Our Client SMA launched its TOD on Tap Professional Series with an inaugural event in Southern California to a full capacity crowd. Attendees enjoyed an evening of learning, comradery, food, and craft beer.

“Our first TOD on Tap event was immensely successful. You could feel the energy in the room as people shared ideas and their passion for their tradecraft,” remarked Jacque Keats, SMA COO.

The event featured distinguished SMA veterans Earl Mazerolle and Liz Chamberlain who presented their wisdom from the field to an audience of guests and SMA professionals. Mr. Mazerolle, a master planner and scheduler, shared his lifelong observations of the evolution of the planning discipline and how new processes can greatly improve project performance. Ms. Chamberlain, a senior proposal manager, shared her experience helping a client greatly improve its process for bidding on commercial contracts.

It’s all about communication

Mr. Mazerolle described his techniques for aligning client business processes to supply chain realities and communicating those realities to all parts of the organization. “Schedule data on large projects comes in many forms and multiple formats, but must be consolidated into a single Integrated Master Schedule (IMS). Each project team must look to the IMS as the single source of truth…if it is wrong, fix it!”

Mr. Mazerolle noted, “Over my career, I have watched schedules go from being static timetables (on a sliding board using MacTac) to become very sophisticated IMS (Integrated Master Schedule) software models that can predict deliveries, determine staffing, assess risks, validate critical paths and provide “what if” analyses.”

Getting teams to work off one sheet of music sets the stage for a structured communications with project teams, senior management and end customers. “Deadlines are often driven by corporate politics. Using the IMS helps point out the “elephants in the room” and gets everyone aligned to realistic expectations.”

Improving on-time delivery

Ms. Chamberlain discussed her experience improving a client’s commercial proposal process by adopting disciplines honed delivering government proposals: “Government proposals are very deadline-oriented. Instilling these disciplines in the fast-paced world of commercial procurements can have immediate and lasting effects.”

Managing over 100 commercial proposals, Ms. Chamberlain improved on-time submittal from 75% to 90%, cut turnaround time in half, and eliminated over a year’s worth of backlog.

Creating a community of tradecraft excellence

The TOD on Tap series is the latest way SMA fosters intellectual community among its roster of associates. “What a great forum for meeting fellow associates, and learning more about what they do,” remarked Janet Lorelle, an Earned Value Management and Basis of Estimate specialist with SMA.

“SMA’s new Talent on Demand (TOD)® platform, built on TOD PRO®, helps our clients tap precision talent for project teams worldwide,” remarked Ajay Patel, SMA President & CEO. “The TOD on Tap series allows us to showcase that talent and exchange new ideas born of field experience. We look forward to hosting additional events around the country.”