Page 97 - Global Project Management Handbook

TOTAL LIFE-CYCLE SYSTEM MANAGEMENT 4-5

AN EXAMPLE OF THE TLCSM CONCEPT

The following is a description of how TLCSM concepts should be applied by a project
team. The example presents a series of decision-making process that should be applied by
any acquisition project team to achieve the best long-term success possible as an outcome
of their activities.
Situation. A project team has been constituted to acquire a fleet of 20 helicopters for use
in the logging industry. The helicopters will be used to ferry supplies to remote locations
and also may be used for medical evacuation or other emergency situations. The team must
assess a range of possible models from several manufacturers to determine the specific
model and configuration that best fits the company’s requirements. Upper management
requires detailed justification before any helicopters will be purchased. The project team
must evaluate all candidates to identify the best balance between operational effectiveness,
operational availability, and cost of ownership. Additionally, the project team must develop
a cost-effective solution to logistically support the fleet over its operational life.

OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS (O E )

It is essential that the helicopter selected for purchase be capable of performing all the activi-
ties needed by the logging company, so the first task for the project team is to identify all the
missions and roles for the fleet. This should be a comprehensive list of scenarios, including
flying time, distance traveled, possible maximum load, and minimum performance require-
ments. Second, the team should analyze the geographic region where the scenarios will be
performed to determine any environmental considerations that would have a negative effect
on performance, such as altitude, obstructions, weather conditions, and anything else that
must be considered as significant possible limits on helicopter safe operation. The combina-
tion of the mission and usage environment identifies the range of performance functions that
any selected helicopter must perform to meet the company’s requirements successfully.
Next, the project team must construct an evaluation methodology to be used in assessment of
the possible helicopters to be purchased. Figure 4.4 shows how O E forms the core of a cost-
effectiveness analysis. The O E portion of the diagram identifies all necessary system func-

tions required to meet its requirements successfully. The numerical weighting of each func-
tion represent the team’s concept of relative importance between the functional requirements.
In this example, the project team has divided system requirements into five major categories:
inherent performance characteristics, operational suitability, mission specifics, health and
safety, and risk. Four of these categories have been divided further to identify specific issues
that must be considered. This diagram then is used to assess each helicopter to determine its
potential to meet the O E requirements. Some of the mandatory characteristics are more
important that others, so possible points are assigned to reflect this. Each helicopter is then
assessed and provided point values against each block. If any block rating received a 0 score,
the helicopter is eliminated from further consideration because it does not meet the minimum
functional requirements. The total of all possible points added up to a score of 98 points. The
2 final points are reserved for intrinsic or aesthetic award owing to intangibles such as repu-
tation, good will, etc. Thus the maximum point value that any helicopter can receive is 100.

OPERATIONAL AVAILABILITY (A O )

Any helicopter selected for purchase must be available to perform assigned missions
that may be scheduled at any random time. Operational availability provides a statistical