1
List the inputs that are required to develop a detailed, multidisciplined construction schedule?
Ans. a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Project Milestones
f.
g.
h.
1.2
List the inputs that are required to develop a detailed, multidisciplined commissioning schedule?
Ans. The contract documents should set out:
Who will be responsible for commissioning different building services.
What methods, standards and codes of practice are to be used.
What should happen to test results.
Whether commissioning is to be witnessed and if so, whom.
Set to work: this is the process of switching on (i.e. setting to work) items
such as fans and motors to ensure that they are operating as specified (for
example checking that fans are turning the right way).
Balancing: this follows setting to work and involves looking at whole systems
(rather than individual components) to ensure that they are properly balanced
(i.e. water is coming out of all the taps at the correct pressure, air is coming
out of the correct diffusers etc.)
Commissioning checks and performance testing.
Post commissioning checks and fine tuning during occupancy.
1.3
Explain how you would get the construction & project teams buyin to accept the schedule?
Ans.
Step 1: Explain the project plan to key stakeholders and discuss its key
components. One of the most misunderstood terms in project management, the
project plan is a set of living documents that can be expected to change over the
life of the project. A common misconception is that the plan equates to the
project timeline, which is only one of the many components of the plan. The
project plan is the major work product from the entire planning process, so it
contains all the planning documents for the project.
Typically many of the project's key stakeholders, that is those affected by both
the project and the project's end result, do not fully understand the nature of the
project plan. Since one of the most important and difficult aspects of project
management is getting commitment and buying, the first step is to explain the
planning process and the project plan to all key stakeholders. It is essential for
them to understand the importance of this set of documents and to be familiar
with its content, since they will be asked to review and approve the documents
that pertain to them.
Components of the Project Plan Include:
Baselines. Baselines are sometimes called performance measures, because the
performance of the entire project is measured against them. They are the
project's three approved starting points and include the scope, schedule, and
cost baselines. These provide the 'stakes in the ground.' That is, they are used to
determine whether or not the project is on track, during the execution of the
project.
Baseline management plans. These plans include documentation on how
variances to the baselines will be handled throughout the project. Each project
baseline will need to be reviewed and managed. A result of this process may
include the need to do additional planning, with the possibility that the
baseline(s) will change. Project management plans document what the project
team will do when variances to the baselines occur, including what process will
be followed, who will be notified, how the changes will be funded, etc.
Other work products from the planning process. These include a risk
management plan, a quality plan, a procurement plan, a staffing plan, and a
communications plan.
Step 2: Define roles and responsibilities. Not all key stakeholders will review all
documents, so it is necessary to determine who on the project needs to approve
which parts of the plan. Some of the key players are:
Project sponsor, who owns and funds the entire project. Sponsors need to review
and approve all aspects of the plan.
Designated business experts, who will define their requirements for the end
product. They need to help develop the scope baseline and approve the
documents relating to scope. They will be quite interested in the timeline as well.
Project manager, who creates, executes, and controls the project plan. Since
project managers build the plan, they do not need to approve it.
Project team, who build the end product. The team needs to participate in the
development of many aspects of the plan, such as identifying risks, quality, and
design issues, but the team does not usually approve it.
End users, who use the end product. They too, need to participate in the
development of the plan, and review the plan, but rarely do they actually need to
sign off.
Others, such as auditors, quality and risk analysts, procurement specialists, and
so on may also participate on the project. They may need to approve the parts
that pertain to them, such as the Quality or Procurement plan.
Step 3: Hold a kick-off meeting. The kick-off meeting is an effective way to bring
stakeholders together to discuss the project. It is an effective way to initiate the
planning process. It can be used to start building trust among the team members
and ensure that everyone's idea are taken into account. Kick-off meetings also
demonstrate commitment from the sponsor for the project. Here are some of the
topics that might be included in a kick-off meeting:
Step 4: Develop a Scope Statement. The Scope Statement is arguably the most
important document in the project plan. It's the foundation for the rest of the
project. It describes the project and is used to get common agreement among
the stakeholders about the scope. The Scope Statement clearly describes what
the outcome of the project will be. It is the basis for getting the buy-in and
agreement from the sponsor and other stakeholders and decreases the chances
of miscommunication. This document will most likely grow and change with the
life of the project. The Scope Statement should include:
Step 5: Develop scope baseline. Once the deliverables are confirmed in the
Scope Statement, they need to be developed into a work breakdown structure
(WBS), which is a decomposition of all the deliverables in the project. This
deliverable WBS forms the scope baseline and has these elements:
Step 6: Develop the schedule and cost baselines. Here are the steps involved in
developing the schedule and cost baselines.
