Project Planning Handbook

Paul Whatley

Description

This is the only book that covers all the techniques used in project management under one title. These techniques include Critical Path Analysis, Progress Reporting, Bar Charts, Earned Value Analysis and Relay Analysis. It also includes a large number of diagrams explaining these techniques with working examples.

Sujets

• Gestion et management
• Project management

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 mars 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781783066780
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Project Planning Handbook
Paul Whatley
Copyright 2014 Troubador Publishing Ltd
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
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ISBN 978 1783066 780
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
To amazing Grace who saved a wretch like me.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank and acknowledge the following individuals who gave me advice and guidance on many parts of this book:
Dr. John Lancaster MSc, Phd, CEng, CSci, FIMechE, FIED, FIMM, FACostE;
Lori Noeth - MSc, CEng, MIStructE, MCIarb, AMICE, MaPS;
Keith Strutt - MSc, LLM, MRICS, MCIOB, MCinstCES, FCIArb, PGDip.
Similarly, I would like to thank the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for allowing me to use the RIBA Plan of Work to represent the different stages of a project and Microsoft Corporation for allowing me to use Microsoft Project 2007 to produce the worked examples in this book.
Abbreviations
The following are a list of abbreviations that are typically used in project management and are used in this book:
ABCP
As-built critical path
ACWP
Actual cost of work performed in monetary-value/man-hours.
ALV
Activity level variation
APCP
As-planned critical path
BAC
Budget at completion in monetary-value or man-hours
BCWP
Budgeted cost of work performed in monetary-value/man-hours
BCWS
Budgeted cost of work scheduled in monetary-value/man-hours
BoQ
Bill of quantities
CA
Contract administrator
CM
Construction manager
CPA
Critical path analysis
CPI
Cost performance index
CPM
Critical path method
CPN
Critical path network
CWBS
Contract work breakdown structure
EA
Employer s agent
EOT
Extension of time
EVM
Earned value analysis
EVMS
Earned value management system
FS
Finish to start relationship
FF
Finish to finish relationship
IRS
Information required schedule
MS
Method statement
Mh
Man-hours
OBS
Organisational breakdown structure
PM
Project manager
RFI
Request for information
RE
Relevant event
RIBA
Royal Institute of British Architects
SPI
Schedule performance index
SS
Start to start relationship
SF
Start to finish relationship
TIA
Time impact analysis
TQM
Total quality management
WBS
Work breakdown structure
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
The project management skills that are used today to undertake a project such as design, procurement, coordination and management of resources were always part of the construction of the impressive achievements of earlier generations. However, many of the world s earliest projects were either religious or military, took decades to build and probably had almost unlimited budgets. Since the beginning of the industrial age projects have had to become commercially viable, they are part of a value chain and must have a budget and time period for completion - both are inextricably linked. It is unlikely that either were particularly well understood or controlled in former times which sets apart what was project management as practised by our ancestors to contemporary project management. In this respect the last few decades has seen project management develop as a distinct and recognised function and most commercial and industrial endeavours are managed as a project.
A typical construction project has also changed and now contains many more separate elements and systems than was formerly the case - from concrete to software. The breadth of technologies and the specialisation has meant that in most projects specialist Sub-contractors are undertaking more and more work. This is not only the manufacture and construction of an element, specialist Sub-contractors are also designing and building their own parts of a project and integrating them with other parts being designed and built by other specialist Sub-contractors. The consequence of this is that Contractors are no longer just builders - they cannot possibly be specialists in all the technologies that they now have to deal with; they have become project managers and manage other companies that are doing the work. Rather than simply procure materials and employ large numbers of tradesmen one of their main functions is to co-ordinate and manage the different subcontracts that are required for a modern project. This is probably one of the reasons why standard forms of contract have been developed to deal with projects where the entire scope of a project is subcontracted to specialists.
The development of project management as a function has also brought with it systems and technologies that aid the process. There is a wide body of knowledge on project management with thousands of books and journals written on all aspects of managing a project such as value, quality, risk and human resource management but relatively few on project planning. Yet, a project programme is fundamentally important to a project as it plays such a large part in organising and then controlling a project so that its objectives can be achieved and the project completed within the duration required - a vital requirement if a project is going to be successful. A programme also has functions other than simply planning a project as it acts as a baseline for the reporting and measurement of progress. Assessing and reporting progress are very important to project management as it is essential to know exactly what progress has been achieved at any particular time in order to have a starting point to establish when a project is likely to be completed - essential information for both a Contractor and an Employer. Once again there is little in current project management literature on reporting progress and predicting the likely completion date of a project.
A further important function of a programme is a claim for an extension of time (EOT) from one (and sometimes all) of the parties involved in a project directed towards the party that has employed them is not unusual. Sometimes this can develop into arbitration or litigation, but usually adjudication in the UK. In such circumstances a vital reference document will be the programme agreed for the works, the progress assessments that were produced during the course of the project and the as-built programme. In this respect a good project programme at the outset will firstly reduce the risk of a claim as some disputes have their origins in a poor quality programme and secondly, a good programme is a good starting point from which an appropriate EOT can be agreed in negotiation or if a formal dispute develops.
Project planning is one of the sciences of project management and is also an important part of Total Quality Management (TQM). Once the scope of work has been identified the process of planning a project requires the analysis of the work to be carried out and how the different elements coordinate with each other, what has to be achieved at different stages and how the project is to be organised. Once again, in books, journals and courses on TQM project planning gets short shrift. Where planning is discussed in project management books it is usually an explanation of bar charts and critical path analysis and relies on expressions such as The project has to be planned without giving much if any practical advice as to how this might be achieved. The measurement of progress gets even shorter shrift and is frequently not mentioned at all, relying on expressions such as Progress has to be measured and Delays to progress should be corrected without any explanation of how either are achieved and in the case of the latter how difficult this can be. Finally, making claims for an EOT is also not mentioned a great deal in books and journals on project management yet making and responding to claims for an EOT is a fact of project management life.
A further advantage to having a good programme is that individuals and organisations will actually work more efficiently if they are working to a well thought out programme with clear objectives. It will make them aware of their deliverables, the rate at which they must produce work, the Milestones that must be achieved and when their work must be completed by so that they can organise it accordingly. By not having a programme it is difficult to monitor progress and the completion date of a project or part of a project will be inclined to drift. Although, it is not to say that many construction companies have not recognised the importance of planning to their operations as many of them have. They have purchased planning software and employed individuals to plan their operations but have discovered how difficult it can be to plan a project, progress it properly and deal with all of the issues that come with managing time in a construction project.
There is movement toward accreditation for planners but the industry appears to mainly rely on on the job training. The author believes the lack of guidance and training on the immensely difficult process of project planning and progress measurement in literature and in our colleges and universities is one of the reasons that many projects in all industries, not just in construction, finish later than planned. For many projects this frequently leads to a mass of claims and co