Outcome from the GPPCD Meeting No. 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malaysia’s Group has move forward to achieve another milestone!

The meeting was attended by James Williams (founder of PlanningPlanet) & we conclude on following points:

1. James Williams gave a short & precise speech about the objective of The Guild & the idea behind it. More info, log on to http://www.planningplanet.com/guild
2. The Guild names have changed from Group of Project Planning, Controls & Delivery (GPPCD) to The International Guild of Project Controls (IGPC) – Malaysia.
3. Framework:

• Phase 1 – Official Lunch of IGPC – Malaysia (12 Nov 2012)
• Under Phase 1, every member needs to register at http://www.planningplanet.com/
• Complete the profile i.e. qualifications, years of exeperience etc.
• Complete the skill self-assessment at http://www.planningplanet.com/assessment_centre
• Phase 2 – Formal accreditation process will begin by 2nd March 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sequence that every member to follow

 

 

 

 

 

Time frame until Phase 2

The next meeting will be held in middle January 2012. This session called Expert Talk. I would like to invite following experts to present their thoughts or solution for:

1. The Best Practice in Primavera for various industry i.e. Oil & Gas, Construction, Manufacturing, IT
2. Weightage issue, which one is the best method?
3. Earned Value in Primavera – How to differentiate between Contract Cost & Internal Cost

Malaysia’s Interest Group for the Guild of Project Planning, Controls & Delivery (GPPCD)

Meeting No. 3

Subsequent from our last meeting at KL Sentral on 2nd July 2011, the 3rd meeting will be initiate on:

Date : 12 November 2011 (Saturday)

Time : 3.00pm

Venue : Secret Recipe, KL Sentral

The agenda as follows:

1. Speech from James Williams (founder of http://www.planningplanet.com/)
2. Slide presentation – by James Williams
3. How to share knowledge in Planning & best practise in Primavera? – by Wan Farest
4. To establish Planners / Scheduler database

Nevertheless, don’t forget to sign up at Planning Planet http://www.planningplanet.com/groups/512044/gppcd-malaysia/events/512341

and our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/215165051886777/ or search “GPPCD Malaysia”.

Thanks!

“Be Proud of your Planning & Controls“

Position Available for Project Planner

Update 10.06.2011 This position is only open for Malaysian citizen.

Hi,

If you meet the selection criteria as follows:

1. Diploma/Degree in Civil/Construction Management/Electrical/Mechanical etc
2. 7-9 years experience in civil construction preferably building works
3. Experience in Oil & Gas industry may become an added advantage
4. Willing to travel or based at East Malaysia i.e. Sabah/Sarawak
5. Sound knowledgeable in project schedule analysis i.e. able to describe S-Curve, progress trends, Expected Finish Date etc
6. Most vital – well verse in Primavera 6 i.e. able to update programme, generate EVM/SPI/CPI, resource loading etc

So you are the person that able to carry this challenge! Please email your resume to me at farestmy@yahoo.com or farestmy@gmail.com!

Note : Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not a head hunter or open a recruitment agency. One of friend of mine need my help to advertise this! ;-)

Thanks.

So You Want To Become A Project Planner?

This is to answer the query from our buddy who are likely to get to know in detail about the profession called “Project Planner”. This come from my best knowledge after 9 years in the Construction/Rail industry.

Qualifications:

• Diploma/Degree holder in Project Management/Construction Management/Civil Engineer/Quantity Surveyor/Electrical or Mechanical
• This is because the discipline is much related with the Project Management environment. Others discipline may fit with the requirement but it depends with other factor as well i.e. passion, attitude etc.

Experience:

• I believe the good Project Planner should started from site (if refer to construction). This is where we can see the methodology of the construction been applied. Furthermore, it will provide the statistic about the productivity rate such as:

1) Piling Works: How many number the boring + caging + concreting activity  can be done in 7 days?

2) Super Structure: How many floors that contractor can construct in 14 days? How many formwork, rebar & concrete volume  need to be pour everyday? How many sets of formwork required?

3) Architecture Works: How many masonry we need to complete brickwork in 1 day? How many palette of brick we required at site?Same goes for plastering, painting & finishing works.

