Analytic Sciences Inc.darleneferrikurjack.weebly.com/uploads/7/2/8/4/...Analytic Sciences...

2015

Analytic Sciences Inc.

PERFORMANCE RECOMMENDATIONS

DARLENE FERRI-KURJACK

PURDUE UNIVERSITY

EDCI 52800

Analytic Sciences Intervention Recommendations

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Analytic Sciences Inc. Context and Performance Issues

Analytic Sciences, Inc. is a private defense contractor based in Washington, D.C. The firm

describes itself as “a leading provider of advanced systems engineering, integration and decision-support

services to Federal Intelligence and Defense communities”. Analytic Sciences, Inc. prides itself on

customer satisfaction through direct contractor support.

The project work conducted by Analytic Sciences is issued and funded through individual task

orders (TOs). Task orders vary in description and are goaled to support the overall strategic plan of the

government-funded entity. The Customer, deemed the government-funded entity, declares the project

needs relevant to the departmental goals and the contractor assigned support staff provides solutions to

project goals and completes the work required to deliver a funded project. Once a project is approved, it is

scheduled as a deliverable, of which only the customer can change direction, extend, cancel a project, or

accept it as completed.

The customer has final oversight over the acceptance and direction of a project through the plan

and define phase. In result, the work environment consists of regularly scheduled working sessions and

meetings with the customer, as well as delivery checkpoints. In addition, before a product is completed, a

final review is conducted by the customer to provide input to the contractor for changes required for final

approval. Once final changes resulting from customer inputs are implemented the customer reviews the

product and makes requests for additional changes or grants final approval.

There is an abundance of interconnectivity among support teams relative to the integration of

projects for the federally contracted entity and staff members may be supporting several customers. In

result, a typical workday can require the attendance of one to three meetings. Contractor support teams

have become accustomed to working beyond a 40-hour workweek to meet customer demands of

milestones and deliverables in consideration of a fast-paced compressed schedule. The direct contractor

support staff works on salary, however any hours over the contracted 40 hours are billed additionally to

the customer. Team bonuses are aligned to customer satisfaction surveys.


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Performance Issues

The project manager has been alerted to certain performance issues that pose conflict with the

contracted task order and require investigation and remedial tactics. The issues of concern that are

reflective of a current state of performance deficiency include:

Not Meeting Deliverable Dates for Projects: The desired state of performance is to meet initial

deliverable dates for projects. Not meeting or extending deliverable dates can pose negatively

relative to bi-annual customer satisfaction surveys, and is subject to explanation to the funding

and contracting offices as it effects budgetary and contractual obligations.

Overtime is exceeding 40 hours consistently, rather than by exception: The desired state of

performance is for contractor support staff to maintain a 40-hour workweek on a consistent basis,

with overtime as an exception. Overtime expenses must be justified to contracting officials that

represent both customer and contractor budgeting interests. There is currently no record of

explanation or approval of overtime in place.

An analysis was conducted with focus on project deliverable and overtime issues. Each performance

gap is outlined in Table 1, Appendix A, including symptoms, the desired and actual states, probable root

causes, intervention summaries, and classification according to Gilbert’s Behavioral Engineering Model

(Stolovitch & Keeps, 2004). The performance deficiencies analyzed exposed several contributory

catalysts that exist in the environment, training needs and emotional barriers.

Intervention Development

While the contractor support teams are highly motivated to provide above average support to their

assigned customers, there are several barriers in their work environment that impede their ability to

streamline workload and meet deliverables scheduled or impromptu without exceeding a 40 hour work

week. The Team Lead also faces challenges in the form of resources and training to assist in overseeing

the staff relative to project planning and equitable distribution of work. In order to demonstrate the types

of interventions that could improve performance, several interventions such as Training, Performance

Aids, and Environmental and Emotional classifications are further developed.


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Recommended Interventions

Based on the analyses, a number of interventions are recommended to assist Analytic Sciences with

the performance issues that require high-priority remediation at this time, being adherence to deliverable

schedules and overtime management. The categories of intervention types are based on those proposed by

Stolovitch and Keeps, 2004. A timeline that represents the time required to implement interventions is

indicated in Appendix C.

Learning Interventions

Lack of skills relative to managing constraints, such as project scope, time, budget and resources

were consistently realized not only among the Team Leads but among the customer end as well.

Observations of team leads often deterred complete control to the customer, instead of one of

informational support. Initial interviews, observations and surveys noted in Appendix A reflect this same

dynamic within the customer/contractor exchange. Given that, the typical role of Team Leads is to guide

the customer it becomes clear that skill training relative to Project Management is needed to support the

customers at the high quality level of customer support that Analytic Sciences reflects in their culture.

