INTRODUCTION
The management of
most of major Projects is generally contracted out by owners to organizations
having expertise in the field. With this in view, owner satisfaction becomes an
important criterion for the project management team. The management team focuses on the following five major components leading to the owner satisfaction:
1.
Scope
2.
Time
3.
Cost
4.
Quality and
5.
Performance
1.
Project Scope
Project scope describes the work required to deliver the product or service with
the intended requirements to the satisfaction of owner. It describes the intended quality,
features, and functions of a product or a service often in minute detail. Every
project produces a unique product that is either a tangible item or service.
Project owners usually have some expectations about the features and functions
of products which are detailed out in the project scope document. Documents
that outline this information are generally called product specifications. A
service or event usually has some expected features as well.
A Scope document identifies the requirements to achieve the
defined end results. The document is expected to define what the project is
supposed to accomplish, and a specific description of the end result expected
be accomplished. A major component of scope is the quality and performance of
the end product.
The scope document is meant to ensure that
everyone on the project team understands what is expected of them during the
execution of the project. In addition, all work that can be reasonably
predicted must be ascertained and reported in the document. Suitable scope
definition is essential for the success of the project and needs to be given
due consideration and thought.
The scope and
objectives are always project specific. Most of the major projects do have common features on the scope
document which is generally broken down under the following Sections:
1) Project Description
2) Project Controls
3) Engineering that includes
a) Process
b) Mechanical
c) Piping
d) Civil & Structural
e) Electrical
f) Automation/Instrumentation & Controls
g) Telecommunications
4) Procurement
5) Environmental &
Regulatory
6) Construction Logistics
7) Operations &
Maintenance
A
description of the above follows:
1.1
Project Description
Typically this section
contains:
1) A detailed description of the project
2) Project Location Details
3) Project Units
4) Facilities
5) Accommodation requirements (permanent)
6) Construction Camps
7) General infrastructure
8) Power Generation
9) Waste Disposal
10) Warehouse & Storage
requirements
11) Other project specific items
1.2
Project
Controls:
The Project Controls include:
1) Preparation of Cost Estimate at different stages
2) Preparation
of DBM (Design Basis Memorandum)
3) Prepartion of Project schedules through initial stages to start-up and commissioning
4) Progress
Reports
5) Progress
Evaluation Reports
6) Man-hour forecast and consumption Reports
1.3
Engineering:
Engineering for any project. Engineering is
sub-divided into the following major disciplines:
a) Process
b) Mechanical
c) Piping
d) Civil & Structural
e) Electrical
f) Automation/Instrumentation & Controls
g) Telecommunications
Process
The process development for a project
includes:
a) Process Description
b) Process Studies to be done during the course of project execution
c) Process Models to be prepared and tested during the course of project
execution
d) Process Deliverables. This section details out the process deliverables,
though this list is project specific, but typically contains:
e) PFDs (Process Flow Diagrams)
f)
Heat and material balances
g) Utility load lists
h) Line list
i)
Design philosophy
j)
Tank schedule with basis of usage,
volume and time between refills
k) Expected Fuel Consumptions during the operation phase
l)
A list of chemicals with estimated
quantities required during the operation phase.
m) P & IDs
n) Initial start-up and black-start philosophies
o) Safety and operability analyses
p) HAZOP analysis
q) Flow assurance and mitigations plans
r)
Systems Criticality list
Mechanical:
This section represents the mechanical
details of the project and includes:
1)
A description of Mechanical Equipment
2)
Mechanical Studies to be done during
the course of project execution. Some typical studies include:
3)
RAM (Reliability Availability and
Maintainability) study
4)
Vessel location study
5)
Vessel design code optimization Study
6)
Inlet piping design coding study
7)
Noise Study
8)
Refrigeration compressor driver
selection Study
9)
Gas compression selection Study
10)
Equipment design temperature study
11)
Mechanical Deliverables
12)
The Mechanical Deliverables are
project specific and include:
13)
Mechanical equipment list
14)
Mechanical equipment data sheets
15)
Identification of Long Lead Equipment
16)
Stress analysis
17)
Material selection diagrams
18)
Piping Specifications
19)
Heating Ventilation and Air
Conditioning design philosophy & Calculations
20)
Equipment Requisitions & Tender
documents for Long Lead & Critical Equipment
21)
Utility supply plan
Piping
This section represents the Piping
details of the project and includes:
1)
A description of Piping Network
2)
Plot Plan
3)
3D PDS generated model
4)
Smart P&IDs
5)
Site plan
6)
Construction Site Plan
7)
Facility Egress and Access Plan
Civil & Structural
This section describes the civil &
structural items and includes:
1)
Civil & Structural Studies to be
done during the course of project execution. These are project specific.
2)
Civil & Structural Deliverables.
Again these are project specific and may include items like:
a) Basis of Civil & Structural Design
b) Soil and geotechnical evaluation
c) Site location plan
d) Site grading plan
e) Foundation design and drawings
f)
Structural design methodology
g) PDS Framework
h) List of Buildings
i)
Building layouts
Electrical
This section describes the Electrical
Engineering items and includes:
1)
Electrical Studies:
2)
Though most of the project studies are
led by other disciplines, but these need input from the electrical department.
