Mission Development where products and services are identified and matched with customers, and mission statements are developed.

Metric Refinement during which the critical parameters to achieve the mission statement are categorized; the measurement methodology is developed; and the data necessary to establish the baseline is collected.

Validation where metric quality is verified and final management concurrence is obtained, and goals are negotiated and established with management.

Assessment where metrics are monitored to ensure continuous improvement .

The most important phase is Metric Refinement during which at least one measurement is identified for quality, customer satisfaction, cost, schedule, productivity, professional development, process improvements, and lost time/overtime. These metrics are meaningful to the customer, drive the team to continuously improve, show trends and are clearly defined, are consistent, show a cause and effect relationship with the Mission Statement, and are timely, economical, and feasible to collect. It is also at this stage where data is aggregated and disseminated in summary reports.

The MDP puts a premium on quality, customer satisfaction, and the continuous improvement of overall team performance. This is best achieved if the customer focus is key, the Mission Statement is carefully developed, measurement takes place where improvement has value, and metric review and modification is ongoing.

Lockheed Martin E&M cited numerous benefits derived from the MDP such as improved customer satisfaction, greater inventory accuracy, better documentation compliance, increased equipment uptime, and more timely critical preventive maintenance.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.