Agility implies a systematic vision of the outcome - an intelligent or ingenium that makes it possible to connect seperate entities and their outcomes in a rapid and suitable manner

1. PS 20 ‒ WBS Compliance Challenges
for Agile ERP Projects
Robin Pulverenti
Glen B. Alleman
ClearPlan Consulting LLC
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2. Agile and ERP†
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† “Agile Project Management Methods for ERP: How to Apply Agile Processes to Complex COTS Projects and Live to Tell about It,” Extreme
Programming and Agile Methods: XP/Agile Universe, 2002, pp. 70-88, Springer Verlag, LNCS 2418
Agility implies a systematic vision of the
outcome ‒ an intelligent action or ingenium
that makes it possible to connect separate
entities and their outcomes in a rapid and
suitable manner
‒ Vico, Giambattisa, (1668–1744) “Method of
the Studies of Our Times,” Naples, Italy, 1708.

3. Successful ERP projects produce
Outcomes not Output
• The PBS is a hierarchical structure where the main
Outcome of the project is placed at the top level.
• The next level down shows the components that make up the
higher level.
• This process continues to the level of individual products.
• Each product will have defined acceptance criteria and quality
control methods.
• A WBS takes a similar approach but shows the work
required to create the products.
• The lowest level of a WBS shows the activities that would be
used to create a network diagram for time scheduling.
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For an ERP Project The WBS Doesn't
Breakdown Work, It Breaks Down Product
Deliverables

4. Three Basic ERP Projects
Comprehensive
• Multi–national company
• Multiple sites
• Full functionality of ERP,
the 12 main modules of
SAP R/3 for example
• An independently
evolved business process
• Scope and level of the
business process
reengineering is high
• Long deployment process
based on module–by–
module or full system
implementation.
• $10M expected
investment.
Middle of the Road
• Multiple sites
• Implementation of only
core ERP modules,
financials, Asset
Management, and
Project systems in R/3
• BPR level is significant,
but not as extensive as
the comprehensive
process
• $3M expected
investment.
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Vanilla
• One site
• Small number of users
(< 100)
• Core functionality only
• Alignment of the
company processes
with the ERP process.
• $1M–$2M expected
investment.

5. A Sample ERP System
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The moving parts of Comprehensive ERP system for a large manufacturing firm
Order Processing

6. The Order Processing Elements of
the Larger ERP System
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7. ERP resembles New Business Venture
rather than IT Development
• The risk profile if fraught with technological,
organizational, and business complexities
• Managing ERP should follow a Venture Capitalist
playbook …
• Investments are staged in an IMP and Product Roadmap
• Capital is conserved ‒ Build to TPMs as planned
• Cash flows assured before more investment task place ‒
Use Release and Sprint planning to Assure work
generates value to customer as planned
• All participants on the venture share the risk ‒ customer
is an engaged Product Owner
• Team composition is a critical success factor ‒ Scrum
Teams are dedicated and self-organizing (no specialist)
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8. ERP Projects are Business
Transformation Initiatives
• Process Reengineering is about replacing historically
evolved processes with more effective and efficient
processes
• Package Approaches have the best advantage, including the
imposition of discipline on processes and software changes
• Modularizing the fundamental business processes has a
significant beneficial impact on the architecure of the
organization
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9. Breakdown Structures†
• WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)
• OBS (Organizational Breakdown Structure)
• CBS (Cost Breakdown Structure)
• RBS (Resource Breakdown Structures)
• PBS (Product Breakdown Structure)
• FBS (Feature Breakdown Structure)
• BoM (Bill of Materials)
• RBS (Risk Breakdown Structure)
• CBS (Contract Breakdown Structure)
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† “Breakdown Structures Revisited,” Pat Weaver, Mosaic

