Quality is the standard by which all projects are judged. It can be measured in time, cost, or level of effort. However, you must first have a quality philosophy before you can effectively measure by any criteria. In the past several years, we have garnished significant praise and measurable success through our quality philosophy.
Step 1: Establish your “Quality” Philosophy Through Strategy Statements
To manage a quality project, the project manager must explain “how” the project will be handled. Strategy statements are the policies that dictate “how.” Communicating the strategy in the very first meeting ensures that everyone is operating under the same rules.
Scope Strategy: Changes can be introduced by anyone, discussed by the project team to form a recommendation, approved by the project sponsor, and communicated by the project manager.
How do you prevent scope creep? You manage the scope of the project! This question is one I hear the most and yet it is difficult for the person asking the question to understand that the answer is buried deep within the question. If you were managing the scope of the project, in control of project communications, controlling the work performed through the WBS, and managing unpredicted risk events, there would be no scope creep. It is critical to our methodology that our stakeholders understand that premeditated changes in the scope of the project are not the same as scope creep. Projects are unique. By definition we are not exactly sure how to accomplish the goal of the project. Changes in scope are expected. Managed change is a quality-enhancing by-product of a good scope quality strategy.
Communications
Communication Strategy: The project manager will establish themselves as the “post-office” for all official project communications. The project manager will develop a Communication Strategy commensurate with the scope of the project.
Communication is the core of a project manager's job. Negotiations, status reports, conflict resolution, and many more core tasks are fundamentally rooted on the project manager's ability to communicate. What is alarming is how often project manager's are left out of critical communication loops. As a “double-whammy,” with each additional key project team member, the number of possible communication relationships increases dramatically. Exhibit 1 shows the correlation between the quantity of team members and the possibly relationships outside the project manager.
Risk Management Strategy: The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) defines the activities. The project Team will brainstorm on possible risk events, determine probability and impact values and make recommendations. The project sponsor will approve the Risk Management Plan.
Quality in Risk Management comes from the application of an effective tool. It does not come from the mitigation strategies that are outputs of the tool. If separate project teams identified possible Risk Events on the same Risk Activity, they would probably come up with different events, probabilities, impact assessments, and mitigation strategies. The quality is in the fact that the tool produced results that the team accepted. Thus, quality should not attempt to measure the validity of the output from methodology tools yet it should track the use of tools and techniques. This will answer the question,“what steps do we take that will improve our chance of delivering a quality project.”
Exhibit 1
Exhibit 2
Crisis Management Strategy: A crisis is an unidentified risk event. The appropriate resource should resolve the issue. The project manager will then add the unidentified risk event to the Risk Management Plan and conduct a new Risk Analysis with the project team.
Quality Requirements/Measurements Strategy: All requirements must have a Sponsor approved measure that can be used to determine requirement completion and project success.
Funding and Procurement Strategy: Funding needs are discussed by the Project Team to form a Recommendation. The project sponsor approves funding.
Time Strategy: Use MS Project or MS Visio to develop a WBS.
Step 2: Build Your Project Tools and Develop Your Methodology
The next step is to build templates that will be placed into your project tool kit. We will look at a visual representation of accidental vs. disciplined project management and then discuss the outputs from each phase of a project. We will conclude this step with a discussion about the search for ROI.
Accidental vs. Disciplined Project Management
Exhibit 2 contains examples of actions or statements that are representative of the contrasting styles of project management depicted in the accompanying diagrams.
Why does Accidental Project Management (APM) thrive today?
In APM, staff is often seen as responsive go-getters.
In Disciplined Project Management (DPM), staff is often seen as a hindrance to progress.
Consider this quote from Michael Hatfield, PMP, Senior Project Control Engineer and regular columnist for PM Network, in the July PM Network on p. 88 titled, “The Case for Stupid Project Management” in which he says,“With a bit of excuse coordination, dimwitted project managers can very easily deflect responsibility for their random actions.” Implied here is that there is chaos and lack of documented activities. Also,“An ironic twist to doing a project right is that the smart project manager appears stupid … because she tends to surround herself with estimators, schedulers, and project controllers as she sets up the management information systems she needs to actually manage the project.”
