Page 111 - Global Project Management Handbook

4-18 STATE OF THE ART OF GLOBAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Product support
Product selected to solution focused
meet performance System
and support on output capability
requirements performance
requirements

Design/technology Sustainment Evolving
improvements improvements requirements
FIGURE 4.18 The continuous TLCSM process.

BENEFITS OF TLCSM

Table 4.1 listed the following reasons for implementing the TLCSM process:
● Link everything into one “big picture.” The TLCSM concept integrates the con-
cerns and issues of all organizational groups into a single decision-making process
that provides traceability of all resulting decisions to the initial requirements estab-
lished in the project team’s charter.
● Provide better management information. The TLCSM concept provides significant and
focused information with detailed backup so that management has a far better under-
standing of the situation and the possible results of all decisions that other methods do
not provide.
● Increase capability. The sequence of activities used to first determine the new system
need and use and then identify the functional requirements necessary to maximize capa-
bility are pivotal points of the TLCSM process.
● Improve availability. Identification, development, and delivery of a support resource
package linked to operational availability requirements ensures that the system will be
supported adequately and effectively throughout its operational life.

● Make better use of critical resources. The centralized and focused TLCSM approach to
managing resources throughout the system’s operational life ensures that critical items,
specifically personnel and money are not wasted.
● Minimize cost of ownership. One of the basic premises of the TLCSM process is that
long-term solutions tend to lower the cost of owning systems by avoiding short-term
decisions, to achieve artificial goals that do no contribute to overall success.
● Recognize relationships between distributed organizations. It is imperative that the proj-
ect team have representatives from every group within the organization so that all views
can be considered throughout the decision-making process. This ensures that the final
result of the TLCSM process meets the requirements of the total organization.

The points presented and discussed in this chapter have substantiated that the TLCSM
process is a valid undertaking that has merit for application by any organization that
makes critical decisions about capital equipment or long-term investment in systems and
support infrastructures. The benefits of the TLCSM process have been demonstrated
repeatedly by highly successful and profitable organizations as potentially the most effec-
tive and efficient method to purchase and sustain systems and capital equipment.