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Mantra for Process Excellence
Beebejan VALIYAKATH MANAGER- SEPG IBM

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Start It Right - A Focused Approach on Project Launch
Theme Mantra for Process Excellence Keywords Actuate, Delivery Excellence, Project Manager Abstract This is the success story of ACTUATE- the Project Launch initiative started in IBM India Global Business Services delivery center in 2010 and now being institutionalized across other Delivery Centers world wide.
Actuate started with the concept that “A good start is half the job done”. Through this program, the Project mangers starting new projects can leverage on a facilitated process to assure themselves that the project has been started right. Actuate ensures that there is a good understanding of the project goals/ objectives and contractual commitments. It also focuses on early risk identification, stakeholder identification and governance setup, establishing the Project Management System including process, methods and tools and team orientation. The result is an effective and well-coordinated project startup. Project Managers are able to devote time in understanding the client and the project commitments, without losing sight of startup activities.
Actuate is done in a 45 days time frame so that start up activities are completed before the project manager gets busy with delivery activities. The activities within this phase are aligned to 10 key focus areas and status of these keys is tracked on a regular basis with all key stakeholders. IBM India has been able to execute this program on an average of approximately 200 projects every year. Some of the quantitative benefits observed due to this program are in terms of reduction in surprises to management to almost zero, improved risk assessment rating, and faster completion of start up phase.

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Table of Contents
1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4
2 Trigger to this change ................................................................................................................. 4
3 Actuate Program.......................................................................................................................... 4
3.1 Project Scope ....................................................................................................................... 6
3.2 PM Match .............................................................................................................................. 7
3.3 Risk Assessment .................................................................................................................. 7
3.4 Unit of Management ............................................................................................................. 7
3.5 Governance .......................................................................................................................... 7
3.6 Process ................................................................................................................................. 8
3.7 Tools ..................................................................................................................................... 8
3.8 Measurements & Metrics ...................................................................................................... 9
3.9 Integrated Review Calendar ................................................................................................. 9
3.10 Project Team Orientation ...................................................................................................... 9
4 Critical Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators .................................................. 10
5 Benefits achieved ...................................................................................................................... 10
6 Lessons Learnt and Corrective Actions ................................................................................. 12
7 Way Forward .............................................................................................................................. 13
8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 13
9 References ................................................................................................................................. 14

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1 Introduction
This paper provides an overview of Actuate process, its implementation in IBM and the results achieved due to its deployment.
2 Trigger to this change
Delivery Excellence Team conducts root cause analysis every year to analyze the reasons for project delivery issues and plan for corrective and preventive actions. The RCA conducted in the beginning of 2010 revealed that around 30% of the issues identified in troubled projects are due to project start up challenges. Factors leading to this are-
1. Project managers (PMs) do not get a complete understanding of the contractual requirements; hence they go with certain assumptions which may turn into risks later
2. Due to lack of support, Project manager ends up doing all start up activities and miss out on key start up activities like strong risk planning and assessment
3. PMs assign lower priority to project management set up and process set up due to delivery and start up pressure. This leads to delay in process set up and eventually result in quality issues during the project delivery time frame
These root causes triggered the need to strengthen the project start phase. Actuate program was initiated in late 2010 with the objective of providing stronger support to PMs in performing project start / launch activities.
3 Actuate Program
A good project startup ensures every nuance of the commitment to client is well understood and prepared for. This is one of the key mottos of Actuate. Actuate is the term used by Global Business Services, Global Delivery India centre for Project Launch program.
Project Actuate is a process
 that establishes necessary support, relationships, agreements, and procedures to successfully manage the execution of the contract
 that provides an understanding of the project’s goals/objectives, the risks, and any delivery constraints learned during the sales cycle
 that identifies the Project Management Work Products required to start a new project

