|
|
|
Project planning, implementation and management
|
Managing conversion control centers
- Conversion Risk Reduction
Extensive qualification of suitable data conversion vendors was carried out. The capability and
experience of each vendor was assessed thoroughly before tenders were issued and contracts placed.
To establish consistency in the data conversion, conversion specifications were developed that included
a detailed source record analysis and correlation to a new data model. The data conversion support
activities were also identified and quantified as follows:
-
collection of source documents from the 55 drawing offices around the UK;
- identification of local recording practices for each drawing office, addressed as specific
addenda to the core conversion specification;
- analysis and resolution of problems arising during the conversion process;
- checking of converted digital data to an acceptable quality level.
While it seemed to be universally accepted that these activities should be carried out internally, there
were several drivers that led BT to contract the EPR Conversion Control Centre (CCC), the conversion
support activities, and the management of the seven data conversion vendors to an external
organisation. The factors that led to this decision were as follows:
-
corporate downsizing made it important to retain internal expertise, gained during the
implementation, throughout the continued operation of the EPR system;
- BT EPR project staff would potentially lose their current career-path positions, and would
have been unhappy at being tasked with shorter-term roles in data conversion;
- BT staff were not experienced in data conversion, therefore project management and
production management skills were not readily available;
- BT team members were to focus on the EPR application software and specifications, while
the shorter-term conversion tasks were to be contracted externally.
The EPR project also has major features which necessitated a uniquely tailored solution for BT:
-
complex conversion process with variation in pradlces between 55 drawing offices;
- need for a high level of accuracy and completeness of work in data conversion;
- wide variety of interested parties both from within BT and from external contractors, all of
whom were to be involved in key aspects of the conversion process;
- world-wide geographical spread of those involved in related aspects of the conversion work;
- large volume of original source records and data to be processed;
- demanding project constraints (project finance, schedule and quality).
The decision to outsource the conversion management and conversion support activities has proven to
be a significant factor in the successful progress made on the EPR project to date.
Management and technical challenges at the control center
Taking into account the project objectives, the necessaty technical processes and component activities
of the conversion control centre were defined:
-
document management mocesses associated with collection, control and dissemination of
paper based records in electronic format.
- conversion suDDort and helDdesk activities required to support data conversion vendors,
specifically in conversion specification management and query response.
- data acceptance Processes required to ensure converted data meets BT’s requirements for
accuracy and completeness, including sample data testing and acceptance statistics.
- proiect control txocesses implemented for monitoring progress and planning ahead to
mitigate the impact of change on project costs and schedule.
- qauality management processes required to ensure a pragmatic approach, including quality
assurance, quality control and a philosophy of continuous improvement.
Each of these activities are fundamentally linked in the conversion process. In order to manage the
complexity and interfaces between the above processes, a management philosophy has been adopted at
the control centre to treat the overall conversion process as a production line, with converted data being
the finished ‘product’.
The key objectives for the overall conversion process or ‘production line’ are a controlled level of data
throughput, acceptable quality levels of converted data and the control of project costs to BT. It was
recognised that project priorities could change over time, and that technical innovation would be required
to manage this change throughout the life of the data conversion. This has been achieved throuah a hiah
level of {ethnical and management skill, allied to an appropriate use of technology and automation.
|
|
|
|