Team leads were met with individually by Project Managers to confirm their need and interest in Project

Management training and most all expressed interest in this training to assist them in their tasking. The

training is optional. This lack of skill has posed a contributory factor to managing project scope and

guidance, and contributed to increases to overtime hours due to lack of assignment of work equitably

among support staff. The benefit of this instruction will assist to remedy the performance deficits just

listed as well as improve communication to the customer that accurately conveys the budgetary and

potential constraints to resources that certain changes and impromptu tasking may convey, thereby

leading to a more informed decision making process. Overall, project management training will provide

the necessary tactics to leverage performance among support staff and with the customer as noted in

Table 1.

Table 1: Learning Interventions Overtime/

Deliverables

Intervention Type: Project Management Training-Classroom Training (Live or Virtual)

Team Leads (Participation in company paid Project Management Certification Courses through


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a certified vendor). The requirements for this training are noted in Appendix B: B1.

Non-learning Interventions

Performance Aids

Through the observation of customers and support staff at status and project planning meetings, it

was noted that there was consistency in difficulties for team leads to track customer changes to direction

outside of meeting notes, where the customer when challenged with the misinterpretation of a change

would simply state “ the team did not capture direction correctly”. Interviews with Team Leads confirmed

communication to be a consistent issue with customers, where they can only assume there was a lack of

mutual communication or the customer simply did not fully remember the details of the new project scope

that had been conveyed a week or two prior. Interview with customers yielded the ownership of creative

freedom for changes to deliverables as noted through the analysis of responses to survey questions in

Appendix A. One intervention that can lend assistance to the issue is a formal basis for tracking changes

that is acheived through the development of an Electronic Tracking Support Tool such as a the electronic

cataloguing of Change Request Forms as described in Table 2 and Appendix B. Such a tool leaves less to

interpretation between the contractor support staff and the customer, thereby improving communication

and the prompting of key considerations reflective of the requested change that may also effect

departments and projects both internal and external to the team. Most importantly in-house staffing can

support the development of this tool as a resource financed through the budgeting office.

Table 2: Performance Aids Overtime N/A

Deliverables Intervention Type: Job Ai- Electronic Project Change Tracking Support Tool

This tracking system is necessary for project management reports and conveying printed paper

resources for tracking product changes with customer approval/signature and acknowledgement of

how change of scope will effect delivery date. Information is required in formal representation by

the contractor funding and contracting offices and serves to assist the project manager with prompt

project status awareness. The project tracking system should provide information linked to a project

identifier (ID). The document is completed and stored electronically in a database for quick access.

The database is updated per the process request of a change and is managed by the team leads and

approved by both project manager and customer. A printed copy is maintained with signatures by

both the Team Lead, Customer and Project Manager. The contracting office receives a copy with the

original signature of the printed form which details information fields is specified in the prototype of

this specific job aid which is found in Appendix B: B2 (Figures 1-3, 5).


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Environmental

The environment poses several challenges that contribute to the identified deficiencies. The

analysis revealed that overtime is open to the need of the staff to complete work. Implementing an

overtime process that requires approval from the team lead serves the purpose of awareness and provides

the team lead the opportunity to provide management support to the staff in order manage, assign and

prioritize tasking equitably among the team. The goal of this process is to diminish needed overtime by

placing emphasis on teamwork within and across teams, specifically since a team member may be

supporting several customers at once. Table 3 presents a detailed proposal of overtime approval process.

The analysis revealed that the customer had little knowledge relative to overtime costs being charge

relative to project changes and extended deliverables. The second process to improve overtime awareness

involves the daily record keeping of overtime per project identifier. The data can be printed from a simple

database and provided monthly to the customer for review and informational awareness. Table 3 provides

an overview and a prototype of the printed record and can be viewed in Appendix B2: Figure 4.

Analysis of the environment relative to the dynamics between contractor support staff and the

customers revealed communication issues for changes in project scope and extended deliverables as a

result. In order to remediate this, a process intervention is linked to job aid in the form of an Electronics

tracking tool that is completed by the team lead (see Appendix B: B2 Figure 5). The form conveys

detailed information relative to the project chance rationale and impacts of the change. The customer will

review the printed document and approve or make edits. A signature of interested parties is required to

ensure communication of direction is mutually understood and approved by the authority of the customer.

