25 Essential Views Needed for Project Success ?

Research shows there are 50 or more views of the performance metrics of the project. Here are 25 Essential Views needed to guide project and program managers to success. Further research reduced the number of views to 25.

The metric of View must provide:

• Evidence of an executable plan, i.e., information showing the plan capable of meeting the required technical objectives, resourced with personnel with the requisite skills, and risk-adjusted for reducible and irreducible risks;
• Monthly cost and schedule status data that are tightly coupled with achieving the technical objectives and management of risks;
• Insight into key problem areas (both Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) elements and key activities within the IMS); and
• Predictive information about the effort remaining (and remaining risks) so that proactive actions can be taken before those aspects become an issue.

Metrics 1-9 provide evidence of a credible project management plan. Metrics 10-15 provide evidence during the execution that cost and schedule progress are consistent with the technical progress and visibility of problems. Metrics 16–22 facilitate the diagnosis of past problems and, along with metrics 23 and 24, help the PM control the contract.

Essential Views and Their Rationale

The Essential Views are the leading and lagging indicators of project success. The data sources for these views start with project management data, including the Risk Register, Technical Performance Measures, Measures of Effectiveness, Measures of Performance, and Key Performance Parameters. Putting all these together in a set of views for use by management and stakeholder is the primary benefit of this approach. This section starts with two briefings, followed by a Workshop developed at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) ?

1. Key Technical Performance Measures (TPM) – Plan(s) Provides evidence that the contractor possesses a logical plan to accomplish the required technical work. Provides the basis for tracking technical progress, which should be consistent with reported cost and schedule progress.
2. Deliverables Plan – Assures the PM that the contractor has the plan to deliver products when required and provides another metric that should be consistent with cost and schedule progress.
3. Initial?Deterministic?Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) – Evidence that the contractor has a resource-informed plan needed to accomplish the technical work and produce the required deliverables.
4. Labor Utilization Plan – Provides evidence that the contractor has (or plans to have) the correct skilled personnel at the time they are needed.
5. Schedule Health Checks – Lets the PM know that the contractor's plan is of good quality based on scheduling "best practices"?
6. Risk Register and Risk Handling Actions – Provides evidence that the contractor has thought about risks and has the plan to mitigate them. Provides evidence that the contractor has a credible PMB.??
7. Risk Handling Plan – Demonstrates that the contractor possesses a method to assess whether risks will be mitigated.?
8. Computation?of?Initial?Management Reserve (MR) – Establishes a defendable basis for MR based on the contractor's plan and the known-unknown reducible risks after mitigation decisions. Provides PM with a confidence level of achieving the targeted cost.?
9. Computation?of?Schedule Margin (SM) and Placement in the Integrated Master Plan (IMS) – Provides evidence that the contractor has a cushion in their plan in order to meet the required "need date." The process formally recognizes the irreducible "natural variation" of development efforts using reference classes. Provides a statistical basis for the SM.
10. ?TPM Plan?vs?Estimated?Values vs Cost and Schedule Performance Metrics -Communicates whether planned technical progress is being made and aligned with cost and schedule progress. Lack of technical progress is a leading indicator of future cost and schedule performance problems.
11. Deliverables?Plan?vs?Actuals - Communicates whether deliverables are being produced as planned. Used to help explain reported cost and schedule progress.?
12. Labor Plan vs Actuals - The inability to acquire the correct skilled personnel at the time required is a key leading indicator of unfavorable cost and schedule variance. Further, the lack of key personnel may help explain variances
13. Cumulative Cost and Schedule Performance – Communicates the current status of cost and schedule performance. Provides information to allow further investigation of potential problems to be managed.
14. Risk Burn Down Plan vs Actuals - Lets the PM know if risks are being managed according to plan.?
15. Cost?and?schedule performance informed by the Risk Burn Down Actuals for Selected Risks Allows PM to examine the efficacy of a given risk mitigation strategy and ensure that cost and schedule progress are consistent.
16. Schedule?Health?and?Performance Metrics on Past and Future IMS – Provides PM with past schedule-rated performance data as well as quality checks on the "to-go" IMS.
17. Contribution of WBS Costs to Budget at Completion (BAC) Total – Communicates which elements are the most costly and may need closer oversight.
18. MR and BAC Projections – Provide the PM with a gauge on the adequacy of MR and the final cost.?
19. Contract?Modification Percentage Change Communicates how much the contract has changed. A high amount of contract changes signals instability of the contractor's plan and can jeopardize meeting cost and schedule targets. High percentage changes should trigger a full review of the plan.
20. Baseline Revision Index Communicates how much the baseline has changed. A high number of revisions threatens the stability of the contractor's plan and also jeopardizes meeting cost and schedule targets. High indices should trigger a full review of the plan.?
21. Forecast of Estimate at Completion (EAC) and Estimated Completion Date (ECD) Using Performance Data – Uses past performance to forecast the final EAC and ECD. The PM can use the results to ask probing questions about how the contractor plans to change performance to change the outcome vectors.
22. Updated Risk Register – Provides PM with status on the efficacy of earlier mitigation actions and the updated risks, risk attributes, and mitigation actions for the remainder of the contract
23. Confidence Levels of EACs and ECDs – Provides the PM with a statistical measure of the contractor's Best Case, Worst Case, and Most Likely EACs and ECDs. It also provides a summary-level leading indicator of potential issues and can be used to investigate remaining schedule logic and risk mitigation actions.
24. Schedule?Sensitivity?Indices – Provides PM with a forward look at which activities are most likely to cause a schedule delay. Permits PM to manage and control the contract.
25. Cost Sensitivity Indices Provide the PM with a forward look at which WBS elements are most likely to cause cost overruns. Permits PM to manage and control.??