Disciplined Project Management Outputs
Phase I Outputs
Scope—This was the first template we built. It was a short two-page Word template that contained nine basic sections to assist the project manager in understanding what they were being asked to coordinate. After spending about two months developing PMO Infrastructure, I was asked to do my first project. I was called into my manager's office and told what he wanted done. I went back to my desk, pulled up the two page scope template, completed it to my understanding, printed it and within 30 minutes walked back into my managers office and asked him to verify the scope. To my pleasant surprise he took a red pen, reviewed it, and marked up all the areas in which my typed words did not accurately reflect what he wanted accomplished. This single event will always stand out as the day our department made a mental commitment to using a methodology to guide the work efforts.
Recurring Project Call—Without question, this is individually our most valued “best-practice.“A strategic project requires a recurring project call. One benefit is it quickly determines if the resources assigned to the project are able to commit to the effort. If any of them reject the meeting requests or simply does not show up to the meetings (or conference calls), we are quick to report to the project sponsor that we are having resource issues which will impact the project's progress. One of the PMO reports I use is a report that shows which projects are missing respective conference call information. I then speak with the project manager to ensure a project call is setup.
Complexity Rating—This is one of our newer tools. We developed 22+ questions which attempt to take a combined “temperature reading” of the core project team including the sponsor.
Reporting Method—All our project information is reported via a PMO website. This check/output ensures that the project manager set up the website with the appropriate links to display live project data as well as any custom static reports.
Initial WBS—Using either MS Project or MS Visio, the project manager is to design the sequencing of tasks, duration, resource assignment, and identify tasks that will benefit from defined quality standards.
Initial Risk Analysis—Use the initial WBS to brainstorm on the possible Risk Events of the various activities.
Communication Strategy—Build a matrix tool that contains every core project team member and key stakeholders. Then analyze each possibly relationship and ask the team, do x and y “work” on something together directly. If the team says “yes,” the project manager must explore what their deliverable(s) are and determine if you need to modify the Project Requirements to include the output. If their relationship is operational based, you may decide to build a process to control their interaction to ensure quality.
Post-Project Resource Requirements—Adding this output to your methodology alone will advance your methodology to a new higher level. Every project by definition creates a unique product or service. Who is going to own, manage, monitor, and/or support that product or service?
Phase II Outputs
Updated WBS—As the project team continues to meet during recurring scheduled project calls, the WBS will become increasingly detailed. At a subjective point agreed upon between the project manager and the Sponsor, this updated WBS will be established as the project baseline by which future performance can be measured against. However, be careful not to confuse the original baseline with the most current baseline. As we have discussed, Scope changes WILL occur. Each time the scope changes, the PM and Sponsor have the opportunity to re-baseline the project.
Updated Risk Analysis—As the WBS changes the Risk Analysis should be executed to determine if new risk events are created and if previous risk events are no longer valid or significantly reduced.
Updated Communication Strategy—As the project plan continues to develop, relationships between team members change. The Communication Strategy tool must be updated constantly with changes in any part of the project plan. Additionally as time progresses, the perception of risk factors and key deliverables often change thus affecting the Communication Strategy and subsequent communication plan.
Custom Subprocesses—This will be in Step 3 in more detail. A project may require certain activities to occur multiple times. These are opportunities to develop documented procedures, templates to control the flow of information, tracking tools to track key milestones and reporting systems to monitor process performance. Processes may be related to project deliverables such as installing 100 servers in 100 different offices or processes may be related to managing changes in the project itself such as adding to the list of offices to install (i.e., scope changes).
Phase III Outputs
Minutes and Issues—During the Execution phase, you are working the plan. Theoretically and in my experience, if a project is planed appropriately (WBS) with all conceivable subprocesses (Change Control) developed, there is an inverse relationship between the amount of work being accomplished by others and the amount of time/work being expended by the project manager. During this stage the primary role of the project manager is to deal with any issues that arise. Minutes and Issues are how we track minor issues. Major issues, although capture in the Minutes and Issues may result in more formal WBS modifications and communications of changes in the baseline.
Subprocess Statistical Control Charts—We build processes for all conceivable events such as adding locations to the scope of the project, removing locations, reporting on various activities, etc. During the Execution phase the project manager is recording the date and time milestones within in all defined processes are achieved. In a grass roots PMO there are typically few automated systems. Thus the project manager would also be reviewing process control charts for alarming trends or obvious violations of any agreed-upon activity time agreements.
