Technical Project Planning (TPP) Process
The four-phase TPP process improves planning activities associated with hazardous, toxic, and radioactive waste (HTRW) site cleanup.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) developed the Technical Project Planning (TPP) process to improve planning activities associated with hazardous, toxic, and radioactive waste (HTRW) site cleanup. The TPP process is an example of a systematic planning process that involves four different phases of planning activities. The intent is for the TPP process to be initiated at the start of activities associated with a HTRW site, and continue through the life-cycle of cleanup. The expectation is that the application of the TPP process will ensure that the requisite type, quality, and quantity of information are obtained to satisfy project objectives.
The four phases of the USACE TPP process are as follows:
- Phase I: Identify Current Project. In this phase, a team information package is prepared, a site approach identified, and the current project defined. The team information package includes information on the multi-disciplinary TPP project team members, the customer's concept of site closeout, the customer's schedule and budget requirements, and all existing site information (including correspondences, data, and reports). The site approach captures the overall strategy for taking the site from its current state to closeout. An initial CSM is part of the site approach. The current project provides a more detailed description of what initial project actions need to be taken as part of the overall site approach. Included with this is an acquisition strategy that will allow the balance of the TPP activities to be performed.
- Phase II: Determine Data Needs. The purpose of Phase II is to ensure that all of the data required to meet the project objectives are identified. This includes data that one would obtain from laboratory analyses, and also contextual information (e.g., drawings, meteorological data, utility locations, etc.) that is important to project success. Part of the data needs definition process is determining for individual decisions whether data will be used in a "weight-of-evidence" mode, or whether data need to be collected and analyzed in a fashion that supports statistical analyses. Depending on the answer to this question, the data needs analysis also addresses the quantity and type of information that will be required. The results of this analysis are captured in data needs documentation.
- Phase III: Develop Data Collection Options. In the third phase of the TPP process, the sampling and analysis approach is identified, and data collection options are developed and documented. The TPP specifically encourages project teams to consider the use of dynamic work strategies and real-time measurement technologies as an option for meeting the data needs identified in Phase II of the process. When developing data collection options, the TPP process suggests that team members classify options as either basic, optimum, or excessive. Basic data collection refers to bare-bones data that will meet immediate project objectives. Optimum refers to data collection that will not only satisfy immediate needs, but also better position the project to address future requirements. The excessive category includes options that go beyond the known immediate data requirements of the project, as well as any that could be reasonably expected in the future. The results of this analysis are captured in data collection options documentation.
- Phase IV: Finalize Data Collection Program. The last step of the TPP process finalizes the required data collection program. This includes producing Data Quality Objectives statements based on the first three phases of the TPP process, communicating the results of the process with the customer and other stakeholders as appropriate, and preparing a scope of work.
