PM Software.

PM = Project Management

Software = Tools

How could we expect the cluster of people who are lack in Project Managemnt knowledge and practice to fully understand and utilise the Project Management Tools.

No doubt it was stated / claimed "for report only".


peace

Vladimir,

I expect that you would need to experience our system in action to understand the interplay between critical path and critical mass analysis. The schedules are extremely workable and reliable. We’ve been managing turnarounds for over 25 years now (we started out as a consultancy in the field developing the system for our own use).

I look forward to seeing Spider Project in action during a turnaround to see for myself how it achieves near static schedules while leveling resources with variable scope, resources and progress.

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems - ATC Professional Shutdown / Turnaround Management System

Vladimir,

I would amend your comment as follows:

"when resources are restricted traditional critical path calculations by themselves are useless"

It is possible to utilize critical path scheduling as long as resource restrictions are analyzed. We do it in a different manner (via critical mass analysis). We have been doing it successfully for many years now.

I read the document you referenced. Your RCP system is leveling the schedule and removing flexibility from the field in managing/mitigating problems. IMO, your RCP system is better suited to projects with a more static execution environment than a turnaround.

Our critical mass analysis provides the same early warning alert when resources are insufficient to complete non-critical work within the timeframe of the critical path as your RCP system without adding artificial constraints to the schedule. I’m not sure how you are determining which resources from a resource pool will be the driver for delaying unrelated tasks (using the same resource type), but we prefer to allow field supervision the flexibility to manage these cases for non-critical work based upon current field conditions and situations. In a turnaround, there is typically more work available at any given time than a resource can handle. For non-critical jobs, it does not really matter (from a scheduling perspective) which job they work as long as they are working and making progress. Field supervisors are in the best position to direct them in the most efficient manner.

Should a resource become constrained (ie. insufficient to complete remaining non-critical scheduled work within the time frame of the critical path), management may elect (and almost always will in the case of a turnaround) to hire additional labor or cut scope to eliminate the possibility that non-critical work (when scheduled as straight CPM) will extend beyond the critical path (or longest sequence or resource unrestrained work that drives the unit turnover date). If I understood your paper correctly, either of these cases will cause dramatic changes to the RCP schedule. IMO, dramatic changes to schedules based upon leveling algorithms tend to cause field superintendents to lose confidence in the plan and abandon support of the schedule.

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems - ATC Professional Shutdown / Turnaround Management System

All critical, near critical and process critical work always have dedicated resources (usually using the best available talent). CPM is very effective at controlling the critical path. We measure Critical Mass separately to ensure resources do not get constrained/overloaded for non-critical work.

The benefit of our approach is that there is more flexibility in the schedule. This is important in turnaround situations as obstacles to working the schedule are normal and expected every shift.

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems - ATC Professional Shutdown / Turnaround Management System

Vladimir,

No worries. Turnarounds are also often called shutdowns, outages, I&Ts, and other names. They all refer to maintance projects where a refinery (or chemical plant) must shut down a continuous process unit (it doesn’t apply to batch operations) for maintenance and repair. There are strong incentives to finish the projects as quickly as possible to minimize revenue loss (due to lost production) and costs due to the expanded work forces (and overtime pay) and equipment rentals employed.

Resource leveling is tricky because there are workplace saturation issues that cannot be addressed with traditional leveling algorithms. Leveling algorithms are not practical because the scope is not static (in addition to progress update irregularities). The scope grows as inspections are performed and add-on work is identified.

The Spider Project calculation times you reference are impressive, but critical path analysis (floats) are necessary to maintain focus on potentially rapidly changing priorities in a turnaround. The speed of calculation is critical because humans are not perfect. It is often necessary for schedules to be recalculated several times every update. There is a very constrained window of time for generating necessary progress reports and shift schedules so that they can be of use.

We typically begin the update process 2 hours before shift change with field personnel forecasting progress to the end of the shift. With a high degree of detail in the plan, the margin of error in estimating/forecasting progress is statistically negligent. Planners use the 2 hour window to update the schedule, incorporate necessary add-on work, generate and distribute all reports.

