Application of CCPM in ATE Program Management

Abstract

This paper will cover the use of Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) in program management for the Support Engineering community at IDS in St. Louis. The use of CCPM in Support Engineering initially began in the Mechanical/Electrical group in mid-2003. In late 2006, CCPM was also applied on other programs. The application of CCPM in the Mechanical/Electrical group was to aid in managing the complexity of working multiple programs simultaneously. Based on its success in reducing cost and cycle time, CCPT was applied to ATE projects to manage the complexity of the multiple subsystems being developed within one project. In a CCPM model of a project, the buffers are aggregated from individual task to provide visible safety for the entire project task network. There are two main types of buffers; Project Buffers and Feeder Buffers. The Project Buffers This paper will show how the deployment of CCPM has progressed from handling basic linear projects individually, to handling multiple linear projects, to handling large scale ATE projects with high degrees of imbedded complexity and parallel development efforts. In addition, this paper will describe the techniques developed for handling parallel development efforts, while maintaining the integrity of the CCPM project management data and will also show that the use of CCPM is completely compatible with Earned Value. Finally, this paper will describe the thirteen step process for back-chaining task networks used in CCPM produces executable project plans and it will also describe how CCPM can be used to develop program planning during the proposal phase of projects.