Tip: If initial screen results in low opportunity (<$10M ONLY) the result must be thoroughly documented on page 3 Tip: Low opportunity requires documentation to help justify and record the thought process. The expectation is a reasonable level of effort is spent documenting why low opportunity is appropriate. Tip: The intent is not to avoid VE but rather allow the VE community of practice to focus their efforts on what has the greatest opportunity. Tip: Can’t choose low opportunity for projects greater than $10M without HQUSACE Chief OVE signature Step 2 – Strategy Screening Process The second part of the screening process moves from general questions to more specific questions concerning the project, the stakeholders and surrounding risks/opportunities. The purpose is to establish overall complexity judgment. The questions are subjective however they are intended to get you thinking and help you access the overall complexity of the circumstances. are three groups of questions: Project Specific Stakeholders Risk/Opportunity questions should be answered consistent with available information and knowledge of the project by working with the PDT. The objective of the process is twofold: Determine if reasonable opportunity exists. Assess the level of complexity of the project and other issues affecting the project. Complexity/Judgment is determined from the three groups of questions. Must make judgment decision (Low, Moderate or High) on overall complexity. Answering the questions from groups A-C do not automatically choose complexity, this requires the VEO to make a judgment. Step 3 – Documentation/Narrative This is where the rational for making the strategy decision is recorded. This narrative will record the variables that played into decisions made for the project and allow an auditor to follow and verify the logic.
Pre-Workshop Stage (In relation to the standard VE forms). The purpose of the Stage is for the VE Team Leader to prepare the forms for the workshop. The VEO will provide the VE Team Leader with the most current version of the standard USACE VE forms. The VE Team Leader is responsible for preparing the VE Project Summary Workbook for the VE activity (workshop). The Team Leader shall: Enter a limited amount of general project information in the VE Summary Workbook (Data Worksheet/Tab). The VEO will provide the VE Team Leader with general project information to allow the VE Team Leader to complete the workbook preparation. Tip: While this activity can occur at the beginning of the workshop, it is advisable to complete it Pre-Workshop to have one less distraction. Tip: These directions assume the VE Project Summary Workbook will be kept up-to-date during the workshop. The advantage of following this workflow is the Team Leader will be able to automatically generate workbooks for each Alternative using a macro in the VE Project Summary Workbook. Workshop – Creative Phase (In relation to the standard VE forms). The primary purpose of the Creative Phase is to record the creative ideas generated by the Team. Use the MstrList Worksheet in the VE Project Summary Workbook for this task. Tip: Before generating creative ideas, the Team Leader will decide the Value Target Areas to use during the Creative Phase. The VE Team Leader will record the Value Target Area information in the Data Worksheet/Tab of the VE Project Summary Workbook. Tip: The team leader can either capture the creative ideas electronically as they are generated and/or capture after creativity from flip chart paper, which ever method is used the form can accommodate. To prepare the summary table for creativity, set the VE Project Summary Workbook (MstrList Tab) to the Creative Idea Phase View by using the pulldown menu choosing “Creative Phase Work” and then hit the button “set columns”, see figure 17-1. The Creative Idea Phase View is tailored to show the columns used during the Creative Phase ONLY. The sheet is now ready to start recording the ideas. Fill out the following: alternative number and creative idea description. Tip: As ideas are generated by the Team, each idea needs a unique Alternative Number and a concise, but descriptive title for the idea. Tip: The comments /notes field is optional, used for any comments that might be appropriate. Figure 17-1