Identify activities and tasks needed to produce each of the work packages,
creating a WBS of tasks.
Identify resources for each task, if known.
Estimate how long it will take to complete each task.
Estimate cost of each task, using an average hourly rate for each
resource.
Consider resource constraints, or how much time each resource can
realistically devoted to this project.
Determine which tasks are dependent on other tasks, and develop critical
path.
Develop schedule, which is a calendarization of all the tasks and
estimates. It shows by chosen time period (week, month, quarter, or year)
which resource is doing which tasks, how much time they are expected to
spend on each task, and when each task is scheduled to begin and end.
Develop the cost baseline, which is a time-phased budget, or cost by time
period.
This process is not a one-time effort. Throughout the project you will most
likely be adding to repeating some or all of these steps.
Step 7: Create baseline management plans. Once the scope, schedule, and cost
baselines have been established, you can create the steps the team will take to
manage variances to these plans. All these management plans usually include a
review and approval process for modifying the baselines. Different approval
levels are usually needed for different types of changes. In addition, not all new
requests will result in changes to the scope, schedule, or budget, but a process is
needed to study all new requests to determine their impact to the project.
Step 8: Develop the staffing plan. The staffing plan is a chart that shows the
time periods, usually month, quarter, year, that each resource will come onto
and leave the project. It is similar to other project management charts, like a
Gantt chart, but does not show tasks, estimates, begin and end dates, or the
critical path. It shows only the time period and resource and the length of time
that resource is expected to remain on the project.
Project Quality: Project quality consists of ensuring that the end product
not only meets the customer specifications, but is one that the sponsor
and key business experts actually want to use. The emphasis on project
quality is on preventing errors, rather than inspecting the product at the
end of the project and then eliminating errors. Project quality also
recognizes that quality is a management responsibility and needs to be
performed throughout the project.
Creating the Quality Plan involves setting the standards, acceptance
criteria, and metrics that will be used throughout the project. The plan,
then, becomes the foundation for all the quality reviews and inspections
performed during the project and is used throughout project execution.
Project Risks: A risk is an event that may or may not happen, but could
have a significant effect on the outcome of a project, if it were to occur.
For example, there may be a 50% chance of a significant change in
sponsorship in the next few months. Analysing risks includes making a
determination of both the probability that a specific event may occur and
if it does, assessing its impact. The quantification of both the probability
and impact will lead to determining which the highest risks that need
attention are. Risk management includes not just assessing the risk, but
developing risk management plans to understand and communicate how
the team will respond to the high-risk events.
Step 10: Communicate! One important aspect of the project plan is the
Communications Plan. This document states such things as:
Who on the project wants which reports, how often, in what format, and
using what media.
How issues will be escalated and when.
Where project information will be stored and who can access it.
For complex projects, a formal communications matrix is a tool that can
help determine some of the above criteria. It helps document the project
team's agreed-on method for communicating various aspects of the
project, such as routine status, problem resolution, decisions, etc.
Once the project plan is complete, it is important not just to communicate
the importance of the project plan to the sponsor, but also to
communicate its contents once it's created. This communication should
include such things as:
2.1 List the inputs that are required to develop a detailed, multidisciplined progress Tracker?
2.2 List the key items that a progress tracker must contain?
Ans. Name / Team---Who is supplying the data / for which part of the project
Date--
Ans.
When you are managing a project, you establish "baseline" cost
estimates and schedules based on beginning assumptions. The thing is, at the
very beginning of a project there is a lot of uncertainty, so it's really only a rough
estimate at that point. As things develop, you start to remove some of the
uncertainty. Also, situations change - the concept for the project might change,
resource availability might change, costs might go up, etc.
