Challenges
One of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. with over 30,000 employees and approximately $9B in annual revenue had many projects in the IT department had significant cost overruns – some larger projects had cost variance in the millions. They did not have the ability to perform sufficient and timely alternative and “what-if” analysis as quickly as required when negotiating schedule, cost and functionality with business stakeholders.
Solution
QSM provided custom software estimation training, mentoring and tools. They trained a centralized Estimation Center of Excellence on the use of and customization of the SLIM® tool suite. They also supported creation of custom API interface between a Microsoft Excel front end and the SLIM® tool which enabled the capability to perform “quick look” risk analysis of schedule and cost for entire project portfolio.
Outcomes
Project actuals for budget and schedule are now within 5-10% of SLIM® estimate. An internal ROI case study of a small sampling of three projects identified cost avoidance of $1.2M. The IT department now has the ability to quantify how much functionality can be completed in a fixed time frame. Successfully performed “quick look” risk analysis of schedule and cost for 152 projects across an entire division. Quantitative analysis of cloud projects vs. industry identified opportunity for significant cost savings.