Blog | Pro1plan Consultants

How long does it takes to develop a project schedule?

December 20, 2018

A project schedule is a listing of project’s milestones, activities with intended start and finish dates. It is normally in Gantt Chart format. If the number of activities in the project is small, it can be created with MS Excel. However, if the number of activities is large and need to be properly linked up to perform Critical Path Analysis, then the project schedule will need a proper project scheduling tool such as Oracle Primavera P6 or MS Project to create. The duration it takes to develop the schedule depends on many factors:

Size and Complexity of the project

The greater the size and complexity of the project, one will expect more time is needed to understand the project scope and develop the project schedule.

Granularity of the schedule

The greater the schedule’s granularity, the greater the effort required to develop the schedule. Schedule granularity is classified from level 1 to 5. Level 1 being the least detail and Level 5 being the most detail. Level 1 schedule comprises mainly of key dates and milestones and it is usually meant for giving the audience an overall view of the project timeline. Level 5 schedule being the most detailed, it is developed by the contractor to track the day to day progress of site work. To ascertain the Critical Path (the longest path) of the project, there should be sufficient details in the schedule and a level 3 schedule is warranted.

Programme Specification

Some projects schedules are required to comply with the client’s programme/schedule specification. Such specification may specify the granularity of the activities such as the minimum and maximum duration of each activity. Some specifications will also specify that the activities of the project schedules be cost or/and resource loaded.

Programme Review

Project Schedule needs the buy-in from the project team and it has to be reviewed by the team. Hence the duration required for schedule development also depends on the outcome of the review and the subsequent amendments.

Experience of the project planner/scheduler

Last but not least, the experience of the planner/scheduler is very important. An experienced planner is not only adept in using the programme planning software to develop the programme, but he also has a good understanding of project planning and scheduling methodology, the full project life cycle and the domain knowledge of the construction industry.

A good planner/scheduler should have sufficient site and project experience so that he can appreciate the project scope and constraints; understand the project risks, the processes in procurement and design, authorities permitting processes, the construction sequences, interfacing work between trades, M&E works and T&C work.

Unfortunately, there are not many planner/scheduler out there who have sufficient site experience to understand the full project lifecycle development. As such, a lot of hand-holding is required and the project planner/scheduler is doing no more than a programmer’s job!

About the Author:

Stanley Tey has more than two decades of project management experience after graduating from the National University of Singapore in Civil Engineering. He also obtained a Master Degree in Software Engineering from Institute of Systems Science, NUS where he specialized in Project Management and Systems Integration. He has worked as a Consulting Engineer, Project Planner, and Project Manager. Some of the projects he had handled are:

North East Line
Singapore 1st Desalination Water Plant at Tuas
Integrated Resort Project at Sentosa
Lonza Cell Therapy Plant at Tuas (Phase 2)
Merck Junumet plant at Tuas
Singapore Special Cable Tunnel Project

Freelance Project Schedule Planning

December 17, 2018

Are you facing bottlenecks in developing Tender/Baseline programme in Primavera P6 or MS Project and related documentation such as programme narratives, labor histogram, Cost S Curve, Time Chainage Diagram due to a lack of experience project planner/scheduler during this tight timeline?

If your answer is yes, please read on.

Pro1plan Consultants offers cost-effective Project Planning and scheduling services, starting from tender, baseline schedule, through baseline revisions, progress reporting, resource loading, analyze schedule and recommend corrective action, Extension of Time and Financial Claims.

With extensive experience in project schedule planning and implementation for projects in MRT, Commercial, Water Treatment Plant, Integrated Resorts, Pharmaceutical and Cable Tunnels using Primavera P6 or MS Project, we can customize a solution to meet your requirements.

We will work closely with your project team at any stages of the project be it in the Feasibility, Tender, Construction, Fit-out, Commissioning or Closing Up phase of the project.

Please email us at enquires@pro1plan.net or by phone at (65) 9817 6974 for an non-obligatory discussion.

