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Part3 - PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES

1.0                   GENERAL

Project Implementation Procedures describe the managerial requirements for implementation of projects.  The purpose of these documents are to identify relevant requirements under ISO 9001 which covers how projects are to be installed, tested, commissioned, accepted and maintained in accordance with corporate policy, statutory regulations and the quality standards agreed with the customer.  The Project Manager shall provide all contractual services as per the agreed Project Brief and, in accordance with the requisite steps for the Project Implementation process.

It is intended to give an outline of project management and to describe the tools and techniques necessary to develop, manage and to complete a project successfully.  Project Management is a specialised subject requiring detail knowledge of organisational operations and the control and co-ordination of change so that a predetermined objective is achieved. The project manager’s main function is to control change through managing project Time or Schedule; Cost or Budget; Scope; Quality (Standards); Resources; Contracts; Procurement and Risk. A more detailed project management structure may be reviewed in:

Project Managers Body of Knowledge - PMBOK from the Project Management Institute             PMI Standards Committee (1994) PMBOK Document Update Working Draft 2.2.  Upper Darby, PA; Project Management Institute, USA; and the PMI Standards Committee (1987) Project Management Body of Knowledge    (PMBOK). Drexel Hill, PA; Project Management Institute, USA.

Projects may be defined, as follows:

1.      Unique or one of a kind: - A project consists of a series of non-repetitive tasks arranged in a specific relationship to each other;

2.      Has a specified purpose: - A project has a definite beginning and end point;  when the end point has been reached the project is considered complete;

3.      Beginning and end: - Calendar dates describe the timing of the project through a definite starting date to an expected completion date; or they may represent

4.      A series of interrelated activities: - The basic approach to planning and controlling of a project is through the use of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

WBS is a systematic way of defining and identifying the component parts of a project.  It is a formal way of defining and identifying the work to be planned and structuring and integrating the project organisation, control and information system into the functional structure for the whole project organisation.  Completion of the WBS, as illustrated below in generic form will constitute conclusion of the project.

Formalised Implementation Procedures, when starting a new project, provide a schematic guide for the project manager, Project Engineer and Project Team to follow.  Since these procedures need to be supported by policies the table of contents as shown within the section Developing Quality System Policies, Part B, should provide an example of these procedures, such as:

1.0    General;

2.0    Quality System Requirements;

3.0    Organisational Management;

4.0    Quality Management;

5.0    Management of Processes;

6.0    Management of Support Processes;

7.0    Control of Processes; and

8.0    Human Resources.

2.0      QUALITY SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Each page and document of a quality manual should have a standard form header and footer for easy identification.  The first line under the header could identify the purpose of the document, and, as it should be brief, the content of the description should only take up one or two lines.  A suggested format for the layout of each section in a Quality Manual is shown below:

Header

 Purpose:

 Description:

Fig. 8 - Quality Manual Document Layout

The document name refers to policies, procedures, work instructions or forms.  The section title is that shown in the table of contents of the section Developing Quality Systems Policies.   The numbering system for policy, procedures, work instructions and forms should follow the suggested format of the policy manual for reference Numbering.

 Fig. 9 - Quality Manual Reference Numbering

3.0      PROJECT ORGANISATION

The creation of a Project Group has been accomplished with the implementation  of a hybrid project / matrix organisation. There is a "collective" orientation of the individual project team members to follow their Project Manager (PM).  So as to ensure optimal communication, project team members should report to one person only.  As a minimum, the Project Management Team should include members with the following discipline accountabilities:

 Fig: 10 - Project Management Team Structure

The Project Team responsible for Project Activities is chaired by the Project Manager.  Members from the project team are selected for the various Project Co-ordinators roles, depending upon the nature and size of the project.  The Project Team should include representation from the administration, logistics, technical and financial departments (for larger projects).

In general terms, approval for the project’s organisation structure will involve a review by all relevant divisional and departmental heads in the organisation. The signature of these authorising agents will be interpreted as both a commitment to supply of resources and of support by the division or department to the success of the project.  Authorisation of minor / subsequent changes to the project organisation during implementation is auctioned / approved by the Project Implementation Manager (PIM) and the Project Manager (PM).  Where the personnel selected do not meet the full requirements of a particular project function, appropriate support training may be required.

