Transcript Class Summary

Multi-Project Management with Autodesk® Vault
and Project Base
Christian Ellerbrock
Nexxtsoft / ATEC| Product Manager
© 2011 Autodesk
About The Speaker
Christian Ellerbrock has been the general manager of ATEC Software
Development Division, and a management and strategic consultant in the
automotive industry since 1996. He was a project manager and senior consultant
working in more than 20 medium (500-user) to large (5000-user) enterprise PLM
implementations in various industries (aerospace, automotive, plant). Since 2011
he also works as technical consultant for nexxtsoft GmbH.
[email protected]
ATEC Holding GmbH
Neuer Höltigbaum 32
22143 Hamburg
Germany
nexxtsoft GmbH
Nienhagener Str. 72
22147 Hamburg
Germany
© 2011 Autodesk
Class Summary
This class focus on methods and tools for (multi-) project management with
rd
Autodesk® Vault Professional and Project Base, a 3 party product implemented
by nexxtsoft® and ATEC®.
It describes fundamental methods and success factors for project management and
shows how you can map this to “the real world” within the context of Autodesk®
data management.
© 2011 Autodesk
Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:

Understand fundamental methods and rules for successful project management

Adopt and map this knowledge to your daily business

Use Autodesk® Vault Professional and ProjectBase to manage your projects
© 2011 Autodesk
CONTENT
This presentation is organized in 3 parts
1.
Introduction
Fundamental concepts and key factors in project management
2.
Using Project Management in Product Development
How to apply project management concepts with Autodesk® Vault
Professional
3.
Realize It !
Using Autodesk® Vault Professional and ProjectBase in projects
© 2011 Autodesk
Part 1
Introduction
Fundamental concepts and key factors in project management
© 2011 Autodesk
What are we talking about?
In real life we often have to achieve goals or results which are non trivial,
somehow “big” and obviously cannot be performed by a single person.
To overcome this endeavor we obviously have to break it down to multiple tasks
performed by a group of many (more than 1) persons.
Finally we have some expectations, like
.. shall not exceed more than xxx $
.. shall be finished within yyy days
.. shall be “great” and provide additional value
Let us build
a pyramid
today …
This is what we often call a Project
© 2011 Autodesk
What is a Project ?
A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end (usually
time-constrained, and often constrained by funding or deliverables), undertaken
to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or
added value.

requirements
 endeavor (break down to multiple tasks)
 results, goals
 constraints (time, budget, quality, scope, resources)
© 2011 Autodesk
What is Project Management?
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and
managing resources to achieve specific goals [..] using different knowledge, tools
and techniques.

plan, organize, manage
 tools
 techniques, methods
© 2011 Autodesk
plan, manage, track
time
budget
resources
why?
who?
Constraints
understand
goals
scope, quality
Input data
secure
Requirements
Project
Results
added value
output data
Methods,
Tools
what?
knowledge
tools
techniques
how?
use
© 2011 Autodesk
In the following we will consider…
Methods &
Tools

Methods: we will learn about a simple, but effective approach to project
management

Tools: we will learn how Autodesk® Vault Professional and ProjectBase can
support our methods and techniques.
© 2011 Autodesk
A Simple Project Management Approach

Make sure you hit the bull’s eye!

Document requirements and put them under version control!

Prepare a reasonable plan!

Build a good team with clear ownership of tasks!

Track status and give it wide visibility!
>> Adopted from Jim Chapman
© 2011 Autodesk
Make sure you hit the bull’s eye!

A project needs a business case!

To implement a project we need to understand
what we have to do!
Scope?
Least


We need to have a clear understanding of
stakeholder’s priorities regarding scope, time
and costs!
Time?
?
?
Moderate
Most
Cost?
?
Your need to have a (real) project sponsor!
© 2011 Autodesk
Document requirements and put them under control!

Need common understanding of requirements!

What are needs and what are wants?

The stakeholder / customer may not know what they need!

The whole project team (this includes the stakeholder / customer) will learn
during the project. Learn means change!

If requirements change we need to track and control them!
© 2011 Autodesk
Prepare a reasonable plan!

Plan your project. Then work your plan!

Plan reasonable – a miracle is never a good plan! And: you cannot have it all!

Changes on the plan need to be reviewed with stakeholders and other team
members.

You have reasonable plan if you keep costs, schedule and requirements in a
balance.
© 2011 Autodesk
Build a good team with clear ownership of tasks!

Your team (members) must be able and capable of executing their task.

Make sure they know what to do!

Make sure they have the right skills!

Performance matters – work needs to be done within schedule and time!

Budget matters – most often this depends on performance and skills!
© 2011 Autodesk
Track status and give it wide visibility!

The difference between the plan you have and you ought is called a risk.

Identify risks – so you need to track the project against schedule and budget.

Communicate risks. If your team is not aware of the risk it can’t be solved!

Never ignore risks – manage them!
© 2011 Autodesk
Summary … a simple, effective project mgmt. approach
Why ?
What ?
Track !
Who ?
How ?
>> Adopted from Jim Chapman
© 2011 Autodesk
Part 2
Using Project Management in Product Development
How to apply project management concepts with Autodesk® Vault Professional
© 2011 Autodesk
Product Development Projects

The detailed project (plan, architecture etc.) will depend on the product and it’s
development process.

