Write Better Activity Name in Primavera (Oil and Gas Project)

A well described activity name in Primavera Schedule often an items that overlooked by many planners. We often pay attention to WBS naming or the structure but the quality of Activity naming will be left alone.

Planner doesn't work alone and it is always a constant batter to provide a good explanation to the project team. An activity that poorly articulated can create confusion and dissatisfaction with the key stakeholder,

1.Use an action word.

You might want to consider to add an action word to begin with. For an EPC project, we can opt for words like issue, develop, incorporate or revise. For construction we can use words like install, fabricate, construct, dig, lay or hoist.

When adding an activity description you always want to add an action word first. For construction related activities consider such words as install, construct, place, or fabricate. For Engineering use action words such as develop, issue, or incorporate. Make sure you follow the action by the activity to be performed.

For example: "Lay instrumentation cable" , "Install Pump" or "Erect Scaffolding for Tank 25"

2.Be descriptive

An activity need to be in details and descriptive enough. For an example for a piping activity under construction you might think of including location, pipe size, type of activity or even weld type.

For example: " Tie-in TP3901 A/B Golden tie-in (2 Tie-in 2")"

Tie in point     = TP3901
Type of tie-in  = Golden Tie-in
Size of tie-in   = 2"

For example: " Tie-in TP1501 Tubing tie-in (6mm)"

Tie in point     = TP1501
Type of tie-in  = Tubing
Size of tie-in   = 6mm

For example: " Mechanical Pre-Commissioning for System 100-11-118 Hot wax"
This is for Pre-Comm activities derived from test package.

It will be better to assume that those who will read your schedule will not be able to use activity code, group or sorting. Hence make sure each activity can be understand without any coding headers.

Always assume that your reader will not be using your code grouping & sorting when reading yours schedule. Make sure each activity can stand on its own without any coding headers

3. Uniformity

It is a good practise to set a standardised activity description in order to have better understanding among the team members. Especially if the audience of your schedule comes from different background.

Use the <Action Word> – <Deliverable> – <System>

- Issue RFQ for 24" piping
- Award PO for Instrumentation cable
- Issue Tie-In - Jetty area
- Develop Data Sheet - Manual Valve

Above are just some of my idea in naming activities for a project in Primavera.

 

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Getting your project Deliverables Management Right.

Project deliverables management is a highly complex process. As projects become larger and more complex, the control of documents plays an important role in determining the success of the project. Globally diffuse supply chains, the importance of handing over correct and updated materials for operators, and the pressure to reduce risk, project slippages and cost overruns are just some of the reasons why the deliverable management is getting crucial.

For Engineering deliverables usually break it down into 4 progress milestone of each deliverable.
IFR, IFA, IFC and AFC. As each deliverables will set the precedence for another engineering activities, procurement or construction it important to monitor and control the progress for each deliverables milestones.

There are much time and money to be saved by properly coordinating the dependencies of Engineering -Procurement and Construction deliverables.

• Package drawing arrive when it is needed in construction sequence.
• They are the right and approved drawing.
• They contain the correct level of detail

The quality od design drawing, data and document is assured through an extensive quality management system and approval loop that consist of inter-discipline check as well as client approval. Since it set precedence for procurement and construction activities, we have to monitor and control the stage boundary closely,

Below is a chart that briefly explain the importance of getting the deliverables managed.

Piping Progress Measurement - Meter-Inch and Dia-Inch

The purpose of piping Meter-Inch and Dia-Inch is :

a. To find out piping erection load
b. Manpower planning
c. Piping work progress monitoring
d. Costing

In this article, we will discuss further in Piping work progress monitoring.
1. Piping Fabrication - Progress Measurement in Dia-Inch

During the construction phase Dia-Inch is an unit of Measurements used to measure the progress of Piping Spool fabrication.
The weld joint of the pipe size is converted to the equivalent Dia-Inch of welding.

Dia-Inch = no of welding joint x diameter of the pipe

Example :

a. 3 welding joint of 8 inch diameter pipe = 24 Dia-Inch
b. 2 welding joints of 12 inch diameter pipe = 24 Dia-Inch
 
2.Erection and Hydrotesting – Progress Measurement in Meter Inch

In construction projects Meter Inch is an unit of Measurement which used to measure the progress of Piping Erection and Hydrotesting.

The length of pipe erected or hydrotested of the pipe size is converted to the equivalent inch Meter of erection or hydrotesting.

Meter-Inch = length of pipe x diameter of the pipe







Examples:
a. 10 Meter of 24 inch diameter pipe Erected or Hydrotested = 240 Meter Inch
b.12 Meter of 6 inch diameter pipe Erected or Hydrotested    = 72 Meter Inch

Work Front Monitoring and Control

A normal practise in monitoring engineering progress is by assigning a weight that derived from manhours, to each task or deliverable. As the task is performed/ the deliverable is issued, the corresponding manhours are earned.

The earned progress divided by the total number of manhours gives the % progress.

