Perkins Safety and Claims Department

TECH 50800 ProjectBank Card Procurement ProcessAnalyze PhaseDate: 11/19/2014Dave Shoffner

Brief Review of Project Charter(Problem and Goal Statement)Problem: The issue or problem is the amount of time required for the purchase of an item via the BC process. The time between identification of a need and the purchase of the item or service and the time spent on preparation of the purchase constitute the issue. The function of BC procurements is done by a person known as a BC Holder. This duty is collateral or secondary from their primary assignment.

The impacts or pain of the issue are:1) Consumes time from the stakeholders: Requestors, BC Holders and Approving Officials/Reviewers2) Lowers morale because the process is time consuming and perceived as arduous3) Lowers productivity because research is slowed or stopped when waiting for needed items and time is spent on a collateral duty, not primary duties.

Goal: Reduce the amount of time from identification of need to purchase and time spent on preparation for items being acquired using the BC process so staff will have more time to work on primary duties and research activities will be delayed less. The time reduction goal is one day fewer from the identification to purchase interval and 5 minutes from the preparation of the purchase. The project is estimated to take 11 weeks.

Brief Review of Project Charter(Project Scope)The process being reviewed begins when a researcher identifies a need for an item and ends when the BC holder has a completed PR and may place the order. Within the scope of this process are the steps of definitizing the item to be purchased, finding an appropriate vendor, assignment of funding, obtainment of review approvals, and final approval. Receipt of the item, record of verification, and cost allocation are not within the process being reviewed. There are no funds available to the project and the mandated computer systems will be utilized.

Brief Review of Project Charter(Stakeholder List)Principle StakeholdersChampionRequestorPerson with need for item to be purchasedBC HolderPerson who makes the purchaseApproving OfficialApproves the purchaseBC Program Analyst Manages the BC Program & HoldersBudgetCommits Funding for purchaseSecondary StakeholdersIT DepartmentHealth & SafetyPropertyHR (training)

Updated CTQ Tree(s)CTQPOVPIVItem InfoRequestUrgencyThorough DescriptionGreen, mandatory, SAM, 508Market ResearchSourcePriceItem InfoTimelinessApprovalsApprovers Availability (incl. AO)System/TechnologySystem/TechnologyPR GenerationItem InfoPRCFundingSystem/TechFunding codes$ - available for use (commitment)

Updated CTQ Tree(s)CTQPOVPIVGreen, mandatory, SAM, 508Market ResearchSourceBest Value/CostPriceTime for ResearchItem InfoRequestUrgencyThorough Description

Updated CTQ Tree(s)CTQPOVPIVRequester PreferenceRequestBC Holder PreferenceSystem/TechOne ProcessRequester PreferencePR GenerationBC Holder PreferenceSystem/Tech

Data Collection (Pilot of 32 purchases)Process Obeservation WorksheetStep -->12,34,5678910NumberDate Need IdentifiedTime for Market Research (min)Date (if different than previous)Time to Generate Request (min)Review Time by DD or BCDate (if different than previous)BC Holder Review Time (min)Purchase Code# approvals req'dDate Pre-Approvals CompleteApproving Official Review Time (min)Date (if different than previous)FCO Funding Time (min)Date PR CompleteTotal Time Spent on Processing (min)Elapsed Time (day)Notes (comments, issues, good points, barriers)111/3/2014210102525111/3/201421011/6/2014343211/3/201426102617111/3/201421011/6/2014303311/3/2014308102224111/3/201421011/6/2014603410/17/2014251022629110/17/201421010/23/2014496510/17/20149015152615110/17/201421010/23/20141326610/17/20142210102525110/17/201421010/23/2014546710/6/20145882565110/6/201421010/7/2014331810/1/201401022629110/1/201421010/1/201424099/24/20140102258319/24/20142109/26/2014242109/23/201401545262919/23/20142109/24/2014721regular chain of approvals not available for very urgent PR; walked PR through119/22/201401045262919/22/20142109/22/2014670regular chain of approvals not available for very urgent PR; walked PR through129/18/201420102262919/18/20142109/22/2014444139/4/201415102262919/4/20142109/4/2014390149/4/2014301010258819/4/20142109/4/2014620communication w/this company to get a quote was difficult. 158/21/201415102256118/21/201428/28/2014109/2/20143912110/30/201315502615121011/6/2013327Plastic bins orderd through GSA211/12/20135502615021011/15/2013223Printed material312/19/20135502615121012/20/2013221412/20/20133012/23/20131502629021012/23/2013573Conducted extensive market research because preferred vendor could not deliver52/12/20141050241102103/5/20142721PR to cover cost of color graphic in journal62/27/2014150235002102/27/2014180Rental from sole source vendor73/5/20143050314722103/12/2014477Computer monitor requred more market research to meet researcher specs.83/6/2014550254102103/12/201422693/12/2014550256112103/18/2014226Required SF182 which must be completed before FCO can fund it. SF182 approved prior to 3/12/14103/26/2014150234702103/28/2014182114/3/20141550261502104/10/2014327GSA purchase124/10/201410502588024/15/2014104/17/2014277AO approval date not the same as need date137/22/2014307/24/201450261502107/24/2014472extensive market research by requestor prior to submitted to PC holder147/24/201411002588027/25/2014107/31/2014237multiple lines took longer to create PR158/8/20142070261702108/12/20143941610/3/201410502561021010/9/2014276Required SF182 which was approved prior to submission1710/3/2014101002411021010/9/2014326

Data Collection (Pilot of 32 purchases)Summary Statistics for Elapsed Time3Mean4.483870968Standard Error0.763228806Median4Mode6Standard Deviation4.249478146Sample Variance18.05806452Kurtosis6.719675561Skewness2.041741906Range21Minimum0Maximum21Sum139Count31Summary Statistics for Total Processing Time34Mean40.09677419Standard Error4.108306518Median32Mode22Standard Deviation22.87408262Sample Variance523.2236559Kurtosis7.779864274Skewness2.343562461Range114Minimum18Maximum132Sum1243Count31

Graphs: Resource Code / Elapsed Days

Graphs:Resource Code / Time Spent Processing

Analyze Step (Fishbone Diagram)

ConclusionsPilot has shown we need to collect more information about the time required by individual approvers. Adjustments to Process Obs Worksheet needed.Fishbone Diagram is leading us to think data is needed about workload of the BC Holder and Budget Staff at the time requests are received.Currently not able to be good detectives and determine with evidence what inputs are affecting the outputs.With end of year, many on team are using use or lose vacation and meeting times are difficult to schedule with team members.Other issues: Continuing Resolution from Congress; BC Holders using vacation.

Next StepsAdjust process observation worksheet to include:Individual approver time recordingRequest workload of BC Holder / Budget StaffContinue to explore different slices of the data to find key variablesLaunch full data gathering effort