Case Study Conversion Proj Mgnt Toolkit

International Journal of Electronic Business Management, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 270-277 (2005) 270

A CASE STUDY IN CARGO CONVERSION FLOWS USING A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

TOOL

Pei-Shun Ho1*, Jiang-Liang Hou2, Wei-Cheng Hsiao2, Chi-Hung Lee3, Jen-Chih Liou4 and Ching-Yi Tseng4

1Avectec.com, Inc. National Tsing Hua University Inccubation Center

2Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management National Tsing Hua University

Hsinchu (300), Taiwan 3Center for Aerospace and Systems Technology

Industrial Technology Research Institute Hsinchu (310), Taiwan

4Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp. Taoyuan Hsien (337), Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Owing to the complicated cargo conversion processes, it is hard for project managers to design and manage the conversion projects. The most critical characteristics of cargo conversion process management are as follows: A conversion process consists of hundreds of tasks and execution of these tasks is

controlled via job cards and regulations. If any procedure violates the regulations, inestimable cost will be induced.

A platform is required to seamlessly link the project management and execution tasks for more efficient operation and schedule control.

Expected or unexpected process exceptions occur frequently. Cost analysis and pre-defined rescue process of each task are needed.

There is no centralized knowledge management platform to share document. Therefore, an integration platform is required to coordinate the engineers (e.g., job card creation and management, steady-state process control and dynamic process control) and deal with unexpected emergency. This paper utilizes a project management platform (namely DesignJet) to support cargo conversion project management. DesignJet can be applied specifically for dynamic conversion process management. Many entities in a conversion project such as designers, design documents and drawing, engineers, project managers, costs and processes can be managed over the DesignJet platform. The key contribution of this research is to demonstrate a PM solutions for project managers and engineers in the aviation industry to effectively manage the cargo conversion projects. Keyword: Project Management, Collaborative Engineering, Workflow System, Knowledge Management

1. INTRODUCTION

* The booming air cargo transportation market is

driving a huge demand for air cargo carriers in the next two decades. Currently, the annual growth rate of the global air cargo transportation volume is predicted at 6.2%. In the next 20 years, the number of global air cargo carriers will increase from the current

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

1,766 to 3,456. Taking the replacement of old air cargo aircraft into account, the demand for new cargo carriers is about 2,950. Over 75% of the demanded carriers will be converted from the current passenger carriers [1,4].

In this paper, we present a project management platform to support cargo conversion processes. This system is called DesignJet [8,9]. The system is dedicated in managing the models and tools used in IC design processes. In this research, DesignJet is revised to manage materials, drawings, activities, and

P. S. Ho et al.: A Case Study in Cargo Conversion Flows Using a Collaborative Project Management Tool 271

resources of aviation projects and therefore provides more comprehensive support than commercial project management (PM) or workflow management (WfM) systems. Moreover, DesignJet supports seamless interleaving of project planning and execution--a crucial requirement that workflow management systems usually do not meet. Conversion processes of the aviation industry are represented via dynamic task nets. Dynamic task nets include task elements of conversion processes, e.g., process iterations and feedbacks that cannot be represented at the project planning stage. Concerning the characteristics of cargo conversion processes, DesignJet facilitates business decision making since it offers a more natural, realistic and adequate representation of conversion processes at the project planning and execution stages [10]. An effective project management platform can significantly reduce project planning cost and time and enhance enterprise competitive advantages [2,5]. As a result, a collaborative business environment can be established.

Cargo conversion is a kind of huge and complicated project and hundreds of tasks are involved in a cargo conversion project. Nowadays, the tasks of a conversion project in aviation industry are still triggered manually by job cards and thus mistakes might be induced due to human errors. However, owing to the strict regulations in aviation industry; each task of the conversion project must follow the regulations. If any procedure violates the regulations, severe penalty and inestimable cost will be induced. Moreover, redesign and engineering changes will occur frequently in the project and therefore clear information communication is highly required to ensure that every participant executes his task on the basis of the standard procedure. In order to provide an information communication place and integrate all related resource for project tracking and control, a collaborative project management platform is needed.

2. BACKGROUND

Formal methods of project management in the current literature offer a guideline to manage this process, providing a series of elements- template and procedures- to manage the project through its life cycle. The key elements consist of [6,7]: 1. Defining the project objectives and scope. 2. Dividing the project up into manageable tasks

and stages. 3. Controlling the project through its stages using

the stage definition as a baseline. 4. Highlighting risks and developing specific

procedures to deal with them. 5. Providing mechanisms to deal with quality

issues.