The printed documents with signature will be conveyed to all stakeholders of interest, being the customer,

project manager, and contractor-funding department and contracting office for review, update of status

and record keeping.


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Table 3: Environmental Interventions Overtime Intervention Type: Process Redesign Overtime

Develop a process for overtime approval, where anticipated overtime is requested daily by

contractor support staff and approved by the allocated team lead.

o Support from team members should be allocated for those workers coping with high

workload.

o Emphasis on teamwork within and across organizational units is conveyed to staff

Justification: Management intervention, supports an awareness overtime, which is responded

through the balance of, managed, assigned and prioritized tasking. the equitable distribution of

workload among and .;5

Process Overview: Overtime is requested in person or via email to team lead with rationale. Team

Lead sends approval/denial response via email for recording purposes. Team Lead may require

project-planning communications of staff to re-allocate or pair staff to complete tasking.

Intervention Type: Increased Management Support (Team Lead)

Managers provide clear direction regarding organizational priorities to assist employees to

focus on the highest-value tasks to meet deadlines.

Intervention Type: Provision of Information

Customers supported are provided a monthly project report of overtime hours and budget status

for additional staffing hours because of added tasking to impromptu deadlines. The goal is to

provide cost awareness and balance tasking. See Appendix B: B2, Figure 4.

Deliverables Intervention Type: Process Change-Deliverables

Process changes relative to the creation of internal guidelines and processes for customer and

contractor relative to project changes, where the projects are tracked and changes to scope and

deliverables are approved through signed customer consent. The justification for this process

extends to the support the process provides to the concurrent implementation of the project

tracking system. See supporting report entry system in Appendix B: B2, Figure 5.

Emotional

The company promotes emphasis on customer satisfaction. This cultural ideal has fed into the

emotional and behavioral state of the contractor support staff to overextend themselves to meet customer

needs at the expense of uncompensated work hours and increased workload. In consequence, overtime on

a consistent basis has sparked budgetary concerns in the contractor funding office. The emphasis on

customer satisfaction is realized and proven effective through an existing tangible incentive in place that

ties bonuses to bi-annual customer satisfaction surveys. The environmental interventions detailed in these

recommendations work to promote overtime by exception, team emphasis and maintaining deliverables.

In order to promote reinforcement of the desired behavior incentives have been shown to prove assistive

(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006, p. 182) There are intangible incentives that are realized by complying


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to interventions, such as the realization of less instance of extended work hours and diminished workload

through manager support and the assignment of equitable workload. The incentives that are in place are

goaled to balance customer satisfaction with additional emphasis on working smarter as a team. The

environmental interventions proposed place emphasis on teamwork. Given this perspective, incentives

will be rewarded based on team effort, which aligns to the team rating that assesses the customer

satisfaction bonus. Affirmed by this case description, these professionals require no incentive to work

hard and provide quality work, but instead require incentive to maintain a 40-hour workweek by

communicating workload and working smarter as a team. A nonmonetary reward incentive that is team

based poses an option, such as free quarterly lunch for the whole team. In addition, those teams who

demonstrate the required metrics set by the contracting office for deliverables and overtime will be

allotted a discretionary holiday on a bi-annual basis. The requirements for incentives are noted in Table 4.

Table 4: Emotional Interventions Overtime: Intervention Type: Provision of Incentives

In addition to existing Bonus incentives, contract support teams are assessed for overtime monthly.

Those teams who consistently meet the 40-hour week requirement or keep approved overtime for

the team under 5% and meet customer deadlines as a team are recognized for “smart team

solutions” and smart task management and are awarded with one free paid extended team lunch

from a selected choice of nearby restaurants on a quarterly basis. Time to participate is counted as

“on the company clock”

Deliverables The goals will be successfully met if customer satisfaction is consistent with bonus requirements

that must yield satisfaction at 90% or above. The contractor office has set a standard that 85% of

deliverables should be on time and unchanged from the initial planned date to comply with current

business standards.

Evaluations

These performance interventions will be evaluated based on Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation

(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006). Each Level will pose evaluation to the following classifications of

interventions as deemed applicable by. Training, Performance Aids, Emotional Aids and Environmental

Aids The roles and stakeholders are identified for all interventions. The specific contents and details for

Levels 1-4 discussed below are found in Appendix D, Table 7.


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Level 1- Reaction

Contract support teams will be sent a quarterly survey to monitor the effectiveness of interventions

over the course of a year. This survey will be posed to ask a series of questions to gather individual

opinion on the equitable distribution of tasks, satisfaction of management support (Team Lead),

estimations of their average number of work hours per week, estimation of customer satisfaction relative

to project deliverables, and subjective assessment of teamwork quality, satisfaction with incentives and

workload.