Typically on a weekly or monthly basis, the actual progress of each activity is measured against the planned progress. An actual progress less than the planned progress might show a lack of resources and a need for increased mobilization to get back on plan, following a (re-)forecast progress curve.

Although such progress measurement is commonly in practise, it could be deceiving. It shows rather well the progress of engineering on its own but not how well in term of engineering supporting the Project schedule.

 For instance let's consider that engineering must issue 2 material requisitions for Piping , an urgent one for a Long Lead Item and another one which is required later on. Engineering will earn progress whatever requisition it issues, even at the extend of having the Project in delay by issuing the non urgent requisition first.

The point is that the above measurement focusing on alone is insufficient. It must be complemented by monitoring that important Milestones are met.

 These Milestones are first of all, the ones associated with the issue of the Requisition for the equipment. Long lead items have naturally to be purchased early.

All equipment and packages also need to be purchased as early as their technical definition allows. Indeed, engineering development is highly dependent on information from vendors. The sooner the purchase orders are placed the sooner the vendor information will be available. And that gonna helps in supporting construction whole lot better.

Next come the Milestones associated with Bulk Material Procurement to support construction, such as the Piping MTO and the Structural Steel MTO (for an off-shore Project).

 Then come the Milestones associated with Construction. These are the IFC (Issue for Construction) or AFC (Approved for Construction), a pre-requisite to start any site work, and the IFC or AFC of P&IDs, will set the precedence to the issue of Piping isometrics.

The 50% IFC Piping isometric milestone comes next, which typically falls half way through the Project, as ensuing works, such as pre-fab and erection have a rather incompressible duration, due to site constraints (capacity of pre-fab shop, space constraints for erection limiting the progress).

 Even if engineering deliveries are in sequence, the above engineering progress measure might still be deceiving, as it will only reflect the amount of engineering work completed and not the workfront made available to construction.

 Let’s consider for instance that two foundations are to be cast. The first one is a very large foundation and the second one a small one. Issuing the drawing of either the large or small foundation will earn engineering the same progress, although it will open quite a different workfront to Construction.

One sees the necessity to measure the issued Workfront.

In the case of foundations, for instance, this will be done by monitoring the cumulative quantity of concrete (m3) of all issued IFC foundation drawings.

Producing an S curve, such as the one shown in next slide, showing both planned and actually issued quantities will give a true picture of how well engineering is supporting civil works.

One will similarly monitor, for an On-Shore project, the cumulative quantity of steel (tons) of issued IFC Structural drawings.

The cumulative tons (or dia inch) of IFC or AFC issued Piping isometrics will show the available piping workfront.

Such progress curves, showing the actual versus planned available workfronts are instrumental to monitor engineering progress, identify shortage and take corrective actions (increase mobilisation).

It is not perfect however and can still be deceiving, in case of out-of-sequence issues: engineering may have issued drawings representing significant quantities, but that does not generate construction workfront as such works can not be performed at this time (due to lack of access or pre-requisite for another work to be completed before, for instance).

Progress Calculation for Engineering - Piping

Recently I prepared Engineering Progress Tracking Excel Sheet for an oil and gas company located in Singapore. In that training I guided the team into 2 phases. The 1st phase the teams are required to track their Engineering progress without Primavera P6.

 

The second phases is where they translate the excel sheet tracking into Primavera P6 by using 2 different methods.

 

1) By using "Step" function for Level 4 (Engineering progress for each document)

2) By using Activity method for level (Engineering progress for each document)

 

Let’s find out how a piping drawing progress is calculated. Suppose a tie-in drawing design has been completed 33% of “Approved For Construction” work step. See the details calculation and below figure for easy understanding.

 

Progress for Tie-In plan drawing at the cut-off =

Weight factor for “Study and Design Approval” work step (0.05) x progress for “Study and Design preparation” work step (100%) +

Weight factor for “IFR” (0.15) x progress for “IFR” work step (100%) +

Weight factor for “IFA” (0.20) x progress for “IFC” work step (100%) +

Weight factor for “IFC” (0.25) x progress for “IFR” work step (100%) +

Weight factor for “AFC” (0.35) x progress for “IFR” work step (33%) +

= 76.6%

 

Physical Progress of pump data sheet document = 0.05484 x 76.6% = 4.2%,

 

 

 Progress Calculation for Overall Engineering

Then, Overall Engineering phase/stage progress = the sum of the product of weight factor for each discipline and physical progress for each discipline,
= 0.1897 x 37.8% + 0.1040 x 50% + 0.1897 x 20% + 0.1110 x 30% + 0.1214 x 25% + 0.1387 x 15% + 0.1456 x 13% = 27%

To those who are interested, you can email me at jeshkhan81@gmail.com for the Engineering Progress Tracking Sheet in excel.

I will cover the topic on how to track the Engineering progress in my next post.



Delay analysis flow.

Below is the flow on how to handle the event of activity delay. A structured flow of works is essential for the team to be steered into the right direction.

Just an idea for monitoring and control.