6. Clarifying roles to provide the communication environment for effective teamwork.

7. Organizing all relevant project data in one place.

However, projects are executed by different teams of specialists – engineers, quality controller, risk managers, etc. – and all are attempting to work together. These teams do their best with what they have. But it’s a fact of human nature that when people operate in functional silos they will focus on their very specific details, goals and objectives. Yet the industry is facing increasing competitive pressures in a global and distributed project execution environment. For example, changes undertaken by the engineering side of a project often impact the procurement and construction sides. The impact on other functions is easily ignored, because the group making the change is too isolated or too busy to focus on the problems that change might create for others. Behaviors and processes must be transformed. To make this easier to digest, the series has been broken into parts focusing on three major functions [3]: project definition, project execution and project control. 2.1 Project Planning

The foundation for integrated project execution and delivery can be found in the project definition phase. This is where the project groundwork is done, including scope estimating, project planning and material specification and reference data generation/maintenance. The team of project planning must work closely to estimate the cost of a project. These functions also feed information to purchasing, cost control and progress management. The material specifications are fed into design systems, procurement and construction. Poor communication and faulty information here could mean a faulty budget and painful cost overruns later. 2.2 Project Execution

During the project execution phase, the engineering, procurement and construction groups are constantly impacting each other with changes. The project execution phase must continue to apply the flow set in the project definition phase. The different project execution groups must make sure that they work in a collaborative environment rather than become lost in their individual responsibilities to The only way to do this is provide these groups with underpinning IT solutions and allow to feed in the project data and identify exceptions that can negatively impact cost, schedule or quality. 2.3 Project Control

The project control phase is responsible for managing the project and reporting on it. Whereas project definition provides the foundation

272 International Journal of Electronic Business Management, Vol. 3, No. 4 (2005)

and project execution operates along the lines of that foundation, project controls monitor whether everything is heading in the right direction. This includes the cost management, risk management and progress measurement functions. These functions will now have more complete and accurate information with which to do their jobs. And that’s what the industry craves: quick access to accurate information to better execute projects. The key is integration of people, processes and technology.

Traditional desktop project management software is designed as a single-user tool that lets the project manager track tasks, milestones, and deliverables. As teams spread over geographic distances with multiple centers of control, the communication, coordination, and tracking of ongoing project activity become key issues for project success. This research looks beyond the traditional planning focus of project management applications to a network-centric focus on collaboration. It describes the implementation of DesignJet, a 100 percent Java-based web-based application that support real-time collaboration among each client to facilitate distributed project management. In next section, we describe the system overview of DesignJet which highlights uses of the Internet that will continue to grow in importance in the next decade. New and exciting technologies for collaboration will change the workplace in ways yet to be imagined.

3. SYSTEM OVERVIEW

Using the DesignJet kernel, a web-based PM platform for collaborative cargo conversion is established in this research for efficient project asset accumulation and accessing in aviation engineering. The project managers can efficiently evaluate the delivery time and resources allocation of the cargo conversion via the platform. Conversion processes can be represented via dynamic task flows including process feedbacks and iterations. Therefore, different from the traditional workflow management systems (WfMS), the proposed platform supports seamless integration of project planning, management and execution. With more accurate and friendly representation of the conversion processes, the proposed platform facilitates decision making (e.g., project cost and risk evaluation) of managers and establishes a collaboration environment for conversion operations.

In order to reduce time for cargo conversion services, project development and drawing/job card management, a platform for conversion projects is required. A web-based PM (Project Management) platform integrating multiple functions facilitates collaborative cargo conversion where engineers are located at different sites. Since many entities (e.g.,

managers, engineers, drawings, job cards, regulations, costs and processes) are involved in a cargo conversion project, an effective PM solution for cargo conversion should incorporate specialized modules to manage these entities.

In this paper, a centralized and web-based PM platform is utilized for efficient project asset accumulation and accessing. The developed platform consists of Activity Module, Participant Module, Drawing/Job Card Module, Business Module and Equipment Module. As revealed in Figure 1, the participants (project managers and engineers), drawing/job cards and regulations of a particular project should first be specified. Then, the cargo conversion processes of a particular project can be defined by assigning the main stages and tasks envolved. Finally, based on the cargo conversion processes, human resources, drawing/job cards and equipments used in the particular project, the costs and risks of the project can be derived via the Business Module.