Customers will be sent a similar quarterly survey that evaluates their level of satisfaction with

project deliverables, contractor team support, and satisfaction with charged man-hours and quality of

work. The subjective results will be compared for consistency in successful implementation of

interventions.

The contractor funding and budgeting offices will be provided a survey to rate their satisfaction

with the performance aid form and gain any relative comments to the forms benefit of use.

Level 2- Learning

Relative to the recommendations set in this document; learning only applies to team leads and is

optional. Several methods of evaluation serve to assist credibility to training. Upon completion of the

Project Management Training sessions, Team Leads will be assessed via eligible certification through the

passing of certification testing at the expense of the company. An independent certification validates

learning took place relative to basic project management knowledge. Upon the receipt of certification,

basic project management skills will be added to the criteria for annual performance review on an

individual basis. In reflecting upon Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatricks (2004) model, training interventions for

Levels 1, 3 will be evaluated via surveys. Questions are noted in Appendix D, Table 7, and will be

provided to participants to rate their overall benefits of the instruction in managing daily team activities.

While the above evaluations may render credibility to the courses, it is limited to measuring

whether the training influenced the efficiency of daily activities performed by the Team Leads,

knowledge base to perform tasking and manage support staff to desired goals. In order to determine the


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benefit of cost and time to training we can compare evaluations to those teams leads who participated in

the training to those that opted out, with those that opted out serving as a control group. Utilizing a

control group will assist to determine if any resultant change in behavior is due to the training

intervention or other factors (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006, p. 43).

Level 3- Behavioral

To evaluate that the behavior that caused the many changes to project scope has diminished; team

leads will demonstrate the use of the Project Change Tracking job aid via a printed a monthly project

tracking report that is shared with the Project Manager during monthly project status meetings. Status will

consist of data resulting from the newly employed project tracking system, which includes project

identifiers, rationales and impacts of changes, as well as revised deliverable status. The first month post

implementation results will be compared to pre-implementation records of changes gained from emails,

meeting notes, and tallied for comparison to assess behavioral change. To evaluate if the behavior that

influenced consistent overtime has changed, the initial monthly status meeting will also include a status of

approved overtime hours associated to project identifiers and inputted via the new project tracking

system. Overtime realized from the initial post implementation results will be compared to pre-

implementation records of overtime. These initial results will capture measured behavioral changes but

other processes, and incentives will be in place to reinforce ongoing support to desired behavior.

Level 4- Result

The two main performance goals consist of adherence to a 40-hour workweek and justification of

extended deliverable dates and the optimal goal of sticking to initial deliverable dates. The interventions

of process and the created job aid associated to these goals will play into the background of realizing the

goals of established metrics relative to customer satisfaction, overtime and deliverable goals. Analysis

will be conducted on an individual team basis in conjunction with existing bi-annual customer satisfaction

surveys promoted by the contracting office. The measures serve as both a pro-active and reactive means

to assure customer and contractual requirements are being satisfied or if further remedial action is

required. The interventions implemented will prove successful if established goals are successfully met.


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Customer satisfaction goals are successfully met if customer satisfaction is consistent with bonus

requirements that must yield satisfaction at 90% or above. The contractor office has set a standard that

85% of deliverables should be on time and unchanged from the initial planned date in order to comply

with normal operating standards relative to government-funded projects. In addition, the biannual analysis

of overtime will reflect if intervention measures such as the project-tracking tool and in house processes

are successful. The goal is to maintain approved OT at the 5% range for each team in the overall

calculated six-month period.

The success of the incentives in place will be measured statistically within and between teams to

ascertain if any performance deficiencies identified are the result of problems internal to specific teams.

This same measure will also pose validity to the incentives in place and be aligned holistically to the

results of surveys for Incentives gained with Level 1- Level 3 analyses.

In order to assess the impact of the training intervention the results of these analyses will be

compared to Team Leads who participated in Project Management Training and compared to the results

of teams where team leads opted out of training.


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References

Kirkpatrick, D. L., & Kirkpatrick, J. D. (2006). Evaluation Training Programs 3rd Edition. San

Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koeher Pubushers.

Stolovitch, H. D., & Keeps, E. J. (2004). Training Ain't Performance. Alexandria, VA: ASTD

Press.

Appendix A: Human Performance Analyses Summaries

Table 5: Human Performance Analysis

Description Desired State Actual State Symptoms/Findings Probable root

cause(s) Type

(Gilberts Model) Interventions Type

Deliverables

for work

products are

consistently

extended

Deliverables

should start

and end on

schedule.