Crisis Events—In addition to recording and monitoring the subprocesses, the project manager will make changes to existing subprocesses or create new ones in the event of a crisis event. We define a crisis as an unidentified risk event or an unidentified risk activity. In either case, each time a crisis occurs, the project manager is tasked to take control of the issue. First the project manager will call a special meeting with the core project team and all appropriate resources. These are usually delicate situations and the project manager must skillfully identify the root cause of the issue while avoiding egos or defensive postures. Once the root cause is agreed-upon, the project manager will use the team to ascertain how likely the issue is to reoccur. Depending on the risk propensity of the team, they may decide to modify the WBS, a current process, or create a new subprocess in order to mitigate future occurrences.
Phase IV Outputs
Requirements Acknowledgement - Notice that this is a requirements acknowledgement and not a requirements signoff. We relentlessly strive to define what our project is to deliver in the form of Key Deliverables with objective measures of success. It is rare that we ever fully define the entire Key Deliverables and requirements perfectly during the initial scope building. However, as the project progresses, we constantly refine the Key Deliverables and requirements so that everyone is clear as to what constitutes success. This is not a difficult task but it does require diligence by the project manager and PMO.
Completion Notice—This is a template we designed which notifies the entire project stakeholder community that the project effort is over. The same template can be used to notify the stakeholders of completed, cancelled, and on-hold projects.
Project Survey—See Step 4 for a definition.
Project Manager Survey—See Step 4 for a definition.
Supporting Materials
Project Checklist—We have constructed a simple project checklist with all the outputs described above and other activities that we expect the project manager to deliver and perform on every effort.
Application of project manager Methodology Document— This is what everyone is looking for. Okay, so we have heard everybody talking about the value of project management, theories, and examples. But how do we apply it? Based on the outputs and activities we have discussed, we constructed a simple document in outline format that describes each step the project manager takes in applying our methodology. This document also serves as an orientation document for new project managers.
Project Website—This is probably the most advanced tool in our current PMO structure. After proving the theory, methodology, approach, and tools described above, we gained enough of a reputation to hire a contract web developer. This resource assists us in developing a way to publish all our project plan materials to an intranet. This has two notable benefits. First, it allows us to display information in an organized and accessible method. It facilitates our scope building, brainstorming, and status meetings by allowing us to update materials in real time while project team members watch from anywhere in the world. Second, it provides us with an identity or image. In the same way a nice public website can create the illusion of a large corporation and instill a sense of confidence in the potential customer, our PMO Website has many times received praise, comments, and inquiries from project team members.
ROI—Stop the Insanity
Let me begin this section by clearly stating that I am NOT against Return on Investment as a tool for making sound business decisions. My problem with the search for the ROI of project management is that you cannot benchmark it. Another way to say this is that there is no way to obtain empirical data. This is because the relevant period of time in which the project occurred has a significant impact on the project outcome and can never be repeated (not unless you are holding the patent on time travel). Take for one example the findings of Young H. Kwak and C. William Ibbs in their article,“Calculating Project Management's Return of Investment” which appeared on p. 38 in the Project Management Journal, June 2000 edition, in which they state:
“…There are, admittedly, insufficiencies with this study, for example, the small sample size and lack of statistically significant results. But statistically significant results are difficult to achieve in studies of complex situations, such as project management practices.”
The authors go on to state that,“Despite these insufficiencies, [we] hope that readers and companies will view this study positively and as a step toward better understanding project management's value.”
It is this latter statement that I support. I believe it is self-evident that a consistent, thought-out, and continuously improved approach to accomplishing goals will add value. In order to continue this discussion, I will shift to a real-word analogy. From the early 1980s until the middle of the 1990s, countless research was conducted in order to determine the ROI of the Personal Computer (PC). Finally, organizations conceded that PCs were needed in order to remain competitive. Another way to view this is the fact that many companies switched from categorizing PC expenditures as capital expenses and accepted them into the operational or overhead column. I would imagine that most business innovations go through a similar cycle of introduction, search for value, and finally acceptance as an operational requirement. More examples that come to mind are the fax machine, telephone, and corporate Local and Wide Area Networks. One interesting observation is the fact that all these devices are fundamentally communication tools. Communications is the very core of the value of project management. How much are accurate and fast communications worth? Consider the alternative that would be communicating less accurately and slower than your competition.