"Re-baseline" means that the information has either matured or changed enough
to warrant updating your assumptions and doing exactly what it says - issuing a
new revised baseline estimate and schedule.
This might be done on a reactive basis just because things have changed and
you realize that you are so far out of whack that you must update.
On the other hand, for long projects with a high level of uncertainty, you might
agree up front that you will re baseline at certain critical points - when key
decisions are made, or when you get within a certain time of activities. It's good
to have that kind of discussion with your management up front - that way you all
understand the uncertainties and how you will be managing them.
the actual earned value and the company's predicted earned value for the
project. The cost variance indicates whether the company is within its budget,
but the schedule variance indicates whether the company will complete the
project on time.
The BCWS (PV), BCWP (EV), and ACWP (AC) are graphically presented on an Scurve to identify variances and present the status of a project.
The first step in updating a construction schedule is to gather the activity status
information. This involves gathering and estimating the following information
about each activity in the project schedule:
Activity status information can be gathered from a variety of sources, such as:
4.2 Explain how you would verify the work performance data?
Ans. Work performance data is raw data of the observations of your project, and
the work performance information is the comparison between the actual data
and the planned data. These two are the backbone to your performance report
and are very important communication tools. These data help you monitor
project progress and compare with the planned progress. They also help you in
forecasting, and you can take corrective and preventive action if needed.
The work performance data is the raw observations and measurements
identified during activities performed to carry out the project work; e.g. actual
cost, actual duration, and percent of work physically completed.
You can say that the work performance data is the raw data of the projects
status. In other words, it is the current (as of now) status of various project
parameters such as: how much work is completed, how much time has elapsed,
the cost incurred so far, etc.
Once you get this information, you can go ahead and create the Work
Performance Information.
Work Performance Data includes, but not limited to:
Scope: Here you will see the compliance of requirements, non-conformities, and
the number of change requests received versus accepted or rejected, etc.
Time: Here you will see how many activities have been started, how many
activities have been finished, and the status of current ongoing activities, etc.
Cost: Here you will note the cost parameter of the project; e.g. how much work
has been completed, how much money has been spent to date, etc.
Quality: Here you will measure the technical performance; e.g. characteristics of
the product (physical properties), quality metrics, number of defects, the
rejection rate, etc.
Communications: Here you will see which communications report has been
distributed, feedback on this communication report, etc.
Risks: Here you will see how many identified and unidentified risks have
occurred, how many new risks are identified, the effectiveness of risk response
plan, how much contingency or management reserve has been utilized, the
impact of risks on project constraints such as schedule, cost, and scope, etc.
Procurement: Here you will get data about the procurement related activities,
for example: quality standards met by seller, sellers performance, etc.
5.1 List the steps to forecasting activities?
Ans. Project Management requires the ability to forecast the estimated cost to
complete the remainder of the project. Estimate to Complete (ETC) is used to
calculate Estimate at Completion (EAC), which is the projected final cost at the
completion of the project. Once we know the Estimate at Completion, we can
establish the Variance at Completion (VAC), which tells us the variance between
what the project was originally projected to cost, as defined in the baseline,
versus the current projected costs at completion.
The technique for reporting and calculating Estimate to Complete in Primavera
P6 is selected at the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) level. Some of these
options take into consideration schedule delays and budget/cost overruns.
Important formulas related to Estimate to Complete (ETC)
ETC can be calculated utilizing one of the 2 following formulas:
1. ETC = remaining cost for the activity; default setting
B. ETC = [PF*(Budget at Completion Earned Value Cost)]
PF is the Performance Factor used to calculate Estimate to Complete and
there are four options:
PF = 1 yields an optimistic result
ETC = [PF*(Budget at Completion Earned Value Cost)]
PF = 1/CPI provides a most likely result.
PF = 1/ (CPI)* (Budget at Completion Earned Value Cost)
PF = 1/ (CPI * SPI) yields a pessimistic result.
