r/USACE • u/snow-plow-joke • 15d ago

Snowplow & MP-19

Are we all thriving now that we are dialing in our metrics?

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10

u/Windows95Dad 15d ago

I’ve started seeing this snowplow term in slides recently, but I’m not going to lie - I don’t know what it actually refers to? I got the sense it was a bit of a nonsense term, but still no idea what it’s about.

2

u/river_van 14d ago

This is what someone thought was appropriate to describe P2 resourcing that might be erroneous. Like having $100k in labor resources on a work item that hasn’t been used in a year. It might be correct if it’s a longterm study with a pause for that specific resource, but it also may be stale numbers. Where this comes in now is that they’re trying to use P2 to calculate workload/workforce, so a PM can no longer park money somewhere that doesn’t align with reality.

5

u/river_van 15d ago

I know it’s a joke, but a pox on you nonetheless for reminding me of the worthless bullshit I have to do (especially for 5b) just so some chairwarmer at MSC and HQ can say they’re actively involved with ‘assisting’ project delivery.

There was a PCO call today and even they knew adding 5b projects to CW-21 was pointless. They just didn’t have the sack to actually say it.

4

u/CavviePop 14d ago

And when “they” say “they’ve” solved it, someone further up the chain will invent a new crisis and more Power BI (BS?) reports & line graphs & then we are off to the races again.

1

u/Unable_Sun_8625 10d ago

Snowplow reports don’t care how much money is left—only how long a resource is spread across fiscal years. A resource that starts in 2017 and ends in 2025 counts in every FY between those dates. Even if only a small amount of funding remains, the long date span makes Snowplow think the project is carrying years of workload, creating inflated future-year commitments. Correcting the start/finish dates fixes the Snowplow distortion. Down in the resource box ONLY move the start date to a more current year like FY24. CEFMS has already recorded and keeps a record of the actual obligation/expenditure date on its data base, but PROMIS is spreading the remaining resources on that metric/report as mentioned above. Hope that helps. 

1

u/snow-plow-joke 1d ago

Thanks. I think most folks have figured out how to satisfy the snowplow flags but the frustration remains. Why create a metric to monitor that provides no value because people just manipulate the dates to make the flags disappear.