Step 3: Develop Your Process Methodology, Standards, and Templates
Project management is fundamentally based on the concepts of process management. Process design, tracking, reporting, review, and continuous improvement are key activities. First, we will examine how process methodology is used to document operational processes and administrative chores. Then, we will explore how process methodology is utilized in the context of a project. We will link the two together by looking at how projects utilize predefined processes (object oriented project planning) and how some operational processes are documented based on project experience (best practices). We will conclude by reviewing departmental efficiency gains we experienced.
Project Custom Processes—Simply defined as any series of repeatable events that are built to meet the project objectives. Very often, these processes equate to your Change Management Strategy and processes to control changes in the project scope. For example, if the project is to deploy servers to all sales sites a process should be developed during the Planning Process that defines how new sites will be introduced to the project, approved by the Sponsor, and tracked and reported by the project manager.
Predefined Operational Processes—By definition, a project creates a new product or service. Therefore, it should be expected that we know less about the activities, outcomes, risks, cost, and time it will take to complete a project in the beginning than towards the end. However, by documenting fully the surrounding business systems processes, you can reduce the number of unknowns in the critical early phases of project planning and increase the chances of a successful project. Your ability to accurately estimate project lead-time requirements will significantly improve.
Real-World Efficiency Gain Example
Our group was asked to apply our project management disciplined approach in an effort to improve the output of a functional area. The functional area was called Platform Services. Platform Services was responsible for ensuring that internal sales staff had a quality supported PC software-image that met all their software requirements.
Our first task was to benchmark the current process/operations. At a high-level we documented 18 handoffs requiring nine process templates accounting for 192 hours of duration vs. 19.25 hours of effort. From these last two values we were able to calculate a 10% effort-to-duration efficiency rating. What is hard to explain is how much we gained in efficiency and effectiveness by the simple yet often painful act of benchmarking. In the four months we spent benchmarking the current way business was being conducted, we uncovered numerous duplicated tasks possibly a result of responsibility ambiguity. In addition, we discovered that quality was undefined as everyone was doing their job in quasi-silos and based on their expert knowledge of what they understood to be their responsibility and quality-standards. Common statements like, “this is a standard we discussed a long time ago…” and “I thought we were supposed to…” are examples of statements that reflect the inefficiencies uncovered during the benchmarking.
Four months later, after numerous review meetings, we are currently operating with 12 handoffs (33% reduction), requiring six templates (33% reduction), accounting for 136.75 hours of duration (29% reduction) vs. 20 hours of effort (4% increase) for a 15% effort-to-duration efficiency rating (5% increase in efficiency). What is interesting and worth explaining is that, while we found ways to reduce the amount of handoffs between resources thus reducing associated lag time and reducing the overall expected duration by 29%, we actually increased the actual effort inside the process by 4%. This increased effort is related to adding specific actions that will mitigate the possibilities of risk events based on the Risk Analysis we performed on the process steps (i.e., WBS).
We are working the latest version of the process which will operate on three handoffs (83% reduction), requiring two templates (78% reduction), accounting for 18.25 hours of duration (90% reduction) vs. 12.75 hours of effort (34% reduction) for a 70% effort-to-duration efficiency rating (60% increase in efficiency).
What is again difficult to point out is that while we are reducing overall duration we are increasing overall quality.“Quality is Cheaper,” exclaimed Mikel Harry, Ph.D., and Richard Schroeder in their 2000 published book titled Six Sigma The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations.While we believe our results support this theory, I feel that it was our belief in the theory that has guided us to achieve our current levels of efficiency and effectiveness.
For an example of this, when we benchmarked the legacy business process there existed a “Sponsor Sign-Off” session where the Sponsor was given the opportunity to review the deliverable. What stood out was the fact that the Sponsor had literally complete authority to accept or reject the deliverable. I anticipate that you may be reading this thinking this seems appropriate. However, I ask for you to consider this contrast. Instead of spending 192 hours of duration and almost 20 hours of effort producing a deliverable that often failed to meet the sponsor's approval, develop a process that delivers a deliverable with quality built-in and not checked for. This is fundamentally the difference between quality control (checking at the end) and quality-assurance (ensuring that each step is completed against quality standards for that step). We have removed the need for Sponsor Acceptance Testing. Instead, we have designed the process to capture the exact sponsor needs during the project request. Then, we have conceded to use each failed iteration as an opportunity to define the quality assurance standards for each step. Do not automatically look at failures as negatives. Approach failures as opportunities to uncover inadequate quality-assurance procedures and commit the resources required in identifying the true source of the issue and developing mitigation strategies to reduce their future occurrence.