3)
Electrical Deliverables generally
include:
a) Preparation of electrical specifications
b) Critical single line diagrams
c) Equipment interface philosophy
d) Area classification drawings
e) Electrical load list
f)
Electrical equipment list
g) Electrical data sheets
h) Electrical design basis
i)
MCC building layouts
j)
Emergency power system design basis
k) Packaged Cable routing study
l)
Construction Plan for Power
Automation/Instrumentation & Control
Instrumentation and Controls
Deliverables include:
1)
Communication study
2)
Field Bus Study
3)
Common control center study
4)
Instrumentation and controls equipment
specifications
5)
Controls philosophy/measurement
philosophy
6)
Instrument index/ I/O list / specialty
valve list
7)
Instrument data sheets (in-line
instruments and specialty items only)
8)
SIL philosophy
9)
Control room location and layout
10)
Preliminary ESD and PSD keys
11)
Long lead items list
12)
Constructability review
13)
Preliminary design risk assessment
14)
PCS and PSS equipment lists
15)
Control system architecture and layout
16)
Process operations surveillance system
17)
Security functional requirements
documents
Telecommunications
1)
Telecommunications philosophy
2)
Communications scope of work and
interface matrix
3)
Communications equipment specifications
4)
Communications equipment lists
5)
Communications block diagrams
6)
Communications block diagram
1.4 Procurement
Procurement supports the
following:
1)
Procurement Plan
2)
Contracting Plan
3)
List of Purchase Orders
4)
List of Contracts & Sub-Contracts
1.5
Environment and Regulatory
Environmental and Regulatory
supports the project with the regulatory process including:
1)
Regulatory application support
2)
Update the waste management plan
3)
Prepare a spill containment plan
4)
Noise survey
5)
Support to Community Consultation
6)
Emissions inventory and monitoring requirements
7)
Spill containment plan
8)
Environmental evaluation of winter construction and
logistics
9)
Input and support to Operations and Maintenance
10)
Regulatory Compliance Plan
1.6 Construction Logistics
This section provides
construction planning and logistic support including:
1)
Modularization study (supported by
Mechanical/Piping)
2)
Gravel placement methodology and cost (work with
Civil)
3)
Advance emergency preparation/response plan
4)
Testing and pre-commissioning plan
5)
Construction Execution plan
6)
Construction/fabrication quality surveillance plan
7)
Lead Constructability reviews and prepare reports
as part of model review
8)
Logistics scope definition
9)
Infrastructure support
10)
Geotechnical winter work program
11)
Construction Demobilization Plan
12)
Construction Plot Plan
13)
Plan for Communications During Construction
1.7
Operations & Maintenance
This section
provides the a plan for operations & Maintenance
2.
Time Component
2.1
Introduction
Every
project has to have a start date and an end date as no project can be expected
to continue indefinitely. Every project has some element of a time constraint and most major projects also
have many well-defined milestones to be met. As an example a project may have
the following contractual milestones:
1) Completion date Basic
Engineering
2) Ordering of Major Equipment
3) Substantial completion of
detailed engineering
4) Start of Construction work
5) Mechanical Completion
6) Project commissioning
7) Handing over
While
developing the project schedules, time required to complete each and every
activity is estimated. Depending on the interrelations and dependencies, the
time required to complete a task on the Work Breakdown Structure is estimated.
Through the scheduling techniques, project activities are prioritized, critical
paths are identified and the dependencies between activities are re-worked and
the resource requirements are estimated.
The schedules are rolled up using the schedule networking techniques to
arrive at the project milestones.
Schedule management
is a critically important skill for any successful project manager. It
is observed that the Project Managers who succeed in meeting their
project schedule have a good chance of staying within their project budget. One
of the common causes of budget over-runs is the lack of proper
schedule management.
2.2
Project
Schedules
Project
schedule is simply a graphical illustration of a project’s execution
plan. It organizes the activities and tasks into a fixed
time frame taking into account the inter-dependencies among each other. Each
task and activity is allotted a completion time duration. The schedule
represents the project plan and is vigorously monitored to ensure that work is
being performed within the allotted time frame.
The project schedule is
the core of the project plan and is used by the project manager to commit
people to the project. Schedules are also used to communicate final
deadlines and to determine the resource needs and serve as a checklist to
make sure that every task necessary is performed.
Project
Schedule is an invaluable tool for organizing, evaluating, and forecasting how
a project is to be executed and provides project team members with an understanding
of the interrelationships between activities and serves as a vehicle for
achieving buy-in from all of the team members. Each team member has a role and
commitment for meeting the objective. Its greatest value is its ability to
identify the Critical Path i.e. those tasks, activities, and duration that
dictate the overall duration of the project. As problems arise, the schedule
can be used to evaluate alternative paths for achieving success. The
schedule can provide guidance in identifying problems early in a project.
If, for instance, a project activity was scheduled for three months, and in the
first month only twenty percent of the task was completed, the team can
entertain methods to recover the lost time.