4. CASE STUDY-CARGO

CONVERSION

This research uses the cargo conversion as an example to demonstrate the proposed collaborative project management platform. Cargo conversion is a huge and complicated task. Therefore there are a lot of departments involved in a cargo conversion project. Since there are many departments and engineers devoted to this type of projects, a collaborative project platform is needed to coordinate these departments and engineers to effectively control the project schedule. After field research and discussion with a certain aviation company in Taiwan, this paper extracts the complicated processes of cargo conversion to six representative main stages, including contract award, project planning, conversion design & tooling preparation, conversion job implementation, test & certification, and project completion (Figure 2).

As shown in Figure2, each stage can be further divided into tasks. The relationship between stages and tasks are depicted as follows. 1. Contract is awarded. 2. Project managers allocate human resources and

materials based on project plan. At the same time, engineers accomplish the aircraft inspection and weighting.

3. Afterward, detailed conversion designs are carried out.

At the conversion design stage, four parts are involved, i.e., tooling design, engine removal, A/C conversion design and aircraft jacking and shoring.


Figure 1: Relationship of PM entities in DesignJet

Aircraft Incoming Inspection & Weighing

Avionic/ Interior / Engine Removal

AircraftJacking & Shoring

9G Net Frame Reinforcement

Cargo Door Area Cutting off

Frame Reinforcement& Intercostal Installation

Door Surrounding Replacement

Door Structure & System Installation

9G NetInstallation

System Lines & Cables Rerouting

Down Jacking& Engine Installation

Floor Replacement& Reinforcement Avionic Shop/

Wiring / Power/ Intercom

Modification

Avionic System Reinstallation

Ground & FlightTest Plan & Report

FAA Certification

Contract Award

Project Planing

Conversion Design & Tooling Preparation

Conversion Job Implementation

Test & Certification

Project Complete

Cargo Loading & Interior Modif .

Working Plan Preparation

A/C Conversion Design- Structure & System

Tooling Design

Door Modification Job Card

Frame Structure Modification Job Card

9G NetJob Card

System Modification Job Card

Aircraft Delivery Figure 2: The cargo conversion process flow linked with project planning and workflow execution

4. Since all related works about project planning

are accomplished, engineers start the conversion task.

At this stage, engineers cut fuselage and install another larger door so that the cargos can enter the aircraft (Figure 3).

Engineers refine the frame and floor structure of the aircraft.

Engineers construct a 9G net (a net that is able to bear 9 times weight of the cargos) behind the pilot compartment in order to ensure pilot safety (Figure 3).

Engineers establish the cargo loading system and modify cables in the aircraft.

5. After completing the complicated stage of cargo conversion, a test mechanism is required to


ensure the safety specification of the aircraft. The first testing is to check the engineers can

load and unload the aircraft with cargoes without problems.

The second testing task is to carry out a trial flight to examine how the aircraft flies in the real environment.

6. After the test inside the company, FAA certification is required for more confidence on safety of the aircraft. If the aircraft passes the FAA certification, it will be delivered to the customer. The above procedure shows all the processes of

a cargo conversion project. However, there are some critical problems in the Cargo conversion project. The Potential problems and corresponding solutions of a conversion project in each project phase shown in Table 1.

In the following, the detailed steps for building a conversion project via DesignJet will be illustrated. The concepts of project life cycle are shown in Figure 4. In order to design a project via DesignJet, a project manager can follows the following steps: 1. Define project participants 2. Upload related documentation 3. Assign the project descriptions 4. Execute the project

5. Track the project 6. Feedback the progress and status of the project

A new project in DesignJet consists of the basic project descriptions, the main processes and tasks of each main process in the project: 1. Basic project descriptions: In this function, the

project name, project abstract, project type, project forecast start time, project team and project manager are defined.

2. Main processes of the project: This function defines the process categories of all tasks within a project. After defining the main processes, the cargo conversion project manager specifies the project stages and assigns the sequence of the stages.

3. Tasks of each main process in the project: This function defines the detailed tasks in each stage that are defined by the previous function. According to Figure 1, the cargo conversion project manager designs the workflow of the project. In addition, cargo conversion project manager assigns the corresponding resources to each task. The attributes of each task are task descriptions, participants, reference regulations, equipments, job cards, output variables and documents.

