AFOTEC: Milestones

This article was originally published in the Winter 2000 issue of Milestones - a publication of the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center. It appears on the AGI Website with the permission of AFOTEC.

CCPM: AFOTEC program management approach puts right person in right place at right time

by Technical Sergeant Katherine C. Gandara

Declining resources and an increasing workload is forcing the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center to implement a strategy to ensure the right person is in the right place at the right time.

That is the goal of AFOTEC's critical chain program management. The approach provides program management tools that don't overburden test managers, fit into the existing AFOTEC culture, and provides methods to ensure test teams get the resources they need when they need them.

Why consider program management now? According to AFOTEC Vice Commander Colonel Charles Griffin, there are several reasons for CCPM. "We're looking at a huge budget disconnect in fiscal year 2001 and beyond. What we face are big gaps between projected funding and total requirements for some of the operational test and evaluation programs. CCPM will assist AFOTEC in closing these gaps so we can execute the required OT&E."

"AFOTEC performs OT&E on the world's most sophisticated weapon systems. We are the best at what we do; however, we need a way to adapt to the competing challenges facing us today and in the foreseeable future," said Lieutenant Colonel Michael Holmes, CCPM Implementation Team member, Detachment 4, Colorado Springs, Colo. "AFOTEC must balance the need to continue to provide meaningful operational test information to the warfighters and our national leadership in an environment of reducing budgets and manpower."

Along with future budget constraints are possible manpower reductions of over 100 authorizations in FY's '01 through '05.

"AFOTEC is under considerable pressure from Headquarters Air Force to justify our manpower requirements and we have no system in place to reliably convince them we need what we have," said Captain Jay Munson, with AFOTEC's Planning, Programming and Policy directorate. "CCPM allows us to link people to work by capturing test manager requirements and using them as a solid basis from which to communicate program impact to the people who want to take our manpower."

Another reason for considering a program management approach is the concern that there is less robustness in our tests than required to provide reliable information to warfighters and acquisition decision-makers. It looks at how AFOTEC can consistently achieve the desired level of confidence in test efforts.

Along with that, CCPM allows AFOTEC to meet the increasing expectations from the acquisition and operational communities by increasing confidence in test results and numbers of programs.

"The most important thing we need CCPM to do is to provide AFOTEC activities with a standardized program management culture. This includes a means for the effective and efficient use of resources to deliver operationally relevant information with the appropriate level of scientific validity to developers and warfighters," explained Griffin.

The expected benefits from CCPM are insight and maneuverability. "By quantifying resources and work interdependently we can add another dimension to resource optimization for AFOTEC," said Griffin.

Other expected benefits include clearer lines of communication between AFOTEC and Air Staff as well as between detachments and headquarters. CCPM can also increase accuracy and confidence of resource forecasting because it ties work and resources together under one system.

"I see CCPM as being very useful to our detachment's division leaders and test managers," said Lieutenant Colonel Duke Porritt, CCPM Implementation Team member from Detachment 2, Eglin AFB, Fla.

"Sometimes they feel that they are spending a lot of time responding to headquarters taskers and have difficulty justifying their test's scope and cost in understandable terms. AFOTEC's CCPM program allows our test managers to spend more of their time focusing on providing a quality test for AFOTEC and our users by standardizing program planning and giving detachments and the headquarters insight into the test programs."

AFOTEC isn't alone in using Critical Chain Program Management. Other Air Force organizations are using it as well.

The Edwards AFB, Calif., Flight Test Center was the first test agency to adopt these methodologies by using it on the C-17 program at the insistence of the System Program Office. The project was so successful they implemented it on their F-15 Suite 4 program, and are planning to include more of their programs in the near future.

The Navy has recognized the benefit of CCPM and is implementing it at its depots. The Israeli Air Force and Israeli aircraft industries have also successfully adopted the system.

In the commercial sector, there are several big name organizations who have adopted Critical Chain in certain aspects of their business: Boeing, Lucent Technologies, Ford, Intel, General Motors, Elbit Systems, 3M, Reflectone, and Harris Semiconductor, to name a few.

Despite its widespread use, CCPM is not a canned solution that will be forced onto AFOTEC. "The implementation team, formed with people from the detachments and headquarters, has spent a lot of time and energy tailoring CCPM to AFOTEC's specific needs and culture," said Munson.

According to Munson, "Colonel Griffin insisted on an 'operational test' of the approach on five test programs as an additional safety net prior to a major rollout to ensure the best fit for AFOTEC."

"Through CCPM, the Global Broadcasting Service Test Team is blazing the trail for other test teams to follow. We are documenting, step-by-step, every task that must be accomplished to conduct OT&E," said Major Doug Thayer, GBS test manager. "CCPM gives the test manager a tool to manage resources and anticipate the next tasks that need to be done in the program. It also provides some continuity to the program and it will be a great way to get new people who come to the team up to speed."

"The biggest benefit from using CCPM is it allows test managers to concentrate their time and efforts on their test programs and not spend all their time worrying about administrivia," said Griffin. "It allows us to get heroic results without day-to-day heroic actions."

Copyright © 2000 AFOTEC

A representative of AFOTEC presented the organization's story at TOC World^® 2000. That presentation is available on video.