There is

consistency of

extended

deliverables

for various

contractor

support teams.

• Customer direction may be misguiding.

• Customer(s) consistently changing project scope and effecting delivery dates.

• Customers are very open minded and creative to evolving projects.

• (Communication issues) No mechanism to track customer directed changes and justify extended product deliverables to upper management

Resources

Information

Actors (Team Lead)

Development of

Electronic tracking

support tool for

product/project

changes and

reasons. This

tracking system is

necessary for

project

management

reports and

conveying printed

paper resources for

tracking product

changes with

customer

approval/signature

and

acknowledgement

of how change of

scope will effect

delivery date.

Performance

Aid (Job Aid)


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cause(s) Type


• No stated guidelines for customer and contractor relative to project changes

Resources

Information The creation of

internal guidelines

and processes for

customer and

contractor relative

to project changes.

(Reference and self-

study)_

Process

Change

Contractor

support

teams are

consistently

working over

40 hours.

Contractor

support

teams should

be able to

complete

tasking during

a 40-hour

workweek.

Contractor

support

teams are

working an

average of

50-60 hours

per week.

• Impromptu customer demands/multiple customers requiring project support combined with too many meetings during normal business hours (1-3 per day).

• There is no

equitable

distribution of

Contractor

support staff

workload by

management

Information

Resources

Team Leads

(Participation in

company paid

Project

Management

Certification

Courses)

-Process developed

for allocation of

tasking to balance

workload and

minimize workload

among contractor

support staff (

information for self-

study):

-Policies and

practices are

consistently

implemented, to

ensure that

workloads are seen

as fairly and

equitably

Training

Environmental

(Process

Redesign)

Process

Redesign


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cause(s) Type


• Contractor support staff takes on individual work that extends beyond a 40 hr work week with no approval or awareness from management

• Overtime for

salaried

employees

requires no

justification or

approval from

management

(allows for

awareness, task

planning and

Resources

distributed

- Managers provide

clear direction

regarding

organizational

priorities to assist

employees to

focus on the

highest-value tasks

to meet deadlines;

-Support from team

members should be

provided for those

workers coping with

high workload.

-High levels of

teamwork within

and across

organizational units

are emphasized

Process developed

for overtime

approval

Increased

Management

Support

Organizational

Redesign


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cause(s) Type


• Customer underestimates time to task for support staff on the average of 30%

The organizational culture supports customer satisfaction and direct support. Performance across teams is rated on the overall satisfaction the customer assigned reflects in surveys and is tied to bonuses.

coordination).

• .Customers have

no awareness of

overtime hours

and costs for

required tasks

(awareness)

• Bonus and

corporate

culture tie into

the emotional

and behavioral

state of

contractor

support staff to

overextend

themselves to

meet customer

needs at the

expense of

uncompensated

work hours and

increased

workload

Information

/Communication

(cost awareness)

Incentives

Customers

supported are

provided a monthly

report of overtime

hours and cost for

additional man

hours as a result of

added tasking to

impromptu

deadline

In addition to existing Bonus incentives, contract support teams are assessed for overtime monthly. Those teams who consistently meet the 40-hour week requirement or keep approved overtime for the team under 5% and meet customer deadlines as a team are recognized for “smart team solutions” and smart task

Provision of

Information

Incentives


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cause(s) Type


management and are awarded with one free paid extended team lunch from a selected choice of nearby restaurants. Time to participate is counted as “on the company clock” Intangible incentives also exist in less work hours and equitable workload.

Types based on Gilbert’s Engineering Model (Stolovich & Keeps (2004), pp. 38-39

Table 6: Additional Analysis Summary

Due to the delicate nature of client contractor relationship, analysis was conducted to assess the actual state vs.

the expected state between the customer and contractor support staff relative to overtime and meeting

deliverables. The analysis should shed insights relative to process improvements that improve performance

relative to maintaining deliverables and decrease workload issues that inspire overtime and influence

budgeting.

Performance gap:

Description

Technique/tool for

further investigation

What you hope to learn Results


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Inability to consistently

meet deliverables

Observation By observing

customer/contractor

meetings, the Project

Manager will gain insights

to interactions taking

place relative to the

change of project scopes

and deliverables.

Ten contractor support

teams were observed for

weekly project planning

and status meetings for a

period of 4 weeks. .

During this observational

period, 6 projects were

logged as ongoing and 4

projects were started.

