Selection and Priorisation of project
themes for wave 6
Six Sigma Roll-Out T-Systems
Hotel Allgu Stern, Sonthofen
31.07./01.08.2008
Content
Background
Proposed process for project theme collection
Proposed logic for priorisation and selection of project
themes
Project selection is key for leveraging
potential of Six Sigma to ensure program
success
In the 4 waves already realized, mixed experiences have been
made regarding project selection
Although good themes have been identified, the following
issues have been identified
Perceived isolated/punctual project approaches without
view for the big picture
Projects not always aligned with corporate strategy and
goals
Time delays in project deployment due to buy-in difficulties
of management and partially not well defined project
themes
In part lack of information exchange of projects working in
the same process areas
The aim now is to develop the project selection further to
improve on the mentioned deficiencies and to assure
alignment of the project portfolio with the strategic targets
To achieve this, the following elements will be detailed:
Project selection process description with responsibility
definition
Content
Background
Proposed process for project theme collection
Proposed logic for priorisation and selection of project
themes
The suggested TSI-specific project selection
process should help to improve the quality of
the portfolio
Project input generation
Project prioritization & selection
Corporate perspective
Prog. Mgmt.
MBB
BB-/ GB-idea capturing
Mgmt. Members
Mgmt. pain-points brainstorm.
Business line perspective (efficiency focus)
Prog. Mgmt.
P&L/Balanc. scorec. analysis
Mgmt. pain-points input
Process perspective
Process Mgr.
Prog. Mgmt
Corp. Quality and NGTS themes
Business line perspective (quality focus)
Prog. Mgmt,
Process M.
Quality KPI analysis
Client feedback analysis
Consolidation in
project database (incl.
alignment
to processes of process model
and input of
key project
data according to defined priorisation criteria)
Week -16 to -10*
* Refers always to the wave start, which would be week 0
Pre-Selection Workshops (in
MC-1
sessions
with participation of
process
Manager).
Result: Prioritized project
list as input
for MC/BQC
approval
Prog. Mgmt.
SU Mgmt.
Project
approval
workshops
(BQCs or
MCs). Important: the
area resp.
should present their
project
suggestions.
Result:
Finally prioritized project
list accord.
to agr. logic
Week -9 to -5*
Prog. Mgmt.
EC approval
of projects
Further
project definition (if necessary) &
communication to the
Black Belts
MBB
Week -4 to -2*
Process comments/explanation
Area
1
Comment
Inputs are generated from a business line as well as process model
and NGTS perspective
This should ensure that we get a comprehensive/full view on the
project needs
To structure the project suggestions, the process model should serve
as a framework. This allows to build project clusters for the project
prioritization. In addition to this, key data regarding benefits of the
project should be documented to serve as base for prioritization
At the same time already at this stage possible interfaces should be
identified
Experience has shown, that a lack of ownership of the project
themes (i.e. a Champion is surprised by a project assigned to him)
leads to difficulties in by-in/changes of project scope
It is very important to avoid this by having a pre-selection of project
themes in which the MC-1 is directly involved. The idea would be to
carry out those pre-selection workshops in the regular meetings of
the MC-1. To do so, it is important to identify per SU
The existing relevant MC-1 groups
The stakeholders within each MC-1 group to ensure their Six
Sigma Awareness
It is also important, that in these sessions the responsible process
managers participate to defend suggestions coming from the
process perspective. This consolidation at an early stage should
Also, in the running of projects a close
interaction between Black Belts and Process
Managers should be maintained
Project realization
Participation
Process
manager
DEFINE
Milestone
Transparency regarding
project scope. Possib.
