The PIECES framework for solving problem

Where do the project ideas come from? The answer is they come from some of the problems, opportunities and directives. The short definition of problem, opportunity and directive defined for an organization is given below :

Problem: An undesirable situation that prevents the organization from fully achieving its goals or objectives

Opportunity: A chance to improve the organization even in the absence of the identified problems

Directives: A new requirement that is imposed by the management, government and/or external influences

So while working on the projects, various problems arise that cannot be predicted. But if we follow some framework, it becomes easier to solve the problems. One of the frameworks developed by the James Wetherbe is known as PIECES, where each of the letters represent a category. We have six categories in this framework which are enlisted below:

• P : the need to correct or improve the ‘Performance’
• I : the need to correct or improve the ‘Information (and data)’
• E : the need to correct or improve the ‘economics, control costs or profits’
• C : the need to correct or improve ‘control or security’
• E : the need to correct or improve ‘efficiency of people and process’
• S : the need to correct or improve ‘service to customers, suppliers, partners, employees and so on’

The categories mentioned above may overlap. Some problems arise in such a way that their solution may fall on one or all of the categories. So The problem must be identified and solved as per requirement.