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Scheduling of resources in P3

11 replies [Last post]
Wed, 2005-09-14 16:26
Steve Parnham
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I’ve been requested to develop a resource-loaded schedule in P3. Our customer wants the schedule to be loaded with man-hours, they didn’t say anything about equipments, materials or other stuff (only man-hours). In our bid we estimated around 150000 man-hours, so my manager instructed me that the schedule should match this number. Do you also have to load man-hours for the indirect labor, such as supervion? Do you add activities such as request of permits? Thanks in advance.
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Mon, 2005-09-19 01:22
#1
Jose Frade
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Good morning Steve.

When thinking about the project control/planning we should have some concepts clear:
1. The work you have to perform (engineer xxxx, instal Z PT’s, Install xxx m cable trays, install m cable, test kkk, etc) defined in the contract.

2. The additional actions you have also to perform to accomplish the contract.

3. Ressources (manpower/machinery/tools/equipment,etc) needed.

4. Costs you are going to have to accomplish the contract.


What I suggested was to control the quantity of work performed (of course this depends on contract and type of supply) Vs Contracted should the points 2./3. /4. change first analysis is to relate them with the contract trying to find a reson for the change.

Of corse this you (or some one) will need to follow the work in the field to check if the sequences (logic) defined inthe plan is being followed and if client (or others) is giving the necessary work fronts in due time.

The spoting (and understanding) of discrepancies between planned and actual as soon as possible is a must.

So, you will need to have a tool to compair the two (planned and actual work). You do not realy have to do it in P3. As matter of fact it would be easier as you suggested (Record in Excell on a weekly basis) but remember also to include the planned quantities (otherwise the actuals will not have a reference point).

When I had a similar project like yours I splitted the work by Areas and by Systems (when starting up your controlling system need to be ready first, then utilities, etc) - just an idea.

BR
JMFrade
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Sat, 2005-09-17 22:32
#2
Charleston-Joseph...
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Hi Steve,

Going back to the original question

a.) You need to split the direct manhours and indirect manhours. You load the direct manhours. How about the indirect manhours - supervision: engineers, foreman, QA/QC,etc. ????

b.) yes, add the activities such as request of permit but generally these are lump into activities called preliminaries, no need to be detailed or meticulous in identifying activities in preliminaries.

Going back to a.) we nee to know the idea behind loading direct manhours in your activities. This is more related to your philosophy as planner and also to the planning philosophy of the company you work.

It is important to know the planning process and why we are doing things the planning engineers way of doing things.

Think again, why we planners need to load direct manhours in our activities? It will help you answer the question "do we have to load indirect manhours?".

Cheers, I’ll come back and I plan to answer my question.

Charlie
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Sat, 2005-09-17 16:09
#3
Steve Parnham
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Hello guys again, thanks for your expertise.

Jose, when you suggest me to control the amount of work we are performing vs. contracted, do you mean the actual quantities installed? If so, we are going to elaborate a Weekly Installed Quatities Report (in Excel) for the client in which we will inform about the actual quantities of work executed, i.e. 20 instruments installed for the bid item 3.1 (the bid item for Installation of Instrument X), between Sep/17/05 and Sep/23/05 (the cut-off date for this report will be every Friday). Now, are you telling me I should load the quantities in P3 to have both curves as you say? About the testing job, yes we might subcontract that part, the managers are still negotiating it, so I can’t confirm that part yet. With regards to the letter -code- to include in the resource representing the phase of the project, I will follow your advice.

Charlie, 150000 man-hours include indirect labor and job is around 12 months. I was told that we are not going to do cost control in P3. As far as I know, resources you control in a project are: labor (direct, indirect), equipments, materials and cost. So, if you load the labor (man-hours), equipments, materials, but don’t load cost, are you really tracking resources in P3 (in some places I have seen that they only load man-hours)?

Thank you guys.
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Sat, 2005-09-17 07:10
#4
Charleston-Joseph...
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Hi Steve,

Going back to your original question. You have 150,000 manhours. Check your handover notes from estimates to operation/construction or you check with your estimating department if the 150,000 manhours include indirect. This will help you in your query.

Come back to PP if you have the answer.

150,000 manhours is huge. If the work is less than one year, then, you need sub-con. It is very seldom to find Instrumentation sub-contractor maintaining large manpower base.


Cheers,

charlie
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Sat, 2005-09-17 02:58
#5
Jose Frade
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Steve

Being a subcontractor I strogly suggest you also control the amount of work you are performing Vs. Contracted.

Very often in the Instrumentation field these get higher then sub-contracted. Consequently your M/H go also higher then you had foreseen. It will be good to have boths curves related to each other.

In testing, I presume you are refering to Loop testing. If the case you need to ensure to have sufficient signal injecters, etc. to perform the necessary loops in due time. Also of course applicable if you have to performe pre-calibration and testing of individual instruments prior to install. Normally all this go by team/location. Up to you to include the necessary "instruments" in the plan to have it controled.

