Progressing is the amount of work that has been completed for a specific work package or cost account. Progress reporting plays a role in a number of Newport News Shipbuilding processes, including financial reporting, invoicing and budgeting for future contracts.

Given the importance of progress reporting, the Work Completion and Progressing Team works to ensure alignment between the work performed and the progress reported.

“We’re an in-house auditing group that helps to provide quality controls prior to the Navy coming in and performing audits,” said Mark Kolesha, a K91 quality analyst.

As the team assesses work completion and progressing, it finds opportunities to provide additional guidance and develop additional procedures to aid in continued learning at the foreman level. To help build awareness, the team developed a rotation program for foremen. The four-day program brings cohorts of four foremen to work one-on-one with quality analysts both in the office and on the deckplate to learn more about progress reporting. In turn, the foremen share insights from their areas with the quality analysts.

“It’s really a back and forth. We want to have the foremen walk in our shoes, and then we want to walk in their shoes to understand how they approach their mission so everyone is on the same page,” Kolesha said.

The foremen in the rotation – selected by Trades management – are considered deckplate influencers. At the end of the rotation, the foremen participate in an out-brief with Trades management to share takeaways. The Work Completion and Progressing Team also updates the program based off feedback.

“They’re here to solve issues and help make the shipyard better as a whole, including our trades,” said Jacob Puttock, an X42 foreman on Enterprise (CVN 80) who recently participated in the program. “I enjoyed the experience. I think that every supervisor should go through this to see how quality audits are done and get a general picture of where we can get better in the shipyard.”

Porsha Wilkerson, who manages the Work Completion and Progressing Team, said she has been pleased by how much foremen and Trades leadership seem to enjoy the program. “It seems like everyone is speaking positively about it and benefiting from the program,” she said.