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 that includes activities to create a collection of plans, procedures and records that direct all project team activities and provide the current state and history of the project
Objectives of Actuate are:
a. Prevent troubled projects
 Understand the current root causes for troubled projects in solution delivery
 Apply lessons learned from other projects through the quick start agenda, based on the specific needs of the project
b. Implement an appropriate Project Management System
 Project Managers may not have enough time at project start-up to establish a strong Project Management System
 Project Managers may not have the experience, knowledge, or skills to set-up a full set of management systems and best practices
 Actuate Manager supports Project manger in establishing Project management system
c. Comply with IBM processes
 The Project Manager may not know where to find the current processes either because the processes have undergone revisions or because the PM is new to the role/ organization
 Actuate Manager takes support from Project Quality Analyst (PQA) and technical SMEs in setting up project defined process
d. Complete the handover from Solution Design to Solution Delivery
 Confirm that the solution and project value proposition have been communicated to the delivery team
 Confirm that the solution has been properly estimated and staffed
 Close the Loop from pre-sales
Quality/ Delivery excellence team supports Actuate phase by assigning an Actuate Manager to each new project. The Actuate Manager facilitates various activities involved in this phase and supports the PM in completing project management and process set up on time. Actuate manager is disengaged from the project as soon as this phase is formally closed.
The various activities involved in Actuate phase are grouped under 10 focus areas. Figure1 gives the names of these focus areas and objectives addressed by them.

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Figure 1: Actuate Focus Areas & Objectives
3.1 Project Scope
This focus area ensures that all key stakeholders of the project have clearly understood the scope of the project. A walk through of the contract documents is done by the members who were involved in the solution and proposal phases of sales cycle. This helps the PM and other participants clarify points like-
 In scope and out of scope elements
 Roles and responsibilities
 Client expectations (implicit and explicit)
 Infrastructure and staffing requirements
 Dependencies and Assumptions
 Risks identified during sales cycle
 Service Level Agreements and Penalty
 Compliance and regulatory requirements
PM is able to verify if there are any gaps between the contract and current situation, and if yes, it gives him an opportunity to raise a change request to close these gaps.
Project Scope
PM Match
Risk Assessment
Governance
Process
Tools
Measurements & Metrics
Integrated Review Calendar
Project Team Orientation
Bring clarity to the PM on value proposition for the customer & contractual commitment
Ensure right Project Manager for the project
Identify and communicate on risks and issues for the project during start-up
Plan governance for the project with the stake holders from Customer, Geography and GDC at right level
Define right process/methods for the project
Plan the tools (Technical and Process) for the project
Define measures and metrics for the project
Publish Review Calendar for the project
Ensuring the project team inducted into the project
Focus Areas
What do we do as part of this focus item
Unit of Management
Plan the right number of sub projects

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3.2 PM Match
The objective of this focus area is to ensure that the project gets the right PM. IBM, being a leader in project management practices, has a very robust mechanism to rate the project management maturity of each PM. When a new project is initiated, the project complexity is defined based on its business value contribution, size, potential risks and other governing factors. The senior managers are responsible to ensure that the right PM is assigned to each project. Actuate manager verifies the project complexity and PM maturity and reports if the PM match is correct. If there is any gap in PM assignment, the program manager is responsible to draw an action plan to cover the risks associated with this gap.
3.3 Risk Assessment
This focus area ensures the following
a. a detailed risk assessment is conducted and all risks are shared with the stakeholders
b. risk management planning is completed
c. escalation mechanism is finalized
d. required tool support is sought and implemented for risk tracking
Project scope discussions, initial risk reports from sales cycle and project governance meetings serve as the sources for gathering risks. Presence of independent risk manager during project scope discussion is mandated to aid risk assessment activity.
3.4 Unit of Management
A Unit of Management (UOM) is an optimal collection of work components that can be independently tracked, managed and delivered as a unit. Project PQA facilitates the UOM discussion with Project manager and finalize the number of UOMs required under the project. This brings clarity in project governance, metrics submission, audit scheduling, project tracking etc. Actuate manager verifies if this activity is performed and UOMs are defined for the project.
3.5 Governance
Following activities are ensured as part of this focus area-
a. Identify the stakeholders from delivery organization and customer organization
b. Understand the stakeholders expectations from the project
c. Agree on the various meetings required, their objective, agenda and frequency
d. Define Project Tracking and Status Reporting mechanism
e. Define and document the governance model which is concurred by delivery and customer organization representatives

