|
FTI to provide improved techniques and training for project management
with research effort awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory
11/01/05
Goleta, CA – November, 2005 – Frontier Technology, Inc.
(FTI), continues work on an Air Force Research Laboratory research
contract valued at $987,372, to examine project management scheduling
techniques used by the Defense Department and industry for new system
and technology acquisitions. The goal of this research is to provide
improved techniques and innovative training for managers and engineers
to help project managers understand and implement new scheduling techniques.
The research will focus on an issue found in many development projects
within the Department of Defense: unrealistic project schedules. Unrealistic
schedules usually involve an estimate for time to complete a system-development
task that is much shorter than the actual time required to accomplish
the task, when the usual problems, delays, and unexpected complications
occur. Schedule performance has become a significant problem, because
unrealistic schedules can result in poor investment decisions. This
research effort, conducted by FTI and its research partners, Advanced
Projects, Inc., Diamond of Ohio, and Robust Decisions, Inc. will enable
acquisition managers to plan and execute realistic project schedules
and make sound investment decisions based on these schedules. With
realistic system-development schedules, senior decision-makers can
effectively use all elements of a comprehensive decision space to
compare investment alternatives, based on their utility, cost, risk,
and schedule.
This research continues to identify and apply innovative techniques
from the “Theory of Constraints” and “Lean Manufacturing”
techniques to develop a formal training program to plan, manage, and
execute development projects for the defense acquisition environment.
Termed “LPM Learning Systems”, techniques included in
this research, such as Critical Chain Project Management, may provide
the most promising approach available today to reduce development
cycle time and cost of system development projects to meet the military
needs for effective, timely and affordable weapon systems. With the
successful training and integration of these techniques into existing
cost estimating and decision support tools, this research can help
project managers ensure timely completion of acquisition projects
within established budgets.
Frontier Technology, Inc. (FTI), a nation-wide small business with offices in Reston, VA, Dayton, OH, Beverly, MA, Colorado Springs, CO, and Santa Barbara, CA.
|