Fundamentals of Planning

Well Rola,



If the question is "How do I plan resources if I don’t have a Production Rate and I am not familiar with this work (don’t have previous experience)?" then as I already mentioned:



1> YES, I will definitely discuss/ask people who are familiar with that work and have had experience performing same. Not only the PROJECT MANAGER, I will even talk to skilled labor, foremen, supervisors, CM’s, Design leads,,, whoever it takes!



2> Break down the work to components and see if you can estimate the components individually and work out an overall rate.



3> Research! RS means and other resources have compiled extensive estimation data that is continually updated. I saw long ago at JEA library something that applies to Jordan as well. Be careful though with this data as it might not apply completely to your particular case.



If for whatever reason you do not wish to ask / couldn’t break it down and estimate / research failed! you still can cross check with BOQ/Budget rate for resources; if such information is at your disposal:



> Estimated price = Bare Cost + Tools Cost + MH Cost + OH + Profit



Use the MH cost and turn the money value into Man-hours; I doubt it’ll be helpful, but anyway, this is could be a good exercise to cross check any estimate you make to see if it is within the budget.



R,

Rami

Rami,

Thanks for your reply,ok but lets say there is no rates, and there is an impsed finish date. how will you determine manhours? what happens is that the project manager defines that there is 5 carpenters with 5 block layers etc.....

so you just load the numbers, is that the case for all project? I don’t think that planning engineer plays its full role, he should be giving the PM the numbers not vice versa!!!

Hi Rola,



Well, from what I came to understand recently, Effort is the amount of resource expended on an activity, more precicely the man-hours. So calculation should be based on quantities and productivities to estimate Man-hours.



As for your second question; I have only once relied on a TEAM of QS to provide the breakdown I need per the schedule activities, but that was only because the project was:

1> A big project!

2> Invoicing was based on schedule progress. BOQ was copied in Primavera using Cost Accounts and Expenses. Progress was reported as Physical % Complete.



Generally you don’t need detailed breakdown because:



1> It is timely and will probably need more time than that is required to submit the schedule.



2> You only need the best ESTIMATE of resource you can come up with.



What we normally do is:



1> Work out approximations from drawings and BoQ; in principal do our own QS using a combination of calculations, counting and proportionality; whichever applies.



2> Discuss with team members; each in his field, to give us their estimates (Samer’s point 8)



3> Previous Experience of similar Jobs; especially on-site experience or from site visits (Samer’s point 3)



4> Recently I used sort of Simulation which worked out pretty well; e.g., you need to work out the rate of fixing a wall mount CCTV camera; so you break down the steps needed to install it and then perhaps mentally do the job yourself as a skilled person and try to drive an overall productivity.The method also replies on 2 and 3 above and can be a combination of them.



5> QS would be my last resort and I’d be glad if they helped giving their big load.





Hope this helps



Cheers,

Rami

Thank you everyone for your insights.



Samer, special thanks for the exhaustive list there: I have one thing to add:



21) Engineering, Engineering, Engineering!!! establish a reasonable engineering development and/or production (which ever the case applicable) and make sure that it is followed. I’ve sen it over and again; projects being delayed due to Designs and Drawings not being planned properly. Allow for proper submittal/review turnarounds and expect at least two to three submittals per design/production stage. Monitor closely and notify frequently of required issue and reply dates.



whats-more, I agree with Stephen that Monitoring the Critical Path is perhaps the single most important activity a planner should perform. DRAG is appealing and I wish there was a tool that integrates right into P5/6!!!



Finally, I will attempt to match samer’s list to as follows Steps/Groups of Activities. My focus is updating and monitoring change not actual preparation. However, Samer’s points apply to almost every where:



1> Establish a Sound BL

(applicable samer’s:3,4,5,8,9,10,11,12,13,15,16,17,18,20)



2> Updating the Schedule

(applicable samir’s pts: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,14)

> Requesting and Collecting Data for the update

> Observing Contractual changes

> Challenge and Verify the data

> Status and update schedule



3> Compare to Baseline and Variance Analysis

(applicable samir’s pts: 13,15,18,1,2,4,5,8,9)

> Observe any Slippage and Changes to Critical Path

> Compare to previous update Critical Path

> Establish Causation and Responsibility

> Quantify Change/Delay (delay analysis)

> Discuss/Report to Responsible party and investigate

ways to mitigate



4> Prepare Progress Report including findings from previous step which depending on the situation:

> Recommend (Discussed/Proposed) Corrective/Preventive

Action

> (OR) Internal Schedule Revision/Recovery

> (OR) Major Schedule Revision/Recovery





This is my basic understanding of what a planners daily dealings.



