Delivery of projects on-time, to budget and within specification is the cornerstone of successful prime contracting within the UK and international defence market place.
Persides has direct experience in applying its capabilities in either leading or supporting the execution of highly complex development and manufacturing programmes. Our approach to successful project management is based on three fundamental aspects:
- Providing high calibre individuals with strong leadership skills
- Forming the best multi-disciplined integrated project team with a single focus of project delivery
- Executing the project in accordance with industry-leading processes
The basis of Persides’ project management processes is the industry-standard Prince2 methodology augmented by ANSI/EIA 748 for Earned-Value Management. By tailoring these processes to the scope and complexity of the particular project Persides is able to provide the appropriate application of specific tasks, including:
- Definition of tasks in the hierarchical Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Definition of the Organisation Breakdown Structure (OBS)
- Allocation of budgets, OBS resources, dependencies and timing for each WBS task
- Generation of a WBS-based schedule and Master Schedule
- Collection and integration of achievement and cost information to provide the measure of earned value and any cost/schedule variances in the project
For engineering-specific management roles Persides overlays its approach to project management with detailed knowledge of electronic/software systems development as well as the systems engineering methodology described here Additional management tasks include:
- Definition of the development, integration and test lifecycle strategy
- Planning and conducting of requirements, design and test reviews
- Definition and monitoring of key technical performance measures
Risk management is considered an integral process, rather than an adjunct, to project management. Persides believes the preparation and maintenance of a risk management plan and register which identifies, assesses and provides mitigation actions, as an essential element in project planning and execution. As per the EVM methodology the risk management process can be tailored by Persides to reflect the nature of the project.
Persides uses various tools for risk management. Our preferred tool is IRIS Intelligence by Istria, but we regularly work with ARM (Active Risk Manager) or other tools preferred by our customers.
Examples of our project and engineering management experience include the following:
- JETTS – Joint Effects Tactical Targeting System was a software-intensive development programme to plan and manage targeting assets for the Land Component Commander. Persides role for Raytheon Systems was engineering, then programme lead responsible for delivering the software capability, followed by bidding activity for enhancements and export variants. Persides received a Special Commendation Award from Raytheon for its contribution to the JETTS delivery.
- Pinz2 – Pinzgauer’s (now BAE Systems) internal vehicle development programme. Persides’ role was project management lead responsible for delivery of the incremental development and manufacturing programme.
- Numerous project management support roles for major defence companies including Thales, Raytheon Systems and UTACS.
