Improved Project Milestone Report Saves Time, Enhances Ease of Tracking Changes
By Cesar Parades-Diaz, Process Improvement Intern
February 13, 2015
Tom Bovee, Region 5 Finals Administrator, Valerie Metaiguer, SAP Business Process Expert (BPX), and consultant David McGath of Catch Intelligence teamed up to develop a new tool that will make it much easier for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) engineering staff to monitor and analyze project milestones in relation to the Schedule Performance Index (SPI).
This project exceeded expectations and has helped reduce the time it takes to create a report, makes it easier to store and share files, and makes it easier to track changes.
CDOT uses SAP Business Process Expert (BPX)
The reports are generated from the SAP Project Builder Transaction Code CJ20N and are based on the milestone targets and actual dates entered by the project staff. This is essential for anyone creating a report because creating this report manually requires hours of work. For example, a report out of Region 5 was generated for RE Org Codes 5111, 5112, and 5140; the report manually requires eight hours to complete; while the new software tool produces the report in seconds. The amount of time that this software saves is incredible and will help improve the way Engineering Staff reviews and manages their projects.
In addition to this, the reports can be exported as a PDF, Excel or CSV file, which makes it much easier to share information. These reports can be generated to provide information from the Resident Engineer to the RTD level and the information is color-coded to facilitate analysis. The Report also provides planned milestone date attainment and milestone dates within 30 days of the report date. What’s really impressive is that all data is “real time” and is extracted from the SAP Project Builder Transaction Code (T-Code: CJ20N) where all Engineering Project planned and actual milestones are entered. Also, the milestone report is fully electronic and produces fully searchable PDF files, therefore eliminating the waste of having paper copies unless it is required by the user.
Bovee noted, "The new Milestone Reporting tool was conceived out of a need to measure design progress through the use of design milestones which directly impact construction cash flow requirements at CDOT. The new tool makes design progress available at the touch of a button across regional boundaries for anyone with access to SAP."
It is important to track and monitor project design milestones because design efforts account for approximately 20% of project costs with the other 80% accounted for through the construction effort. Project design milestones focus on key points during design which influences the Advertisement date which in turn directly influences the start date of construction and the beginning of the expenditure of the remaining 80% of project costs. Having a high probability of knowing when this 80% will be spent will provide information across the state for the Office of Cash Management to use in support of managing CDOT's cash on hand to finance project delivery throughout the State.
Milestone Data
The efforts were given by Bovee, Metaiguer, and McGath on this project allowed for the development of a new tool that improves the way CDOT manages a project and program delivery. This new tool will be added to the existing toolbox with more tools to come in the future. By providing new and useful ways to help CDOT deliver projects and programs throughout the state, CDOT is well on its way to “CDOT’s New Way of Doing Business”! Congratulations, Tom Bovee, Valerie Metaiguer and David McGath for this achievement.