Figure 3: Two CAD drawing for cargo conversion

Table 1: The potential problems and corresponding solutions of a conversion project in each project phase

Step Potential Problems Corresponding Solutions

Project Preparation

The design of cargo conversion is based on original blueprint. However, the actual situation of airplane may differ from the recorded condition due to long-period usage.

1. Specification/ regulation management 2. Job card management

Project Execution

If team members got the wrong information of aircraft configuration, it will delay or even stop the cargo conversion process.

1. Depict the bottleneck 2. The scope of schedule impact is

recognized 3. Resource re-allocation 4. Provide collaborative environment 5. Exception handling will be very quickly

and respond to related team members.

Project Tracking

When the project is delayed or stopped, redesign and engineering changes are needed.

The schedule and process need to be rearranged.

1. Real-time response to manufacturing and design group

2. Minimize the scope of impact with the help of risk analysis and cost analysis


Based on the previous three steps, the project

manager maintains the participant information including the salary, skill, division, and some other personal data. Afterward, the project manager starts to define the entire process of cargo conversion. In this research, a cargo conversion project is composed of six main stages and each stage contains several tasks. Take conversion job implementation as an example, there are four tasks included in this stage, i.e., door modification, frame structure modification, 9G net and system modification. In this system, the project manager not only defines the work period but also assigns the participants and designates drawings, job cards, and regulations. Since users provide detailed information such as regulations, job cards, equipment and materials, the project manager can control the project in a more efficient way. It also prevents the project from violating laws and regulations and provides a better view on how the materials and resources are used.

After defining a new project, the project can be activated for execution. The project execution function consists of options including project activation, project sign-off or redesign, and project completion or termination. 1. Project activation: As a project is activated,

DesignJet maintains the project start time and automatically informs the project manager and participants via emails.

2. Project completion or termination: If there is no exception during project execution, the project is terminated. After the whole processes and the corresponding data are defined on this collaborative project management platform, the corresponding project is then activated. As the project is activated, every participant in the project can view the project details, stages and tasks once he/she logs in the platform. This function provides the detailed information for project participants to realize the project status in real time and to remind the participants to finish their jobs in time. This platform also provides Gantt charts of projects to reveal the planned schedule and the current progress. With the Gantt charts, managers can easily realize the stages and tasks that fall behind the predefined schedule and actions can be taken to coordinate related resources in order to ensure the progress is under control.

Cost and risk information is also provided in the proposed PM platform. With cost information, managers can realize the cost distribution of all tasks and the difference between planned and actual expenditure. Based on the cost information provided by the platform, managers can easily know how the budget goes and effectively coordinate and control the budget. On the other hand, managers assign

project market information, redesign information and over-cost information for risk analysis. When assigning the risk parameters, project managers can assign profitability of the project based on previous information and Program Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT). According to the specified risk parameters, the platform can reveal the probability distribution of schedule.

After using the PM platform, the cargo conversion project can be more efficiently managed. The critical problems of cargo conversion project that have been solved via the PM platform are as follows: 1. When executing the tasks, the engineers can

check the engineering specifications and related regulations via the PM platform to avoid the exceptions or violation of regulations.

2. The PM platform can seamlessly integrate project planning and execution. Thus, the project manager can control the overall schedule and execution results.

3. As the process exception occurred, the process engine can evoke the pre-defined rescue process and the cost analysis module can automatically derive the related costs. All engineers can access and share the project

documents via the PM platform. Furthermore, the enterprise can accumulate the knowledge asset for future use.

5. CONCLUSIONS

The cargo conversion processes sketched above

shows how the PM platform, project managers and engineers are involved in planning and execution of conversion projects. Based on the typical work breakdown structure (WBS) of the cargo conversion projects, risk analysis and cost analysis can be carried out via the proposed platform to support project decision making. In addition, the processes are explicitly modeled as stages and tasks in the platform. The managerial and technical activities are tightly integrated. As compared with other PM or WfM solutions, the functions regarding business decision making and risk analysis can provide the project managers more effective decision support and project control. Table 2 summarizes the findings based on practical applications of this PM platform in aerospace cargo conversion projects. In the proposed project management platform, the managers can not only define milestones based on a simple conceptual model but also accomplish the conversion projects with highly dynamic, iterative and collaborative processes. According to the demonstration case, the proposed PM system provides the required flexibility for project design, project execution, project evaluation and status tracking.