The observations noted

that 8 out 10 projects

consisted of 2 or more

major changes from their

original scope of

direction.

Customer Survey

Asking customers to

identify any issues with

project scope and

deliverables will assist in

gaining insights to

customer issues with

contractor support teams.

Survey questions:

Are you satisfied with

delivery schedules for

your projects?

All said yes.

Do you have any concerns

relative to project scope

planning or evolution?

Responses included: It

takes time to envision a

project to conclusion.

Sometimes you start a

project with just a basic

plan and then you learn


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Consistency in needed

overtime to complete

customer tasking

as the project evolves or

more options come to

awareness and it changes

everything you initially

envisioned.

I really never know what I

want until I see it.

Some projects are simple

to envision, others are

complicated and it takes

time to configure a way

to simplify complex

information.

It does not matter to me

how many times I have

my support team start

from scratch. What

matters is if I like what I

get in the end.

Weekly Customer

Survey (4 weeks)

Asking individual

customers how many

weekly work hours they

deem contractor support

staff require to fulfill

assigned tasks will shed

light on discrepancies

between expectations and

the actual states of

Customers were provided

a task list of the team’s

tasking for the prior

weeks. Customers were

required to assess their

opinion of what each task

would take in man-hours.

The results were

compared with actual


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required work hours. This

information can be used

to determine if task

planning and deliverables

are being scoped to 40-

hour workweeks or weeks

that will require more

time.

man-hours recorded by

the staff for daily tasking.

In most instances, there

was a scaled discrepancy

of 30% between the

customer’s expectations

and the actual time it

took to achieve a task.

Customers are therefore

underestimating time

requirements for tasking.

Staff Observation (4

week duration)

Having the staff complete

a list of daily tasking and

time spent on task, will

assist in gaining insights

to the current state of

workload for the

contractor support staff

and their assigned

customers. This tracking

will also assist to reveal

discrepancies between the

customers’ expectations

of time to task and the

actual time it takes to

complete a task.

These results are

compared to customer

expectations for work

hours noted in the

customer survey.


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Appendix B: Intervention Materials

B1: Team Lead Training

Project Management Training Requirements

The learning content will consist of lessons encompassing the Project Management Life Cycle and utilization of Resources as noted

by the following curricula requirements:

The learner will understand the basic proponents of the Project Management Lifecycle to include: Project Initiation, Planning the

Project, Project Plan Execution and Closing the Project

Scope and Change Management

The learner will be able to apply Critical Path Management (CPM) techniques to Projects

The learner will engage in principles that apply to creating the scope of a project

The learner will be able to conduct an impact analysis for project changes

Scheduling

The learner will know the basic principles that apply to tracking a schedule and deliverables.

The learner will be able to create a deliverable or milestone focused schedule

The learner will know and apply the basic considerations and elements for Reporting of Present and Future Activities

Deliverables and Milestones


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The learner will engage in methods to track project status based on identified objectives

The learner will know how to construct project baselines and actual reports

The learner will learn to practice incremental approaches to strategic planning for current operations that convey to user acceptance

Quality and Cost

The learner will utilize practice to track and report variances in cost of projects

The learner will be able to create deliverable review schedules that impact cost, budget & schedules

The learner will learn principles that apply to managing a project budget (cost) with current and expected needs (due to changes)

Building and Managing Teams

The learner will demonstrate practices that align with the PMBOK ® Guide, Fifth Edition, to learn to tools and techniques to

stakeholder management, planning, engagement and the discovery of stakeholder and team expectations.

http://www.pmi.org/PMBOK-Guide-and-Standards.aspx

The learner will demonstrate best practices in the following:

Delegating responsibilities and tasks

Motivating using a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards

Developing the skills of team members

Coaching team members

http://www.pmi.org/PMBOK-Guide-and-Standards.aspx


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B2: Change Request Performance Aid-Prototype

A user may enter a new project id for tracking or enter an existing project ID to retrieve a queue of changes.

Project Tracking System

Project Identifier: (Enter ID)

Add New Project: (Add New Project ID)

Figure 1: Access or create tracking

An individual can access the list (Figure 2) and select to enter staffing hours, which will generate an open window for the data entry

of staffing hours for the open project ID. This data is for informational purposes only.

An individual may click twice on a row to view or edit existing data on the Change Request Input form (Figure 5).

Project ID Queue

Project ID Number xxxxxx

Project Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Document of Record for project change requests per Project ID

Allocated Staffing Budget

(The planned staffing Budget is

indicated here auto-populated

from the Financial Impact

column on the change request

form)

Current Staffing Costs

Billed to Project

(Over budget values

will appear in

parenthesis and be red

font.)

