U.S. Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District 333 Market Street; Room 806A San Francisco, CA 94105 1905



Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 13:34:59 -0800



Mr. Robert C. Gordon Construction and Design Branch, CEMP-EC U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Military Programs Engineering and Construction Division 20 Massachusettes Avenue, N.W.; Room ____, Pulaski Washington, DC 20314-1000 ROBERT.C.GORDON@HQ02.USACE.ARMY.MIL
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Subject:  
Re:   Draft MFR

Mr. Gordon:

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Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on your draft MFR.
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As a past user of the system I can fully endorse its use and we do have documented cost savings of at least $187500.00 from the use of the Communication Metrics concept. This cost was achieved at a cost of $45,000 (Welch's contract cost). This system, while not fully understood by most people, is much easier to use and operate within than say Lotus notes. The Communications Metrics system -SDS, has the ability to link information in a logical manner be able to retrieve that information very quickly.
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Let me ask you a question-How many times have you gone to a negotiation or meeting and discovered that everyone is talking about a conversation and document which no one has brought to the meeting or truthfully recalls the conversations exactly correct. My guess would be that this has happened more than once to you as well as many others. With the use of SDS these misunderstandings and misquotes from documents are virtually eliminated.
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The cost of any new technology is always relatively high at first and then the costs go down as people learn the system and become familiar with it. A perfect example of this is the recent COE-wide implementation of CEFMS and PROMIS both of which are major shifts in how we do business. Major disruptions have happened with these implementations, yet the Corps goes on and adjusts.
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The initial set up of the SDS is very critical and Rod and I spent several hours together to develop the structure so that the information could be linked and found as easily as possible. This is probably the most critical part of the process. The capturing of the data and making sure that it has been reviewed and finally input into the SDS record is a time consuming process and that is the second major effort that Rod did for me. Whether he did it or I did it someone would have had to do it and given our restricted budgets this process could best be used on projects of significant dollar amounts. This would be another cost of the project and included in the overall S&A cost or E&D depending upon which phase a project is in.
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The bottom line is that the added value of Communications Metrics may not be specifically quantifiable but then neither is Project Management as a concept. The concept certainly needs to be fostered and nurtured to the next level and determine its full range of applicability to the Corp's business processes. It can only make them better, more reliable and less contentious if Communications Metrics is incorporated into the way of doing business.
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My sense of your memo is that you do not fully appreciate the experience in the District and this can only be achieved through actual application.
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Again thank you for the opportunity to comment on your draft report.

Sincerely,




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Mr. Thompson F. Keesling, Architect
Assistant Chief
Construction Operations Division
tkeesling@spd.usace.army.mil>