Figure 4: The project life cycle in PM platform

Table 2: The impact of PM platform in cargo conversion projects

Characteristics Challenges How Technology Help

Physical Separation

Various awareness deficits: 1. Availability of team members 2. New or changed information 3. Project status 4. Day-to-day activity

1. Presence awareness 2. Shared calendar 3. Unread markers 4. Shared and visible project plan 5. Process documented in digital form

Execution

1. Link with project management and workflow system

1. Collaborative project management 2. Institute a new operating model with

detailed definition of process, role, cost and measure

Risk 1. Evaluate the impacts of task failed 2. Evaluate the project duration

1. Cost analysis 2. Risk analysis

REFERENCES

1. Ho, P. S., Trappey, A. J. C. and Trappey, C. V.,

2004, “Data interchange services: Use of XML hub approach for the aerospace supply chain,” International Journal of Technology Management, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 227-242.

2. Huang, C. J., Trappey, A. J. C., Yao, Y. H, Yeh, S. C. and Cheng, Y. H., 2003, “Adopting contact center approach to collaborative product development: Using TFT-LCD design chain as case study,” International Journal of Electronic Business Management, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 120-28.

3. Jaafari, A., 1997, “Concurrent construction and life cycle project management,” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, pp. 427-436.

4. Ministry of Economic Affairs, 2004, Annual Report on Strategic Planning of Aerospace Industry Technology Development.

5. Parker, H., 2000, “Interfirm collaboration and the new product development process,” Industrial Management and Data Systems, Vol. 100, No. 6, pp. 255-260.

6. Schmidt, R., Lyytinen, K., Keil, M. and Cule, P., 2001, “Identifying software project risks: An


international Delphi study,” Journal of Management Information System, Vol. 14, pp. 5-36.

7. Statz, J., 1994, “Training effective project managers,” American Programmer, pp. 43-48.

8. Trappey, A. J. C, Trappey, C. V. and Lin, F. T. L., 2005, “Automated silicon intellectual property trade using mobile agent technology,” Robotics and CIM.

9. Trappey, C., 2002, “Defining IP mall business models and processes for Taiwan’s national Si-Soft project,” Proceedings of IP Based SOC Design Forum and Exhibit.

10. Trappey, C., Huang, Y. L., Trappey, A. J. C., Hou, J. L., Chang, K. J. and Shih, S. Y, 2004, “DesignJet: A project management platform for collaborative IC design,” Proceedings, IP Based SOC Design Forum and Exhibition, December 8-9, pp. 277-282.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Pei-Shun Ho received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at NTHU. His research interests are E-business, knowledge management and project management. He has participated in several industrial projects with high-tech companies and non-profit R&D centers in Taiwan. Jiang-Liang Hou is an associate professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at National Tsing-Hua University (NTHU). Dr. Hou received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at NTHU and his research interests are knowledge management and logistics management. He has participated in several industrial projects with high-tech companies and non-profit R&D centers in Taiwan. Wei-Cheng Hsiao is a Ph.D. student in the department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at National Tsing-Hua University. Hsiao received his master degree from the department of Industrial Engineering and Management at National Chiao Tung University. His

research interests are E-business, data mining and project management. He has participated in several industrial projects with high-tech companies and non-profit R&D centers in Taiwan. Chi-Hung Lee is an aerospace structural engineer in Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). With MS degree in mechanical engineering and 18 years technology development and project management background in ITRI and AIDC, he has participated in the Cargo Conversion Consulting project for half a year up to now with EGAT. He also plays the leading role in the aviation related certification, strategy planning, materials, processes, system engineering, structural and environmental testing, shock and impact testing. Jen-Chih Liou is a president of Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp.(EGAT) who graduated from National Taiwan Ocean University majoring in Marine Engineering. He has almost 30 years experience of ship/airplane engineering and management. He has been the chief engineer of ship, the supervisor of ship/airplane construction and conductor of the airplane engine shop establishment. Besides, he is also the project host of “MRO System of Aircraft Engines’ Technology Development Program” and “B767 P2F Conversion Technology Development Program.” Ching-Yi Tseng is a senior engineer of Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp. (EGAT) who received his master degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from Yuan Ze University. He has 10 years experience of airplane engineering management. He is the conductor of the EGAT KM system establishment and digital maintenance documents system enhancement. Besides, he is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and in charge of “MRO System of Aircraft Engines’ Technology Development Program” and “B767 P2F Conversion Technology Development Program.” (Received September 2005, revised November 2005, accepted December 2005)

Documents

Case Study Conversion Proj Mgnt Toolkit