Full Resources For Webinar Attendees PDF

Resources for Webinar Attendees
April 2019 Webcast

The Best Planning & Scheduling Approaches
For Engineering Schedules

Resources for April 2019 Webinar Attendees
Greetings,
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accreditations.
2. A PDF copy of the webinar slides on “The Best Planning & Scheduling Approaches
For Engineering Schedules.”
3. Free learning resources for extra study and practice.
4. Special offer for webinar attendees
We are doing our best to keep holding monthly live webcasts with industry thought leaders
and experts in Project Controls.
I look forward to seeing you in the next webcast.
To your success,
Shohreh Ghorbani
Founder & Director, Project Control Academy
www.projectcontrolacademy.com
Support@ProjectControlAcademy.com

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PROJECT CONTROL ACADEMY
The Best Planning & Scheduling
Approaches For Engineering Schedules
PRESENTED BY: THE BEST PLANNING &

Mark C. Sanders SCHEDULING APPROACHES FOR
PE CCP CFCC PSP PMP PFMP
ENGINEERING SCHEDULES
Copy Right © Project Control Academy. All rights reserved Presented by: Mark Sanders

Toward the End of the Webcast You’ll Get ….
2 Copy Right © Project Control Academy. All rights reserved Presented by: Mark Sanders

INTRODUCTIONS

Shohreh Ghorbani
  Founder & Director, Project Control Academy

  Creator of the following training programs:
¤  Applied Project Controls Training

¤  Essentials of Earned Value Management
¤  Mastering EVM for Project Success
¤  Project Scheduling Blueprint
¤  Project Control Career Success Roadmap
  Served thousands of professionals worldwide

to take their project controls skills to the next
level.

Mark Sanders
  Director of Projects, Alpha 3 Consulting, LLC

  20 years of experience as an engineer and manager of
infrastructure projects with a focus in electric utility,
power generation, and transportation.
¤  Engineering, EPC, construction management

¤  Project portfolio and business management
  Committee member and contributor to the AACE

International and ASCE guidelines on forensic schedule
analysis.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN
THE NEXT 1.5 HOURS….

Engineering Time Management Outline
  Problem Statement
  Available Approaches
  Recommended Approach
  Planning Process
Statusing Process
  Summary and Takeaways
  Special Offer For Webinar Attendees
  Q&As

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Problem Statement
What questions should we be asking?
  Engineering
¤  The profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and natural
sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with
judgment to develop ways to utilize economically the materials and forces
of nature for the benefit of mankind
•  Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)

Problem Statement
Understanding What We’re Trying to Manage
  Selected Skills for ABET-Accredited Engineering Programs

¤  Apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
¤  Identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
¤  Design and conduct experiments, analyze, and interpret data
¤  Function on multi-disciplinary teams
¤  Communicate effectively
¤  Commit to quality, timeliness, and continuous improvement

Problem Statement
What Skills Do the Responsible Managers Need?
  Cost Engineer
¤  An engineer whose judgment and experience are utilized in the
application of scientific principles and techniques to problems of
estimation; cost control; business planning and management science;
profitability analysis; project management; and planning and scheduling
•  AACE International, RP 10S-90

Problem Statement
How do we best manage time as it relates to planning,

scheduling, and monitoring engineering activities?
  What are we doing now?

  Why?
  Can our practices be incrementally improved?
  Should we take a completely different approach?

AVAILABLE APPROACHES

Available Approaches
Network Analysis Techniques:

  CPM   PERT
  CCPM   GERT
  GPM   SPERT
  SQERT
¤  Not, it’s not network analysis.
¤  Yes, it’s a real PM technique.

More detailed planning or more dynamic planning

techniques:
  Waterfall
  Lean
  Agile

Other ideas?
  Crystal Ball
  Magic Spells
  Time Machine

Disruption v. Continuous Improvement
  In significant engineering and construction projects, there

is a very high probability that time management ultimately
needs to be integrated with a CPM schedule.
  How do we do it and do it well?

