November 30, 2007

Two Rose-Hulman professionals presented at the 28th American Society for Engineering Management’s (ASEM) 2007 national conference November 7-10, 2007 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Brian Dougherty, manger of engineering, presented a paper titled A Project Management Scorecard for Student Intern Engineering Projects, which is coauthored with Bill Kline, associate dean for professional experiences and associate professor of engineering management .  It outlines a project management scorecard developed by Rose-Hulman Ventures to evaluate project status in four areas: communication, team, progress, and performance.  

“We manage more than 20 client projects involving more than 75 students in the Rose-Hulman Ventures program at any time,” Kline explained.  “The scorecard has evolved out of the growth in the number of projects we manage and the desire to keep them all on schedule.  The frequency of communication between the project team and the client is one of the most important metrics that we track to avoid surprises.” 

On a weekly basis, Rose-Hulman Ventures project managers complete a scorecard for their individual projects scored according to a variety of attributes. These individual project results are combined into a project dashboard showing a color-coded summary of status for all projects. The benefits of the scorecard have included improved project performance and outcomes as well as providing awareness and focus for the student interns regarding the principles of project management and tracking. 

 The scorecard concept has been so successful in Rose-Hulman Ventures projects that a modified version of it is being tested in senior design projects in the department of electrical and computer engineering this academic year.