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Tag: Interface management

The Future of AI in Project Planning and Scheduling

May 21, 2024

The launch of ChatGPT-4.0 has shown us the incredible capabilities of AI, pushing the boundaries of what is possible. This innovation leads us to wonder how AI could be applied to fields like project planning and scheduling, potentially revolutionizing these areas. While there is always concern about technology replacing human jobs, AI in project planning and scheduling can be seen as a powerful tool to enhance human capabilities, reduce errors, and improve efficiency. Here are some ways AI could be integrated into existing project planning and scheduling software:

  1. Milestone Extraction and Schedule Outline: AI could automatically extract scheduling milestones from tender or contract documents, creating an initial high-level project schedule. This schedule would respect the constraints of these milestones and provide a comprehensive view of project phases, helping project managers kickstart the planning process with a solid foundation.
  2. Project Calendar Selection: By understanding programming specifications, AI can choose the correct project calendar type. This ensures that the schedule aligns with the specific requirements of the project, such as working days, holidays, and other time-related constraints.
  3. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Generation: AI could interpret tender or project specifications to generate a detailed WBS. This structure would outline the project phases, disciplines, systems, and components, providing a clear roadmap for the project execution.
  4. Typical Work Sequences: AI can offer typical sequences for various types of work, streamlining the planning process. This ensures that project schedules follow industry best practices and efficient workflows, reducing the learning curve for new project managers.
  5. Drawing Analysis and Quantity Extraction: AI-powered tools could read technical drawings and extract quantities directly from them. This capability would significantly reduce the time and effort required for quantity takeoffs and improve accuracy.
  6. Interface Listing and Identification: AI can list and identify interfaces in project drawings. This helps in coordinating different project components and disciplines, ensuring that all interfaces are managed effectively and reducing the risk of integration issues.
  7. Discrepancy Identification: AI could identify discrepancies between drawings and specifications, alerting project managers to potential conflicts early in the planning phase. This proactive approach helps in resolving issues before they impact the project timeline or budget.
  8. Risk and Critical Path Identification: By analyzing the project plan, AI can identify risks and determine the critical path. This allows project managers to focus on high-risk areas and ensure that key milestones are met, enhancing the overall project control.
  9. Historical Data Analysis: AI could compile a list of projects with similar scopes, including their corresponding costs and durations. This data-driven approach provides valuable benchmarks and insights for new projects, aiding in more accurate cost and time estimations.
  10. Specialist Contractor Suggestions: Based on the project requirements, AI can suggest a list of specialist contractors for various works. This helps in finding the right expertise and improving the quality of the project execution.
  11. Scenario Planning: AI enables scenario planning by evaluating different project strategies and listing the pros and cons of each. This helps project managers make informed decisions and choose the best approach for their project.
  12. Programme Narrative Generation: AI can generate comprehensive programme narratives that explain the construction strategy, sequences, assumptions, constraints, assumed productivities, and labor histograms. This documentation is crucial for communicating the project plan to stakeholders and ensuring alignment.
  13. Cashflow Curve Generation: AI could automatically generate cashflow curves, providing a visual representation of the project’s financial plan. This assists in managing project finances and ensuring that funding requirements are met throughout the project lifecycle.

Conclusion

Integrating AI into project planning and scheduling has the potential to significantly enhance the efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness of project management processes. While there may be concerns about AI taking over jobs, the reality is that AI can empower project managers by automating routine tasks and providing advanced insights, allowing them to focus on strategic decision-making and problem-solving. Embracing AI in project management could lead to more successful project outcomes and a more dynamic and responsive approach to planning and execution.

Project Management, Project Schedule Baseline scehedule, Freelance Project Schedule, Interface management, MS Project, Primavera P6, Project Management, Schedule Management, Tender Schedule

What so difficult about Interface management?

January 10, 2019

Interface management plays a large part in the success of managing a project. Without proper interface management, it can cause overall project to delay and cost to over run.

In construction project, there are much interface works with adjacent contractors, sub-contractors, systems wide contractors and external authorities.  Let examine some of the challenges in interface management.

