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Unless this task is recognized to be important and is included in the implementation plan, it will probably be forgotten and ignored once things really start to get moving. There will be so many other important and necessary activities leading to 'real' progress that no one will have the time to check what progress really is being made. Activity cannot always be equated to progress, especially when progress has clearly been defined as relating to the company's objectives. In many cases, activity in the CAD/CAM/CAE area is close to panic and has little to do with achieving objectives. The purpose of monitoring and reviewing progress is not to identify and punish the guilty, but to identify as soon as possible discrepancies with the plan and to take the necessary corrective action. It may be that it is only after the system has been put into use that it becomes apparent that the original requirements study was not sufficiently wide-ranging or that the volume of system use was underestimated. Different people in the company will be interested in the results of the progress review for different reasons. Top management will be looking to see what kind of return on investment is being achieved. Hopefully no one will have led them to believe that major benefits will appear in the first year - since they rarely do. The CAD/CAM/CAE Manager will be looking to see what problems have occurred and how they can be solved. If the introduction of CAD/CAM/CAE has been successful, people from outside the current group of CAD/CAM/CAE users will be wondering whether it can be applied in their areas. Current users of the system will be interested in a quantitative evaluation of the work that they have carried out and in any suggestions that are made for improvement. A review at the end of the first year's use of CAD/CAM/CAE should not be costly either in time or in money. It may be suitable to get someone from outside the company to carry out the review. This should help to ensure that it is unbiased and does not use up the valuable time of company staff who could be carrying out other, product-related work. The review will involve looking at the real results from use of the system, analyzing periodic reports that have been produced by the CAD/CAM/CAE Manager and project managers, interviewing management and users, watching people use the system, evaluating the amount and effectiveness of training, and so on. It may be that some of the information is not available - this in itself is a meaningful finding since it may mean that reporting procedures are being ignored or that sufficient training has not been given. |