As a general rule, every capital project needs to be designed before it is constructed. During the project design phase, many deliverables will be produced including drawings, specifications, bill of quantities, contract agreements, building permits, and public authorities’ approval among others. Those deliverables for which many could be subject to many revisions, need to be formally approved by the project owner and local authorities before they are issued for tender. For example, the chart below shows examples of the design deliverables at the 60% Construction Documents stage of the project design phase.
Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) like PMWeb will enable managing, monitoring, evaluating, and reporting the status of design deliverables based on design (BOD), concept, schematic, design development, 60% construction documents, and 100% construction document stages. Using a PMIS like PMWeb, the drawing lists module will be used to capture the details of all design deliverables which would usually include project phase, WBS level, CSI division, CSI specification, category, and status. In addition, it allows capturing all revisions of each deliverable including the full details of each version. The deliverable document itself, which could be a drawing, specification, etc. will be attached to its appropriate revision. Similar to other PMWeb modules, a workflow can be assigned to each deliverable to formalize the internal submission, review, and approval of each deliverable.
Usually, design deliverables are submitted for the project owner’s review and approval in sets that include interrelated deliverables. PMWeb Drawings Set module will be used to create design deliverable sets. The design coordinator will select the design deliverables to be included in the design deliverable set.
Although a workflow can be assigned to the design deliverables set, nevertheless, to enforce formal communication, a transmittal will be generated for the design deliverable set. This will enable the design coordinator the desired design review actions for the transmittal which will have a predefined workflow to submit, review and approve the design deliverable set. The reviewer can drill down to the design deliverable document that was attached to the design deliverable and which will be stored in the PMWeb document management repository.
PMWeb PMIS will enable the project owner as well as the design consultant to monitor, evaluate and report on the design stages’ deliverables in the desired form and format. The report could include visuals to summarize the design deliverables by stage, category, status, and any other attribute that was captured in the design deliverables input form. The design deliverables listed in the tabular will be linked to the design deliverable input form to allow the report reviewer to drill down to the data source and view the document associated with that specific deliverable to ensure a single version of the truth when it comes to reporting design deliverables status.
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.