In capital projects, having multiple prime contractors or bid packages to deliver the project’s scope of work is a very common project delivery practice. This will enable the project owner to fast-track the project’s delivery to shorten the project’s duration as well as eliminate the supervision and overhead allowance that the general contractor will add to the scope of work that will be performed by other contractors. The risk of interfaces between those different contractually independent work packages will remain between the contractors as this will be part of their agreements. Nevertheless, the project owner and his authorized team need to ensure that those interfaces are planned, managed, and completed as per the project’s agreements.
Project Management Information System (PMIS) will be used to manage, monitor, evaluate and report on those interfaces. Using the project’s master schedule which integrates the CPM Schedules of all contractors will ensure that all interface points are well defined. The interface point activities will be part of the project schedule activities that are imported to PMWeb. This is important to ensure that the management of interface points is aligned with the project schedule.
PMWeb custom form builder will be used to create the interface agreement (IA). This form will be the form to be used by the contractor who has an interface “Originating Party” with another contractor “Responding Party” to ensure that the completed works have been handover formally as per the project requirements. The design of the interface agreement form will be customized to meet the project’s specific requirements. Similar to all PMWeb modules, documents can be uploaded and attached to the Interface Agreement form as well as relevant PMWeb records can be linked. In addition, a workflow will be assigned to formalize the steps for submitting, reviewing, and approving the Interface Agreement form.
The information captured in the Interface Agreement form will be used by PMWeb to provide real-time monitoring, evaluation, and report on Interface Agreements for each specific project. The interface agreement dashboard layout can be designed in any desired form and format to meet the project’s reporting requirements. It can include visuals to summarize actions by status, originating party, responding party, WBS level, system, priority, phase, or any other attribute used in the interface agreement form. In addition, it is possible to create a tabular that will provide a log of all interface agreements with the option to filter, group, and sort those actions by status, originating party, responding party, WBS level, system, priority, phase, or any other attribute used in the interface agreement form.
About the Author
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant with more than 35-year service record providing project management and control services to over 100 projects with a total value of over US $5 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education, and Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment and Shopping Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries, Telecommunication, and Information Technology projects. He is thoroughly experienced in complete project management including project management control systems, computerized project control software, claims analysis/prevention, risk analysis/management (contingency planning), design, supervision, training, and business development.
Bassam is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Project Management, Strategic Project Management, and Project Management Personal Skills. Over the past 35 years, he has lectured at more than 350 events and courses at different locations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South America. He has written more than 250 articles on project management and project management information systems that were featured in international and regional magazines and newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Project Management Institute- Arabian Gulf Chapter (PMI-AGC) and has served on its board of directors for more than 6 years. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP), and Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE) and Green Project Management (GPM).
Bassam holds a Masters in Engineering Administration (Construction Management) with Faculty Commendation, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor in Civil Engineering – Kuwait University, Kuwait and has attended many executive management programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, and London Business School, London, UK.