Skills:

• Besides experience, we need to understand about the Project Management principles. This is why Project Planning discipline related with Project Management Institute (PMI) etc. Nevertheless, you may apply PMI – Scheduling Professional license from PMI. Log on to http://www.pmi.org/en/Certification/PMI-Scheduling-Professional-PMI-SP.aspx for more info.
• Planning skills i.e. how to draw a general timeline which describe the process for the overall project? Or the logistic planning at site i.e. arrangement for Tower Crane, Store, Site Office etc. Or the Planning Flow that describe about the work sequence. This is a vital skill that makes Project Planner & Scheduler is different.
• Tools i.e. MS Project, Primavera, Sure Track etc. All the planning knowledge need to translate into a presentable graph that can be easy to understand by every project member. Normally, we are using Gantt Chart graph with Critical Path Method (CPM).
• Fancy terms for Project Planner i.e. Work breakdown Structure (WBS), Earned Value Management (EVM), total float, CPM, Schedule Performance Index (SPI), Cost performance Index (CPI) etc. need to be understand. How? By attending training course in Primavera etc.
• Attitude, this is important. You must have the passion & strong characteristic. You need to lead the Project Schedule & influence other team member to move forward in order to achieve the dateline given by client. We always talk in positive tone (even though it’s hard) because we need to steer the project.  And of course, communication & presentation skill also required.

Job Scope:

• Normally, Project Planner is very useful during the Meeting. He/She will answer all the question about the progress, and ready with firm answer. It is high recommended that Project Planner reporting directly to Project Director or Project Manager to ensure all the critical information about project status is ‘genuinely’ convey to the management.
• To establish the Work breakdown Structure (WBS) and maintain the structure along the project.
• To establish the Baseline Schedule, this is the agreed time line for everybody to follow.
• To identify the sequence of work/construction methodologies apply for the project.
• To monitor the work progress & put in record either in Primavera or MS Project.

That’s all. If you interested to become a Project Planner, this is the tips & direction that I can give. Good luck!

Malaysia’s Interest Group for the Guild of Project Planning, Controls & Delivery (GPPCD)

James Williams, founder of planningplannet.com & farestplanner@wordpress.com had initiated the social group among the Project Planner in Malaysia.

We plan to network, discuss, meet and debate issues relating to planning, scheduling and project controls with a Malaysian bias.

We want to organise an informal drop-in meeting at Cyberjaya, Kuala Lumpur.

The plan (as were planners) is to meet to say hello and discuss issues relating to planning and project controls, life or work in general. If you are interested, please join the Community Malaysia group to register your potential interest.

The initial meeting date / details are as follows:

Date: March 19 2011, at 4:00pm (Saturday)

Venue:

Old Town Kopitiam, Prima Avenue
Block 3503 Jalan Teknokrat 5,
63000 Cyberjaya, Malaysia
603-8318-1988

Topics :

1. Say hello and have teh tarik

Attendees: Please register yourself to our community group in Planning Planet at http://www.planningplanet.com/groups/501414/gppcd-malaysia.

Please refer map below for your reference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be Proud of your Planning & Controls.

Thank you.

Farest.

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 21,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 5 fully loaded ships.

 

In 2010, there were 2 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 21 posts. There were 5 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 142kb.

The busiest day of the year was January 21st with 149 views. The most popular post that day was Issue : S-Curve in Excel.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were en.wordpress.com, facebook.com, mynusaputra.blogspot.com, google.co.in, and google.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for s curve excel, nusaputra interchange, s curve in excel, s-curve excel, and mumbai monorail.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Issue : S-Curve in Excel May 2009
22 comments

2

3 Primavera Tips & Tricks June 2008
4 comments

3

Issue – S-Curve in P5? June 2008
9 comments

4

5 Method of Construction November 2009
6 comments

5

4 Scheduling & Planning May 2009

Free Sample, Softcopy, Spread Sheet etc

Please don’t ask to get all the above mentioned as I’ll not entertained. Thank you.

Earned Value Management

What is Earned Value Management?

Earned Value Management (EVM) is a project management system that combines schedule performance and cost performance to answer the question,

“What did we get for the money we spent?”

About EVM

• EVM is not an accounting tool to work out cash flow, track invoices, payments or revenues.

• EVM is a Project Performance Measurement tool, where the project performance  is measured by comparing the actual cost to perform work against the planned cost (budgeted) to perform the work.

• All project steps “earn” value as work is completed.