Scale and Complexity of the project

One of the reasons managing large scale project is more complex is not just because the physical quantity of work is larger, but there are also more parties being involved.  Hence with more parties involved, the complexity of interfaces increases.

In a mega project, project is broken down into multiple main packages. In addition, many major trades will be appointed by the client directly and novate to the main contractors later, so as to save cost through bulk purchase and standardisation of equipment. As such, main contractors not only have to manage lateral  interfaces with the adjacent main contractors but also vertical interfaces of sub-contractors.

Inconsistencies in tender/contract documentations

It is not uncommon to find discrepancies in contract documentations between different contract packages. In one case, the nominated sub-contract stated that the duration of installation and testing of lifts was 4 months. However, in the main contracts, the duration for lifts  installation and testing allowed for only 3 months. Just imagined if you were the nominated sub-contractor, would you agree to a shorter duration upon novation to the Main-contractors?

In another example, the drawing details of the interface between adjacent contractors differed. Either contractors would not agree to change their own design as they were doing according to the required specifications. In which case, the Engineer had to issue EI to regularise the inconsistencies.

Lateral interface management.

Lateral interface refers to adjacent contractors sharing common interfaces. They don’t have direct contractual obligation with each other.

One of the common issues of lateral interfacing is sharing of access or providing of access to his adjacent contractor.  In one of my project, my contractor could not delivered materials into the bored tunnel from our side as the opening had been closed. As a result, my contractor needed to deliver the materials through the shaft opening of the adjacent contractor. As the delivery would affect their adjacent contractor’s work and there was no stipulated clause that the contractor needed to provide free access to the adjacent contractor , it took quite an amount of effort to interface and coordinate among the contractors. At times, it required the client PMs to step in to facilitate the coordination.

Other common issue of lateral interfacing work includes managing common access of the adjacent contractor to carry out their work.

In the interface zone, when there is a shared boundary or overlapping of work,  the boundary’s scope of work can be muddy. This may result in the adjacent contractors doing nothing in this interfacing zone as both contractors thought that it is the other party’s obligation.

For M&E work, it is not practical to terminate the utility work such as piping/cabling exactly at the boundary line. Hence the termination of M&E services may encroach into the other contractor’s boundary.

Vertical Interface management

In the case of vertical interfaces, the downstream contractors work depends on the successful handover of work from the upstream contractors.  If the upstream contractor cannot fulfilled his contractual obligation on time, then it has a knock off effect on the commencement of downstream contractor’s work.  

M&E systems integration

There are many M&E systems in a building which are managed by different vendors. There are much software and hardware components between systems to be integrated. Some systems adopt open standards while some systems adopt proprietary format. Hence interfacing and integrating of systems can be quite challenging and time consuming.

I saw many times the main contractor underestimate the complexities of systems integration and it took much longer time to troubleshoot and fix the faults during integration testing than planned.

 It is imperative that overall systems architecture be clearly defined and systems boundaries demarcated. Otherwise, time can be wasted on abortive work, troubleshooting and fixing the issues during testing and commissioning.

Conclusion

In summary, interface management needs careful consideration. It is important to realise this as one of the project risks and to manage it closely and timely.               

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
Interface management, Project Management Interface management, Lateral Interface managemnet, Nominated Subcontractor, vertical interface management

Recent Posts

  • The Future of AI in Project Planning and Scheduling May 21, 2024
  • Challenges of bored tunneling work February 18, 2019
  • Things to look up for when reviewing updated construction schedule January 17, 2019
  • What so difficult about Interface management? January 10, 2019
  • Why Project Manager don’t trust the project schedule January 4, 2019
  • Do you Insource or Outsource project scheduling work in your company? January 2, 2019
  • Top down or bottom up for project schedule planning? December 24, 2018
  • How long does it takes to develop a project schedule? December 20, 2018
  • Freelance Project Schedule Planning December 17, 2018
  • Different perspectives of Project Management from contractor and client December 7, 2018

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