Project Implementation Manager (PIM)

The PIM reports directly to Corporate Management.  The PIM has responsibilities for setting universal guidelines on all aspects of :

*        Tendering;

*        Project organisation;

*        Team formation;

*        Operation; and

*        General milestone sequences.

Project Manager (PM)

Project managers typically have the following characteristics:

-        Company orientation, e.g. executive or senior executive specialist status in the organisation;

-        Management and team skills;

-        Good technical understanding of the disciplines of project and quality management; and

-        Substantial project experience.

Typical Project Management activities are:

-        Establishing systems for progress monitoring and the reporting on project goals;

-        Budget and schedule control;

-        Client Liaison; Meetings; Progress Reports; Telephone Conferences;

-        Liaison with principal project manager;

-        Maintenance of records; files; calculations; and meeting summaries;

-        Co-ordinating project team activities;

-        Defining resource requirements and maximising their productivity;

-        Co-ordinating consultants, and subcontractors;

-        Verification of invoices and other documentation; and

-        Quality assurance and quality control.

Any member of a project team (employee, consultant, contractor, work student) will direct enquires regarding day-to-day matters to project management.  Incentive measures ;for project members would be project team performance based and would hence also lie with the project management.  Subcontractors are responsible to the project manager.

Functional Co-ordinators (or Project Team Member)

Functional co-ordinators report to the PM and as “Supporting Project Managers”, are often the representatives or "spokes person" in the project organisation for the various functional areas.  This structuring within a project team, should not be seen as being contradictory to the overall team effect as it becomes particularly necessary to keep large project teams workable and controllable. 

The Functional Co-ordinators whilst having a supervisory responsibility, do have a number of important administrative roles to undertake in support of the project, such as:

-        Monitoring of functional area progress;

-        Functional area representation at project status review meetings.

-        Reporting on status of their respective functional area's; and the

-        Execution of work and actions that may arise from the status meetings.

Functional Managers (FM)

Functional managers have no day-to-day involvement or responsibility with respect to projects other than for Co-authorisation of project organisation proposals and the commitment of project resources "commitment of resources".  FM’s have the following roles:

-           Co-authorisation of project organisations (commitment of resources);

-           Provision of project team personnel;

-        Long-term career development of project members from their respective    functional area; and in some cases

-           Provision of standardised work platforms, e.g. development work stations and associated network administration services.

The section describing the functional manager has been included for completeness and, in particular, to aid understanding among project members of the balance of responsibility shared between the various levels of management.

the total project organisation

The involvement of individual team members at executive team level and project team level will depend on the nature of the project.  At times the customer may be asked to become an executive team member.  A possible structure is shown in the diagram below:

 Fig: 11 - Project Organisation

4.0      QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Quality audits

Precise cross referencing between all applicable quality elements and their Audit dates is essential for an effective Quality System. The initial Annual Schedules need to be reviewed and authorised by the Department Manager for General Audits and the Project Manager for Project Specific Audits.  Once finalised the Audit Schedule may be distributed.

Quarterly Audit Schedules
The Quarterly Audit Schedules evolve from the Annual Schedule.  Refinements may be required due to unforeseen circumstances, however the concept of Auditing of all elements of AS / ISO 9001 annually is usually mandatory.  All Quarterly Schedules need to be reviewed and authorised, and once finalised, they may then be distributed.

Unscheduled Audits

An unscheduled audit may arise when a serious deficiency in the Quality System becomes apparent or when operational deficiencies or non-conformances occur.  These Audits are initiated by a Department Manager or the Project Manager, and should be carried out following a 24 hours warning.  They are treated as would any other routine audit.

 

Surveillance Audits
The purpose of the surveillance audit is to help the staff to understand the sequence of procedures, methods, conditions, products, processes and services, and analysis
of records to ascertain that quality system requirements can be met. 

Audit Preparation

Preparation is critical for an effective Audit.  A co-operative atmosphere is needed for all participants during this process. This co-operation will influence the acceptance or otherwise of the Audit.  Auditing is a formal activity and a requirement of AS / ISO 9001.  The Audit report will also be used during the Management Review process.  Audits should include: The Audit Advice; Audit Preparation Notes; and an Audit Report; including Observations, and final Recommendations.