The letter -code- to include in the ressource representing the phase of the project allows you to have the S-curves done directly by P3 and sorted - separated- by phases. The idea is for instance to monitor the Engineering phase - if in delay it might affect the procurement/erection phase and you can see it in advance. If you want to have S-curves done for instance in Excel dont need the fase code in the Ressource name but need to include the fase code in the structure of the P3 database for your project.

When the project is under way you can get the curves you want depending on the way you entered them in P3. Direct + indirect (together) / Direct + indirect (separated) - good when your scope of work increased a lot in order to justify the need of additional staf to your management and client - / just direct or just indirect. And of course all of them related to target.

Hope it helps

BR.
JMFrade
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Fri, 2005-09-16 13:10
#6
Steve Parnham
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Hello guys again,

Charlie, I do not have sub-contractors because we are the subcontractor for the instrumentation works (installation of instruments, calibrations, installation of cable trays, cabling, testings, loop checks), but my manager says we might sub-contract some work for some testings (this is not confirmed yet). By the meantime, I will add this work the my schedule.

Jose, concerning the phase of the project, do you do that in the resource dictionary or in the activity codes (E= Engineering; P=Procurement/Manufacturing; A=Erection; C=Construction; etc.)?

I will use MH as Unit of Measure in the resource dictionary for all labor resources and will group them under RL*, the direct labor under RLD* (i.e. Instrument Tech for RLDIT, Instrument Helper for RLDIH, and so on), the indirect labor under RLI*. Later on, when other resources are added, such as equipmet, I will use EA as Unit of Measure for some equipments, such as a pick-up truck and will group them under RE* (i.e. REPUT for the pick-up truck, and so on). Instruments techs use tools to perform their work, such Fluke test tools (these tools belong to the company), do you also load this to the schedule?

Now, when the project is underway, what resources do you use to get the "S" curve for an overall progress report, the direct labor RLD*, all labor RL*, all resources R*?

Thank you in advance.
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Fri, 2005-09-16 01:11
#7
Jose Frade
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Hello again Steve

If you plan to use P3 to generate SCurves it might be good to include in your ressources dicitionary a ref. concerning the phase of the project (Ex: E= Engineering; P=Procurement/Manufacturing; A=Erection; C=Construction; etc).

This is needed if later on you want to have your S-curves showing what is happening in each phase of the project (I can send you a sample). Of course this is linked with the way you want/need to control the project.

S-Curves in P3: Go to Tools/Graphic reports/ Ressource & Cost and you will find some samples; Then you need to create one (normaly several) according your needs.

Create S-curves in P3 can be quit tricky (I suggest you read carefully the manual - or the help topics). Particular attention should be made to freeze targets / Store period performance / backup copies.

BR
JMFrade
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Thu, 2005-09-15 23:48
#8
Charleston-Joseph...
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Hi Steve,

How about your sub-con resources, specifically sub-con labor manhour?

I’m only asking question because it really depends on your planning and control department system and procedure.

Take note that when you start to monitor daily manpower deployment, you also will capture the manpower of your sub-con.

Cheers,

Charlie
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Thu, 2005-09-15 20:30
#9
Steve Parnham
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Thanks guys,

Yes, the customer wants only manhours by the moment, later on we will input equipments. I requested such a breakdown of manhours and I am going to create my dictionary of resources starting with R* for all resources (labor, equipment, materials), RL* for all labor, RLI* for all indirect labor and RE* for all equipment to be used and RM* for all materials. Am I missing anything? The contract is a lump sum price contract. Once the customer agrees with the schedule, I will create the target. During execution phase, when statusing my current schedule, any ideas to get a "S" report in P3?

Thanks again experts.
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Thu, 2005-09-15 05:22
#10
Jose Frade
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Hello Steve

M/H are the basis of the men power you need to complete your project.

Later on you compair yous estimates with the actual spending and from here you arrive to an actual efficiency.

based on this you can estimate forecasts and adjust your work force accordingly.

In brief the request of your client is pretty understandable.

Concerning the direct and indirect M/H I suggest you create in your ressource dicionary all of them.
You still need to request to your management the breakdown of the total estimate and to distribute accordingly by all activities. Later on you can ask very easily reports for all, just indirect, just direct, etc.

The level of detail in a project depends on the need and how you want to controle it. With very low detail no accurate follow up/update will be possible, with detail more then necessary means waste of you own M/H.

Best regards
JMFrade
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Thu, 2005-09-15 02:33
#11
Sen Moc
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Hi, Steve.

Better if you confirm from your customer (or client) his requirements. Does he really want MH only?

Ask your manager the breakdown or basis of the 150,000MH. From there, you could distribute the MH corresponding to your activity list in the schedule.

You may provide direct or indirect labor depending on the level of schedule required from you.

I think you can make secure or obtain permit as a milestone. Again the level of detail of your schedule depends upon your customer/client requirements, your company’s practice or the preference of your manager.

Regards.
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