Different perspectives of Project Management from contractor and client

December 7, 2018

In theory, the contractor and client have a common goal, and that is to complete the project successfully. But the meaning of”successfully” takes on a different interpretation depending on whether you are working with the contractor or with the client. Having worked with both contractors and clients, it enables me to see things from different perspectives from both sides.

As a contractor, the primary objective is to finish the project successfully with minimum cost and maximum profit. While I was with the contractors, I would not volunteer to give information to my client about the delay or the status outright especially if the delay was due to the contractor. However. when there were delays due to the client or third parties, I would make sure it would be documented and the client be notified within 14 days (depending on the provisions of contacts)about the delay. This would serve as evidence of delay for eventual claims for EOT.

As a contractor, one needs to know the project scope well as well as how to get it implemented. Do not do anything extra like “gold plating” for it will cost the company more money, for the client may come back and ask for even more”favor”. If it is not in the scope, the contractor will request a Variation Order, before he will proceed with the extra work.

Being a contractor needs to be very diplomatic when dealing with the client’s request. Typically, when the client makes a vebal request for extra work to be done, the contractor PM will not commit nor reject the request outright. Instead, he will say “Let me go back and think about it.”

As a contractor, one needs to control the sub-contractors and manage the client’s expectations. Do not over promise and under deliver!

Let me talk about being on the opposite side , i.e. the client side. The definition of project success is – complete on time with cost-saving against the budget. One needs to know the contract specifications and obligations of the contractor well. He needs to know what need to be done and when it should be completed. In my recent role as Project Manager, I paid close attention to the planning and site execution of work. A plan is not just a schedule! For a plan to be executable, there should be 5Ms.

Method Statement
Machine
Manpower
Materials
Management Commitment

Being with contractors before, I knew I cannot totally trust the contractor to tell me everything. I requested the contractor to submit a rolling 2 months short-range detail programme where I will scrutinize together with the contractor, consultant team and my supervision team on the viability of the schedule and resources to be committed weekly. This ensures the contractor commits adequate resources on site to move the job. It is important to track the progress closely. These days with What Apps, it is very easy to share and keep the team updated on a regular basis. I used to send photo and emails to the senior management of both client and contractor when there were not enough resources to move the job. it proved to be somewhat effective as it prevented contractor’s site team from slacking and served as evidence of delays due to their poor site management.

Another vital role of client’s PM is to ensure that the project is being built and fit for purpose. Many times, the contract specification is vague, incorrect or missing. Client’s PM needs to coordinate with internal stakeholders to ensure that Variation Orders are issued timely.

Sometimes, when there are delays due to third parties such as authorities agencies, the client’s PM has to step in to front the agencies pro-actively. For delays due to third parties, the contractor will be too happy to tell you, the delays are not due to them and they should be entitled to EOT.

In conclusion, a project success depends on all parties: – the client, contractors and consultants. There is a need to have check and balance. Everybody plays a different role and there will always be different interpretations of project success.

About the Author:

North East Line
Singapore 1st Desalination Water Plant at Tuas
Integrated Resort Project at Sentosa
Lonza Cell Therapy Plant at Tuas (Phase 2)
Merck Junumet plant at Tuas
Singapore Special Cable Tunnel Project

How to handle project delay

December 4, 2018

In construction projects, handling project delay is parts and parcels of a project. Some delay can be avoided, some can only be mitigated while some can only be managed.

I will like to discuss some of the cause of delays and measures to counteract delays based on my experience.

Tight Budget

In a tight market, contractors are hungry for the job and will dive for the job without considering the tight schedule in relation to the project cost. At the beginning of the project, he is already stuck with low or no profit margin. At one hand he has a tight schedule and a tight budget on the other hand. Due to the tight budget, he may not get the most qualified sub-contractors on board or take a longer time to negotiate the sub-contracts which lead to delay from the start of the project

With lesser qualified sub-contractors on board the project, he has lesser resources to carry out the work. When the sub-contractor is not able to perform as well as they should, it is too late or too expensive to change the sub-contractors.

