CPM Solutions Ltd. Newsletter

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1 CPM Solutions Ltd. Newsletter March, 2008 Volume 2, Number 1 In This Issue CPM Solutions Presents Maintenance and Turnaround Focused Training and Consulting Services CPM Solutions Presents Maintenance and Turnaround Focused Training and Consulting Services Course #CPM300 Primavera P5/P6 Training for Plant Shutdowns and Turnarounds NEW course #CPM310 Best-Practice Strategies for Turnaround Management NEW course #CPM320 Turnaround Readiness Assessment Workshop - Seminar Wrench Time Article by Edmund (Ted) Lister Primavera s P6 Multiple Product Levels High Level Primavera P6 and Contract Manager Architecture Primavera Software Tips and Tricks CPM News Training In The News Primavera announces it s release of Contract Manager v12 (CM 12). CM 12 improves usability, supports latest technology platforms and adds major new features including: integration and more flexible options to approve documents. Please visit our website on April 1st for further information. As CPM Solutions Ltd. continues to extend its capabilities in the Maintenance and Turnaround discipline, we present the following: Differences between project planning, scheduling, resource and cost management for Turnaround and Maintenance projects versus Construction Projects Upcoming CPM Solutions Ltd. Maintenance and Turnaround Focused Training Courses Differences between project planning, scheduling, resource and cost management for Turnaround and Maintenance projects versus Construction Projects Turnaround and Maintenance Projects Duration driven Level work activities by Work Order Detailed planning by Work Order Schedule to produce a plan that reduces risk, cost and duration and optimizes use of resources Produce a tabular shift report every 12 hours Re-schedule every 12 hours during the Execution Phase to produce a new plan based on current conditions (Shift Report) Manage work activities not human resources Supervise human resources CPM Solutions Ltd. announces that its first five day Maintenance and Turnaround focused Primavera P5/P6 training course presented February 4-8 th in Edmonton was very well received. Comments on the course evaluations included: Excellent Very Worthwhile Excellent Course Experienced Instructor Construction Projects Resource and commodity driven Level resources by trade High level planning by WBS Schedule to produce a plan that meets the engineering and procurement process by contract and/ or discipline; i.e., civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, etc. Produce a Gantt Chart every week Re-schedule weekly to produce a new plan (Gantt Chart) Manage human resources Supervise work activities Contact Us CPM Solutions Ltd. # Roberts Street Burnaby, BC V5G 4E1 Phone: (604) Fax: (604) Website: 1

2 The next three Maintenance and Turnaround focused training courses and those who would benefit from attending are listed below. Please access the Training section of our website to obtain the brochures and course outlines. CPM300 Primavera P5/P6 for Plant Maintenance and Turnarounds is a five day course to be held in our Edmonton Training Centre on April th CPM300 is a comprehensive 5 day training course designed by Turnaround Specialists for the individuals responsible for the planning, scheduling and execution-coordination functions associated with plant shutdowns, turnarounds, and capital projects. This hands-on workshop for Primavera P5 or P6 users encompasses hands-on computer training, best-practice presentations and workshop exercises. This course will teach participants to effectively plan before the turnaround, dynamically schedule during the turnaround and meet project key performance targets. Who will benefit from attending CPM300? Maintenance and Turnaround Operational Personnel: Field Planners / Estimators Schedulers Field Execution Coordinators (Operations and Maintenance) Facilities Engineers Project Controls Personnel CPM310 Best-Practice Strategies for Turnaround Management is a three day course to be held in Edmonton on May 7-9 th CPM310 - Best-Practice Strategies for Turnaround Management is three educational and entertaining days of knowledge transfer by leading turnaround management professionals. Don t miss this opportunity to learn how world-class organizations stay on top of their most complex projects with best-practice turnaround and project management strategies. By attending this Workshop-Seminar and obtaining the electronic management tools supplied, attendees will be able to optimize project scope of work, establish realistic budgets, secure the best contracts, assess the condition of pre-turnaround planning, establish clear key performance targets and control all aspects of the most dynamic and complex of projects ever undertaken -- TURNAROUNDS. Who will benefit from attending CPM310? Maintenance and Turnaround Management Personnel: Maintenance Managers Turnaround Managers Turnaround Leaders Turnaround Coordinators Project Managers Plant Managers Inspection Managers Operations Managers Engineering Managers Reliability Managers Planners Schedulers 2

