Draper & Associates provided Project Management assistance for the IBM ProductManager Group beginning in July, 1991. During this time, Draper & Associates participated in the overall planning and scheduling of a multi-million dollar mainframe software product, designed to integrate all facets of a large manufacturing facility. ProductManager consists of applications that help large and small enterprises manage their product and process definition and change processes from product specification through manufacturing and support. The planning phase included the identification of the overall scope of the project, determination of required phasing for software development and programming, and the conversion of that information into a Master Program Plan designed to meet the schedule goals of the project. During the planning phase, each subsystem was broken down into its proper components and was arranged in a "Work Breakdown Structure" format. This information was used to develop the Overall Project Schedule: a detailed schedule used as the basis for maintaining schedule control on the project. An important part of the planning process was the identification of key points of interface between subsystems/modules. These points of interface were identified as the Work Breakdown Structure and Overall Project Schedule were developed.

The identification of these points continued even after the planning stage was substantially complete. Throughout programming development changes were proposed to enhance performance and usability of the product. These changes were prioritized, the scope of work was estimated, and a special meeting was held to develop an overall schedule for the implementation of these changes. This unique part of the project led to the determination by management of the changes that would be included in the first release of ProductManager. These changes had a dramatic affect on product performance and usability.

In addition to the major software changes, a much larger list of minor software changes required continuous monitoring. Draper & Associates facilitated this process by developing a system to track the progress of these changes on a regular basis. This system was eventually incorporated into regularly scheduled group meetings, the Program Update Meetings.

Program update meetings were held on a regular basis with each group to ensure that schedule commitments were maintained. The basis for these meetings was the Near Term Schedule, the day-to-day implementation schedule developed from the Overall Project Schedule. Additionally any problems that were identified during these meetings were documented and responsibilities were assigned to individuals for follow up.

The successful implementation of Draper & Associates project management techniques helped to ensure the "on-schedule" first release of IBM ProductManager to the marketplace.