RECOMMENDED APPROACH

Recommended Approach
Activity Definition—When does an activity begin,

and when does it end? Piping Design
  Activities are
¤  Part of an iterative process
¤  Within the creation of a deliverable
¤  Discrete start and end points can be hard to define
¡  KOM, information receipt
Piping Design
¡  Consider, reason, pencil-to-paper

Activity Relationships—Can we define activities and hand-offs

discretely and completely?
Piping Design
Piping Stress Analysis
Piping Design

Activity Relationships—Can we define activities and hand-offs

discretely and completely?
Piping Design

Recall that we are making a plan to identify, formulate, and

solve engineering problems.
  If we knew all the steps to take, we would know the solution.

  Sometimes that’s true, and we just need to detail the
solution.
  Most of the time, we don’t know every step at the beginning.

How do we model engineering activities and their interface

to the project?
  The output from one activity may lead us to define the

next activity
¤  CPM doesn’t do If-Then-Else
  Unknown number of iterations or revisions

¤  CPM doesn’t . . . Do while . . . Until

Focus on key interface dates and status/re-plan to achieve or

shift
  Issues Design Activity

¤  IFR, Rev. A, B, C, etc.
¤  IFC, Rev. 0, 1, 2, etc. Construction Activity
  Approvals
  Contingency

Consider your design sequence activities:

Inputs
  Desired/Required Inputs
  Design Process Design Activity
  Expected/Required Outputs
IFR

Design Activity

Calc/Report
Design

Calc/Report
Design
Discipline Coord.

Calc/Report
Design
Discipline Coord.
Internal Review

Calc/Report This level of detail may be

inefficient, frustrate team
Design members, and give poor results.
Discipline Coord.
Review
A schedule with fewer activities Revise

may be more effective, as long
as scope is understood. Approve IFR
Control/Print

Expected
Finish
Inputs IFR
Design Review Contingency
Expected
Finish
Inputs Internal IFR Client IFC

Design Review Review Contingency

Identify expected/required outputs and manage to interface

dates:
  Development of drawing/deliverables list

  Determination of design packages
  IFR/IFC Dates for design packages
  Client review responsibilities and activities

PLANNING PROCESS

Planning Process
  Required Inputs ¡  Scope

¡  Develop RFP
¤  Identification ¡  Solicit bids
¤  Request (Procurement predecessors) ¡  (External parties) develop bids
¡  Review bids (technical/commercial)
¤  (External parties) develop/provide
¡  Recommend award
¤  Receive ¡  Conform/negotiate contract
¤  Review ¡  Execute purchase order
¤  Revise/Conform

Planning Process
  Design Process
¤  Engineering/design development
¤  Internal review
¤  Revision/Resolution of internal comments
¤  Internal review of revisions
¤  Internal approval
¤  Printing/document control/electronic transmittal

Planning Process
  Outputs and Approvals

¤  IFR Milestone
¤  Client review
¤  Review client comments
¤  Revise/conform/negotiate changes
¤  Internal review Iterate Prior Design Process
¤  Internal approval Details?
¤  Printing/document control/electronic transmittal
¤  IFC

Planning Process
Recommendations
  Understand your processes

  Identify outputs
  Identify key transmittal/approvals
  Include a simplified design process model in the schedule
¤  Team needs to determine the appropriate level of detail
¤  Team needs to understand what is included in each activity scope

STATUSING PROCESS

Statusing Process
Design with the end in mind.
  Every activity you create will need to be statused

¤  CPM schedules produce a lot of “bad” information if not properly
maintained
  Perception of influence on the time management process
¤  Constant requests for status updates creates a “lack of agency”
¤  Understanding/endorsing the concept of dynamic scheduling
¤  “I gave one status, but the schedule says something else.”

Statusing Process
Frustrations with existing processes:
  General inefficiency of reporting

¤  Schedule update handouts/e-mails/webforms
¤  Meetings
  Pros and cons of percent complete

¤  What do the numbers actually mean?
¤  “Rules of Credit” concepts

Statusing Process
Frustrations with existing processes:
  Pros and cons of remaining duration to forecast dates

¤  Big drawing sets
¤  Model generated drawings and integrated design teams
¤  Are measuring the right things?
  We really want to know:

¤  Whether we are going to achieve the planned issue date.