3 CPM320 Turnaround Readiness Assessment is a three day course to be held in Edmonton Monday, May 12 th through Wednesday, May 15 th. A three day workshop-seminar designed by leading turnaround management professionals to provide you with the tools and instructions for conducting a formal Turnaround Readiness Assessment. This is one of the most valuable workshop-seminars for pre-turnaround management ever to be presented. By attending this Workshop-Seminar and obtaining the electronic management tools supplied, you will be able to satisfy the Wouldn t it be s and the What-if s that perplex the management of pre-turnaround preparations. We ve all been in the stressful position of preparing for a facility shutdown and experiencing that troublesome feeling that something has been overlooked. DON T put yourself in this stressful position again! It s completely unnecessary. Use the CPM320 management tools and best-practice methods of pre-turnaround management and project status assessment to allow you to be in complete control. Who will benefit from taking CPM320? Maintenance and Turnaround Management Personnel: Maintenance Managers Turnaround Managers Turnaround Leaders Turnaround Coordinators Project Managers Plant Managers Inspection Managers Operations Managers Engineering Managers Reliability Managers Planners Schedulers Wrench-Time By Edmund (Ted) Lister WRENCH-TIME [average hours/shift that a craftsperson spends directly working to execute construction, maintenance or shutdown activities] It s estimated that a worker spends on average only 3.5 hours actually working during a ten-hour shift; this is a startling figure. With industry already lacking in skilled labour, wouldn t it make sense to try and increase worker performance? The savings of indirect support (travel, tools, safety, living allowance, etc.) in themselves would save millions in cost over-runs, not to mention a lower risk factor that comes from employing fewer people on the lease, people with the skills to perform the work safely. If you think it s a union/labour attitude problem, think again. This type of thinking has gotten us nowhere in the past. So what is the problem? Well, in most cases, it s a lack of management support. If you don t buy that, try this: it s a lack of management understanding. We need to start looking at how management can employ the tools, training, supervision, and planning to help workers increase wrench-time. This means getting workers to a safe work environment as efficiently as possible and providing the tools, directions, materials, equipment and support as effectively as possible to allow workers to perform their assigned activities. All too often a worker is not provided with a timely work permit, safe work meeting, tools, materials, equipment or instructions sufficient to execute the work. They spend time waiting, looking for tools, looking for materials, waiting for support resources and getting frustrated with the management of the project. Add in coffee breaks, lunches, safety meetings, cleanups and you ve just reduced the amount of time a worker spends on the tools by more than sixty percent. 3