• EVM requires quantification of a project plan.

• Instead of simply comparing cost incurred to a spend plan EVM incorporates actual work accomplished.

• EVM provides an accurate and realistic reflection of the integrated scope, cost and schedule parameters to assist management in the decision making process.
• The Earned Value (EV) can then be compared to actual costs and planned costs to determine project performance and predict future performance trends.

EVM Basic Data

5 basics data is evaluated to monitor and control project progress and performance, they are:

1.Budgeted Cost for Work Scheduled (BCWS) or Planned Value PV

2.Budgeted Cost for Work Performed (BCWP) or Earned Value EV

3.Actual Cost for Work Performed (ACWP) or Actual Cost AC

4.Budget at Completion (BAC)

5.Estimate at Completion (EAC)

EVM Variance & Index Calculation

From the 5 basic data the project performance variances can be calculated:

1.Schedule Variance (SV) = EV – PV

2.Cost Variance (CV) = EV – AC

3.Estimated as Completion Variance (EACV) = BAC – EAC

And the following variances indexes can be calculated:

1.Cost Performance Index (CPI) = EV / AC

2.Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = EV / PV

If < 1 then this is negative

If > 1 then this is positive

Purpose of EVM

An example for railroad track project.PV = $3M, AC = $2M & EV = $1M. Remember, you must read PV, AC & followed with EV to understand. The project now is behind schedule & over cost as at month 3.

When we plotted to the graph either using MS Excel or Primavera, we can see AC (black line) & EV (blue line) is under PV (red line). This is not good for the project health.

Based on the progress trends, we can use ETC to forecast the completion date & cost. With assumption the progress momentum is stagnant (no additional manpower, machinery etc to expedite the progress), the railroad track will complete in additional time of 8 months + $4M.

Ingredients of EVM

1.Scope the project: Using a “Work Breakdown Structure”

2.Plan and schedule: Create a master schedule using a “Critical Path Method”

3.Estimate resources: Estimate of all resources, both time and materials.

4.Develop Control Account Plans:

•Contains Work Packages (WP)

•Authorized the project resources (planned value / budget allocated)

•Has a designated Control Account Manager (CAM)

5.Assign management responsibility: A manager should be assigned to each of the key elements of the project;

6.Form a project performance baseline: Scope and schedule

7.Measure the project’s performance: CPI & SPI

8.Forecast the final cost results : EAC vs BAC.

9.Manage the remaining work: Actual vs Planned

10.Manage all changes to the project: Will permit changes

Sao Paulo Monorail Project – Tender Prog…

Sao Paulo Monorail Project – Tender Programme in progress……

Sao Paulo, Brazil. The City of Sao Paulo is quickly moving towards the implementation of a major monorail network. Three lines are being planned, with construction slated to begin on the first phase in 2010. An astounding 100 kilometers of monorail alignment are proposed. Three familiar monorail manufacturers are interested in supplying the system, Bombardier of Canada, Hitachi of Japan and Scomi of Malaysia. All of the monorail lines will be integrated with the city’s extensive rail system. When completed, they are expected to transport in excess of one million passengers per day.

Issue : Progress Measurement in Primavera

There is query from our friend regarding abovementioned. Please sharing your thoughts… I reckon when he said WBS = Activity & the problems he’s facing are:

1) Resources i.e. cost & labor(as basis to generate % complete)

2) % complete Type i.e. Physical, Duration or Unit

3) % Schedule Complete

Feel free to post your opinion. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I am using Primavera and having an issue about progress measurement in Primavera.

If i select Duration % complete method, how do i record my progress completed for a particular WBS. Problem is even if i don’t update my activity progress and schedule the project, the duration % complete goes on increasing and i am not able to find how to record the original progress.

Suppose My project started on 1st July 2009, and i schedule it on 31 july 2009 and updated activity % as 20% for an activity whose start date is 1st July and Planned finish is 22 july 2009. Total duration for that WBS is 45days. After scheduling on 31st july my Duration % complete is 16.53% for that particular WBS. Now if my activity is not progressing till 1 month and if i schedule the progress on 31st Aug 2009, WBS duration % automatically increases to 32% whereas there is no actual progress taken place.

Kindly let me know the possible solution.

Rupesh K. parikh

rupesh_paarikh@rediffmail.com