15 Jun 2018 Newsletter

Dear Planning Planet Member,

Please find below this weeks newsletter. We hope that you find it adds value to your day. Please visit our sponsors as they keep our servers running and without them, we will cease to exist. ...

BRAINS versus BRAWN?  The age old question (or should I say "argument"?) of Project MANAGEMENT compared to Project CONTROLS. 

Now if you are a project controls practitioner reading this you will appreciate what I am saying and be safe in the knowledge that it is you on the project who is expected to have all the answers and effectively be the brains on the project.  It is you who needs to know what needs to be done and by when and what is important and what is not.  You also need to know what things cost and how long we have to undertake them and also to know whether or not we are spending more or less than we planned and if we have the desired time and cost performance trends emerging.

You will also be expected to be able to tell the project manager what he / she needs to concentrate on so that he / she can look good.  Sound familiar? 

If you are a project manager you will surely disagree with the above?

This is not about "defining" what project management and project controls is, as there are many people trying to do that already, but if you have an opinion on this subject could you send it into our Founder at james.williams@planningplanet.com [1] as he would love to hear your thoughts.  The best, or most "lively" or contraversial responses will be shared next time (anonymously or with your name... it is up to you). 

Thanks :)

We had a great response to our last mail abut this so we thought we'd include the message again below.  If you would like to find out about a networking gathering in your area [3] or if you'd like to learn how you could create a networking group near you please do get in touch. 

These meetings range from small social gatherings (in bars and restaurants) to after-work meets (in company meeting rooms) so do please contact us if you want to find out about attending or helping with one.

Please contact James via james.williams@planningplanet.com [4] who will get in touch to talk with you.

If you recognise yourself in one of the "boxes" in the chart below, why don't you take a look at the Guild of Project Controls and decide for yourself if this is something that you, or your company would like to hear about.

Literally hundreds of practitioners have given their input and helped to shape the Guild of Project Controls so there is merit in the subject.  Click on the image to go look at the Guild of Project Controls [6]...

One of the Guild of Project Controls Fellows provided this paper for the Guild Library which helps define the time necessary to investigate, analyse, prepare for and create a forensic delay analysis report.

Please take a look at this excellent White Paper. 

The author (Mr. Raphael M. Dua) is further developing this paper and would be interested in comment from other experienced practitioners.

FOR EXAMPLE...

The client for whom the claim is to be determined has furnished the following files and formats

• 15 x Microsoft Project Files (between 750 and 1000 tasks)
• 24 x PDF’s
• 35 x htm (Memos and other communications between Contractor and Developer)
• 5 x XLS (EOT and variation registers)
• 32 EOT’s Event Claims
• 30 x Team Binder Files (could be Aconex)

These files are defined and the task is estimating how long it will take to perform the requisite analysis to provide a solution which has been arrived at rigorously and accurately will require time. 

Read the full White Paper from the Guild of Project Controls Practitioner Library. [7]

Today’s construction industry is so competitive that even the slightest additional cost can knock you off from that top bidder spot. Construction tools and equipment are buy and/or rent in certain instances, but the final decision depends on how frequent and how you can prorate some of these costs.

Renting or buying construction tools, what should you do? Let’s look at some interesting point of views for you to consider.  Read the full blog post [8].

In Primavera P6, when you schedule the project and see the Activity Original Duration change, it’s probably because of the Expected Finish Date.

So what is Expected Finish Date and how do we use it?

Read the Full Blog. [9]..

It is no secret that most employees don’t just dislike excessive status meetings: they dread them.

A Clarizen-Harris poll of more than 2,000 employees revealed that 60 percent spend more time preparing for status meetings, than they do attending the actual meetings.

In addition, 46 percent would rather do any other unpleasant activity vs. endure yet another status meeting — with 18 percent opting for a trip to the DMV, and 17 percent choosing to watch paint dry.  35 percent consider status meetings “a waste of time.”

However, despite being scheduled with the best of intentions, these blights on the workplace landscape continue to endure day after day, month after month…year after year. It’s as if everyone knows the problem, but nobody can solve it. What’s going on?  Read the full Clarizen blog post [10].

Good project controls and management should always involve clarity of direction for your team as well as transparency of progress for other stakeholders.

One of the most important ways of achieving both of these is by using key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor project progress.  There are many different kinds of KPIs for project management and they can either be industry specific or generally applied to all projects. 

You can also break down your key performance indicators into various sections to allow you to get a broader view of how work is progressing. These may include: Costs, Timeline, Income, Variance etc.  Read the full Clarizen blog post [11].

Total Project Control with Clarizen - Clarizen is a collaborative work management solution designed for people who value their time, and for organisations that value cross-company engagement. Built on a secure, scalable platform, Clarizen brings together project management, configurable workflow automation and in-context collaboration to create a meaningful engagement experience that allows everyone to work the way they work best. Everyone involved can track projects, communicate effortlessly and participate on their terms. When employees can connect to a larger and more meaningful purpose, progress is not only clear, it’s accelerated. Organizations of all sizes, across 79 countries already rely on Clarizen to help engage their people and move their business forward.

Find out for yourself by requesting a 30 day free trial [12] or alternatively take a moment to view our product tour [13] here. 

A sound baseline programme and a complete supporting network are essential to accurately monitor and assess progress for any form of forensic critical path delay analysis. When not available, experience and capability of interrogating contemporaneous records allows us to understand the delay issues and their potential impact.  There are two major forms of analysis; which are known as: - a) Retrospective and b) Prospective.  

This Guild of Project Controls paper explains the approach [14].

Earned value management provides an organization with an early warning system, so they can resolve issues before they become detrimental to the project's success. Significant cost and schedule variances are detectable when the planned work has reached as little as 10% completion on any portion of the project. It is far easier to make a small adjustment when you spot a potential problem early on, but it becomes chaos to deal with if you hit the problem head on without warning.

Read the full ARES PRISM Blog [15].

Why you should use turbo-chart on your next linear project?

• Use your existing scheduling tools and data - No need to duplicate your data and invest in another scheduling system you don’t need.
• Prepare charts easily and quickly - Lets you focus your effort on Planning and Scheduling your Linear Project without requiring comprehensive training, just to prepare charts.
• Update Time Location charts from your schedule update in one click - Schedules change often and quickly, using Turbo-Chart you’ll review your updates in seconds.

How Turbo-Chart works...

Download [16] a full featured 14 day trial today to see how easily you can create Time Location charts for your next linear project.

Join us for our upcoming free webinar!

See what’s new in the latest PrimaveraReader version 5.0 and learn how the new PrimaveraReader PRO can save you time and allow you to accomplish more when working on different projects in Primavera P6.

Equipped with the new Reports and Dashboards feature, PrimaveraReader PRO allows users to quickly create reports, customize them, assess schedule quality and view important project metrics and KPIs.

Agenda

• 12:00 to 12:10: Introduction to the new PrimaveraReader 5.0 and PrimaveraReader PRO
• 12:10 to 12:20: Generating graphical reports, customization and sharing reports with project stakeholders
• 12:20 to 12:25: Assessing Primavera P6 schedule quality using the DCMA 14 framework dashboard
• 12:25 to 12:30: Q&A

REGISTER HERE [21]

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• Performance issues in SQL Server.
• Opening projects is slow.
• PM.exe not responding after entering username and password.
• Project Management window disappears after loading data.
• Cannot login to PM, no error.