Capital project owners who are developing mega capital construction programs especially those programs that are located at remote locations have the requirement to manage, monitor, evaluate and report resources accommodation facilities, and associated assets. Those project owners need to have complete visibility of all available accommodation spaces including details of who is occupying those spaces and when spaces could become available.
Using a Project Management Information System (PMIS) that has the capability of managing assets like PMWeb, project owners will have access to a solution that allows managing the allocation of resources on available accommodation facilities and managing associated assets as well as managing all other project management processes needed to manage the delivery of capital projects. To start with, for all companies who need to be provided with accommodation on the program, contact details of their resources need to be added to the PMWeb companies module.
Next, the project owner needs to decide if the program’s geographical spread requires defining multiple locations for the accommodation facilities or if a single location will suffice. For each location, PMWeb allows defining the residential buildings, villas, and other types of accommodation buildings. In addition, PMWeb allows defining the floors for multi-story buildings. Finally, within each level, flats and other types of spaces can be defined. This location breakdown structure provides the project owner with quick identification of all accommodation assets that are available to host the resources. For each location, building, floor, and space, all related information for the asset needs to be captured including area, condition, type, category, and status if it is occupied, leased, or vacant, among others.
For each space asset which could be a villa or a flat with a varying number of bedrooms and sizes, the list of occupants will be added. Occupants from the different entities can be added by name or by a total number of occupants if the option of company or company department instead of the occupant was selected. For each occupant, PMWeb allows adding the planned and actual move-in and move-out dates.
In addition to human resources, the PMWeb asset module allows defining all equipment that could be used at those accommodation spaces as well as transportation and commuting assets. Those could include loose furniture, kitchen appliances, TVs, gym equipment, cars, motorcycles, and buses among others. For each piece of equipment, details on equipment type, ownership, function status, condition, manufacturer, vendor or supplier, and predictive maintenance schedule among others. In addition, PMWeb allows capturing the asset depreciation cost if required which supports straight line, double-declining balance, and the sum of years digit. Further, and similar to all other PMWeb modules equipment brochures, catalogs, and other documents can be uploaded and stored in the PMWeb document management repository and then attached to the equipment asset with the option to display the asset picture.
The equipment assets will be initially allocated to a location, building, floor or space. Using the Equipment Move command, those equipment assets can be moved to a new location, building, floor or space. This requires providing the move-out and move-in dates and the new location. This process will be repeated whenever there is a need to move the equipment to a new location from where it is currently located.
For spaces and equipment that could be shared by different project entities, the PMWeb asset reservation module will be used to capture the details of those reserved assets including the planned reservation start and finish date and time. Those reservation requests can be displayed on the shared assets report. Examples of shared assets include meeting rooms and convention hall among others.
PMWeb asset management module also allows the management of leases associated with rented villas, flats, and other spaces. PMWeb lease module allows capturing all details of each leased space including duration, and cost which can be posted as cost or revenue, charges, location, landlord, and lease agent among others. In addition, the PMWeb suites module allows combining different leases into a single suite if the agreement with the landlord is based on leasing different spaces into a single agreement. This will allow the project owner to develop a leasing history of the Suite.
If the project owner has the requirement to maintain the location, building, floor, space, and equipment assets whether using his facility management resources or through a subcontracted facility management company, the PMWeb work order module will be used to carry out issued maintenance orders. Those work orders can be based on preventive measures where work orders will be pre-scheduled. For each work order, details on the type, category, priority, and maintenance contract details, among many others. PMWeb also provides the option for facilities and equipment users to issue work requests which will be the basis for generating work orders.
Executing work orders entails financial implications as they require resources, labor and non-labor, and materials to be consumed. Therefore, the PMWeb work order module allows defining the estimated cost of the work order which could be based on resources defined in PMWeb labor and equipment resources and the material items cost database. In addition, PMWeb work order allows recording of the actual cost of labor and equipment resources and materials for each work order. For the material cost, PMWeb allows using the material cost database as well as using materials that are stored at the predefined inventory locations. Those inventory locations which are either managed by the project owner or others would be used to capture details of project owner-supplied material or the material stored by the maintenance contractor. PMWeb inventory module allows capturing details of all consumed materials and equipment stored at the location.
The details of all space and equipment assets, occupants, work orders, inventory locations, and other data captured in the PMWeb asset management module can be reported on in any desired form or format. PMWeb already comes with ready-to-use out-of-the-box forms and reports for the different asset management processes detailed in this article. In addition, there is the option to create the reports and dashboards that best the needs of the project employer.
For example, the simple report below provides the occupant’s details for each space and the location, building, and floor that each space belongs. The report also details the planned and actual move-in and move-out dates for each occupant. Of course, additional details such as lease amount, lease start and end dates among others can be also configured in the report. The report includes two visuals that summarized occupants by location and by building.
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, and 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