4 So what is the solution? I ve spent hundreds of hours with Management Teams and Workforce Resources educating and coaching them in the development of strategies for defining work, planning work, scheduling work and coordinating field supervision with execution personnel. I ve found that in most cases the willingness to perform quality work is prevalent with all sub-contractors and trades. They are often as frustrated with not meeting performance targets as their clients. What is lacking is a relationship built on clearly defined expectations and trust. Contracts are often deficient in scope definition and performance indicators. A first-quartile company (best-in-class) does this by establishing a formal process for project management and control backed by best-practices in the form of polices, procedures, guidelines and management tools. Everyone from contract resources to in-house management personnel are educated in their purpose and use. Leadership and accountability comes from a Management Team that is established in the very early stages of the project to assist in defining the scope, determining the risks and establishing the key performance targets for safety, cost, duration, quality and worker performance. Through effective planning, contracting, procurement and scheduling, they can determine the correct number of indirect and direct resources required to execute the work. By establishing a projects controls group (as opposed to a projects monitoring group which is often the case), a company can drive a project schedule on a shift-by-shift basis, measure performance, trend data and make the necessary adjustments as required to control the outcome. This is referred to as dynamic schedule management. All too often projects go off the rails due to a lack of effective project controls. Here are a few things to consider when establishing a project: 1. Use a formal project or turnaround management process that allows senior management to verify milestone completions at pre-determined stages prior to signing-off. This is often referred to as a Milestone Schedule or Project Gated Process. 2. Establish a Management Team consisting of Senior Management (Leaders), a Project Manager who reports to Senior Management and a Core Team of Managers who represent each stakeholder department, i.e. Maintenance, Operations, Contracting, Administration, QA/QC, Materials, Procurement, Safety/Environment, Engineering, Logistics, etc. 3. Use a formal risk/cost benefit analysis tool to determine project scope of work. In the case of a facility shutdown / turnaround the development of the workscope should be done by an Asset Management Team consisting of an Operations Manager, Technical/Engineering Manager and a Maintenance Manager. 4. Develop the preliminary budget based on the scope of work determined by the risk/cost benefit analysis tool. The preliminary budget should be developed with estimates of direct wrench-hours, supported by indirect resource estimates using industry standard benchmark data. Typically indirect support is 115% of direct wrench-hours. 5. Establish a formalized Management of Change process to limit scope growth and manage any changes in the budget. 6. Establish realistic key performance targets for safety, cost, duration, quality and worker performance. Focusing on safety and worker performance will ultimately allow you to be successful in meeting the cost, duration and quality performance targets. 7. A formal management process must allow for early identification of work followed by contracting and procurement. 8. Most importantly, involve field execution supervision in the planning and scheduling process early in the project planning phase. Use of independent field execution supervision is also recommended. Remember, planning, scheduling and coordination are not positions, they are functions. Each function needs to be assigned to the appropriate resources, or teams, to manage. A team made up of independent or in-house field execution supervision, safety personnel, operations personnel, and planning and scheduling personnel will deliver the best results when it comes to executing the work and meeting the key performance targets. 9. Establish effective project controls and dynamically schedule your planned activities based on regular status intervals; i.e. shift-by-shift or daily for turnaround projects weekly for construction projects. For more information, you can contact the author by at: elister@cpmsolutions.ca. Edmund (Ted) Lister is a Senior Consultant at CPM Solutions Ltd. 4

5 Primavera s P6 Multiple Product Levels In July, 2007, Primavera started shipping version 6 (P6) of its project and portfolio planning, scheduling, resource and cost management software suite. The modules within the software suite are P6 Windows Client, P6 Web Access, P6 Partial Web Access and P6. To encourage enterprise-wide use of various Primavera software modules, Primavera now bundles software modules described as Levels. The two graphics describe the P6 Levels with suggested user roles and a list of P6 functionalities by Level. Planners & Schedulers P6 User Levels: The right tools for the right roles PMO Administrators Executives P6 Level 4 Users Resource Project PM Client Managers Managers Web PM Web RM Stakeholders Web Ptfl P6 Level 3 Users Collaboration Web PM Web RM Project Participants Admin Web Ptfl P6 Level 2 Users Program ManagersCollaboration Web Resource Managers PM (Partial) Team Members Project Managers Collaboration P6 Level 1 Users P6 Functionality by Level Level 4 Complete Solution Level 4 Components Client (planning and scheduling) Web Project, Resource, Portfolios Advanced Portfolio & Capacity Planning Collaboration Timesheet Key Functionality Includes Planning and Scheduling (client): Multi-project support Security and administration Master program integration Resource leveling Advanced baseline management Report creation 100% Web Planning and scheduling one project at a time Intuitive, interactive PM High-level resource planning Analyze capacity vs demand Portfolio performance Remaining Level Functionality Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Partial -No resources -No portfolios - Can only view task and update project status Strategic planning and optimization of: portfolios capacity Calculated KPIs Standard and configurable views Unlimited number Partial -No portfolios views Personal and project workspaces Communication center Discussion threads, doc mgt, workflow Capture and track time ADA Section 508 compliant Open for easy integration 5

