The article written by Andrew Dick, Project Risk Management Consultant, Arcadis titled “7 items you should document to prepare for COVID-19 delay claims” identifies the documents that need to be made available for any future delay analysis to allow decision-makers to determine the merit, magnitude and compensability of any submitted COVID-19 delay claims.
The seven items identified in the article are (1) Decrees or orders issued by local, state and/or federal authorities, (2) Internal decisions made to shut down the project, (3) Extra work required to shut down, (4) Work you can no longer perform, (5) Continuing work, (6) Extra work required to start up and (7) Employment records. For details of those seven items, please check https://www.arcadis.com/en/united-states/arcadis-blog/andrew-dick/7-items-you-should-document-to-prepare-for-covid-19-delay-claims/
Using a Project Management Information System (PMIS) like PMWeb will enable organization to collect and document all those items is a structured and comprehensive format to make them available for any future delay analysis. To start with, PMWeb document management repository will be used to create a new folder called COVID 19 to fulfil the requirements of the first item which is to document all decrees or orders issued by local, state and/or federal authorities issued to direct the contractor what to do, how long the contractor had to do it, and all the associated costs of meeting the requirements.
The second item to document is all internal decisions made to shut down the project. PMWeb custom form builder will be used to document and keep track of when a shutdown was ordered and for how long. The form will also include any decisions or discussions with authorities as well as those between the owner, contractors, suppliers, vendors, and designers.
All supportive documents can be attached to the form. Those documents can be either stored in PMWeb document management repository or directly uploaded to the record if needed. In addition, links to other relevant project communications and imported MS Outlook emails which will be stored in PMWeb can be also made.
In addition, a workflow can be assigned to the form to formalize the submit, review and approval process. The workflow will detail the sequence of tasks to be performed by the different project team members as well as the actions can be taken by each.
For the remaining five items which include documenting all extra work required to shut down, work that can no longer be performed, work that the contractor is able to continue working on, extra work required to start up and employment records, PMWeb daily report module will be used to capture this information. The work detail tab of the daily report will be used to record all originally planned work as well as extra work. A user defined code will be added to identify additional work required to shut down, planned work that can no longer be performed, planned and new work that the contractor is able to continue working on and extra work required to start up.
The timesheet tab of the daily report will be used to capture the details of all resources who have worked during the COVID-19 impact period as well as idle resources. For each resource entry which will be by the resource name, the list will detail when the resource has worked by providing the start and finish time and whether or not they worked remotely to fulfil the Work At Home (WAH) requirement. The daily report will also record other work clearances, like cases where self-isolation or quarantine were needed and when an employee returned to work.
Similar to all other PMWeb records, all supportive documents can be attached to the daily report. Those documents can be either stored in PMWeb document management repository or directly uploaded to the daily report if needed. In addition, links to other relevant project communications and imported MS Outlook emails which will be stored in PMWeb can be also made.
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 controls services to over 100 projects with a total value in excess of 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 in 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.