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Figure 2 provides the sample governance model which is referred by PMs. The finalized governance structure and governance plan is documented in the Communication plan.
Figure 2: Sample Governance Model
3.6 Process
Project management plans and project defined process are established as part of this focus area. Project manager takes the support from technical leads and subject matter experts in fulfilling this. Key activities performed are -
 Perform a deep dive to understand the project requirements and customer specific process and tools
 Tailor organizational standard delivery process to come up with project specific process
 Define work flow and work break down structure
 Identify work products to be produced for the project
 Prepare and publish project plans
3.7 Tools
This focus area ensures the following activities are performed. This focus area goes hand in hand with Process area. Many decisions taken during process tailoring
 Identify the tools used in the customer environment
 Identify if any tools have been mentioned as part of Contract

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 Perform DAR on tools selection based on a. customer requirements and constraints b. Project lifecycle and phases
 Define Process Tools and Technical Tools for the project
 Map the tools with the process, workflow and measurements
 Plan for the deployment of the tools for the project team
3.8 Measurements & Metrics
Objective of this focus area is to ensure that the project has a well defined measurement system. To achieve this, Project manager verifies the contract to understand the factors influencing Client business benefits. This helps him to define quality control activities, quality assurance checkpoints and project metrics. Where required, PM takes support from Metrics SME of Delivery Excellence team in finalizing metrics and implementing the measurement system. Metrics SME reviews the project type and suggests mandatory organization metrics and other optional metrics required for the project, the process and templates to be used to measure, track and report metrics. Actuate manager facilitates these discussions with Metrics SME.
3.9 Integrated Review Calendar
Project Quality Analyst (PQA) verifies the project type, size and project milestones to decide the reviews that are required. She takes inputs from Risk management team, and Product SME and develops the Integrated Review Calendar (IRC) for the project. IRC typically includes Project health review, Process compliance review and Product / SME reviews. Large or long duration projects are also subjected to Internal Quality Audits that are done at organizational level. PQA shares IRC to Delivery team and plans the reviews as part of the project schedule.
3.10 Project Team Orientation
Project manager prepares Project Induction Material and schedules and induction session with the team. Induction material includes following topics
 Customer Overview
 Project Objective
 Project Scope
 Project structure, Roles and Responsibilities
 Schedule and Milestones
 Process to be followed
 Tools used
 Measures & Metrics, Goals for the team

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4 Critical Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators
There are many factors that led to the success of Actuate program. Most predominant factors are-
 Senior management support for deployment
 Introduction of a focused team to support Actuate
 Constant monitoring of Actuate performance
 Process and tool support for easier deployment of this initiative
Actuate performance is monitored using following measures
 Time taken to initiate Actuate w.r.t to project start or project registration date
 Actuate age (Time taken to complete all Actuate activities)
 Time taken to complete process set up
Targets are defined at project level and organization level.
5 Benefits achieved
Following benefits were realized by all stakeholders.
As seen by Delivery team:
 Reduction in surprises in delivery phase as a result of improved risk identification during Actuate phase
 Actuate seen as a catalyst for better Client – IBM integration by all stakeholders
 Effectiveness of solution handover from Solution Manager to PM improved many folds
 Better understanding of the contractual commitments of IBM with Customer at the beginning of the project
 Responsibilities of IBM entities and customer to meet the contractual commitments discussed and agreed at the project start up phase itself
 Lesser gaps in PM assignment
As seen by Delivery Excellence team:
 Faster completion of Project Start up activities which includes process set up and establishing project management plans
 Risk assessment during Actuate helps DE team to raise early warning triggers to senior management based on health concerns and project risks
 Actuate was projected as one of the major improvement initiatives in 2013 CMMI appraisal