Statusing Process
Are we going to achieve the planned issue date?
  If so, how?
  If not, what do we need to achieve it?
¤  Is it feasible to get what we need? Or does the date have to slip?
¤  Any milestone contingency?
¤  Focus on required inputs, which are almost never 100% available when
planned
¡  Address during planning and early in statusing
¡  Maintain rights, but avoid planned excuses

SUMMARY AND TAKEAWAYS

Summary and Takeaways
Key points:
  Engineering and design involve creative problem solving,

and detailed steps are often defined during work.
¤  Activities are interrelated and iterative, and these qualities are not well
supported by CPM, but more complex models are not a preferred
solution.
  We can overcome the challenges with intelligent application
of the processes that we use to manage engineering work.

STAR
  Stop   Act
¤  What is your current process? ¤  Introduce the process.
¤  Is it working? ¤  Then implement.
  Think   Review
¤  Tailor this approach for your ¤  Track achievement of planned
organization and design process. dates.
¤  Simplify as much as possible. ¤  Dig into reasons for any misses.
¤  Develop trust.

Additional high-level takeaways
  Engineering process activities starter list

  Minimum CPM quality guidance
  Simple checklist: What the client wants from the EPC
  Concepts from Integrated Project Controls for Megaprojects

Download Webinar Resources & Slides….
Click on the link in the yellow sticky note above the chat box to
download

THE BIG FRUSTRATIONS & CHALLENGES IN

Project Planning & Scheduling

Frustration & Challenges
  Planning & Scheduling is NOT an easy task.

¤  It requires your deep understanding of Planning/Scheduling foundations
¤  It requires your understanding of the deliverables, logic, and expected
cycles of progress
¤  It requires good analytical skills to understand the root cause of delays
¤  It requires good communication skills
¤  It requires competency in a scheduling software
¤  And much more….
Yet it is usually an unappreciated effort!

Shohreh Ghorbani

  Project Schedule & Cost are NOT fully integrated.

¤  Cost is managed separately from the schedule.
¤  Disparate systems are used. Scheduling in done one tool, while cost cost
management in performed in other tools. The tools are not integrated,
and the data are not talking to one another.
¤  Planners, Schedulers, and cost professionals are three different industry
positions. They usually work in silo focusing on managing and controlling
one aspect of the job; either cost or schedule, usually not both!
Resultà Poor project forecasts & control
Shohreh Ghorbani

  Schedule Delays happen in projects and you are responsible.

¤  Believe it or not, schedule delays happen in projects.
¤  High costs are spent in claim & dispute resolution.
¤  Planners/Schedulers are asked to identify and analyze delays and conduct
forensic schedule delay analysis without having proper understanding of
analysis methodologies and techniques!
Have you faced the same

challenges?
Shohreh Ghorbani

A Unique Solution
In-depth project scheduling online courses were developed

Shohreh Ghorbani

Project Scheduling Courses
What is UNIQUE about these training programs..
  The courses are the most comprehensive hands-on “online courses” on the
topic.
  Instructors who developed and delivered each training have extensive hands-
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  One-year support and access to the instructor is provided, so you can have
your questions answered.
  One-year access to all course material including videos, PDF downloads, and
course Q&As are provided, so you have all the study material available for
your use.
Shohreh Ghorbani


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  It does NOT provide training on applicable scheduling
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Course Logistics…
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  Upon enrollment, immediate access to the first
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Planning, Scheduling,
and Managing
Engineering Activities
TAKEAWAYS

ENGINEERING PROCESS ACTIVITIES STARTER LIST

Customize this list for each deliverable with a focus on efficient and effective management.
Required Inputs
 Identification
 Request (See Procurement for Potential Predecessors)
 (External Parties) Develop/Provide
 Receive/Review
 Revise/Conform
Engineering and Design Process
 Conceptual Development  Internal Review