Therefore, it is prudent to select the main contractor carefully and not award to the cheapest. There is a saying:

“Cheap may not be good and good may not be cheap.”

Unrealistic schedule

Another cause of the delay is an unrealistic schedule. As most PM are from the civil engineering background, they tend to pay greater attention to Civil and Structural work while neglecting the downstream M&E fit out, T&C and downstream activities while planning of the schedule. One of the misconceptions about M&E fit-out work and T&C work is, the schedule can be squashed significantly by putting more resources. No doubt, when fit out is being done indoors, it is to a lesser extent dependent on the weather. However, there is a still a limit to how much more time one can be shaved off by putting more workers or increasing the working hours.

To ensure that schedule is realistic from start, the tender specification should specify more milestones and key dates as “gates” so that in the events of slippages to these milestones and key dates, it can be flagged out earlier and take remedial action to recover the delay.

The baseline schedule needs to be reviewed carefully together with the programme narrative to ensure that the schedule is realistic taking into account the project risk identified, the resources and the tracking measures are in place.

Mistakes and changes in designs

Due to the hectic and complex nature of the project, design mistakes are only discovered during the construction phase. Other times, changes in design are not being effectively communicated between consultants. As a result, fabrication or construction work has to be reworked,

To ensure design mistakes or changes are minimized, adequate time should be provided to prepare and review the design by the consultants and clients representatives before a contract is being awarded.

Lack of transparency and use of critical path management.

Very often, the site work between contractors is not in sync with one another. The contractors carry their work in accordance to own preference and oblivious to other contractors’ work. There is a lack of site coordination to ensure adherence to the Master Project Schedule. For instance, the area that is cast earlier by Civil Contractor may not one that is first needed by M&E contractor and on the critical path of the project.

Logistic and site constraint

In the event of concurrent works on site, multiple activities are carried out by different contractors. Logistic and space constraints are always an issue. For example, different contractors need the limited number of cranes or common access to bring in and out the materials. When these limited resources are not properly planned and utilized, the project can come to a standstill.

The contractor should ensure there is an adequate deployment of site coordinators for the project. There should be regular weekly detail planning workshops as well as regular updates of the working programmes. The 90 days look ahead schedules should be expanded and detailed with illustrations so that every person attending the coordination meeting understand what, when and how the activities will be carried out.

In addition, the daily coordination meeting needs to be attended by all contractors’ PMs and engineers to ensure that everyone understands what are the deliverable and the solve the site issues at hand.

Failure to keep a risk register and constant monitoring

Many contractors failed to verbalize the risk of delay of the project. Some of the delays are known “unknown” while some are unknown of unknown. Known “unknown” refers to delays that you know it could happen. Unknown “Unknown” delays refer to delays that it cannot have been predicted.

An example of a known “unknown” will be delayed due to unknown ground condition or long procurement lead time of some equipment. Knowing that all ground condition cannot be fully known based on bored log or geotechnical drawings given during the tender stage, the contractor should carry out more soil investigation prior to the commencement of work. Likewise, if some equipment requires long lead time, the contractor should source and proceed with the procurement of these items earlier and monitor the procurement of these items closely to pre-empt any delay to the deliveries of these items.

An example of unknown “unknown” delay is extremely bad weather. While we can’t say specifically when it is going to rain, we can still factor in some duration for external work to take into account the unpredictable nature of the weather. However, there are years where there is an abnormally high frequency of rain beyond the expectation to the detriment of the project.

Lacking the understanding and underestimating the duration of Test and Commissioning Work

Many projects are delayed due to Systems Testing and Commissioning. Firstly most PMs are not M&E trained and they do not understand exactly what is involved in T&C phase. They thought that since the equipment has already done the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT), site T&C work should be very straightforward. But they are totally wrong!

