Review and Approval Process -An Operation Development Project at ABB FACTS R&D

Abstract: ABB is a global leader in Power and Automation Technologies. This Theses Work has been carried out at ABB FACTS R&D Department in Västerås. ABB FACTS intend to develop new Product Platforms that is partly accomplished with new methods and processes. This Master Thesis concerns the development of a generic Review and Approval Process for these R&D Projects. The development of the generic Review and Approval process is mostly founded on several interviews of employees at ABB FACTS. The respondents are employees from several departments with different amount of experiences and background. In addition to the interviews a Literature Study focused on Roles and Responsibilities, Document Management and R&D Processes was performed. Information in connection to the problem statements concerning Responsibility- and Project Roles in R&D projects and Review and Approval Execution was collected and analyzed during the project. Information regarding how to demonstrate Roles and Responsibilities in relation to the project participants was also considered. The result of this project consists of a Responsibility Chart where all R&D Project related Document Types are listed in relation to the defined Project Roles. This Responsibility Chart also display what responsibility every Project Role has regarding review and approval related to the Document Types. Besides the Responsibility Chart also other objects were developed, such as a Review Record, a Process Description and a User Guide. The above mentioned results are developed in close cooperation with several R&D Project Managers. Furthermore the expectations are that the developed result will be taken in usage and thereby continuously be revised and improved in order to suit the organization to maximum extent.