Case Study 1: The ABC Communications Module Upgrade

The ABC company designs and manufactures a communication system, which consists of a power supply, transmit and receive module, and a controller card. Their tasks are to build and then perform a formal acceptance test for their customer, which they have to pass in order to be able to sell off the lot. They update the design due to tech refreshes and obsolescence every few years.

The design/ build/ test cycle was 18 months for the original design. The next two iterations had minor capability upgrades. The first took 15 months, the second 12 months.

Because ABC had been consistently cutting down their cycle time, they agreed to a 12-month schedule for the newest iteration of the design, same as the last build. But there were some differences this time around.

• New transistor technology in the transmit/receive circuitry to handle higher power requirements.
• Power Supply will stay the same, but will now be stressed at a higher level due to the increased power requirements.
• New vendor for the controller card, who claims that the controller firmware will interface with the Power Supply and Transmit/Receive Module, but this has not been tested.

Although warning signs were present that this was an aggressive schedule, no risks were formally identified, and no plan was put in place to handle them. As it turned out:

• The new transistor technology was unable to meet specifications without extensive additional testing and modifications from the supplier.
• The power supply handled the increased power load, but the extra heat it dissipated resulted in changes in the mechanical layout of the system.
• The new Controller Card firmware had to be modified to work with the existing power supply and transmit/receive module.

All of these factors caused ABC to enter the acceptance test over budget, behind schedule, and with a reduced degree of confidence they would pass the test.

QUESTIONS [20 MARKS]:

(1) What could ABC have done differently? [10 marks]

(2) How could a robust Risk Management Program have helped them to avoid these problems? [10 marks]