Milestone 1 Review
Define Phase Complete
Cost Data Integrity Project
September 5, 2007
Introductory Information
What problem is this project trying to solve?
Processes related to the capturing and reporting of actual costs within the Project
Management System (PMS). These costs are not considered reliable given the current
processes in place. Need to rapidly mature these processes so that senior leadership and
project managers can properly evaluate cost performance.
What is the scope of this project? Has it changed since the Project Charter was
issued?
All IT investments that are considered developmental must participate in using Earned
Value Management and report the results in the Monthly Performance Reviews. These
projects define the scope of this project; i.e. focus on the procedures these projects follow
in capturing their costs.
No – the project scope has not changed and is not expected to change. The Project
Charter is fairly specific as to scope.
Matt Evans | www.exinfm.com
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Critical to Quality
What are some of the CTQ’s for this project?
There are five inputs that are critical to quality:
Timesheets depend upon two critical inputs: Hours and Rates
Expense Entries depend upon three critical inputs: Vendor Invoices, Employee Expenses
and Procurement Credit Card entries.
Each of these inputs can represent a CTQ, such as accurate base rates for timesheets or
accounting for all hours each week for timesheets.
Do you have some idea on what our current performance or defect rate is?
Not yet, we have to sample the data to fully understand how high the error rate is.
However, our discussions with System Administrators indicates that most projects are not
fully compliant with entering all timesheets. This problem also exists with expense entries;
i.e. not all vendor invoices are entered. So we suspect that the error rate is extremely high.
Matt Evans | www.exinfm.com
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Project Deliverables
What are some of the work products during this phase of the project?
Thought Process Map – Outline of critical questions that need to be answered and possible
techniques for analyzing the problems.
Stakeholder Analysis – How to engage each stakeholder so that this project is successful.
SIPOC Diagram – Map the overall process and input streams
Critical to Quality – Define what is critical to the quality of cost data
Operating Definitions – A basic level of performance, what has to be measured, and the
measurement results (to be determined in the next phase)
What quality control reviews were conducted to ensure work products were
acceptable?
The project team submitted all work products to the PMO Staff for review and approval. We
also sought out guidance from the CIO Leadership Council members; especially those who
are Six Sigma Black Belts since this project is following the DMAIC Six Sigma approach.
Matt Evans | www.exinfm.com
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Project Goals and Objectives
What are some of the process areas this project will improve?
Timesheet processing – making sure a control procedure is in place to make sure
timesheets are getting processed.
Vendor invoices – making sure all projects have a control procedure to properly capture
vendor invoices.
When can we expect to see these improvements implemented?
The current plans are to start implementing solutions in January / February 2008. Since
training and SOP documents will have to be distributed, you probably will not notice
improvements until mid year 2008.
Matt Evans | www.exinfm.com
5
Project Performance
Is this project on schedule according to the project plan?
The project is on schedule overall, but is somewhat behind in the Define phase. This delay
is due to collecting data to feed the next phase – analysis. Once we get a good sample of
data, we can move quickly. The remaining phases are expected to be on schedule since
the analysis is fairly straight forward and the solutions are fairly straight forward. The
implementation and monitoring or control phases of the project can get passed over to the
Project Management Office (PMO) once the project nears completion. We will setup the
control plan and implementation plan and transition these over to the PMO.
Is this project on budget according to the project budget?
The project remains on budget and we do not expect to go over-budget at this time. We
included an extra FTE (full time equivalent) for systems support. This may not be required
after the analysis phase.
Total costs incurred to date (as of August 31, 2007) . . . . . $ 69,300 (13% spent)
Project Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 522,000
Remaining Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 452,700
Matt Evans | www.exinfm.com
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Questions and Comments
Matt Evans | www.exinfm.com
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