Earned progress is measured in terms of manhours (purposefully excluding equipment) earned against the estimates. Actual/accrued manhours may differ and analyzing the differences can aid productivity studies or highlight other areas of concern. In general, turnarounds are driven by manhours (effort) and not equipment costs (or materials). If you control/manage the labor, you will control/manage the costs in a turnaround.

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems - ATC Professional Shutdown / Turnaround Management System

Vladimir,

You are correct. Most of the issues I have presented previously are tied more to the methodology than features of the software (with the exception of the scheduling of post-t/a work). While planners may have the option of using PMPs in a similar fashion for some of the issues I have presented, ATC Professional requires the methodology be followed.

There are differences between turnarounds and construction projects. See our short Projects Vs. Turnarounds comparison. ATC Professional was designed to address those differences intrinsically.

Here are a few software specific items in line with your original question:

- ATC Professional uses a different method for Resource Management. It does not level the schedule (adjusting tasks in an attempt to create a static schedule for optimum resource distribution). It levels manpower in resource reporting (histograms, etc.) to assure that management knows the schedule is feasible in the required timeframe and with a certain threshold per resource.

This allows field supervision flexibility in determining their work priorities based upon ever changing conditions in the field. It also prevents inefficiencies from being built into the schedule (where traditional resource leveling may not distribute the resources logically from a logistics standpoint).

This also has the benefit of producing schedules that do not change drastically from update to update as resources are leveled differently (which can destroy credibility with the field supervision and breakdowns in cooperation).

- ATC Professional’s scheduling engine is optimized for handling large schedules. This allows planners to schedule with a high degree of detail - ensuring better quality estimating and progress reporting. See my second post in this thread for an example. The speed is critical to ensuring that updates can be produced in a timely manner every shift (allowing near real time reporting for the beginning of the next shift.

I have yet to see a PMP perform adequately in producing the necessary information at shift change. And yes, I have spent quite some time in the field (and in many cases where new clients have utilized our system in parallel to their former system for testing).

I suspect that this is the major reason that PMPs are not used to drive turnarounds. Either the necessary information cannot be produced in a timely fashion, or the scope has been summarized and the information produced is not adequate. Of course, this is just my opinion and my experience.

- Progress updating in ATC Professional does not require the input of time sheet actual hours (though it is supported and encouraged for earned value analysis). We have a streamlined process allowing % complete data fed from the field (and corresponding 1-1 with scheduled items). We track both earned and actual manhours.

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems - ATC Professional Shutdown / Turnaround Management System

Vladimir,

I composed a lengthy post for you and lost it when I hit the ’Post Now’ button and got an Error 500. I’m tired now and don’t have the energy to recreate the whole thing again. Here’s the abridged version:

- ATC Professional is a tool designed to facilitate a turnaround specific methodology which you can read about from the primers available on the ATC Professional page of our web site. It is difficult to describe the differences between ATC Professional and PMPs adequately though this medium. Even new clients do not understand it fully until the first time they actually implement it.

- I have never seen Spider Project. I had never heard of it until I asked you about it here in the PP forums. Please do not view my comments about PMPs as pertaining to it as I have no experience to comment.

- Most PMPs guide planners to input data in spreadsheet forms with attached bar charts. It encourages planners (consciously and unconsciously) to adjust their plans according to how the work is being scheduled.

ATC Professional separates the planning from the scheduling. All work is estimated, planned, reviewed, adjusted, approved and budgeted before any scheduling takes place. This leads to improved confidence and cooperation in using the eventual schedule since the field and management have already bought into the plans.

Add-on work during the turnaround is similarly planned (and routed for approval in case of discretionary items) before being incorporated into the schedule.

- Yes, non-working time is when no work is being performed. Most PMPs display work scaled over periods of non-working time. This can lead to hard to find errors when work is coded with the wrong calendar (or work basis). It would appear from your question that you have not read the white paper I referenced previously (nor the screenshot that it references).