Step 4: PMO Methodology and Tools
In this section, we will look at our project portfolio management strategy. Using a system of “slots” we load balance our project managers to promote quality, portfolio flexibility, cross-training opportunities, and ultimately employee retention and customer satisfaction. We will take a detailed look at the metrics and philosophy of our Slot Management Strategy. We will then describe our approach to measuring the project's success and the project manager's success through 360-degree surveys. We will end this section with a description of our professional development efforts.
Slot System
The slot system is a method of assigning slots used against a project manager based on the project's priority and a predefined time commitment.
Priority 1 = 2 Slots
Priority 2 = 1 Slot
Priority 3 = ? Slot
A slot is equal to a two-hour scheduled block of time allocated as described below:
Pre-Call Preparation = 15 Minutes
Time for the project manager to review the project plan, issues, action items, new issues, and simply get in the right “frame-of-mind” to lead the call.
Conference Call = 60 Minutes
Post-Call Follow-Through Activities = 45 Minutes
For example, for normal priority project (2), the project manager would establish a single one-hour weekly recurring project call. However, they would also schedule on their calendar 15 minutes prior to the meeting and 45 minutes after the meeting for them to dedicate to project activities.
For a high-priority (1) project, the project manager would establish two one-hour weekly recurring project calls. They would again schedule on their calendar 15 minutes prior to each of the meeting/call and 45 minutes after each meeting/call.
For a low-priority (3) project, the project manager gives the sponsor the option of having a single call for a 30-minute duration or a one-hour call every other week. They would schedule 15 minutes before and after the call for an average time dedicated of one hour/week either way.
Planning for Optimum Work Levels
My goal is to have 80% of the project manager's time/calendar scheduled with project calls and pre and post call scheduled work time. I also try to avoid having the project manager's schedule calls on Monday or Friday for various reasons. I use Mondays and Fridays to allow unscheduled time to absorb last-minute projects without having to impact other projects. Also, these tend to be popular vacation, holiday, and sick days. By not having scheduled project calls on these two days, we avoid some preventable project disruption/delays.
Based on these best-practices: project manager dedicated pre and post time, mandatory project calls, time commitment based on project priority, no scheduled project calls on Monday or Friday, and planned 80% scheduled project work, we developed the following project load monitoring system.
Goal = 8 Slots (16 hours of scheduled activity)
Max = 10 Slots (20 hours of scheduled activity)
Stress Point = 12 Slots (24 hours of scheduled activity)
From this system, we can quickly, accurately, and nearly effortlessly balance the workload on our project managers.
Surveys
At the end of each project, send the core Project Team a Project Survey and a Project Manager Survey. The Project Survey measures if the project meets the requirements as defined by the predetermined success factors. The Project Manager Survey measures if the project manager displayed the skills in the nine knowledge areas of the PMBOK® Guide. When surveys are returned, the PMO manager reviews privately the Project Manager Survey with the project manager. The Project Survey results are reviewed during a weekly PMO PM Team meeting.
Challenges of Measuring Quality
Be careful not to choose a bad measurement otherwise you will encourage activity that does not have a positive impact on overall quality. Similarly, choosing a set of incomplete measurements will emphasize only part of the activities and behavior that contribute to quality. The typical reality today is that quality is measured after the fact. Why is it so difficult to measure quality? It is because quality is more than defined quantities of activities and tangible reports. Consider this statement by John Sullivan, PMP and founding member of the Dayton/Miami Valley PMI Chapter.
“At the managerial level, project managers act like catalysts in a chemical reaction: they help make things happen without being directly involved—and that's the problem. Because these accomplishments are not visible and don't directly produce a tangible result, many project managers are unable to articulate their contributions above the clerical level.”
Training and Development Program
Once we were able to load-balance our project managers and keep their Fridays open, we established an in-house self-managed two-hour multi-session Learning and Sharing session. This session also becomes a “out-reach” program. I regularly extend invitations to other staff, managers, and departments to join us and participate. I always ensure they are aware there is no pre-req-uisite, no requirements or expectations on them, and they will not be singled out or assigned tasks unless they volunteer.