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How it tallies quantitatively:
Some of the quantitative benefits in 2013 are:-
 100% Coverage of Managed services projects - Actuate Completed for 328 projects in 2013
 Average age improved from 64 Days in Q1 to 48 Days by end of 2013
 % Projects with Actuate Completion within 45 days improved from 29% in Q1 to 65% by end of 2013
 % Projects with Actuate completion within 60 days improved from 65% in Q1 to 79% by end of 2013
 No. of risks that were missed in initial risk assessment and later identified / raised as issues is reduced close to zero (very negligible)
Figure 3 provides the Actuate trend in 2013. There is a steady reduction in Actuate duration observed in 2013.
Figure 3: Actuate/ Launch agility in 2013
Figure 4 gives a yearly trend of Actuate coverage and completion rate. It can be seen that the coverage has increased steadily in last 3 years. The duration taken for completing Actuate activities (also called Actuate age) have reduced every year, which assures that efficiency of Actuate program has also improved year on year.
Launch Agility0204060 Jan-13Feb-13Mar-13Apr-13May-13Jun-13Jul-13Aug-13Sep-13Oct-13 020406080100120Actuate INActuate OUTActive ProjectsAverage Age

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Yearly Actuate Trend
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
2011 2012 2013
Actuate age Project count
Figure 4: Actuate Age and Coverage Trend
6 Lessons Learnt and Corrective Actions
Like any other initiatives, Actuate program also faces many challenges during implementation.
Actuate team performs detailed analysis every year to list out the lessons learnt and challenges faced
in each of the focus areas. A detailed action plan is drawn out to address them and this is presented
to senior management to obtain their support for further improvement.
Figure 5 provides the lessons learnt and actions performed to address them.
No. Challenges faced/ Lessons learnt Corrective / Mitigation actions
1 Obtaining input documents is vital.
Delay in getting contract and other
solution documents delays Actuate
initiation
Senior management used all available forums to
emphasize the importance and benefits of Actuate
to PM community and Solutioning team
2 Non- availability of key stakeholders
(external to project) who are
responsible for providing a contract/
solution walk through delays scope
discussion, which is significant
milestone during Actuate
PMs and DE team are advised to use the support
and influence of Account management and Senior
management team to reach out to these key
stakeholders. Alternatively, Account team who are
involved in Sales / Solution cycle are also
approached to provide solution/ contract walk
through to project team
3 Actuate is not always a silver bullet.
Small and short projects find detailed
Actuate phase as an overhead due to
partial allocation of PM and delivery
Process simplification initiative was launched by
DE team so that small and short projects spend
less effort in process set up and process execution.
This initiative takes care of simplification of Actuate

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pressure
phase also.
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Project manager do not complete the plans on time, delaying overall Actuate completion. Reasons for this delay are delivery pressure, lack of process/template awareness, documentation seen as overhead etc.
Three pronged approach was taken for this-
1. Constant follow up by DE team and timely escalation to Sr. Management
2. Support to PM by providing project plan samples for various project types
3. Simplification of project plan templates to reduce documentation effort
Figure 5: Actuate Lessons Learnt
7 Way Forward
Success of Actuate in IBM India is already recognized by senior management and CMMI appraisers. This has encouraged other Delivery Centers to adopt Actuate to improve launch effectiveness. IBM Philippines Delivery Center has deployed Actuate since 2013 and found it to be very effective. Other delivery centers of IBM Global Business Services (GBS) are evaluating the feasibility of Actuate implementation in their projects and planning to pilot it in their centers from mid 2014 onwards. Actuate process is currently being improvised to include the dynamics of other delivery centers and support institutionalization across all delivery centers.
Another improvement that is planned in the coming days is the expansion of Actuate scope to cover projects that are categorized as Staff Augmentation where the Delivery Centre directly does not own the deliverables. Actuate is tailored to suit the needs of these projects and is being piloted since January, 2014. The pilot feed back that were received so far have been positive.
8 Conclusion
Actuate is a structured project launch program that ensures a good start to the project by guiding the Project Manager in setting up the Project Management System to deliver contractual deliverables. PM is supported in conducting a detailed risk assessment during Actuate phase and raise early warning triggers if there is support needed from senior management. This helps reduce surprises in projects during execution phase. Actuate program is planned and tracked using 10 focus areas. Actuate performance is measured quantitatively and analyzed on a periodic basis to support continuous improvement.
Actuate program is recognized as one of the key process improvements by senior management, CMMI appraisers and other IBM delivery centers.

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9 References
1. Actuate Procedure (IBM India internally published)
2. Actuate performance data published in IBM India DE wiki