Project controls: frameworks and applications

Training Project Director

Training Project Manager

Re:

Training Project Implementation and Troubleshooting Strategy

Previous training projects provided this department have exceeded their projected budgets, expected timelines, wasted resources, and failed to meet client expectations. To address those issues, the following project implementation and troubleshooting strategy has been formulated and is hereby being proposed for approval by Management. In principle, it is designed to:

(1) Identify, analyze, and report any unplanned changes considered necessary;

(2) Evaluate project quality accurately and prior to delivery,

(3) Establish procedures sufficient to effectuate and continually monitor change-control issues; and (4) Document and communicate any identified problems in connection with the ability of any project to meet its stated performance and quality objectives.

Training Project Implementation and Troubleshooting Strategy

Situational Overview

In the past, some of our training projects have been plagued by various problems in their implementation phase. Specifically, projects have undergone substantial changes shortly before being delivered to clients; in some cases, service delivery components were changed ad hoc in the field, during their delivery. Many of those changes were necessitated by the failure of project management teams to anticipate particular or idiosyncratic needs of individual clients or the venues and audiences involved. In some instances, those particulars could have been identified or anticipated and rectified prior to service delivery, relying on information supplied by the clients in advance. On other occasions, the project management team failed to conduct adequate quality testing prior to the delivery of services to clients, relying excessively on after-the-fact evaluations instead.

As a result, opportunities to ensure the highest quality of services delivered to some clients was compromised and some clients expressed dissatisfaction with the services they received from this company. Clearly, there is a need to establish operational testing procedures capable of identifying the need for program delivery changes prior to service delivery and to document and communicate any identified problems in connection with the ability of any project to meet its stated performance and quality objectives prior to delivery instead of after delivery.

Identification, Analysis, and Reporting of all Necessary Unplanned Changes

In principle, procedures are required to enable project management teams to identify all foreseeable potential needs for changes to programs and services delivered long before the delivery phase. At a minimum, those procedures should provide a system for reviewing the specific needs of individual clients, along with all relevant potential issues, including but not limited to the size and makeup of audiences, the nature and size of venues, and any idiosyncrasies in relation to personnel and physical facilities.

After the identification of potential issues that could necessitate changes in the field, the options for change should be identified and analyzed well in advance of service delivery so that the service delivery team is equipped and as prepared as possible to deliver the highest quality of services to clients. The goal of this element of the project implementation and troubleshooting strategy is to ensure that no needs for changes remain unidentified prior to service delivery that could have been identified prospectively.

Accurate Evaluation of Project Quality Prior to Service Delivery

In principle, procedures are required to enable project management teams to conduct various levels of dry runs and full dress rehearsals of all services prior to their delivery to clients. This process involves various levels of running through every service module intended for delivery both in general, as well as in relation to delivery to specific clients. Ideally, this process should also ensure the most efficient and economic consumption of resources because the dry-run mechanism will provide a benchmark for the anticipated resources necessary for the effective delivery of every program. The goal of this element of the project implementation and troubleshooting strategy is to ensure that any problems inherent in the design, proposed delivery, or in the delivery of services to specific clients are identified and resolved prior to delivery to clients.

Establishment of Procedures Sufficient to Effectuate and Monitor Change-control Issues

It is anticipated that various training programs will require changes from time to time, whether to improve them in general or because they require adjustment or adaptation to suit the particular needs of specific clients. In principle, any need for changes to services should be identified within a process designed systematically for that purpose and any necessary changes or modifications should also be outlined by an established set of processes and procedures for effectuating and monitoring the development and implementation of those changes. The goal of this element of the project implementation and troubleshooting strategy is to provide a specific process for initiating any program changes that encompasses testing of those changes in conjunction with the overall testing process for all programs prior to delivery to clients.

Documentation and Communication of Potential Performance and Quality Problems

It is anticipated that testing of training programs will sometimes identify problems and the need to make changes to those programs before delivery to clients. In principle, any such needs for changes to services and all proposed approaches to implementing such changes must be documented and communicated to the departments and teams responsible for resolving those issues. The goal of this element of the project implementation and troubleshooting strategy is to ensure that there is a systematic process for documenting the results of testing and for communicating those results and the solutions devised to resolve any problems or to initiate any program changes necessary to ensure the highest possible quality of products and services provided by this company.