Progress in Improving Project Management at the Department of Energy 2003 Assessment (2004) / Chapter Skim
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2 Progress and Opportunities
2 Progress and Opportunities
Pages 11-40
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From page 11... ...
DOE projects are often very large and technically challenging. Because these projects are so important and so costly, the committee believes that DOE's goal should be to improve its project management to a level at least commensurate with that in other agencies and private industry and that DOE should strive to achieve a level of excellence commensurate with its accomplishments in science and defense technology.
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From page 12... ...
The previous findings and recommendations as well as those in this report address 10 recurring objectives for the changes needed to improve project management at DOE. The recurring objectives include the following: · Develop policies and procedures to define the DOE method of managing projects; · Create a project management culture across the agency that supports the consistent implementation of policies and procedures; · Provide leadership that ensures disciplined planning and execution of projects as well as support for continuous process improvement; · Provide a project management champion at the highest level of the depart ment to ensure that a focus on the importance of project management is established and maintained; · Develop competence in fulfilling the owner's role in strategic planning, front-end project planning, risk management, and project execution; · Apply rigorous project reporting and controls that include earned value systems; link day-to-day management data to periodic reporting and fore cast time and cost to complete; and maintain historical data with which to benchmark project performance; · Document processes and performance to support benchmarking and trend analysis; · Invest in human capital by providing training and career development to ensure an adequate supply of qualified, skilled project directors and sup port staff; · Continue, refine, and document a program of external and internal project reviews; and · Employ innovative approaches to capital acquisition and the use of performance-based contracting.
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From page 13... ...
The committee also believes that OECM is at a level in the organization that it can be effective in improving project management if it is adequately staffed, senior management is sufficiently committed and involved, and senior management uses OECM and other resources to positively influence project management discipline across DOE.
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From page 14... ...
Senior Management The committee believes that PMSOs, PA&E, and OECM can be effective in improving the management and execution of DOE projects only if they are used and supported by senior managers. To ensure that these offices are effective, the deputy secretary, undersecretaries, and assistant secretaries should do the following: · Actively use PA&E to provide objective analysis and advice on mission need and project cost-benefit justification at the early stages of incipient projects; · Actively use OECM to develop and promulgate requirements for manage ment decisions, monitor the progress of projects, and provide objective analysis and advice concerning project management through all project reviews and critical decision points; and · Strengthen these functions by providing adequate resources, staffing, and training and by empowering OECM, PA&E, the PMSOs, and DOE project directors and project support staffs.
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From page 15... ...
The deputy secretary should be DOE's champion of project management excellence. As noted in previous NRC reports, the committee believes that DOE needs a visible, active, senior-level manager to promote and defend efforts to improve project management capabilities and their consistent application throughout the department (NRC, 1999)
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From page 16... ...
Although it is essential that each program office have strong project management capabilities and support, the committee continues to recommend that it is necessary that there be a single entity responsible for project management policies, procedures, personnel career development and training, and project tracking and reporting in order to achieve consistent project management excellence across the agency. A number of DOE project directors expressed the belief that DOE upper management would not support them if they rejected contractors' submittals or decisions, and they were thus reluctant to challenge contractors.
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From page 17... ...
Each iteration responded to critical review feedback from DOE project managers (project directors) , contractors, this committee, and others.
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From page 18... ...
The committee endorses issuance of the practices as a useful tool for present and future DOE project directors.
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From page 19... ...
. DOE has made a considerable effort to make known to project directors the federal requirements to perform value engineering, primarily through a Web page listing of federal statutes, Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
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From page 20... ...
The definitions should define responsibilities to develop, review, comment, approve, and execute at each step of the DOE capital acquisition process. These definitions should do more to address the authority that DOE project directors have in carrying out these responsibilities.
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From page 21... ...
On the contrary, the committee observed many projects that were commenced under O 413.3 and that proceeded expeditiously and on schedule. The committee noted in its previous reports the absence of adequate project justification and front-end planning, manifested in the lack of documentation such as acquisition plans, risk management plans, and project execution plans.
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From page 22... ...
Project Management Professional Certification Although professional project manager certification does not guarantee success in itself, the committee continues to emphasize it as an indicator of the importance that DOE places (or does not place) on professional education, development, and credentials for project directors.
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From page 23... ...
The deputy secretary's commitment to full certification of DOE project directors in all PSOs is a significant step forward. Training Project management training at DOE continues to progress very slowly, with relatively few courses being offered to personnel in the field.
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From page 24... ...