 Engineering Development  Resolution of Internal Comments
 Analysis/Calculations  Revision for Internal Comments
 Reports  Internal Review of Revisions
 Design Development  Internal Approval
 Model/Plans/Sections  Document Control
 Details/Isometrics  Printing/Electronic Transmittal
 Lists/Bills of Materials  Contingency
Procurement
 Define Scope
 Develop RFP
 Solicit Bids
 (External Parties) Develop Bids
 Receive/Review Bids (Technical/Commercial)
 Recommend Award
 Conform/Negotiate Contract
 Execute Purchase Order
Engineering and Design Outputs and Approval
 IFR Milestone  Internal Review

 Client Review/Approval  Internal Approval
 Review Client Comments  Printing/Electronic Transmittal
 Revise/Conform/Negotiate Changes  IFC Milestone
 Iterate Design  Contingency

CPM SCHEDULE MINIMUM QUALITY GUIDANCE
The following high-level guidelines are provided as the minimum expectation for all CPM schedules.
Level of Detail
Plan work to the level that it can be controlled. Create enough detail so that the plan is clear and can
be executed, but not so much that you will fail to update it properly. Engineering durations and
descriptions should be concise enough to gage real progress on defined work product. Procurement
durations may be longer to model forecast delivery dates, but progress should be monitored by
routinely contacting the supplier. Field activity durations should be shorter than the update period. An
average duration of 25% of the update period is a reasonable rule-of-thumb. For monthly updates, the
average field activity duration would be roughly one week.
Schedule Network Quality
Develop complete networks. Except for the network start and finish, each network activity should have
at least one SS or FS predecessor and at least one FS or FF successor. (Avoid ‘open-ended’ and
‘dangling’ activities.) This is axiomatic to the critical path method.
Use of Constraints
Minimize constraints. Date calculations should be driven by network logic as much as possible. Late
finish constraints can be used to model contractual requirements. Additional constraints should be used
only with a documented basis as to why the condition is better modeled by a constraint than by
network logic. Mandatory constraints should not be used as they override network date and float
calculations and reduce the CPM to a bar chart.
Schedule Statusing
Update the schedule based on affirmative progress reports. Do not apply software update commands
to report progress without actual verification. Update the status of activities based on remaining
duration. Schedule the project with the new data date and verify that: (1) the anticipated finish dates
for near-term work appear reasonable based on progress to date, (2) the work scheduled for the
upcoming period is a reasonable model of the actual work planned, (3) the longest path for the
project is reasonable, and (4) the forecast interim and final completion dates are reasonable.
Schedule Understanding and Commentary
Provide commentary on significant variances and revisions. If the forecast interim or final completion
dates are beyond the required dates, provide comments on the cause of the delay and plan to
mitigate. The comments should relate to specific activity delays during the previous update period or to
schedule revisions. If schedule revisions were made to mitigate delays, describe the revisions to aid
understanding by the project personnel who will implement them.

Client Value from EPC Contractor Project Controls
A simple checklist for the EPC to assess whether its program provides value to the client.
Initial Baseline Schedule
 Developed and submitted in a timely manner

 Meets required milestones and provides appropriate schedule contingency
 Captures the full project scope at an appropriate level of detail to support discussion and
management decision-making
 Considers the owner’s input
 Coordinates with ongoing plant operations
 Coordinates with other capital construction outside of the EPC’s contract
 Is detailed enough to provide confidence in the EPC’s execution plan
Schedule Management and Updating
 Accurately reports project progress

 Accurately depicts areas of delay
 Appropriately incorporates scope changes
 Effectively models the plan for the remainder of the work
 Provides schedules that can be used in management meetings
 Provides reliable guidance for reporting to the owner’s management
Cost Reporting and Forecasting
 Timely and accurately reports actuals, consistent with the terms of the contract
 Identifies categories of costs that will overrun before actual overruns occur
 Facilitates collaborative efforts to redistribute work-package budgets and utilize contingency to
protect the overall project budget
Risk Management
 Coordinated approach between owner and EPC focused on the success of both
 Addresses both discrete risks and systemic risks