Improving the clarity of the schedule and removing possible fudge factors helps achieve greater confidence in the schedule.

- ATC Professional’s pre-defined reports have been developed based upon field experience and client feedback over the last 25 years. All possible information needs are addressed (including ones that the client may not think about).

- Post-t/a work in ATC Professional is not included in EF & LF schedule calculations so that all Pre-T/A and T/A work is the focus of the critical path for achieving unit turnover for start-up. The Post-T/A code is not just for cost segregation.

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems - ATC Professional Shutdown / Turnaround Management System

What kind of software adjustment do you mean?

Vladimir, I’m not sure if that question was directed at me or Bahari, but I’ll try to highlight a few of the differences that make ATC Professional tailored to managing turnarounds:

Scope Definition

ATC Professional is structured differently from most project management programs (PMPs). It organizes data in a work order structure and separates the planning from the scheduling. When the scope definition is developed independent of schedule, it encourages more honest estimating and less fudging to paint pictures with bar charts. Field personnel can buy into the estimates without committing to a schedule.

Work Order plans can be easily activated/inactivated. ATC Professional has built in facilities for managing add-on work versus original scope, pre-t/a, t/a and post-t/a activities, permits, procedures, blind lists, etc.

ATC Professional also differentiates between cost plus (time & material) work and lump sum contract work allowing all work to be scheduled and tracked while focusing budgeting and manpower requirements on just the cost plus work (or lump sum work or both - as desired).

Scheduling

ATC Professional shows non-working time on a 24-hour timeline. ATC Professional’s bar charts make the total schedule completely transparent and easy to read. See our white paper Transparency in Critical Path Method Scheduling for more information on this subject.

Progress Tracking

ATC Professional tracks physical progress (based upon manhours), critical mass (physical progress trending) and the schedule (critical path).

Reporting

ATC Professional has over 50 specific reports focused on delivering key information targeted to different levels of the turnaround organization from field supervision, the warehouse, safety, operations and planning to upper management for the various stages of the turnaround (from conception/budgeting to post project analysis).

Since virtually every information need is met with intrinsic reports, there is no possibility for fudging numbers in 3rd party systems (like Excel).

ATC Professional consistently achieves a full range of updated progress, schedule and manpower reports at shift change. Field supervision/superintendents have updated shift schedules to focus on schedule priorities (for driving the project execution) and managers have real time information to make decisions (for driving the project to meet time and budget goals).

Miscellaneous

PMP schedules are easy to fudge. Data can be manipulated to paint pictures at virtually any time without notice. This allows planners to continually fudge the schedules to fit managements desires / expectations and hide important problems instead of allowing them to be addressed. This is a real problem in the high-pressure turnaround industry. ATC’s data cannot be fudged without raising flags since it tracks physical progress in terms of manhours at the work order level.

ATC Professional’s activity timing codes segregate pre & post turnaround activities from the turnaround scope. This allows you to measure the impact of incomplete pre-t/a work that must be completed during the turnaround using turnaround resources. Also, the critical path accurately measures just the work required for plant start-up (pre-t/a & t/a) while still allowing you to budget, track and manage post-t/a work within the same schedule.

I suppose that with a bit of work, planners might be able to adapt PMPs to simulate some of the functionality of ATC Professional, but I have yet to see one used in the field that performed comparably.

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems - ATC Professional Shutdown / Turnaround Management System

As the initial post said if the software is used purely as a reporting tool to appease management, which in my experience it often is, then it is a waste of money.
My successes in planning have always been through getting the PM methodology right. This includes not only the plan but the associated documentation (Project descriptions, risk analysis/management etc.)
Finally and most essentially a buy-in from all interested parties to the project.
With all these in place the software is largely irrelevant as they basically will give the same results in the hands of an experienced planner.

The last posting is mine. I am sorry - forgot to login.