Article Presentations—Each week two PMO staff, managers, or patrons are assigned to read an article from PM Network.They then deliver a 15-minute report on the article using a standard template.
PM Study—Using a CD-based interactive tutorial ($295), each week we spend 30 minutes studying on some aspect of each of the five overlapping phases of project management as defined in the PMBOK® Guide.
PMP Exam Preparation—Using a CD-based exam preparation tool ($595), each week we spend 30-45 minutes reviewing 40 study questions on each of the nine knowledge areas. Each participant reads the question to the group. The group then discusses openly reasons for the correct or incorrect answer. Incorrect answers are assigned to participants to research and bring back to the group the next time.
Conclusion: Factors that Contributed to Success
In this wrap-up section, we review the factors that were important to the successful implementation described in the article.
One manager's open mind and one project manager's vision—No man is an island and the janitor is as critical to a corporation's success as the CEO. We all have story after story to support these business truisms. Our PMO would not exist today without the support of my manager and many others that accepted the concepts and approach.
Discipline—Project management is common sense applied with uncommon discipline. The one underlying theme I hope I have communicated throughout this paper is that the methodology is almost irrelevant. It is the consistent and disciplined use of a methodology that sets PMOs apart from normal and often times successful departments.
Simple tools—It is not about the tools. It is about the people, the discipline, and the vision to create a center of excellence in application of project management theories. You can give the most advanced software in the world to a child and you will get nothing back. You can give a professional project manager a pencil and paper and he can coordinate the most complex of projects.
Templates—Consistent with the discipline factor, always searching for opportunities to create a template to expedite future request is crucial element of our Continuous Process Improvement philosophy.
Standards—More detailed than templates, standards speak to how decisions are made. How are quality tests run? Templates pass those decisions from party to party in a consistent and expected fashion.
Creativity—Like all the other components, this is critical to the development of not only the PMO but also the staff and eventually then entire company. Always ask why. Always question the standards. Encourage and reward criticism.
Open to feedback—On the coat tails of Creativity, if you are not open to feedback, you will not improve as quickly or as profoundly. Do not be afraid of change but embrace the concept.
PMI’s PMBOK® Guide—It has all the right theories and allows each organization the flexibility to interpret how to apply in practice. Monthly PMI Local Chapter meetings—Excellence means to hear similar, different, and new opinions. Also strengthens the staff bond by providing an out-of-office activity. Participation in PMI SIGs—“The most selfish act I ever did was not for myself.” I have personally gained an incredible amount of knowledge and wisdom through the numerous networking situations I get placed in due to the responsibilities of my volunteer position. The very reason, I wrote this paper could be attributed to my involvement with PMI at the SIG level.
No prior established PM Methodology or PMO—Did not have to challenge an established authority. However, we did have to overcome many individual resistances to a new approach to projects.
Formal PM Training courses—Extremely valuable time to get away from office pressures and let the mind roam in an academic setting. Hearing others’ issues and providing your insight to how you solved your issues provides a great sharing session. It made me realize how far we had come and how far we had to go.
Listening to cultural language and focus—Having our ear to the ground. We were always looking for opportunities to inject our PMO or PM methodology. However, we also were very cautious not to push it. Whenever we sensed resistance, we would retract into our shells and focus on our responsibilities.
Offering our resources for consulting efforts—Similar to looking for opportunities to influence other areas we were willing to offer our resources to either lead projects for others, help others to develop operational processes for their department, or simply provide a consultant ear and advice.
Focusing on building processes/projects from customer's perspective—A common trap most of us fall in is to design business system processes that reflect our current resource situation. This is the best way to never improve. It is absolutely critical that we design business system processes the way that is the most efficient and effective for that directly impacts our customer. Only then should we make the decision to cut back on the resource requirements given current constraints. This way, the business is making educated decisions between cost and quality.
Authority over some functional areas (proving grounds)—Similar to what was mentioned in previous sections, we had a functional responsibility outside of project management. This gave us complete freedom to enact any methodology or procedures we wanted within our area of responsibility. This proved to be invaluable as it gave us the ability to test-drive new tools and concepts. At the same time it served for a shelter when resistance was high while not causing us to reduce staff.