Analysis of the Public Works Service Request Process For Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest

EMBA Project ReportEXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The goal of this project is to analyze the service request portion of the Public Works Business Line (PWBL) processes for Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Northwest. All four PWBL Product Lines are included in the analysis. These Product Lines are Facility Management and Sustainment (FM&S), Facility Service Contract Management and Facility Services (FMFS), Base Support Vehicles and Equipment (BSVE), and Utilities and Energy Management (UEM). The perceived problem is that there are instances of confusion and inaccuracies regarding funding responsibilities and service levels resulting from prior years of organizational changes and functional transfers. The research examines the process used to contact NAVFAC to request service, the process NAVFAC uses to validate that the requested service is funded and authorized, and applicable documents, agreements, and information used by the participants. By conducting interviews with fifty process participants, sufficient information is gathered to map the current service request process. Process maps are provided for each product line. The maps show the decision points involved in the interaction between the customer and NAVFAC field staff in the request process. The interview results confirm that the perceived problems do exist in some areas and product lines. Interviewed personnel credit NAVFAC for improvements already accomplished in many areas. Remaining problems common to multiple product lines and cited most often include limited resources, limited access to NAVFAC information, unclear service level and funding source information, and insufficient sharing of long range planning information between customers and NAVFAC. In addition, the use of authorized customer representatives and regular customer meetings work well when used and could be leveraged in other areas. After conducting root cause analysis, recommendations are provided that address the consequences of the problems and align with NAVFAC strategic goals. These include communication improvements to increase accessibility of information, documentation improvements to reduce confusion, and training suggestions to improve understanding and consistency. The recommendations are charted with benefits and difficulty of implementation to assist NAVFAC in deciding which to consider implementing first (i.e., those with the most benefit for the least initial investment). A tool is included to allow the client to adjust the value weighting of the benefits and implementation difficulty based on their own preferences. Using equal weighting the recommendations to consider first are: a) the communication recommendations including an accessible web site, holding a customer symposium, and publications, b) the documentation recommendation of posting the process maps, and c) the training recommendations to hold internal briefings for NAVFAC personnel and acquisition briefings for customers. Implementation of even some of the recommendations provided in this study will achieve many benefits in operational effectiveness for both NAVFAC and its supported Commands.http://archive.org/details/analysisofpublic10945707