ETC = [1/ (CPI * SPI)] * (Budget at Completion Earned Value Cost)
PF = user defined value
Important Earned Value Indices:
Cost Performance Index (CPI) identifies the amount of work accomplished
against the dollars actually spent to get the work done and is calculated as CPI =
Earned Value Cost/Actual Cost.
Schedule Performance Index (SPI) measures the physical work accomplished
against the amount of work that was planned and is calculated as SPI = Earned
Value Cost/Planned Value Cost.
To Complete Performance Index (TCPI) estimates the cost performance
necessary in order for the project to meet the projects estimate of how much the
project will cost when complete (Estimate at Completion or EAC).
This is accomplished by calculating how much work is remaining on the project
divided by how much money is remaining for the project. Work remaining is
calculated as the Budget at Completion (BAC) minus the Earned Value (EV).
Remaining money is calculated as Estimate at Completion (EAC) minus the
Actual Cost (AC).
The formula is TCPI = (BAC EV) / (EAC AC).
5.2 List the steps how you would communicate the forecast to the
construction team?
Ans. Information can be distributed through the following as well as other
methods,
According to project demands and as technology provides:
Project meetings
Hard-copy documentation
Databases
Faxes
Email
Telephone calls
Videoconferences
A project web site
5.3 Give examples of how you have picked up a delay and how it was
resolved?
Ans. Plenty of things can derail a project plan: underestimated tasks, departing
staff, misallocated resources. Some practical techniques that can correct the
direction of a project that's losing ground.
Anyone who's worked on project teams knows that a variety of factors can move
a project past its deadline. It's not uncommon for some of the work to be harder
than originally anticipated or to have turnover on the project that requires you to
bring new people up to speed. Sometimes you discover that activities were
simply underestimated. Regardless of how it happens, many times you'll find that
you're trending beyond your committed deadline date.
If you discover that happening, your first obligation as the project manager is to
try to determine the cause. If you look for remedies without knowing the cause,
the situation will probably recur. Your second task is to try to make corrections
that will get the project back on track. At the beginning of a long project, you
have many options to solve your problem.
1: Work overtime
Everyone hates it, but one logical place to start is with overtime. If people work
more hours, they can get more work done in the same amount of calendar time.
Overtime may be the best option if you're close to the end of the project and just
need a final push to get everything done on schedule. If you're toward the end of
the project, you also may be able to issue comp time after the project is
completed. If you're still early in the project, there are probably more effective
strategies. This option may also have cost implications if you need to have
contract resources work overtime.
#2: Reallocate resources
The project manager must first understand what activities are considered most
vital to the project's success, or on the "critical path." After all, if the project is
trending over deadline, by definition it is the critical path that's late. Once you
understand the critical path, see if resources can be moved from other activities
to help resolve the issue. This will allow you to get the project back on track by
delaying or stretching out some work. Be careful, though: Delaying some work
may end up changing the critical path. Always make sure you double-check the
critical path each time you change the schedule.
#3: Double-check all dependencies
Schedule dependencies represent activities that must be completed in a certain
order. For example, if you're building a house, you cannot start putting up the
frame until the foundation is poured and dried. If you're trending over your
deadline, you should revalidate dependencies, since it's possible that the
schedule is being lengthened by invalid dependencies between activities. Invalid
dependencies may make it appear that activities must be performed
sequentially, when they can really be done in parallel.
Sometimes the scheduling software accidentally adds a dependency. Sometimes
the project manager adds the dependency but on later review decides it doesn't
really exist. It might make sense to have the team members review the schedule
to see if they find dependencies that the project manager thinks are valid, but
that they know to be invalid. Check all dependencies to make sure you have all
your facts correct before you move into more drastic measures to bring the
project back on schedule.
#4: Check time-constrained activities
Time-constrained activities are those with durations that don't change based on
the number of resources applied. For example, you may be allocating team
members to a five-day class. The class takes five days if one person attends, and
it takes five days if 10 people attend. Check all of these time-constrained
activities to validate the timeframe. Perhaps you're making assumptions that
could be changed with a different approach. For instance, if you allocated three
days for a contract to reach a client, perhaps the time could be reduced to one
day by paying more for overnight delivery.
