An Industry Recognized Program Management Approach to Design and Development
As a TRAK customer, you will be given direct points of contact in Program Management and Contracts Administration. The assigned personnel from these two key areas will serve as the primary touchpoints after contract award, and are responsible to ensure and maintain customer satisfaction and contract compliance throughout the life of the program.
In order to provide a structured approach for managing and progressing projects from product design and development through the transfer to production, every design, development, or high risk project will move through a series of stage gates. Each stage gate checklist contains the elements required to pass the gate including risk identification and mitigation planning. These checklists are tailored to include any unique requirements imposed by customer purchase documents. The TRAK Program Management process consists of five stage gates:
Gate 1 – Project Kick-off Review – Clarify customer expectations, creation of project documents such as integrated program schedule, project budget, updated risk register, etc.
Gate 2 – Preliminary Design Review (PDR) – Acceptance of detailed requirements/specifications, verification of PDR readiness with the customer. Gate is passed once all PDR actions are closed.
Gate 3 – Critical Design Review (CDR) – Verification that design is acceptable per customer requirements, confirm manufacturability, verification that design meets all regulations/ standards. Gate is passed once all CDR actions are closed.
Gate 4 – Qualification Review – Verify design meets specification through testing, analysis and similarity as identified. Gate is passed upon customer approval of qualification test report.
Gate 5 – Production Readiness Review (PRR) – Confirm design is ready for transition to production, verify all drawings and documents for production are accurate, and confirm all necessary tools and fixtures are in place for smooth transition.
Integrated Product Team (IPT)
TRAK utilizes an Integrated Product Team (IPT) approach to Program Management. TRAK’s IPT process integrates the activities of all stages of the project using a cross-functional team to optimize the product and its manufacturing/sustainment processes to meet technical, schedule and cost objectives. Each IPT is comprised of, at a minimum, the Program Manager, Project Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer and Quality Engineer. Supporting personnel will also serve on the IPT during various phases of the program.
The Program Manager (PM) is assigned the responsibility and has the authority to manage all aspects of program performance. The PM serves as the single point of contact (POC) for all programmatic issues with the customer. The PM is ultimately responsible for cost, technical and schedule performance on the project. The PM works with other IPT members to create the program budget and allocates resources based on the WBS and contract requirements.
During weekly IPT meetings the PM will track progress, arbitrate discussions on current or potential issues, and provide direction for the coming week. The results from these meetings are recorded and published to management to provide visibility and ensure appropriate resources are allocated to the effort. The expected weekly outputs include updates to the project action item log, updates to the integrated master schedule, and revisions to risk register documenting risk mitigation progress.
