Overview

The chapter presents key CCPM measurements and considers two types of measures: operational measures and performance measures. The task and project managers have most need for operational measures, while senior management and resource managers have more need for performance measures. Operational measures are tactical, while performance measures are strategic.

In the following list of what effective measures must do, Dr. Joseph Juran [1] identified the first six items. He seems to have missed the seventh. Section 4.3 describes the background for exploiting the plan using buffer management and notes that Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt defined information as the answer to the question asked ; this is covered by the eighth item in the list. Number 9 is both a TOC and a Lean precept [2]. Effective measures must do the following:

1. Provide an agreed basis for decision making;

2. Be understandable;

3. Apply broadly;

4. Be susceptible to uniform interpretation;

5. Be economic to apply;

6. Be compatible with existing design of sensors;

7. Provide early warning of the need to act;

8. Deliver information to the person who must act;

9. Be simple.

The Lean precepts of focusing on flow and using visual controls were also important considerations when designing an effective measurement-and-control system for CCPM. The system must eliminate the Muda (waste) of complexity.

The goal of all projects in all organizations must relate to the company goal. For a profit-making company, this goal is to make money now and in the future. As noted in Chapter 1, for projects that do not have a...