#5: Swap resources
I mentioned that the first thing to do when you're trending over your schedule is
to determine the cause. One cause you may find is that you have one or more
resources that aren't as productive as you planned. Perhaps certain team
members don't have the right skills. Perhaps they aren't as productive in this
particular area as they are in other areas. Regardless, there may be opportunities
to replace resources. In some instances, you can simply swap people who are
working on different activities within your project. Other times, you may release
a team member and bring in another person.
Remember that the activities on the critical path are key. You may have options
to assign a more productive resource to those activities, while reassigning a less
productive resource to noncritical path activities. If the activities off the critical
path are delayed, you may still be okay in terms of meeting your overall project
deadline.
#6: Crash the schedule
Crashing the schedule means applying additional resources to the critical path,
the sequence of activities that must be completed on schedule for the entire
project to be completed on schedule. It's always possible to just throw more
resources on the critical path, but crashing also means you try to get the biggest
schedule gain for the least amount of incremental costs.
For example, if one person were assigned to complete an activity in 10 days, you
could see whether two people could complete it earlier. If two resources can
complete the activity in five days, you may not be adding any incremental cost
to the project, since you're applying twice the resources for half the time.
In another example, if two people can complete the work in six days, you will
have accelerated the schedule at an incremental cost of two workdays (two
people for six days vs. the original 10-day estimate). In this example, you could
further crash the schedule by applying three resources. Perhaps then the activity
would take four days, or four and a half days. Typically, the more resources you
throw on an activity, the more the incremental cost will be and the less
incremental timesavings you will receive.
The additional resources may come from within the project team or they may be
loaned temporarily from outside the team. One of the goals of crashing the
schedule is to minimize the incremental cost. However, crashing -- in exchange
for completing some work ahead of schedule -- usually leads to some
incremental cost increase to the project. If cost is not as important as the
deadline, crashing a set of activities can result in accelerating the schedule.
#7: Fast track it
Fast track means that you look at activities that are normally done in sequence
and assign them totally or partially in parallel. Back to our home-building
example, you can't construct the frame until the foundation is dry. However, if
the house is large enough, you may have options to fast track by starting to
erect the frame on the side of the home where the foundation was poured first.
The foundation will start to harden there and might allow you to erect the frame
on that side, while the foundation on the far side of the home is still drying.
Another example involves designing an IT application. Normally, you wouldn't
start constructing a solution until the design was completed. However, if you
were fast tracking, you would start constructing the solution in areas where you
felt the design was pretty solid without waiting for the entire design to be
completed. Fast tracking usually involves risk that could lead to increased cost
and some rework later. For instance, in our example of designing and
constructing an application, it's possible that the design might change before it is
finalized, and those final changes may result in having to redo some of the work
already under way.
#8: Prevent all scope change
Many projects begin to trend over their deadline because they are doing more
work than they originally committed to. This could be a result of poor scope
change management or it could be that small changes are being worked in under
the radar screen. If you're at risk of missing your deadline date, as the project
manager you must work with the client and team members to ensure that
absolutely no unplanned work is being requested or worked on, even if it's just
one hour. All energy should go into accelerating the agreed-to core work.
#9: Improve processes
When you look at the cause for the project trending over schedule, you may find
that some of the internal work processes could be improved. Solicit team
member feedback and look for ways that are within your team's internal control
to streamline processes. For instance, perhaps you have a daily status meeting
that is not providing value and that can be scaled back to once per week. You
may also find bottlenecks in getting deliverables approved.
If you discover delays caused by external processes, try to negotiate changes to
the processes going forward, at least on a temporary basis. For example, you
may find that activities are being delayed because people need to work on their
yearly performance reviews. While these are important, perhaps the timing of
completing the reviews can be changed to allow critical project activities to be
completed on schedule.
6.1 List the steps on how you report progress to the Construction team?
Ans. Construction progress report
Construction progress reports are prepared regularly (often monthly) by the
contract administrator during the construction phase and issued to the client.
They will generally be a summary of the reports received and discussions held at
construction progress meetings.
Construction progress reports may be a combination of minutes of construction
progress meetings and reports received during those meetings, with key issues
highlighted in an accompanying cover note. Alternatively they may be a re-