One of the requirements of all construction projects is that Contractors need to load their integrated project schedule with the labor and equipment resources needed to execute the activities included in the schedule. Those resources need to be aligned with the project’s approved cost estimate which was the basis for the awarded construction contract. Planning and scheduling software like Primavera P6 will use the data to detail the resources needed for each day against the project schedule activities.
Contractors will utilize the project schedule float durations to optimize the number of resources to be deployed on the project. This will approach will use resource leveling and resource smoothing techniques. This is needed as no Contractor will just hire and fire resources depending on the daily, weekly, or monthly resource requirements generated from the resource-loaded schedule.
The resources deployment requirements for the project’s duration, including the resources build-up and resource release phases will be done using the PMWeb resources requirements module. Nevertheless, before using this module, the PMWeb resources dictionaries for labor and equipment need to be uploaded with the same resource names used in the planning and scheduling software.
The PMWeb resource requirements module will be used to define to capture the project’s resource requirements, which can be detailed by period, type of work, WBS level, and master schedule, among others. Those values will become the basis for establishing the planned resources required for the project. The resource requirement template allows capturing the details of both labor and equipment resources.
The resources requirement module provides the option to automatically calculate the estimated cost of resources’ deployment by multiplying the total hours of deployed resource hours with the resource hours cost as defined in the cost dictionary. This can be used to compare the cost of the resources included in the resources-loaded integrated project schedule. This can be calculated from the planning and scheduling software if the resource rates were added to the resources dictionary. The variance cost can be considered as the deployment inefficiency cost. The smaller the variance is, the less deployment inefficiency cost the project has.
As the project progresses, the PMWeb daily report module provides the perfect mechanism to capture the actual resource hours spent in executing the project schedule activities. The timesheet tab of the daily report will be used to capture the actual resource hours spent on each project schedule activity which were imported from Primavera P6 or MS Project to PMWeb. The actual resource hours captured in the daily report, which is one of the project’s formal communications processes, will be the only approved source for delays, constructive acceleration, and loss of productivity claims. In addition, it will be the only valid data source for assessing work trades productivity rates.
The planned resource hours data captured in the planning and scheduling software can be associated with the actual resource data captured in PMWeb to provide reports on the variance between planned and actual resource usage. The report can be designed to show variance by period for each resource.
The captured resource data along with the captured achieved work in place captured in the daily report will also allow assessing and reporting on the actual productivity rates achieved on the project. The combination of resource hours spent and work in place completed will assess the actual productivity rates and identify all events that could have disrupted the Contractor’s performance.
Of course, the capturing of actual resources spent does not mean than Contractors will stop using their time attendance or timesheet system. Those systems are usually integrated with the company’s Human Resources (HR) and Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP systems are needed for payroll and other company-related business processes. The resource hours captured in the ERP or HR systems will enable the Contractor to determine the actual non-utilized resource hours. These actual non-utilized resource hours can be compared with the planned non-utilized resources calculated from the deployment of the resources.
Reference
The content of this article was extracted from the book titled “Let’s Transform: Enabling Digital Transformation of Capital Construction Projects Using the PMWeb Project Management Information System – 2nd Edition”. The book was written by the author of the posted article, Bassam Samman.
The book provides project owners with oversight on how technology available today can support their efforts to digitally transform the management of their projects’ portfolios. For each capital project life cycle stage, PMWeb is used to detail how the relevant project management business processes can be digitalized to enforce transparency and accountability in delivering projects. In addition, MS Power BI was used to show how the real-time, trustworthy data captured in PMWeb can be aggregated, modeled, monitored, evaluated, analyzed, and reported at anytime, anywhere using any device.
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 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, 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.