INTEGRATED PROJECT CONTROLS FOR MEGAPROJECTS
High-Level recommendations for implementing and leading a complex project control regime.
Design with the End in Mind
The latest software won’t help you if you don’t know what you want it to do and why. Computers don’t
manage projects; people do. Set appropriate baseline targets, plan how to achieve them, and
implement controls systems with an eye toward the decisions that will be needed along the way.
Project managers must have clear and realistic goals and a sense for what they will need to know
during execution in order to manage to their goals. Only then can project management information
systems be implemented to collect and analyze information appropriately. When risks become reality,
project management should be able to clearly present data and facts to support the release of
contingency or the implementation of alternatives. Contingencies and alternatives must be made
available when the project is initiated, and perceptions must be managed such that their use is seen
not as a failure, but as consistent with the agreed-upon plan to overcome risk events and achieve
project goals. Maximize project performance by setting difficult but achievable targets with
appropriate levels of contingency.
Make Decisions
Project controls personnel can acquire, report, and centralize reams of data, but you are never going
to have all of the information. Making no decision is almost always disastrous. Money is being spent
every day, whether you make a decision or not. You may take months to determine the ‘best’ option,
but you will usually be better off choosing a ‘good’ option and choosing it sooner. Megaprojects in
engineering and construction call for managers that can assess what they need to know and when
they know enough to move forward. Calling for more and more data can reduce the quality of the
data that you receive. Project managers need to work closely with project controls managers to
understand what data is necessary to manage the project and how it should be organized and
interpreted to guide project decision-making. Calling for more and more data and analysis while
decisions backlog is a recipe for failure.
Achieve a Critical Mass of Competence
Just because of the sheer size of the team involved on a megaproject, you’re going to have a wide
range of abilities. Errors are guaranteed. You need to make sure that you have a critical mass of
competence so that the errors don’t snowball. Don’t rely on software to manage problems. For
example, building information modeling (BIM) software offers clash detection features, but an
experienced design reviewer can guide the team to a more efficient overall design approach and
show them how to minimize conflicts before they occur. As one reviewer of integrated project delivery
(IPD) concepts noted, “While most commentators and proponents of IPD seem to think the problems
associated with design will be discovered through the use of BIM, the sleeping dragon may very well
be the overreliance on computer models and not enough human input.”* The project controls field is
no different. We have grown too reliant on software to solve our problems. Software is a tool, not the
answer. Primavera P6 doesn’t make great schedules any more than Microsoft Word writes great
books. Teams that have successfully executed megaprojects know that their success is due to the efforts
of a dedicated group of people that worked together to overcome the problems that arose.
* Hilger, S., “The Legal Worries Raised by IPD,” Engineering News Record, ENR.com,
referenced September 1, 2010

