Clear and frequent communication is critical for your project management being effective. Your stakeholders and in particular your boss(es) want to know. It is the basis for a successful implementation with fast results.
It all starts with the project charter, in which the objective is clearly scoped including being explicit on what is not in scope. While working through the DMAIC-phases status reports are required to ensure alignment; their frequency may vary depending on theme and duration of the project. The finish line is marked with an 8D-report either in the industry standard form for quality management or slightly modified for classical projects.
Reporting directly from our tool-box-application has three distinct advantages:
- Effort is being reduced by short and succinct documents using a standard layout.
- Progress and data are being systematically documented and can be used directly for customer, quality, or internal audits.
- A knowledge pool is automatically created for the company and can be accessed and used as a baseline whenever a new issue is to be addressed.
Projekt Charter
- Starting point of a project scoping the theme. This focuses the team and manages expectations to all constituencies.
- Details are being captured in four segments: objective, content, in scope, and out of scope
Status Report
- Continued updates on the project to ensure alignment and support for execution. This avoids surprises, ensures timely provision of required support, and pulls in management.
- The frequency depends on duration of the project and content. A quality issue worked over two weeks may require daily updates, while implementing a new production layout may well be served with monthly reports.
- A status on timeline, budget, resources, results and risks is provided on top of the report for a quick overview.
- Four detailed segments provide specific information on 1) actions taken in the reporting period, 2) results so far and expected, 3) next steps inkl. who/when/what, and 4) support needs and risk.
- Standardizing the layout and categories eases the work of preparing and consuming the report, but our tool offers enough flexibility to align the content to project theme and company.
Final Report (8D)
- Objective of the final report is to provide a succinct overview on the completed project and its results. Obviously, this can be done in various ways.
- We suggest using the 8D-reporting, in its classic format for quality mgmt. and with small adaptations for all other projects.
- Complimentary information can be added in form of files as to all our report types, e.g. presentations, certificates, or statistical data bases, ensuring a robust documentation and knowledge base.
8D-Report Quality Mgmt
This is the standard documentation for inter-company exchanges, e.g. on a technical quality issue with your customer. It describes the root causes and corrective actions, additional risk analysis, and if required, immediate actions taken to stop the issue from occurring until a permanent fix has been implemented.
- D1 Description of the issue
- D2 Set up of the team
- D3 Immediate safeguarding actions
- D4 Root causes identified
- D5 Action plan
- D6 Implementation of actions
- D7 Prevention of mistakes
- D8 Assessment of team performance
8D-Report Project Mgmt
For all other project types we modified the areas D3 to D6 slightly to adequately capture achievements, improvement actions and insights.
- D1 Description of the issue
- D2 Set up of the team
- D3 Implemented measures
- D4 Achievements
- D5 Other actions (Control)
- D6 Future projects
- D7 Insights and learnings
- D8 Assessment of team performance
Those reporting tools are included as part of our software tool box. This application is (private-) cloud-based and immediately deployable across your enterprise. If required it can easily be individualized and enhanced.
Interested? Our offer can be found HERE.