FAT is done in the manufacturer factory and in a very “ideal” environment. However, testing on site is much more complex. Firstly testing is done after installation of the equipment on a “standalone” basis before connecting to other systems. After it passes the “standalone” test, it proceeds with the interface test with another system. After interface tests, then it is finally the integration test. During testing, various functional tests are done. At it can very time consuming to locate the faults as the fault can be within or beyond the system’s boundaries. Furthermore, with multiple systems suppliers and installers, it can be very daunting as each systems suppliers and installers will be pointing fingers at each other for the defaults or faults.

To ensure that T&C activities will not hold up the project, it is important that ample time ts being allocated for T&C activities, T&C engineers should be engaged early to prepare the T&C plan and provide a detail T&C schedule way before the T&C commencement.When drafting the scope of M&E systems contractors, try not to break into too many packages. For instance, for fire protection system, ideally, one contractor be awarded and be solely responsible for supply, installation, and commissioning instead of getting different vendors for different components of the fire protection system.

Failure to acknowledge the delay

Some owners, consultants or contractors frown upon open discussion and acknowledgment of project delay during progress update meeting to senior management.

For some senior management, they rather that you solved the problem than highlighting the issues to them. For the sake of pleasantry, they rather pretend it never happen and they want to believe that delay will just go away in due time. However, when it is finally acknowledged, it is already too late for any remedy.

I feel that the client’s senior management should not avoid the issue of delay. If the contractor has validity in entitlement for Extension of Time, it should be awarded accordingly and give instruction for acceleration work to recover the delay.

About the Author:

He has worked as a Consulting Engineer, Project Planner, and Project Manager. Some of the projects he had handled are:

North East Line
Singapore 1st Desalination Water Plant at Tuas
Integrated Resort Project at Sentosa
Lonza Cell Therapy Plant at Tuas (Phase 2)
Merck Junumet plant at Tuas
Singapore Special Cable Tunnel Project

Dela

Is Project Delay necessary bad?

December 2, 2018

Project delay is defined as project completion beyond the contractual completion date. However, is delay necessary bad? I think it depends on whether if the added economic value to the company due to this delay outweighs the penalty from the delay.

One of the causes of project delay is variation orders. Priors to the issuance of variation order, the followings should be taken into considerations:

What is the cost saving or economic value that can be derived from this Variation Order?
Is there any time impact on the project completion. If there is, what is the quantum of EOT and prolongation cost?
What is the impact of this Variation Order to the third party such as downstream contractor? Is it favorable or unfavorable?

In one of my past projects, a Variation Order was being issued way before I took over the project. This Variation Order was along the critical path, which means it would definitely lead to an extension of time and prolongation cost to the project.

At that critical point in time when the project was struggling to complete, I could have recommended the suspension of this Variation Order so that the delay to the project could be mitigated. However, I reckoned that the omission of this VO would have a serious repercussion to the downstream cable pulling contractor.

Without the installation of necessary steel structure for downstream cable installation work by another nominated contractor, a separate contract would still have to be called to fulfill the above-mentioned work, which would, in turn, lead to a further delay to the downstream third-party contractor.

After much deliberation, I decide to proceed with the Variation Order as overall it would benefit the company. Of course, it did not look good that the project under my charge would be further delayed. Still, I believe this is the right thing to do.

In another instance, another project was already being delayed beyond the contractual date. However, the contractor chose to pay Liquid Damage for the delay which he reckoned was lesser than if he had chosen to accelerate and catch up with the delay.

In other cases, where the delay is a contractor excusable delay such as delays due to the client or his agents, it is definitely music to the ears of the contractor. While delays by the contractor will lead to Liquidated Damages, an establishment of contractor excusable delay will mean the contractor will be entitled EOT with or without prolongation cost.

About the Author:

He has worked as a Consulting Engineer, Project Planner, and Project Manager. Some of the projects he had handled are:

North East Line
Singapore 1st Desalination Water Plant at Tuas
Integrated Resort Project at Sentosa
Lonza Cell Therapy Plant at Tuas (Phase 2)
Merck Junumet plant at Tuas
Singapore Special Cable Tunnel Project