Manage Risk with Accountability
Despite the proliferation of risk management, significant risks continue to be underestimated or ignored
on megaprojects. In particular, risks associated with regulatory changes and technological innovations
receive insufficient treatment. In 1988, the RAND Corporation noted, “Doing something different—
even slightly different—increases cost growth and schedule slippage and dramatically increases the
probability of operational problems.”* Yet instances of 100-percent budget overruns on projects
implementing untested processes without appropriate contingency continue.† By 2004, RAND P P
reported, “The universal statement about the general utility of quantitative project risk analysis was that
it is clearly useful, because it is so widely used and so widely recommended.” However, “project risk
analysis is not well understood by project management,” and “virtually all of the evidence for its utility
was anecdotal.”‡ P
Numerous commentators and public advocates have questioned the honesty of those engaged in
megaproject estimating and risk analysis to justify project initiation. Considering the history of cost
overruns, these questions must be answered, and integrity must be restored. Cost/benefit analyses and
risk analyses of megaprojects in the engineering and construction industry are within the scope of the
cost engineering profession, and we are well positioned to promote ethics and objectivity in these
fields. If risk management is to be our answer, we must first answer how the very application of a
procedure of rigorous mathematical simulation can be based on anecdotal evidence of its
effectiveness. This oversight must be corrected. Finally, logic dictates that in order to maximize the
chances of project success, risks should be allocated to the parties best equipped to avoid or mitigate
them. In fact, risks are often transferred to the party in the weakest negotiating position, regardless of
that party’s ability to avoid or mitigate those risks. If risk management is to lead to megaproject
success, then stakeholders that stand to benefit from project success must be made to bear an
appropriate portion of the risk of project failure. Know the players and know that incentives matter.
Promote Planning at All Levels, Especially at The Top
Project controls professionals have long lamented the decline of ‘planning’ that has accompanied the
rise of ‘scheduling.’ This trend is especially dangerous for megaprojects. While there is an increase in
the use of sophisticated project controls systems, there is less effective top-down planning. More details
are communicated, but the big picture is increasingly blurred. The solutions offered by the software
industry emphasize the integration of data from the bottom up. However, the lack of direction and
standardization in the principles that guide the preparation of this data has not been addressed.
Inconsistency in the application of planning concepts can result in mass confusion when increasingly
common terms like ‘critical path’ have different meanings to each party. Effective megaproject
management requires central guidance of planning activities. You can integrate information from the
bottom-up, but ultimately, there needs to be one path forward. Modern techniques such as crowd-
sourcing and agile design can be incorporated, but even those systems are really implemented from
the top-down when they work well. They still rely on central implementation and central integration of
the results. The key is that everyone is working to the same plan. In order to achieve that, planning
must be promoted at the highest level. If upper management understands the overall plan and
communicates it well, then all parties will be able to ask themselves how their piece of the project fits
into the overall plan and plan their own work accordingly. The top level of management must
communicate the big picture, emphasize their commitment to it, and ensure that the pieces fit together.
* Merrow, E., Understanding the Outcomes of Megaprojects: A Quantitative Analysis of Very Large Civilian Projects,
R‐3560‐PSSP, RAND Corporation, March 1988.
† Chilcott, A., Risk Management – A Developing Field of Study and Application, Cost Engineering Journal, Volume 52,
No. 9, AACE International, Morgantown, WV, pages 9‐16, September 2010.
‡
Galway, L., Quantitative Risk Analysis for Project Management: A Critical Review, Working Paper, WR‐112‐RC,
RAND Corporation, February 2004.

Simplify
There is some tendency among project controls personnel to over-complicate management processes.
Seek to simplify wherever possible without sacrificing quality. Don’t over-design systems that will only
work well if they are used perfectly. Megaprojects can be burdened by electronic filing systems and
cost-coding systems that could provide good data, but few of the users code the data properly. If files
cannot be easily retrieved, then the filing system has little value. If costs are improperly coded, then
cost reports have little value. One of the greatest challenges to integrated project controls systems is
that they tend to become too complex and more burdensome than helpful. A good system should be
able to produce key performance indicators easily, and they should be readily understandable to
management. Anyone that has spent significant time in the engineering and construction industry has
seen examples of nonsensical productivity and cost v. budget reports that have been produced with
the click of a button, without anyone validating the data. Decision-making is then slowed while data is
reviewed and re-coded. In the worst cases, this cycle repeats many times over the course of the
project. Systems should provide plan, commitment, and actual data for cost and schedule quickly,
easily, and reliably. Systems that try to provide all desired features to all users often don’t perform well
for key management tasks. Prioritize management needs and simplify systems to meet the top priorities
effectively.
Be Present and be Visible
The founders of Hewlett-Packard are credited with coining the term Management by Walking Around
(MBWA) to emphasize that top-level managers should be present and have direct contact with the
personnel that they manage. With more and more management done by computers and e-mail, this
concept is waning. In engineering and construction, we should not underestimate the effect of seeing
top managers, especially in the field, and especially first-thing in the morning. Talk to team members to
find out what they do and how they do it. Don’t get all of your information from prepared reports that
have been filtered, and don’t assume information that you are presented is 100 percent accurate. Trust
but verify. You know that your data has errors in it; find examples of them and decide whether the
overall picture is reliable. Verify ‘first dollar’ costs on the overall program and on any new sub-project
to give yourself a good feeling that the scope of what is estimated is the same as the scope of what is
being charged. Computer models generate a lot of information. It has varying levels of accuracy.
Show a strong preference for affirmative reporting from real people. Plan for communications. There is
a huge amount of information changing hands every day. Your people will be overwhelmed at times.
Being present and visible will allow you to direct project management resources where they are most
needed more effectively than by simply looking at a CPM schedule.