Thank you all once again.



Cheers

hi every body

I have some questions, how is effort calculated in time schedule, i have seen several ways and i want to know the better approch, and can somebody give me a comprehensive meaning of "effort"?

Another question, if i don’t have a QS in my company, how will I be able to load resources into the activities?

in other meaning can you experinced plannners give us how do you work? I know the method mentioned in books but i think we need the things that you discovered because work in real life is not like the books.

I think this will be great idea!!!

I agree with this:



"13. Critical Path. Watch it like a hawk in EVERY progress report. Make sure that you understand how it is behaving and why. Near Critical activities are also important. Hence, the float for each activity should be printed in each progress report. If your program is slipping, then you need to perform a trend analysis and understand why it is happening, then you need to work with the Construction Team on preparing a revised schedule"



But even more important is to include the Drag and Drag Cost of all current or future CP activities, as that’s where you’ll look to revise your schedule.



Fraternally in project management,



Steve the Bajan

hi Rami



please in order to get a precise reply in this forum, perhaps it is better to explain your position !

are you the main contractor or a subcontractor ? the type of your contract, unit rate or lump sum ! the number of project control team, do you have QS ! do you have already a resource loaded baseline ! did your project management "care" about planning, did your Discipline superintendents are computer savvy or not ?



depending on that you can make your own strategy,



best regards

Mimoune

Hi Rami



I have found that the simplest and quickest way to collect progress data is to create an excell sheet with all the programme tasks in one column and a progress percentage in the next.



The site/section manager fills in his section every week and sends it back.



The percentages are Copy - pasted into the programme progress column and the drop line created.



If the manager "forgets" to send the progress % then all his section is reported as being late on progress and he gets a rocket.



What is the next step?



Work with the progress updates to keep the projct on track and report delays.



Best regards



Mike Testro.

Hello Shareef,



Thank you for your enthusiasm; I have to agree with you that obtaining actual progress data can be cumbersome and frustrating at times but eventually achievable; it would probably require multiple approaches:



1) Self observed/calculated data from periodic visits to the job site

2) Utilizing daily site Agenda/Diary/Report and trying to obtain the on-site personnel buy-in into your work to provide you with information you need

2) collaborating and working with office team memebers; QS/Cost Control/Document Control/Engineering etc,,, to complete the picture



Now, that being done and the schedule being updated on that basis, what is the next step.



Cheers,

Rami

Well said !!! Rami



The situation you have mentioned is very true. After a lot of struggle I have paved my own way to execute planning.



Preparation of the project programme of works is a difficult task but the updation of the programme is even more difficult.

Now like what you have said, well established companies would have their own way of data collection and updataion. Where as in relatively unorganised or small companies they hire planners just to meet the contractual requirement of having a planner at site. It is here where data collection becomes difficult.

* What I have decided is to make regular rounds to the site on daily basis and collect information such as Actual Start date & Finish date of activities, Resource Utilizations, suspension of work. Progress measurements of activities on quantity basis (which might not always be possible when there are works on different areas of the project and to wait till the working time is coomplete to measure qunatity might not seem feasible,so in this case I would resort to remaining duration of the work; and yes remaining duration not linked to percentage complete(which should be updated manually). Programme should be updated weekly.

The Actual resource utilization for each activity thus can be obtained and used in the programme rather than relying on the auto calculated actuals from programmes.



Now in the above procedures there are a lot of works which are actually rework such as resource utilization which is normally recorded by the time keeper and quantity measured by the QS. But in companies without proper procedures and inefficient work staff it becomes difficult to obtain the information we require and it would thus be better to do it on your own.

