and root causes to be identified
  • Internal Improvement Projects to be identified and executed as a result of Value Stream Mapping
  • Carry out Project Closure audits to assess the business impact of the Project. This would help identify changes to be implemented to improve the delivery of future Projects and assess what went wrong and what contributed to successes
  • Share the best practices executed by the Project Manager in Managing the Project with the other Project Managers of the company on a monthly basis

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