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- 1. Reengineering the Acquisition/Procurement Process: Requirements Collection Methodologyand Thomas Vanek Booz Allen HamiltonNASA PM Challenge 2011 February 9–10, 2011 Randall L. Taylor Project ManagerAcquisition Reengineering Project Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of TechnologyCopyright © 2010. All rights reserved.
- 2. AgendaProject MethodologyRequirements CollectionCustomer SessionsCustomer VotingStakeholder and Process Performer SessionsPreliminary BenchmarkingPreliminary RequirementsQuick Hits Where are we Now?
- 3. Project ApproachUtilize Lean Six Sigma and Reengineering methodologies and techniquesFocus on the Customer, and how we can do a better job.In line with the Acquisition Division Mission & VisionThe Project is “Exploratory”.Explore solutions that make life better for Subcontract Managers & Contract Technical ManagersThe Project is conducted like a flight project, using various tools & techniques
- 4. Project MethodologyMajor improvement can come about through a single paradigm change, or by a combination of smaller but important changes.FY09FY10
- 5. Methodology: Project PlanEach phase has required products and independent reviews
- 6. Phase A: Concept Studies/Development
- 7. Validate Customers, Stakeholders, and Process Performers
- 8. Requirements; Concept; Prelim. Concept of Operations; Prelim. Project Plan
- 10. Phase B: Preliminary Design
- 11. Requirements (baseline); Prelim. Design; Concept of Operations; Project Plan; Integrated Baseline (tech-sched-cost)
- 12. Pre-PDR peer reviews; PDR; Confirmation Review
- 13. Phase C: Final Design & Build
- 14. Phase D: System Assembly, I&T, and Launch
- 15. Phase E: Operations & SustainmentPhase BPhase CPhase DPhase EPhase A
- 16. Acquisition Reengineering Activity 1:Gather Customer RequirementsActivity 1 - Requirements GenerationObjective: to capture customer requirements as the basis for proposing a concept (and subsequent design) that meets the requirements in a verifiable mannerRequirements are solicited from:Customers – primary customers are Project Managers and Proposal ManagersStakeholders – we have a long list (e.g., Legal, Property, Invoice Management, Engineering and SMA management…)Process Performers – buyers, negotiators, Contract Technical Managers (primary), othersEmploy a modified version of the JPL Resource Management System technique Products include preliminary requirements set & recommended “quick hits” (Lean Six Sigma Kaizen events and Just-Do-Its) for implementationEstablish JPL acquisition process definitionPhase APhase BPhase CPhase DPhase E
- 17. Requirements collection & analysis toolsCustomer/stakeholder/process performer groups identifiedCollection sessions technique(s) mapped outSession pre-work conducted prior to each sessionCustomer Requirements Collection MethodIllustrativeSampling of requirement fieldsSource Name
- 18. Source Type, e.g., Project Manager
- 23. Mandatory?
- 24. Top Five?
- 26. Disposition
- 28. Process Owner
- 29. Stakeholders
- 30. References
- 33. Status
- 35. Customer VotingSummaryFollowing the Customer sessions, performed preliminary data analysis, identified the most commonly voiced/most impactful ideas, and prepared an electronic ballot for Customer voting.51% of customers who attended the Customer Sessions responded.Customers were asked to (1) make choices from a list of 40 items based on importance (Not Important at all, Fairly Important, Very Important) and (2) respond with the Top 5 items from the list by typing the number of his/her selections in an input box.GeneralEmail with link to ballot was sent to customers on the morning of Monday, May 17Eligible voters: 224How many have voted: 115Voting complete: May 25Sample
- 36. Ballot AnalysisCustomer voting is one data point — but a very important one. The customer voting process proved to be an excellent communication/feedback mechanism for the customers: they felt they were heard. It also proved to be a useful educational vehicle for the Acquisition Division process performers who attended the sessions.Voting analysis focused on five “cuts” at the data:1. Those items receiving the largest number of “5” ratings Ten items received 35 or more votes in this range, which means that at least 30% of those who voted rated them the most important (despite some voters finding the item not applicable to them).2. Those items receiving the largest number of combined “4” and “5” ratings.Thirteen items received 50 or more votes in this range, which means at least 44% of those who voted rated them high (despite some voters finding the item not applicable).3. Those items receiving the largest number of “Top Five” designations.4. Those items specific to Commodities receiving high ratings.5. Those items specific to Subcontracts/Bypass receiving high ratings.
- 37. Customer Ballot email sent 5/17/10
- 38. Customer Voting: Part 1(115 responses)The following are the items rated a 5 on the scale ranging from 1: Not important at all to 5: Very important.The following are the items rated either 4 or 5 on the scale ranging from 1: Not important at all to 5: Very important.
