The Impact of Packaging Interdependent Change Requests on ProjectLead Time
DSM 2010: Proceedings of the 12th International DSM Conference, Cambridge, UK, 22.-23.07.2010
Year: 2010
Editor: Wynn, D.C.; Kreimeyer, M.; Eben, K.; Maurer, M.; Lindemann, U.; Clarkson, P.J.
Author: Naveed Ahmad, N.; Wynn, D.C.; Clarkson, P.J.
Section: Requirements, Reviews and Change Management
Page(s): 293-306
Abstract
In a complex product development environment with many interdependencies between concurrent design activities, changes occurring during a project can have significant knock-on consequences in due to the rework required. It is thus important to effectively manage change work as it arises, in order to minimise its impact on the project schedule.
To help understand how change requests can be most effectively managed in such environments, we explore the impact of batching change requests for concurrent execution. A simulation model is developed which simulates the processing of changes in batches and allows estimation of the impact of the redesign work on the overall project duration. Our model extends state-of-the art by considering how the scope of change requests overlap, such that batching reduces not only co-ordination overheads but also the absolute amount of work that must be done.
We show how the model can be used to help managers determine a change request batching policy that will be suitable for a particular product development environment, and compare our findings to other simulations in this area.
Keywords: Batching Change Requests, Project Lead Time, DSM, DMM