To effectively oversee and guide the development outcomes of the project, the PM must have 3 categories of data:

1. Evidence of a credible plan at the initial Baseline Review of the project
2. Data that provide an integrated picture of performance; and
3. Data that help control the program

The Essential Views are reflected in the outputs shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2

Figure 1 – Contractor Inputs, Processes, and Outputs to Create a Credible Plan?

Figure 1 depicts the data inputs, contractor processes, and data outputs that provide evidence of a credible contractor plan at the IBR (data need 1). The process of developing a credible plan begins with the PM’s desired technical capabilities as described in the Statement of Work and supported by Measures of Effectiveness and Measures of Performance. The contractor uses these inputs to create a technical plan that is based on the state of the technical maturity of end items and the contractor’s unique approach to developing the system to meet the stated capabilities. The contractor must then construct a time-phased schedule that is informed by available resources, including funding, facilities, equipment, and labor skills. The contractor must adjust the time-phased plan based on the identifiable reducible technical and programmatic risks and the irreducible uncertainties that exist in the historical reference classes. These processes are itemized in the middle section of the figure. These activities produce a credible plan shown in the right section of the figure. The plan includes a WBS; an Integrated Master Plan, which shows the gradual sequence of achieving the required capabilities; a phased technical plan; an applicable Technical Performance Measures (TPM) Plan; a risk register with mitigation strategies and the timing of those actions; a risk-adjusted IMS; and computed MR and SM.?

Figure 2 – Contractor Inputs, Processes, and Outputs for Integrated Progress and Control?

Figure 2 shows the data inputs, contractor processes, and outputs that provide an integrated picture of performance (data need 2) and aid in program management (data need 3). In the figure, the process of producing an integrated picture of progress and control information begins on the left with technical data, deliverables, staffing, risks, and SM actuals vs. plans. It also includes the dollar value of the planned work and the actual cost of the work performed (ACWP) during the period. The middle section of the figure depicts the contractor actions that generate the integrated technical, cost, and schedule performance status and create the probabilistic Estimates at Completion (EACs) and Estimated Completion Dates (ECDs) and the cost and schedule sensitivity indices that are shown in the right section of the figure.?

? This material was developed under contract with the Institute for Defense Analyses in an unpublished work and presented at ICEAA Professional Development & Training Workshop , June 9-12, 2015