Extend Of Project Control Tools Utilised In Malaysia

Nickie,



I couldn’t agree more with your statement "...knowledge of software without skills pretty much takes you nowhere..." as I am a huge advocate of producing quality planning engineers and not just ’computer jockeys’.



I think Zanudin’s statement is absolutely correct of participating in the various project disciplines to gain the experience as experience cannot be bought or learnt from training or reading. These only provide a foundation for the practitioner to build upon and your juniors will only grow through their exposure to project management together with your guidance.

Dear Nickie,

Reading will give you the Awareness.

Active participation in the discipline activities (let’s say Procurement and the other areas of Project Management) will make you Appreciate and Understand the work processes which will help you plan the activities later on.

Applying the planning skills on the job will go a long way in making you a Practitioner in your ABC skills.

Ability to apply the different skills to suit different requirements, different situations, coupled with your ability to hold the hands of the young planners will make you a respectable Expert in your field.

.... and so and so on, up and up you’ll move......

Thanks Phil for the advice... I’ll try to talk to my bosses about the training... Actually my junior planners have undergone the 102 course, in fact we are already in the midst of registering them for the 106 as well, just that I guess knowledge of software without skills pretty much takes you nowhere...





Best Regards

Nickie,



Reading is great source of information but why not place your new planners on a planning & scheduling (P&S) course. We run a 1-2 day course that I call a ’chalk & talk’ as there is no software used as it just looks at the methodology of P&S from WBS and activity definition through to EVM.



As for P6 I would also recommend you undertake the basic 102 course which we also run. A lot of P3 planners make the mistake of thinking P3 & P6 are the same but the GUI is totally different and there is a lot of additional functions that you need to know about.



Phil

Hi All,



Been sometime since I come back and check this thread! I forgot about it’s existence (Sorry, I know I shouldn’t) until today, my bad... you guys have some nice discussions going on here...



Dear Zanudin,



I especially like your 1-2-3 of Project Management and your A-B-C of Project Control. Any reading material available.



I have just started serving a new company after my previous company decide to relocate it’s office to China, and I have now 3 very young and very fresh planners reporting to me, I am not a teacher material, I was just thinking if you have good reading material, it might benefit everyone...



I have also started using P6 which is another hair pulling exercise... any advise on how to make the software work for me without me losing more hair?



Best Regards...

Hi Lot!

Before we look at the ABC of Project Controls tools & methodologies, let’s look at the 123 of Project Management know-how, bear with me, will you?



The know-how that will help you are :-

PM01 - Integration

PM02 - Scope Management

PM03 - Time Management (this is all yours to conquer)

PM04 - Cost Management (usually yours too!)

PM05 - Quality Management

PM06 - Resource Management

PM07 - Communication Management

PM08 - Risk Management

PM09 - Procurement Management

Get to know and appreciate all of the above.



At the same time, here are your ABCs til H, i/m/h/o ....

A. WBS (see PM02 above)

B. Basis Setting, Scheduling, Baselining & Analysis

C. Critical Path

D. CTR, Resource Loading & Quantity Analysis

E. Progress Measurement Basis, Method Verification & Variance Analysis

F. Earned Value Management

G. Quantitative Risk Analysis

H. Reporting

These are your tools that make you stand out.



If I were to screen for Planners, I’ll look for those skills & qualities.



PM me if you can last the distance, please.

Hi Lot,



What would you like to know about project controls? If you would like you can contact me directly and discuss your requirements at support@pcss.com.my



Phil

HELLO GUYS!!





I usually handle project planning here in Malaysia Using P3 and MS Project 2000 (sad but true).



But i wish to know the ABC of Project Control



I really appreciate your help.



Thanks in advance.

Which company are u now? Client? Fabricator? Deepwater?

Osman, saya di Jubail

Yes, you are absolutely correct. The lookahead schedules are being monitored using spreadsheet, simply because it’s easier to use.



I have requested for the same level to be put into the schedule so that whatever calculation can be done automatically and not manually, but usually these are the sub-schedules, not directly linked to the overall schedule, but rather a separate schedule for different workshop. These schedules are updated on a weekly basis, and once a month, the master schedule is being updated.



I do believe in Primavera the sub-schedules can be directly linked to the master schedule, but in MSProject, to do the links in between separate project files is very troublesome.

Dear Zanudin,



Do you have an e-book of the documents that you mentioned? I’ll be interested to spend some time reading and understanding the list of things that I am supposed to do.



Dear Othman,



Already bald, no need for the shaver anymore, lol...





Best Regards.