The committee believes that these workshops serve a valuable function by enhancing the visibility of project management capabilities and providing opportunities for sharing lessons learned across projects and across programs. DOE project management culture is significantly enhanced by assembling a large group of personnel across the department to witness senior management's commitment to project management by the presentation of awards for outstanding project skills and project performance.
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From page 25... ...
Therefore, the committee recommends that project directors and project management functions be funded from project appropriations. The use of project funds for project management personnel (as is done within the Department of Defense)
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From page 26... ...
Some, such as project manager training, are just beginning to be implemented and need time to demonstrate their effectiveness while others, such as providing a highly visible project management champion, have gone nowhere. Nonetheless, the committee has observed signs of positive change in the DOE project management culture over the past 3 years.
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From page 27... ...
The committee's visits to the Hanford, Savannah River, Sandia, and Los Alamos complexes over the past year provided some encouraging signs of progress in improving project management competency among the federal employees at those sites. Particularly noteworthy was the growth in size from 4 to 20 project direction staff, in part through the use of interns, and the increased competency of the project direction staff at the Los Alamos Site Office over the past 2 years.
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From page 28... ...
These planning tools should continue to be developed and matured, and their effective use by management should improve project planning and project outcomes. Front-End Project Planning The committee emphasized the need to perform effective front-end planning in both the 2001 and 2002 assessment reports (NRC, 2001b, 2003)
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From page 29... ...
RISK MANAGEMENT The committee has observed some improvement in DOE's risk management efforts, from the minimal and weak planning and mitigation observed in 2000, to documented planning for project risks and more active mitigation of risks during project execution. Improved risk management plans were reviewed by the committee at Hanford, Savannah River, Sandia, and Los Alamos.
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From page 30... ...
The committee observed that most federal project directors now freely acknowledge the value of procedures such as the critical decision reviews and the related project justification and control activities. The committee believes that compliance with the requirements of Order O 413.3 corresponds to increased efforts to apply project controls for improved project performance.
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From page 31... ...
OECM has initiated activities to provide EVMS training to DOE project directors and has proposed contracting with the Defense Contract Management Agency to verify contractor application of EVMS standards specified in O 413.3. EVMS is a critical part of project controls, and at this time there is no way of knowing if the reported data are accurate and reliable.
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From page 32... ...
The committee has identified several lines of inquiry but does not have sufficient data to begin to discuss performance criteria. These lines of inquiry include the following: · The percentage of DOE project managers who are certified professional project managers; · The numbers of PMCDP courses offered and of personnel trained; · The number of project directors and support staff for the value of projects managed; · The functional quality of Integrated Project Teams; · The quality of project planning documents (acquisition plans, project execution plans, risk management plans, and so on)
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From page 33... ...
To make this database useful for project analysis, PARS should archive the original cost and schedule baselines and all modifications to these baselines -- constant rebaselining of projects precludes the ability to make valid comparisons over time and across projects. Although current revised baselines should be used to make day-to-day project management decisions, the original approved baselines and all subsequent changes should be tracked in order to evaluate overall project management performance.
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From page 34... ...
The procedures for the congressionally mandated EIRs have matured over time and the reviews are more comprehensive and have improved in quality. Consequently, there is increased appreciation within DOE of the value of EIRs, and DOE project directors interviewed by the committee now acknowledge that EIRs have provided useful information and have added considerable value to the project delivery process.
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From page 35... ...
The committee strongly advocates that DOE continue to recognize the value of EIRs for improving project performance and expand their application for documenting lessons learned. Capability of Independent Reviewers DOE has awarded three Management, Organization and Business Improvements (MOBIs)
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From page 36... ...
The OECM staff then assesses the completeness of the acquisition execution plans (AEPs) before forwarding them for senior management approval as part of the ESAABs and the critical decision process.
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From page 37... ...
· The DOE deputy secretary either should be the champion for project management improvement -- to develop project management into a core competency of the department, to assure that the department maintains an adequate staff of qualified project directors to manage its portfolio of projects, and to assure that the disciplined execution of projects is a priority for managers at all levels -- or should appoint someone to perform this role, reporting to the deputy secretary (see footnote on page 16)
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From page 38... ...
Training for project directors and project support staff should be centrally funded and should utilize alternatives to traditional classroom delivery of instructional materials. · DOE should adopt a department-wide strategy to develop a sustainable, qualified workforce for directing the projects required to achieve the department's missions.
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From page 39... ...
· Manual M 413.3-1 and Project Management Practices should be expanded to include detailed procedures and deliverables required between CD-1 and CD-2. Federal project directors should be involved in this development effort so as to incorporate the best industry practices in DOE procedures.
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From page 40... ...
2002a. Progress in Improving Project Management at the Department of Energy, 2002 Interim Assessment.
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