But the project management concepts will be similar.

Here we will try to describe a more generic approach which can easily adopted
to your specific needs.
© 2011 Autodesk
Product Development Projects (cont’d)
In almost all product development projects we will have

Specifications, requirements etc.

(Design) documents which ether describe the product or are part of the product (data).

Lifecycles, status, etc. for the related documents.

Constraints on schedule, budget, etc.

A team, developing the product.

A development project plan
© 2011 Autodesk
Product Development Projects (cont’d)
So here we are again …
project plan
Specifications, requirements etc.
(Design) documents, product data
Track!
Why ?
Who?
Lifecycles, status, etc.
What?
How?
Constraints on schedule, budget, etc.
A team, developing the product
… other information
© 2011 Autodesk
What do we have to cover – Project Management View

Handle requirements, issues, risks, etc.

Ability to create a project plan and schedule.

Ability to track the project plan (tasks, schedule, status)

Assign tasks and other information to team members (resources)
© 2011 Autodesk
What do we have to cover – Data Management View

Need all Product Data Management capabilities.
(incl. CAD, ERP etc. integration)

All (design) documents, deliverables etc. driving the project are in
Vault. We need to relate / link them to project management
information.

Requirements (and issues / problems) are related to design
documents too!

In a project, each team member must be able to “deliver” results
“to the project”
© 2011 Autodesk
What else?

Processes (product development + project management) need to
interact

The project plan (and all related data and information) is part of the
product development process!

And vice versa, each (design) document / data can be part of the project
management plan itself, for example
© 2011 Autodesk
This brings us to our tools …
Vault Pro




(Project) Document Management
Product Lifecycle Management
Integration
Collaboration
ProjectBase




Requirement Management
Project Planning and Controlling
Issue Management
Vault Integration
© 2011 Autodesk
Projects in Vault Professional
Vault projects allow you to organize and manage all project related data in one
seamless interface.





Project Folders
Categories
Properties
Links
Project Dashboard (Report)
© 2011 Autodesk
Project Base
Project Base adds all project management capabilities to Vault Professional.

Requirement Management
 Project Planning and Controlling
 Issue Management
 Vault Integration
© 2011 Autodesk
Part 3
Realize It !
Using Autodesk® Vault Professional and ProjectBase in projects
© 2011 Autodesk
Demo Sample
In a simple demo sample we want to display, how concepts mentioned before
can be used in Autodesk® Vault Professional and Project Base
In this sample we will





document an issue to an existing product
create a requirement
setup a resolution project from a template
resolve the issue within the project
deliver results to project milestones
© 2011 Autodesk
… the whole story
The company “Great Fork Lifter, Inc. ” is working on their new 2012 model.
During Development the engineer Wally recognized a problem…
Yeah, that’s true. I found
it, when I placed my
mug on the fork …
imagine what? The
whole thing canted over!
MDA
… this was reproducible
with a MDA*) of more
than 30o !!!
*) MDA = Mug Disaster Angle
© 2011 Autodesk
Wally to create an issue object
© 2011 Autodesk
... Launch the project
The issue was reported to Big Boss (GFL CEO) and it was decided to launch a
resolution project …
Yes, this is correct.
We at GFL Inc. take such
problems as very serious !!!
Thanks to Autodesk® and their
great products we are able to
resolve such issues very quick !
And with ProjectBase it all
becomes even much easier !!!
© 2011 Autodesk
Boss to create a project from template
© 2011 Autodesk
… analyzing the problem
During the feasibility analysis the engineers found that the problem can be fixed.
Let us install a another mug on
the other side!
It just has to be bigger
MDA front <
MDA rear
Not exactly what I have in mind,
but the idea is not bad ...
I will suggest to go to next project
phase …
© 2011 Autodesk
Wally to create the requirement and add requirement and
issue to project
© 2011 Autodesk
… analyzing the problem (cont’d)
After Wally reports to his boss that they think the problem is feasible, the Boss
decided to promote the Go/NoGo milestone in order to enter the next project
phase …
Hey Boss, I think this is feasible … let us
install a another mug on the other side!
It just has to be bigger
OK, I will promote next milestone …
.. and Hey, great job!
© 2011 Autodesk
… entering the concept phase
The responsible engineer found a new task in his to-do-list. Using Vault
Professional and Project Base he is able to access all data needed to design a
solution …
Jup, that was not too hard. I just designed
a counter-mug-weight. We now can install
it as separate device on our product…
I will add necessary information. Then the
production team can do the rest …
© 2011 Autodesk
… finally
The responsible engineer found a new task in his to-do-list. Using Vault
Professional and Project Base he is able to access all data needed to design a
solution …
It was me, who could close the project.
Their design works great!!!
I am happy to report our success to the
management.
© 2011 Autodesk
Conclusion…
Track!


We have learned about a simple but effective project
management approach which (hopefully) will help you
to manage your projects easier.
Why ?
Who?
What?
How?
We have seen how we can manage projects in a
product development environment using the right tools
like Autodesk® Vault Professional and nexxtsoft®
ProjectBase
© 2011 Autodesk
Thank You for Your Attention !!!
© 2011 Autodesk
Autodesk, AutoCAD* [*if/when mentioned in the pertinent material, followed by an alphabetical list of all other trademarks mentioned in the material] are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and
services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2011 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2011 Autodesk