The next problem is cost updation this would require a lot of effort in actual cost data collection and to divide it according to our activity levels.



I would suggest to complete project controls on 2 or 3 projects using on Schedule and latr on start off costing.







Regards

Shareef

Hi,



I like the thread, thank you samer for starting it. I just feel and urge to grap this opportunity to get a question that’s been floating on my mind for sometime now answered by you guys.



If you ask anyone what a planner is supposed to do: they probably wouldn’t think twice before telling you: prepare a BL, resource load, cost load, engineering and procurement lists, monitor, update, and prepare reports,,, right! few will tell you about delay analysis and fewer will get into risk.



All of the above seem to be things related to and driven by the contract/client/consultant requirements and few companies appear to have reuqirements/process/procedure of their own in place to aid keep projects on track. the result is a planner/scheduler swamped by client/consultant fancy paper work and reports which bare little or no vlaue to the project.



I just want to know; away from general statements, what are the day to day planner must do, what kind of information/data/analysis/calculations/filters he can extract and provide for his team to help them make the project work.



In short, maybe a little Planning Guide of (1) what? and (2) how to! from your experince guys.



My question is soleley in the spirit of being abale to make a difference and be EFFECTIVE team members as schedulers and planners rather than just being the Wizard of Primavera and the wicked illustartor.



Thank you.



Cheers,

Rami

You are welcome Samer



By the way ,it might be help to other beginners too

Hi to all



I have pasted the link which is related to basics of scheduling, it helped me to learn and brush up the concepts too





http://pmchallenge.gsfc.nasa.gov/Docs/2004-Pres/Sparrow.pdf

Dear Planners,



According to my experience in construction projects, the most important thing is Drawings/BOQ’s, from where we can start our plan as we can estimate duration (from quantities) and resource(from man hours/machine hours)given in it.



Best Regards,



Rizwan Rauf

Hi to all



That’s correct and to be highly appreciated

Hi, Shahul.



There is one other question, actually, that should precede even the WHAT -- WHY? What is the value that the product, service or result of the project is designed to generate?



One of the problems I’ve observed over the years is the lack of direction for the project team of what the value is that the project is intended to create. And without that info, the project team is limited in its ability to identify opportunities to increase that value (such as through the scope/cost/schedule trade-offs of the Triple Constraint Triangle).



Fraternally in project management,



Steve the Bajan

Hi to all



@ Samer, - it is really a good thread to share and assist junior’s like me .Thanks for your kick start



@Stephen - Good message.In addition ,does it holds good ?



Scope-What is to be done ?



Plan-How to do?



Schedule-When to do?

In addition to other post I would like to add communications and know to ask question.



Best Regards,

Rodel

I always teach my students to start planning with the end of the project and to go through a process of WHAT, HOW, WHO, HOW MUCH, HOW LONG, and WHEN:



1. WHAT: What do you want to HAVE when the project work is complete, i.e. the product scope requirements?



2. WHAT: Of what components does that final product consist, and what are the requirements for those (in US DoD parlance, the CLINs, or Contract Line Item Numbers)?



3. HOW: What work activities have to be done to create each component, and then to put them all together, and to ensure quality?



4. WHO? What resources will be needed to do each of the work activities?



5. HOW MUCH? How much of each resource (including money) will be needed to get each work activity done?



6. HOW LONG? How long will each work activity take to complete?



7. WHEN? When can each activity occur in sequence, based on what must occur first, and when will the resources be available/unavailable for each activity?



Fraternally in project management,



Steve the Bajan

Samer,

Think outside the box for a minute, you say you wish to show junior team members some ways of thinking about planning; get them to think of examples of simple tasks from everyday life and have them simply break the task into smaller peices then ask them how they can measure the completion of those smaller activities.



Possibly even try to use an illustrated parts breakdown to show how things are built and that there would be a sequence to putting something together; the following is an example of an IPB.

www2.gol.com/users/neasham2/bronco/parts/pics/dana_30.gif

Dear Samer,

I think that the BOQ might be helpfull way to start with. one can divid the work according to bil numbers, then according to division. And this is helpfull when preparing the payment or cash flow.

Regards