Dear Nickie,

Just to make you pull off some hair from their roots, here are some more list of things to do for you (taken from Table 1 of BS 6079-1-2002).



p/s no need to thanks nor any token of appreciation



General

1 Foreword

2 Contents, distribution and amendment record

3 Introduction

3.1 Project diary

3.2 Project history



The Why

4 Project aims and objectives

4.1 Business case



The What

5 General description

5.1 Scope

5.2 Project requirement

5.3 Project security and privacy

5.4 Project management philosophy

5.5 Management reporting system



The When

6 Programme management

6.1 Programme method

6.2 Program software

6.3 Project life cycle

6.4 Key dates

6.5 Milestones and milestone slip chart

6.6 Bar chart and network if available



The Who

7 Project organization

8 Project resource management

9 Project team organization

9.1 Project staff directory

9.2 Organizational chart

9.3 Terms of reference (TOR)

(a) for staff

(b) for the project manager

(c) for the committees and working group



The Where

10 Delivery requirements

10.1 Site requirements and conditions

10.2 Shipping requirements

10.3 Major restrictions



The How

11 Project approvals required and authorization limits

12 Project harmonization

13 Project implementation strategy

13.1 Implementation plans

13.2 System integration

13.3 Completed project work

14 Acceptance procedure

15 Procurement strategy

15.1 Cultural and environmental restraints

15.2 Political restraints

16 Contract management

17 Communications management

18 Configuration management

18.1 Configuration control requirements

18.2 Configuration management system

19 Financial management

20 Risk management

20.1 Major perceived risks

21 Technical management

22 Tests and evaluations

22.1 Warranties and guarantees

23 Reliability management (see also BS 5760: Part 1)

23.1 Availability, reliability and maintainability (ARM)

23.2 Quality management

24 Health and safety management

25 Environmental issues

26 Integrated logistic support (ILS) management

27 Close-out procedure

the bosses don’t have to care, i was the one pulling off my hair, remember? the bosses are already bald anyway. lol

ah, i give up trying to convince my bosses which software to use...

currently, i do not use P3 at all. my present company said it’s too expensive...



i am using msproject 2007 which is not compatible with the excel that i have. i only have the license to use excel 2002 (i know it’s pathetic) but because so some company policy, i have to bear with it.



i have both msproject 2003 and 2007 installed so that when i need to run some excel reports, i use 2003 to do it. :P



tough life eh?

oh, that has been turned off due to some spams problems earlier.

ok, gimme ur addy, then i can mail it to you

nah, this is like the usual software i used, i have however come up with an excel sheet that plots the lines for you if you input the dates. i can send it for you guys to comment, maybe improvise, if you want.

too late... lol, furthermore, bald is just not the style for a lady :)

thanks guys for all the great advises. i will bear in mind and see if i do any better for this upcoming project that is making me pull off almost all my hair.

Dear Nickie, cannot help noticing your statement that

"At the start of every project (my 4th with this company) we struggle to get things into place. This happen everywhere, when you have a set of guidelines it’s often easier, but when you don’t it could take months to get a running operable system up"



It cannot be further from the truth that "this happen everywhere" as you’ve said.

And just like everything else, getting things to start is the hardest thing to do.

As a Project Controller (Schedulers, Planners too), it’s your role to make the ’Project Start’ chain of activities as smooth as possible.

You can do this by drawing from your previous experience to compile a checklist (the most primitive form) or rather (as a professional planner) a template schedule to represent the typical ’Project Start’ work/deliverables listing, duration estimating, resourcing and sequencing.

Attaching company templates to this programme will surely help.



You shall bear in mind that nowadays, you may as well turn out to be the most familiar with the company’s project set-up than any other members.



Typically, your list of deliverables when working for an Owner organisation would be

1. to plan for a Project Charter statement to record the Project Team’s project objectives whereby the mission of every team members shall be aligned with.

2. Work Scope review, definitions and clarification

3. Project Risks assessments to be conducted involving all memebers

4. Sharing of Lessons Learnt from previous projects.

5. Project Costing i.e. Owner’s Cost items (derived from cost elements such as Contracts values, mobilisation, overhead costs, contingencies) and Owner’s Budget (fitting your Accountant’s requirements).

6. A set of simplified flowchart, procedures essential to start up a Project e.g. Communications & Reporting procedure, Document Controls system, filing system etc.

7. A mobilisation plan suitable for the project scope, work location and budget.



You can achieve #1, #2, #3, #4 swiftly by conducting a Team Building.

You can achieve #5, #6, #7 quickly if you have developed a Reliable, Replicable templates from your previous projects.



Good Luck.

"guestimate" is a good work. i do that like very often, especially when my project is in a totally new location. for instance, i have a project coming up in india right now, and what do i do? i guess it. i am most of the time wrong.

I do agree with you completely...



Currently I am attached to a company, functioning as the client of the project. At the start of every project (my 4th with this company) we struggle to get things into place. This happen everywhere, when you have a set of guidelines it’s often easier, but when you don’t it could take months to get a running operable system up.



Any suggestions how to make things better? Maybe come up with a "reference" book?



Given your experience, I am sure you can come up with something that benefit us all.

My office is using MSProject.



Worksheet.



Normally costwise.



But this is not a common practice, and it’s adapted depending on what type of information is made available to me for different projects.

what is your main concern?