There
are numerous methods and paths of achieving the project goals; the project
schedule illustrates one such method for achieving the stated objective
within the required time frame. There could be many other execution plans
that can result in a successful project but different plans result in changes
in duration, cost and quality of the project.
3.
Cost
Component
3.1
Introduction
Every project has to have a
budget and it is one of the critical responsibilities of the project manager to
ensure that the project cost remains within the pre-assigned budget and
preferably remains under-run. Budget over-runs always reflect very poorly
on the management team. This is where the cost control system comes to the
rescue of project manager.
Project cost has a broader
meaning and includes all of the resources that are required to complete the
project. It includes the people, the machinery and equipment that do the work,
the materials they use, and all of the other events and issues that have a
monetary impact or need someone’s attention in the project. The project
cost may have the following components which need to be monitored and controlled:
1)
Home-office man-hour cost
2)
Home-office overheads
3)
Bulk material costs
4)
Equipment costs
5)
Construction direct labor costs
6)
Construction material costs
7)
Contractor costs
8)
Indirect costs
9)
Other misc. costs
3.2
COST CONTROL
Project cost control is comparing
actual and committed project cost against the control cost or the budget. It is
refers to knowing exactly what is committed, what remains to be committed,
what is incurred, invoiced, approved for payment, paid and analyzing the
variance. This makes cost control very critical to the success of a project. No
major project is initiated without first establishing an effective cost control
system. When it comes to project management, cost control can make or break a
project’s budget. Cost control can best be achieved by setting up a budget
which is consistent with plans for actual spending. Another important aspect of
cost control involves collecting the actual and committed cost and preparing
and analyzing reports for the cost management.
COST CONTROL PROCESS
The
approved budget estimate is categorized into the Cost Code of Accounts and
loaded into the project cost system. This serves as the control budget. Actual
costs are continuously recorded in the cost system from accounting
transactions. Cost reports will be generated by cost code for the total
project. By using this system, a budget versus actual expended comparison is
made by account.
Deviations
are identified and project management alerted so that timely corrective action
may be taken.
The Cost Control Process involves
the following steps:
1)
Budget Finalization
2)
Cost Control Tools
3)
Cost Coding & Loading
4)
Cost Capture
5)
Cost Schedule Relationship
6)
Change Management
7)
Data Evaluation
8)
Risk Analyses
9)
Forecasting
10)
Contingency Management
11)
Cash Flow
12) Cost
Reporting
These topics will be discussed in
detail in other blogs.
4.
Quality Component
4.1
Introduction
Quality is a measure of fitness
for use and represents meeting or exceeding the needs and expectations
throughout the life-cycle of the project or what-ever is being delivered. The
items being delivered may include the designs, drawings, equipment or the complete
plant.
Quality is an important aspect of
Project Management. Every major project has to have systems in place for proper
quality management. Quality Management is the management of systems and
procedures that determine the quality policies, objectives, and
responsibilities so that project outputs are delivered fit-for-purpose. The purpose of a project Quality Management Plan is to define the
overall quality philosophy for the Project, the organization and
responsibilities for achieving the desired quality, and the general quality
management activities to be performed.
It addresses the quality requirements for Engineering, Procurement,
Construction, sub-contracts and related project management activities.
The quality requirements for a project apply to:
1) Project Management
2) Project Controls
3) Engineering
4) Procurement
5) Project Administration
6) Objectives
4.2
Quality Evaluation
From the project point of view, the quality is judged on the
following criteria:
1) Meeting the project schedule
and targets
2) Project completion within the
Budget
3) Meeting the product
specifications
4) Operational suitability
5) Proper and accurate
documentation
6) Compliance with standards
7) Acceptable maintenance costs
4.3
Quality Plan
All major projects have a Project Quality Management Plan, the
purpose of this plan is to define the overall quality philosophy for the
Project; the organization and responsibilities for achieving quality; and the
general quality management activities to be performed by the project team.
Quality
Management Plan will be discussed in future blogs.
5.
Project Performance Component
Successful project managers
control projects by carefully monitoring, measuring, and managing the project
performance. Usually performance is measured in the fundamental areas of budget
and schedule, but the performance of major projects includes areas like
project’s scope, quality and owner satisfaction along with schedule and budget.
Performance Evaluation
Once the monitoring (also known as measuring) is
done, it is essential to evaluate and analyze the data so collected. Given
below are some of the areas of analyses:
1)
Progress evaluation
2)
Progress Performance Reports
3)
Monitoring the current status of project against
the base line schedule
4)
Monitoring the current status of project against
the base line cost estimates
5)
Establishment of Critical Path
6)
Forecasting project milestone completion targets
7)
Forecasting cost to complete each unit
8)
Estimation of progress performance
9)
Estimation of project productivity figures
10)
Identifying trends and change orders
11)
Identification of critical activities likely to
impact the project
12)
Evaluation of schedule and cost risks
13) Forecasting
final project completion schedule and cost
Project
Performance will be discussed in detail at a later stage.