Enter Staffing Hours

(selecting this button

will generate a pop-up

window to input

staffing hours allocated

to project)

Change

Number

001 Start Date XX/XX/XXXX

Change

Number


Change

Number



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Change

Number


Figure 2 Tracking List for Projects

Input method of staffing hours for team lead relative to overtime

Project ID XXXX Staffing Report Document of Record for overtime hours charged to a project

(EMPLOYEE ID) Enter employee ID

Employee Name Appears Here xx/xx/xxxx enter date of overtime (OT)

Enter the number of Hours of OT worked for this date

Figure 3 Data entry screen or tracking overtime hours (Team Lead)


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A printout of overtime hours for an object can be printed utilizing a date range and will appear in the following format to provide

information to the reader (customer) as noted by Figure 4.

Project ID XXXX Staffing Report Document of Record for overtime hours charged to a project

(EMPLOYEE ID) Enter employee ID

Employee Name Appears Here xx/xx/xxxx – xx/xx/xxxx Date range

Total Overtime Hour worked per Employee

001 Mike Smith 08/01/2015-08/06/2015 6

008 Hope Sails 08/01/2015-08/06/2015 1

0067 Don Smart 08/01/2015-08/06/2015 2

Figure 4 Prototype of Overtime Information allocated to each project for the customer (information awareness)

Change Request Form Document of Record for a project change request

Project Name XXXXXX Project ID Number Derived from original project planning document)

Contracted Entity Sponsor Requesting Change The name of the contractor sponsor requesting the change

Created by Person submitting the change on behalf of the sponsor approved customer ( Team Lead or Project Manager)

Change Number (auto populated by system)

001

Date of Request Change Start Date:

Change Request Detail - The Change Request form is the document of record for a change request.

Reason for Change Description of the change requested with rationale

Business Change or Need

Funding Source Plan Change

Scope Change or Need

Schedule Change


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Error Correction

Regulatory Requirement

Other

Original Project Description (Derived from original project planning document)

Benefits of Proposed Changed The additional benefits the proposed change would have.

Impact Severity 1 - Critical Impact: Threatens the success of the program 2 - High Impact: Significant disruption to program schedule, cost, or quality 3 - Normal Impact: Progress disrupted with manageable extensions to short-term schedule and cost 4 - Low Impact: Exposure is slight

List of Impacted Deliverables List any associated deliverables (projects) internal/external that may be effected by this change request.

Current Allocated Funding (Enter the original proposed costs allocated to the project)

Staffing Costs:

Technical/Physical Resources:

Other:

Financial Impact ($) Estimated Cost of the Change(s) requested

(Include estimated cost of Added Staffing Hours) (specialty staff) that may be required as a result of the change

(cost of additional technical/physical resources)

(other anticipated costs Example: travel)

Revised Funding (Add the current allocated funding to the Financial Impact of the changes for each corresponding row)

Staffing Costs:

Technical/Physical Resources:

Other:

Schedule Impact (days) Time Required for the Change

Original Deliverable Date Date: Revised Deliverable Date Date:

Authorization

Who has the authority to approve this type of change? Business Office


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Customer/Stakeholder

Other:

Fiscal Reviewed and Approved by If additional funding is sourced separately by a department

Date:

Authorizing Signature (Customer) Date:

Project Manager Signature Date:

Team Lead Signature Date:

Figure 5 – Prototype of input and printout data to record changes for a project.


27

Appendix C: Intervention Timeline – Gantt Chart

Activities Timeline (Months)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1. Project Management Training (Team Leads)

2. Process Redesign - Overtime

3. Increased Management Support - Overtime

4. Electronic Support Project Tracking System (Implementation)

5. Process Change Deliverables

6. Incentives – Contractor Support Staff


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Appendix D: Evaluations

Table 7: Kirkpatrick’s Evaluation Levels for Interventions

Kirkpatrick

Level

Training

Intervention

(Team Lead)

Performance Aid

Intervention

(Team Lead,

Customer, Project

Manager, Contracting

Office, Funding

Office)

Environmental

Interventions

Support Staff,

Customer

Emotional

Intervention

Support Staff

Project Management Training

Electronic Project Change Tracking Support Tool

Process Redesign

Increased Management Support

Information (Customer)

Incentives

Level 1:

Reaction

Surveys and open-ended questions are used to assess Reactions to all interventions.

