Welcome to Six Sigma Black Belt, Course three, Module three. Project management tools. One of the primary project management tools is the review. There are many types of reviews, including the weekly status review, the Tollgate review, and the project review. As the name implies, the weekly status review takes place at regular and frequent intervals. Weekly status reviews take the pulse of the project and allows the team to make mid-course corrections. Project sponsors and the leadership are also able to see unforeseen barriers and provide support or resources. Tollgate reviews are completed at significant points in the course of the project. The project review is a formal and documented critique conducted by a committee of qualified company personnel. The project review extends over all phases of development, from inception to completion. Regular reviews can be very beneficial to the aims of the organization. Sometimes we discover that improvements or changes that are easy, fast, and inexpensive, can be implemented quickly. This helps to best balance resource allocation. At times, these quick wins can be applied to other areas of the business. Regular reviews help drive proactive dialogue and knowledge sharing among team members throughout the organization. Milestones are significant stages in the life of the project in which key deliverables can do. Milestones serve to focus priorities and bring longer range objectives into focus. Like other reviews, they also help to uncover the status of the milestone. Milestone reviews are also known as tollgate reviews. As the name implies. Tollgate reviews occur at points where there is a yes-no decision to continue the project. If the answer is no, then corrective actions are devised, assigned, and planned. Milestones are not normally subject to change or negotiation. If the project is late on meeting a milestone, the project manager will quickly elevate these developments to top management. The project review consists of many elements. Some of the primary topics include, the amount of dedicated resources needed to accomplish the project, these includes personnel, time, equipment, and money, the project effectiveness based on internal and external inputs, the status of corrective actions are measures in place. What is the status? Did the corrective action attain the desired result? The actual measure of the delivered process, product, or service, were the goals met? During the planning stage of project management? The monitoring and measuring requirements should be defined. This is the structure that feeds into the reviews. Upper management sets the tone for the type and frequency of the reviews. A project monitoring plan will consider what is being monitored, the reason for monitoring, timing, method of reporting, procedure for indicating a need for assistance, criteria for reporting of unusual events or urgent information, assignment of feedback loop responsibilities, action to be taken when performance differs from requirements. One of the features of this approach is the feedback loop for monitoring and adjusting the process if results are not desired. Setting up a project that is designed to continuously generate an act on feedback insures a well executed project plan. Nearly every project encounters unanticipated events or problems. Remember that performance is measured on results, not effort. There are three arenas for project management tools; project plan elements, work breakdown structure, and project documentation. We will dedicate the next several slides to explore each of these. Project management consists of project planning and implementation to achieve goals at a specified performance level under defined cost and time constraints using prescribed resources. The stages consist of deciding what to do, when to do it, and taking steps to ensure results are brought to fruition. Within this construct, there are key elements which include identifying scheduled time limits, allocation of functional responsibilities, establishing continuous reporting methods, selecting applicable trade-off methodologies, measuring accomplishments against plans, and knowing when they have been met, identifying problems early, applying corrective action to problems, and improving capabilities for future projects.
