For those who are keen to understand the best practice of Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) and what documents and records are needed to implement this practice and capture the data needed to report the associated project performance, the Construction Owners Associate of Canada (COAC) has developed many templates, presentations, flowcharts among others to enable better understanding of this practice. This is a practice that was developed by the Construction Industry Institute (CII) to improve the delivery of capital projects using the EPC project delivery model.
Having a Project Management Information System (PMIS) like PMWeb will enable organizations to implement advanced work packaging best practices using a single web-enabled platform to manage, monitor, evaluate and report on the information associated with AWP. In the last article, it was detailed how the different project documents will be grouped and aligned with the engineering (EWP), procurement (PWP), construction (CWP), and installation (IWP) work packages for each construction work area (CWA) using PMWeb document management repository folders and sub-folders. Nevertheless, many other project-related records are specific for each construction work area and work packages within the area. These include, for example, Request for Information, Safety Incidents, Meeting Minutes, Transmittals, Punch List, Risk, Issue, Change Orders, Daily Reports, Submittal Items, and Sets among many others. To achieve this alignment with the construction work areas and work packages, the PMWeb list module will be used to create a pre-defined list of all construction work areas and work packages that will become part of each project record regardless of the record type. Those predefined values are specific for each project and the approved advanced work packaging strategy selected for the project. For the list values that apply to all construction work areas like the project estimated budget, purchase orders among others, the value “000” will be used instead of the specific location or work package number value.
Using the PMWeb function that allows creating a set of user-defined fields for PMWeb out-of-the-box modules will be used to create a group called “Advanced Work Packaging”. This group will consolidate all AWP predefined list of values on a single tab to enable the project team to associate those project records with their relevant Construction Work Areas (CWA), Project Disciplines, Engineering Work Packages (EWP), Procurement Work Packages (PWP), Construction Work Packages (CWP) and Installation Work Packages (IWP). All those fields will be set as being “Required” to ensure that each record will have the associated value provided by the recording initiator.
For all additional forms that never existed in PMWeb and were created using PMWeb custom form builder, the newly created fields for advanced work packaging (AWP) practice can be displayed at any desired location of the created form in the desired format. For example, for the IWP checklists form, a group was created in the form to capture the related AWP values for each checklist. The same approach will be followed for all other forms that are needed for the AWP best practice implementation.
Of course, there is no limit on the number of predefined lists of values that can be defined in PMWeb and incorporated in either out-of-the-box form or a new form created using the custom form builder. Those predefined lists of values will not ensure consistency and expedite the process of filling the forms but are also critical in standardizing the values needed to create reports and dashboards to monitor, evaluate and report the project’s performance status using the Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) best practices.
An example of some of the new forms that need to be created for the Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) best practices is the templates for the Construction Work Package (CWP) and Engineering Work Package (EWP) scope of work which will also incorporate the requirement for the Procurement Work Package (PWP).
For example, the Construction Work Package (CWP) form proposed by COAC includes the fields for Scope of Work, CWP Reference List, Engineering Information, Craft / Manpower, Direct Field Equipment and Materials, Safety, Quality, Regulatory Approvals and Permits, Sub-contracts, Vendor Support, Rigging Studies, Scaffolding, Special Equipment, tools and consumables, Waste Management, Risk Register, workforce Planning, Project Controls, Turnover Documents, 3D Model Shots of CWP, Submittals and Contact List. On the other hand, the Engineering Work Package (EWP) form proposed by COAC includes the fields for Scope of Work, EWP Reference List, Engineering Information, Quality, Vendor Support, workforce Planning, 3D Model Shots of EWP, and Contact List.
The attachment tab will be used to attach all documents referenced on the CWP and EWP scope of work forms which should be uploaded and stored in the relevant CWP, EWP, and PWP folders in the PMWeb document management repository. In addition, links to related PMWeb records as well as imported MS Outlook emails can be added. Those could include submittals, RFI, purchase orders, meeting minutes, transmittals, punch lists among many others. In a way, those links will ensure that all PMWeb records are connected depending on the relevance of those records to each other.
The CWP or EWP Scope of Work form workflow will ensure that the form is reviewed and approved by the right project team members. The workflow will identify all needed steps, the duration for each step, responsibility for each step, actions that can be taken for each step, and the sequence for performing those steps. The workflow steps will be aligned with the permissions set in the CWP or EWP Scope of Work form to ensure that designated project team members provide the information they need to provide. PMWeb also allows adding conditions to the workflow steps to incorporate the approval authority levels. In addition, the form copy command can be used to create different review revisions of the CWP or EWP Scope of Work forms should this be needed.
PMWeb reporting tool will be used to generate the output for the Construction Work Package (CWP) and Engineering Work Package (EWP) forms in the desired layout forms similar to the COAC form. The form can be designed to display the BIM model snapshot pictures taken using PMWeb BIM Model Manager or any other pictures that have been attached to the form. In addition, the form will include details of all attached documents and record the form with hyperlinks to those documents and records. The form will also have details of the workflow review and approval steps along with the comments made, actual review dates, and the digital signature of the reviewer.
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant with more than 35-year service record providing project management and controls services to over 100 projects with a total value over the 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.