Details are provided per intervention category. Scaled ratings will range from (not at

all (1), somewhat (2), Very Much So (3).

Did the

training

prepare you

better for

daily

tasking?

How

confident do

you feel

using the

project

Do you find this

Project Change

Tracking tool

assistive to your

daily activities?

Comments:

Do you feel this

tool eases your

Workload?

Does the tool

provide the

information you

require?

Support Staff-

Overtime, Management

support

Do you feel

comfortable requesting

overtime?


the current overtime

policy?

Do you have any

comments relative to

benefits or

improvements to the

overtime policy? Please

Are you satisfied

with the incentives

in place?

Comments:

Do you feel the

incentives assist in

your focus to meet

the goals aligned to

them?

Comments:

Do you feel your

team works to meet

incentive goals?

Comments:


29

Kirkpatrick

Level

Training

Intervention

(Team Lead)

Performance Aid

Intervention

(Team Lead,

Customer, Project


Office, Funding

Office)

Environmental

Interventions

Support Staff,

Customer

Emotional

Intervention

Support Staff



Process Redesign



Incentives

management

skills gained

through

training?

In your

opinion,

could the

training be

improved?

Do you have

any

comments

relative to the

overall

training

course?

Please list

these:

Comments:

Do you have any

comments or

suggestions to

improve the

performance aid

(open-ended

question)

include rationale:

Do you feel you can

achieve your tasking

effectively to customer

satisfaction in a 40-hour

workweek?

Comments:

Do you feel your

manager adequately

supports the needs of

your tasking?

Comments:

Do you feel your

manager fairly

distributes workload

among team members?

Comments:

Do you have any

comments or

Do you have any

comments or

suggestions relative

to improving

incentives? (open-

ended question)


30

Kirkpatrick

Level

Training

Intervention

(Team Lead)

Performance Aid

Intervention

(Team Lead,

Customer, Project


Office, Funding

Office)

Environmental

Interventions

Support Staff,

Customer

Emotional

Intervention

Support Staff



Process Redesign



Incentives

suggestions to improve

the process for

overtime? (open-ended

question)

Team Leads and

Customer/Deliverables-

Project Change

Tracking Process


the project change

tracking process?

Do you have any

comments or

suggestions to improve

the process for tracking

project changes(open-

ended question)


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Kirkpatrick

Level

Training

Intervention

(Team Lead)

Performance Aid

Intervention

(Team Lead,

Customer, Project


Office, Funding

Office)

Environmental

Interventions

Support Staff,

Customer

Emotional

Intervention

Support Staff



Process Redesign



Incentives

Level 2:

Learning

Refer to

Evaluation

Section in

document

Level 2-

Training

n/a n/a n/a

Level 3:

Behavior

Are you

actively

incorporating

what you

learned into

daily work

activities?

What specific

processes,

resources or

tools do you

actively

incorporate

into your

tasking and

how

frequently?

Refer to Evaluation

Section in

document

Level 3- Behavior.

Behavior is

supported through

processes that

require this

performance aid to

be used

. A survey may be

provided to the

project manager to

ask questions

relative to his staff

Refer to Evaluation

Section in document

Level 3- Behavior.

Establish a

quarterly average of

results within and

between teams

relative to meeting

the established

incentive

requirements. A

result of 75% or

higher across teams

will determine if the

incentives in place

are motivational to

the desired

behavior. Results

within teams that

demonstrate lower

results <75% may


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Kirkpatrick

Level

Training

Intervention

(Team Lead)

Performance Aid

Intervention

(Team Lead,

Customer, Project


Office, Funding

Office)

Environmental

Interventions

Support Staff,

Customer

Emotional

Intervention

Support Staff



Process Redesign



Incentives

Comments:

of Team Leads:

Does your staff

appear to use this

tool correctly?

Does your staff

provide you the

required documents

realized through

this tool monthly?

Have you had any

customer

complaints relative

to the use of this

tool?

require deeper

analyses through

Project

management

intervention.

Level 4: Results Refer to

Evaluation

Section in

document

Level 2-

Learning &

Refer to Evaluation

Section in

document

Level 4- Results

Refer to Evaluation

Section in document

Level 4- Results

Refer to Evaluation

Section in

document

Level 4- Results


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Kirkpatrick

Level

Training

Intervention

(Team Lead)

Performance Aid

Intervention

(Team Lead,

Customer, Project


Office, Funding

Office)

Environmental

Interventions

Support Staff,

Customer

Emotional

Intervention

Support Staff



Process Redesign



Incentives

Level 4-

Results

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