There is a growing trend among international funding agencies like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Inter-American Development Bank, Caribbean Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to use the FIDIC (Fédération Internationale Des Ingénieurs-Conseils) forms of contract agreements on projects that those entities provide project finance and funding to. Governments who are receiving funding from those agencies to finance contracts needed for their capital construction projects need to comply with the requirements of those agencies as it relate to the procurement and execution of projects’ related contracts. This requires those governments to implement FIDIC compliant project management and contract management processes on their funded capital construction projects. Those processes will be eventually detailed and documented in a Project Management and Contract Management procedures manual.
The FIDIC compliant Project Management and Contract Management procedures manual will include processes to manage the project and contracts during the mobilization, execution and completion stages as well as procedures for dispute resolution. The manual will also include the sample outputs of the many forms and reports needed to manage those processes. The list of processes, forms and reported that are included in the Guide to Project Management and Contract Management for Infrastructure Development Projects implemented by the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Sri Lanka is an example of those manuals.
Using Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) like PMWeb, funding-recipient governments can ensure the successful implementation and adoption of those project management and contract management processes as well as provide the real-time single version of the truth monitoring, evaluation and reporting of their projects’ performance that could be required by the funding agencies as well as other executive projects’ stakeholders. For each process to be managed, PMWeb will be used to create the input form to capture the needed information for the relevant process.
Those input forms could be one of PMWeb default forms or can be created using PMWeb visual form builder. Those input forms can be in English or any other Latin or non-Latin language to comply with the country’s laws and regulations. For each input form, the organization can set the needed access rights to limit access to each input form as well as limit access to specific fields within each process input form.
The PMWeb electronic input form will have the option to enable attaching it with all supportive documents such as drawings, specifications, permits, insurances, catalogues, pictures, videos among others and linking it with all relevant records and emails. Those supportive documents will be usually uploaded and stored in their relevant folder or subfolder in PMWeb document management repository module. Each document management folder or subfolder can be assigned with the needed access permission rights to limit access to those folders and subfolders to only authorized project team members.
To ensure that each process is implemented as intended, a workflow will be assigned to each input form. The workflow will identify the sequence of tasks that are needed to submit, review and approve the process. Those tasks will be assigned to their responsible project team members in accordance with the project’s responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) as well as the set authority approval levels. Those approval levels could be associated with contract management processes the limits that authority for approving financial transactions to specific values limit.
Having workflows assigned to each project management and contract management process, will enable the project stakeholders to identify all delayed review and approval actions and the individuals responsible for those actions. A report can be created to report on all due workflow actions. The report can be configured to highlight delay workflow actions in “Red” and those that are almost due in “Cayan”. The workflow actions can be also grouped and presented in a visual format to summarize due actions by project management or contract management process type of by the project team member responsible for the due actions.
For each process, the output form that will be used to formally communicate those processes can be created in any desired format to comply with the organization’s branding and layout requirements. Those output forms will be usually printed, wet-signed and stamped. In addition, there is the option to have the output form in an electronic file format, for example PDF file format, where it can be digitally signed by DocuSign for which PMWeb has an integration with.
In addition, tabular and visual reports will be created to provide a register of transactions for each project management and contract management process. Some of those reports could be designed to combine information from different interrelated processes. For example, the contract register report will be designed to display the information from the awarded contract, potential change orders, change orders, interim progress invoices and actual payments made against approved interim progress invoices processes. Those tabular and visual reports can be created in any desired format to comply with the organization’s branding and layout requirements. Those reports can be printed or shared electronically.
The information captured in the project management and contract management processes for the complete projects’ portfolio that the organization has can provide great wealth of knowledge that when analyzed and assessed, it can provide occurrence trends that can help to identify if a process has correlation with other processes. For example, the analysis of Request for Information (RFI) process could help to identify if RFIs are becoming one of the reasons for issuing change orders and claim notices by the contractors. In addition, it will help in identifying the reasons on why RFIs are occurring on the organization’s projects.
In addition, the information captured in project management and contract management processes will become the basis to have real-time single version of the truth dashboard to monitor, evaluate and report the performance of each capital construction project that the organization is delivering. Those dashboards which can be accessed from anywhere, anytime using any device will provide project stakeholders with better and faster insight on each project’s performance and issues that could impact the project’s performance.
Since the PMWeb platform will be used to manage the complete program and projects portfolio that the organization has, an enterprise projects dashboard will be created to provide the organization’s executives and other executive projects’ stakeholders with a summary performance status of the capital construction projects being executed. The dashboard could include a map to detail the location of projects being managed. The reader of the enterprise dashboard can drilldown to each selected project dashboard which in turn will allow drilling down to the different processes’ tables and even to each specific transaction included in the report.
About the Author
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant with 40-year service record providing project management, project controls services and project management information system to over than 200 projects with a total value in excess of US $100 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education and Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment, Hospitality 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 40 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 300 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.