- 41. Objective: To identify key acquisition/procurement major process improvement areas that might not surface from the requirements collection sessions, but have been previously done by other Acquisition initiatives.MethodologyLiterature search, by Booz Allen Hamilton and by JPL, plus review of relevant Acquisition Div. activities.Reviewed the following Division activitiesDivision Strategic Plan — BAH compared project Preliminary Requirements to the Strategic PlanIdea Summits — BAH compared project Preliminary Requirements to the collected ideasR2C — JPL reviewed scope of potential Oracle Advanced Purchasing Suite implementation against the Project PlanKPIs — BAH compared project Preliminary Requirements to the proposed Key Performance IndicatorsBenchmarking resulted in some changes to the Preliminary Requirements (and ideas for Quick Hits and Phase A2/3 study)Preliminary (Coarse) Benchmarking
- 42. Booz Allen Benchmarking Materials – JPL Analysis – P1* See Backup slides for references: “Appendix: Booz Allen Benchmarking References”
- 43. Preliminary RequirementsObjective of preliminary requirements: to serve as the basis for conducting Phase A2/3 conceptual design and targeted benchmarking; also provides a resource to identify Quick Hits for management.MethodologyReviewed brainstorming ideas from customers, stakeholders, and process performersReviewed ballot resultsReviewed BAH & JPL benchmarking materialsTurned the most popular and/or most promising ideas into preliminary requirementsAdded a small number of constraints that the new process must comply withBAH tested the draft preliminary requirements set against the Division Strategic Plan (goals and actions) and against the Idea Summits brainstorming ideasResults were very good (not identical) alignment.
- 44. Acquisition ReengineeringPreliminary Requirements P1Requirement 1. Programs, Projects, Tasks, and Proposals shall contact Acquisition at the beginning of their life cycle to formulate acquisition strategy and negotiate support commitments.Requirement 2. Acquisition transactions shall be planned to support project/task and one-year-money need dates. Planning shall include end user and supporting discipline rec-dels.Requirement 3. The process shall identify multiple acquisition strategy options for support effort subcontracts.Requirement 4. The process shall identify multiple acquisition strategy options for system contract subcontracts.Requirement 5. The process shall track purchase requisition entry through purchase order award and purchase order award through purchase order closure, while publishing the cycle time metrics for customers.Requirement 6. Purchase Requisition required steps and responsible parties shall be published for end users (requestors) and preparers.Requirement 7. Special Provisioners shall be established to acquire designated products and services for the end users in lieu of a Purchase Requisition transaction.Requirement 8. Procurement Control Points shall be established only where necessary and approved and shall process requests within a goal of 1 work day.Requirement 9. The process shall establish a method for identifying significant repetitive-buy commodities and options for quickly acquiring them.Requirement 10.iProcurement shall be enhanced by expansion of included commodities and improved user search capabilities.
- 45. Quick Hits“Quick Hits” are process improvement ideas that meet the following criteria:They have clear value to customers (primarily), stakeholders, and process performersThey are properly sized to be implemented within 6 months or less (Kaizen-sized or smaller)They do not require any programming by Institutional ITThe necessary resources are available and fit within the Acquisition Division budget (or possible small augmentation)Their implementation is not expected to introduce impediments to the broader process reengineering effortAn improvement opportunity that requires more study, or otherwise does not meet the above criteria, would be included in the Phase A/B reengineering activity.Quick Hits may be implemented in several ways, e.g.:Just Do ItFacilitated focus groupAcquisition mini-teamKaizen eventThe list of recommended Quick Hits is a menu for management to choose from. They can be implemented in any order. Apart from Just Do it items, prudence dictates embarking on a maximum of 3 Quick Hits per quarter (to ensure adequate oversight and synergistic coordination with other activities as well as to put less strain on the budget).
- 46. Where Are We Now?Completed purchase requisition sub-process reengineering (11 “enablers” all operational)Completed Standard Subcontract Data Requirements (SDRL/DRDs) (official in command media)Received ATP for two Quick Hits Control points sub-process Communication normsInitiated planning for Advanced (Targeted) Benchmarking activity
- 47. SummaryCompleted 44 requirements collection sessions with 391 persons, representing customers, stakeholders, and process performersConducted customer voting with a 51% response ratePerformed preliminary benchmarkingGenerated process Preliminary Requirements to guide new process conceptual designProvided recommended Quick Hits for management considerationRefined the plan for conceptual design phase— Additional information is available in IEEE paper, “Reengineering the Acquisition/Procurement Process: A Methodology for Requirements Collection” (available from the authors)