6 High Level Primavera P6 and Contract Manager Architecture The schematic below describes how the various levels of the P6 Software Suite and Contract Manager access the databases involved. The P6 Windows Client (included in Primavera Level 4 bundle) accesses the Project Management database and facilitates the storing of project templates in the Methodology Management database to comply with Best Practices. The schematic also describes how the P6 Web Access (included in Primavera Level 3 bundle) has Real-Time access to project data. P6 Web Access allows collaboration to occur among all users. P6 Web Access Projects (included in Primavera Level 2 bundle) is limited to activity updating in Projects and includes Collaboration and. Users have access to the centralized project data. P6 (included in Primavera Level 1 bundle) allows two way communication between Windows Client and users via the centralized project database. Primavera Software Tips and Tricks Tips 1 to 4 were provided in our previous e-newsletters. These e-newsletters can be viewed on our web site at Tip 5: How to show or hide the summary bars for grouping bands Choose View, Bars. Highlight each bar that you want displayed, click on the Bar Settings tab, and select the option Show bar for grouping bands. These steps can also be used for hiding the summary bars. You would have to make sure that the option is unchecked in the Bar Settings tab. Tip 6: Summary Tasks from Microsoft Project (MSP) mpp files with zero durations can be imported into Primavera P5/ P6 Project Manager (PM) as Start Milestones. Summary Tasks in mpp files can be imported as WBS Summary activities in P5/P6 PM. Summary Tasks are marked as Milestones in MSP. MSP Summary Tasks marked as milestones are imported into P5/P6 PM as Start Milestones. MSP Summary Tasks that are NOT marked as milestones are imported in to P5/P6 PM as WBS Summary activities. Note: In MSP, Summary Tasks can be marked as milestones in the Summary Task Information dialog box Advanced tab. This can also be done by adding the Milestone column in MSP. 6

7 CPM News CPM Solutions is pleased to announce that it has established an alliance relationship with Digital Time Capture (DTC) Inc., an Edmonton, AB based company. Digital Time Capture Inc. specializes in complex, high volume project cost tracking for companies in industrial construction. The DTC flagship Construction Timesheet Management product is a comprehensive cost tracking and invoicing system that gives industrial construction companies accurate and immediate insight into project costs. With a real-time costing system, users can achieve more profitable projects and timely revenue collection. CPM Solutions will work with DTC to integrate Primavera project planning, scheduling, resource and cost analysis and contract management systems with DTC products and customers. Training April June 2008 Schedule: Primavera v6 Advanced Course #106: April 7-8, Burnaby Primavera v6 Basic Course #102: April 7-9, Edmonton Primavera v6 Advanced Course #106: April 10-11, Edmonton Primavera SureTrak Project Manager, Course #401: April 14-15, Burnaby Primavera Contract Manager, Course #202: April 16-17, Burnaby Primavera v6 for Plant Maintenance and Turnarounds, Course #CPM300: April 21-25, Edmonton Primavera v6 Basic Course #102: April 28-30, Edmonton Primavera v6 Basic Course #102: May 7-9, Burnaby Best-Practice Strategies for Turnaround Management, Course #CPM310: May 7-9, Edmonton Turnaround Readiness Assessment Workshop Seminar, Course #CPM320: May 12-14, Edmonton Primavera Project Planner (P3): Planning and Scheduling, Course #601: May 14-16, Burnaby Primavera v6 Web Access (MyPrimavera), Course #101: May 26-28, Edmonton Primavera v6 Basic Course #102: June 9-11, Edmonton Primavera v6 Advanced Course #106: June 12-13, Edmonton Course Registration: Contact Leanne Messina at (604) ext 117 or lmessina@cpmsolutions.ca See our updated April October 2008 Training Schedule on our website - training.html Have you found this issue useful? Got a great story idea? We want to hear your comments and suggestions. us at lmessina@cpmsolutions.ca. To unsubscribe to our newsletter, send an with the word unsubscribe in the subject line to lmessina@cpmsolutions.ca. 7