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PRESENTED BY: THE BEST PLANNING &

Founder & Director, Project Control Academy

¤ Applied Project Controls Training

Served thousands of professionals worldwide

Director of Projects, Alpha 3 Consulting, LLC

¤ Engineering, EPC, construction management

Committee member and contributor to the AACE

What questions should we be asking?

Understanding What We’re Trying to Manage

Selected Skills for ABET-Accredited Engineering Programs

What Skills Do the Responsible Managers Need?

How do we best manage time as it relates to planning,

What are we doing now?

Network Analysis Techniques:

More detailed planning or more dynamic planning

Disruption v. Continuous Improvement

In significant engineering and construction projects, there

Activity Definition—When does an activity begin,

Activity Relationships—Can we define activities and hand-offs

Piping Stress Analysis

Piping Stress Analysis

Activity Relationships—Can we define activities and hand-offs

Piping Stress Analysis

Recall that we are making a plan to identify, formulate, and

If we knew all the steps to take, we would know the solution.

How do we model engineering activities and their interface

The output from one activity may lead us to define the

Unknown number of iterations or revisions

Focus on key interface dates and status/re-plan to achieve or

Issues Design Activity

Consider your design sequence activities:

Calc/Report This level of detail may be

A schedule with fewer activities Revise

Inputs Internal IFR Client IFC

Identify expected/required outputs and manage to interface

Development of drawing/deliverables list

Required Inputs ¡ Scope

Outputs and Approvals

Understand your processes

Design with the end in mind.

Every activity you create will need to be statused

Frustrations with existing processes:

General inefficiency of reporting

Pros and cons of percent complete

Frustrations with existing processes:

Pros and cons of remaining duration to forecast dates

We really want to know:

Are we going to achieve the planned issue date?

SUMMARY AND TAKEAWAYS

Engineering and design involve creative problem solving,

Additional high-level takeaways

Engineering process activities starter list

THE BIG FRUSTRATIONS & CHALLENGES IN

Planning & Scheduling is NOT an easy task.

Yet it is usually an unappreciated effort!

  Founder & Director, Project Control Academy

¤  Applied Project Controls Training

  Served thousands of professionals worldwide

  Director of Projects, Alpha 3 Consulting, LLC

¤  Engineering, EPC, construction management

  Committee member and contributor to the AACE

  Selected Skills for ABET-Accredited Engineering Programs

  What are we doing now?

  In significant engineering and construction projects, there

  If we knew all the steps to take, we would know the solution.

  The output from one activity may lead us to define the

  Unknown number of iterations or revisions

  Issues Design Activity

  Development of drawing/deliverables list

  Required Inputs ¡  Scope

  Outputs and Approvals

  Understand your processes

  Every activity you create will need to be statused

  General inefficiency of reporting

  Pros and cons of percent complete

  Pros and cons of remaining duration to forecast dates

  We really want to know:

  Engineering and design involve creative problem solving,

  Engineering process activities starter list

  Planning & Scheduling is NOT an easy task.

  Project Schedule & Cost are NOT fully integrated.

  Schedule Delays happen in projects and you are responsible.

  You are interested in gaining the essential knowledge

  You are working in a field related to project planning

  You are a project Planner/Scheduler who is trying to

  The courses are available “online”.

  Access to the course instructors for one year!