to influence
focus
Participation
Participation
Participation
Process
Process
Process
manager
manager
manager
MEASURE
Milestone
ANALYSE
Milestone
Transparency regarding
findings &
direction for
improvements
IMPROVE
Milestone
CONTROL
Milestone
Definition of
implementation measures &
responsibility for implementation
Content
Background
Proposed process for project theme collection
Proposed logic for priorisation and selection of project
themes
Project priorization becomes key once that
possible project topics have been captured
through the different channels & consolidated
Idea would be to use a standardized approach regarding
prioritization criteria in pre-selection and final approval
workshops. To do this, the input for those meetings has
already to be delivered in the agreed prioritization
format
Priorisation for wave 6 Six Sigma project
themes will use two dimensions financial
benefit
and() quality impact Prioritisation will be performed
Financial Impact
within building blocks (due to
approval by business line described
before)
- efficiency increase
- revenue growth
Prio 1
High
Besides projects with financial and
quality impact, also
analysis/measurement system
projects are possible. In addition
to this, general qualifying
elements for Six Sigma projects
have to be checked (see next
page)
Overall sanity-check will be
performed after priorisation of
building blocks to have a complete
picture (see later comments
regarding project portfolio)
Projects without quantification
will not be accepted
Prio 2
Medium
Low
Prio 3
Low
Medium
High
Quality Impact (KPI improvement)
- Quantitative increase of one or more of the TOP-KPIs
- Special Bonus for projects two or more building blocks
Additional qualification criteria for Six Sigma
projects
In
addition to the already mentioned basic evaluation criteria there do exist additional preconditions to qualify for Six Sigma projects which should be checked (in order of
importance must-criteria are shown in bold)
No preconceived solution exists
A process with defined inputs and outputs (e.g. Incident Management process)
exists & is run frequently (no yearly events or similar)
The project can be implemented within approximately 6 months
Six-Sigma Roadmap can be applied
To understand variations
To control variations
And therefore, to eliminate defects
The process generates defects (customer complains, re-work)/shows variations in
performance (fulfillment of Service Level Agreements)
As guideline: attractive Six Sigma projects should have
a
a
a
a
cost improvement effect of > 200 k OR
revenue increase effect of > 1.000 k OR
reduction of capital employed of > 400 k OR
significant impact on client or employee satisfaction
Overall project portfolio should show a
balanced structure of company, building block
an MC-focused topics
Structure/main elements of the
consolidation/prioritization matrix
Project quality improvement
contains all criteria/fields to
evaluate the qualitative
improvement targeted with the
project
Project key data
contains all basic
information of the
project theme to
position it into
context (i.e. process
allocation, driving
building block etc.).
Project financial evaluation
contains all criteria/fields to
evaluate the financial
contribution/benefit of the
project
Description of project key data fields
Champion and Business Owner should be fixed as
soon as possible/ during Pre-Selection to ensure a
smooth project start (at least for approved projects)
Basic information for the project
positioning. Apart from the project topic
and description of the burning
platform/the project objective, this also
includes the process allocation
starting with the overarching C2C and
than going into more detail
To be able to
allocate
responsibility as
well as the
organizational
reach, the driving
(1) and the
affected (can be
multiple) units are
given here
Project idea status can serve to capture
the level of maturity. Everything going
into the EC obviously would have an
approved, but during the idea
development this could have following
stages:
* Project idea
* Rejected
* Approved
Description of financial evaluation data fields
Overall project evaluation during selection phase is done
on the base of the annualized estimated benefit without
considering costs). This information is entered in the
column year 0. In later stages of the project, the
estimated evaluation of project costs and benefits can be
entered to do a NPV-estimation. Comments field gives
the possibility to additionally capture
comments/explanations regarding the indicated financial
benefits
Yearly estimated project costs as far as
they can be predicted at project start.
Typically this includes the personal costs
(Black Belt & Green Belt), material and
travel cost. In later project stages estimated
costs for coming years can be entered
Target maturity grade captures the initially
intended maturity grade for this project (see
financial guidelines)
Estimation regarding financial impact. Column Type
describes the category of financial benefit. We
differentiate
a) efficiency increase/cost reduction
b) Revenue increase
c) Working capital reduction (in this case only the
interest rate effect is considered as benefit)
Description of qualitative evaluation data fields
Affected Top-KPI gives the possibility to
enter/select one of the 12 Top-KPIs as well as
sub-area the project is contributing to
If project result cannot be linked to one
of the Top-KPIs, but still the project is
important from the Building Block
perspective (due to special
requirements i.e. CMMI ratings etc.)
the mainly affected KPI can be given
here
The level of improvement is given by the column KPIimprovement by (x%). To make it comparable from project
to project, improvement should be given in %. If decision is
taken to make the matrix prioritization based on a
High/Medium/Low-categorization, this value would be
translated in one of those improvement levels.
Description of Six Sigma Projects Steckbrief
Comment: This is a reduced first page of the project
workbook which is commonly used to describe/present
briefly the projects in project selection workshops
outside of EC (BQC/MC etc.)
Description of Six Sigma projects short EC
format
Benefits of this approach
Continuous improvement in project selection
Provide a structure that will allow better alignment with
the corporate strategy
Improved clustering of projects to address the big
picture
Increase results focus (financial and/or quality impact)
Back-up
12 TOP-KPIs
12 TOP-KPIs (contin.)