10. Where in the WBS Do We Capture
All These Outcomes?
• If the WBS is a product-oriented family tree
composed of hardware, software, services, data,
and facilities?
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ERP
Implementation
Project
Preparation
Project Scope
Project Team
Blue Print
Stakeholders
System
Architecture
Technical
Infrastructure
Development
Environment
QA Environment
Training
Environment
Production
Environment
Business Blueprint
Configuration and
development
Configurator
solution
Code for Identified
gaps
Configuration and
Development
• The elements of the WBS
aren’t traditional components
of a machine or a product.
• Rather they are standard
activities to produce an
increasing understanding of
what capabilities the system
must provide to meet the
business goals “A Work Breakdown Structure for Implementing and Costing an ERP
Projects, Communications of the IBIMA, Volume 6

11. We’re Paying for Features Not Paying for
Work ‒ Feature Breakdown Structure
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Be the eBanking
Provider of
Choice for small
business
customers
Increase
retention on
eBanking
Website
Add a Customer
Center for Self
Service for
Common Needs
As a Customer
access Historical
Statement
As a Customer
Stop Payment on
Check
As a Customer
Find a Branch
Location
As a Customer
find a branch
that offers
services in
foreign
languages
As a Customer
find a branch
that is close to a
specific address
As a Customer
find a branch
that offers
services for small
business
customers
Goal
Epic
Capabilities
Feature Feature
Story Story

12. How Can the WBS and Agile be Made Into a
Match Made in Heaven?
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+

13. MIL-STD-881-C says …
• The primary challenge is to develop a WBS that
defines the logical relationship between all
program elements without constraining work
necessary to achieve program objectives and meets
all program reporting requirements.
• A WBS should be sufficient to provide necessary
program insights for effective status reporting and
risk mitigation, facilitating the contractor’s ability to
effectively execute the program.
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14. MIL-STD-881 App K
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This is the section of the WBS where any
“gaps” in the COTS would be addressed
through CSCI’s (Computer Software
Configuration Items) .. presumably 80% of
the effort on an ERP/MAIS implementation.
Few ERP’s will exist in a vacuum. They will
either interface with other internal
databases/systems (external to the ERP) or to
external entities (external to the
Agency/Company).

15. MIL-STD-881 App K 3.2.3)
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Given this part of the instruction, doesn’t it make more sense to create a
Capability/Feature Breakdown Structure which included the Detailed
Requirements & Design, the Configuration, Code Development, Business
Process Re-engineering, and Interfaces into one high-level WBS element?
This part of the instruction is especially confusing since it references Radar system development, yet it is in the AIS appendix.

16. Agile Product Breakdown Structure
Mapping to EVM Control Accounts (WBS)
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2017 NDIA IPMD – An Industry Practice Guide for Agile on Earned Value Management Programs

17. The WBS …
• A product-oriented family tree composed of hardware, software, services, data, and
facilities. The family tree results from systems engineering efforts during the
acquisition of a defense materiel item.
• Displays and defines the product, or products, to be developed and/or produced. It
relates the elements of work to be accomplished to each other and to the end
product. In other words, the WBS is an organized method to breakdown a product
into sub-products at lower levels of detail.
• Can be expressed to any level of detail.
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18. For ERP Projects, Waterfall is
Based on Flawed Assumptions
• It is not humanly possible to execute a planning process so
that implementation is merely a matter of performing the
defined tasks.
• Plans for complex systems rarely turn out to be good enough .
• Unanticipated problems are the norm rather than the exception.
• It is not possible to protect against late changes.
• All businesses face late changing competitive environments.
• Windows of business opportunity open and close at the whim of
the markets not the project manager.
• Business usually commit to a plan. By making this
commitment, they lose much of their ability to take
advantage of fortuitous developments in the business
environment.
• In a financial setting this is the option value of the decision.
• Deferring decisions to take advantage of new information and new
opportunities is rarely taken into account on IT projects. It is vital to
the success of an ERP project.
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19. Where Do We Go From Here?
• What are the products on an Agile Program?
• How are these products related to each other?
• How can Agile be integrated into a 5000.02 and FAR
program?
• Introduce the notion of a Feature Breakdown
Structure in an Agile paradigm
• Example for an ERP system
• WBS
• Agile Product Roadmap, Release Plan, and Product
Feature Breakdown Structure (FBS)
• Connect these is some simple matrix structure
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20. Questions?
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