Informing the Participants

In addition to both the Annual Audit Schedule and the Quarterly Audit Schedules, an Audit Advice Memo is forwarded to the Manager of the area which is subject to Audit.  This memo will provide the timing details and Standard’s Elements to be Audited.  The Manager will then be responsible for informing the relevant person of the forthcoming Audit.  Reinforcing the objective of the Audit with each employee is essential, i.e., explaining that the Audit is undertaken to assist identifying areas that may need improvement. 

The audit schedule is used to determine the scope of the audit. The following applicable documents need to be audited:

-        Quality Systems Policies;

-        Quality Manuals with procedures and forms;

-        Inspection and Test Plans; and the

-        Work instructions; Workshop folders; or Work Packages.

Audit checklists need to be prepared, to ensure that the auditor is familiar with the activities of the audit and this also improves continuity of the Audit Process itself from one audit to another.

Conducting the Audit

The Audit is carried out by either an Auditor or an Audit team in conjunction with  personnel from the department to be audited.  Adherence to formality is essential, so as to avoid compromising correct Audit requirements.  The resultant findings from the Audit will need to form the basis for further actions, therefore corrective action should be mutually agreed between the Auditor, the Department Management and the Project Manager. 

The following sequence of events should take place during the conduct of an Audit:

-        Entry Meeting;

-        Audit;

-        Evaluation;

-        Grading of Non-Conformance’s;

-        Observations;

-        Exit Meeting; and

-        Audit Report.                          

During the Audit Entry Meeting the auditor should obtain signatures from the  attendees, introduce people attending the meeting, confirm the purpose and the scope of the audit, review the timetable, invite questions to clarify ambiguities, confirm the time of the exit meeting and invite senior management to attend the exit meeting.   During the audit the auditor should ensure that a friendly atmosphere exists.  Prepared checklists should be used as a guide, conformance with the documented system should be checked, observations should be recorded, objective evidence must be recorded and Non-Conformance’s identified and recorded.  It is customary for objective evidence of non-conformance’s to be signed or initialled by the auditee.

Evaluation

Preparatory to the Audit Exit Meeting the objective evidence has to be analysed and graded according to observations and non-conformance’s.  The grading should follow the guidelines of AS/ISO 9001, such as:

-        Major non-conformance’s were not addressed or activity's which were in direct contravention of a procedure and which will have a       consequential effect on the quality of the product or service;

-        Minor non-conformance’s which were isolated incidents of a non-conformance have no direct consequential effect on the quality of the product or service.     However, these trends of minor non-conformance’s could lead to   major non-conformance’s if more than 3 incidents of the same deficiency are encountered.

-        Observations and / or comments on the applicable quality system with a view towards some level of improvement being required.

At the Audit Exit Meeting the auditor should ask for the attendance list to be signed, the audit findings should be presented by the audit team leader and the intended date for issue of the audit report should be agreed.  The audit report should contain general information as to the reason for the audit; details of the entry meeting; the audit itself; the exit meeting; the designated follow-up; general observations; and the list of attendees.

The Auditee should initiate corrective actions by raising Non-Conformance Reports (NCR) and these corrective actions should be completed within the agreed time scale.  The NCR system is useful for monitoring progress; verifying completion of corrective actions and for ascertaining that new non-conformances have been prevented.  Once actions have been corrected and re-occurrence of deficiencies prevented, then the NCR can be closed out.  After a certain time has passed the auditor should check that the audit recommendations were introduced. If the result is not satisfactory another NCR  must be raised and the PM formally advised of the oversight so that remedial action is taken and the NCR can be closed out.

Internal and Project Auditing

Internal departmental quality audits are scheduled by the department manager.  Project audits are scheduled by the Project Manager, in collaboration with members of the Project Team.  When a project is scheduled the associated audits also need to be scheduled and any interference with project delivery dates should be avoided.  Where required, project specific audit requirements need to be addressed when developing the project plan.  The scope and duration of an audit should be clearly identified, as should the responsible personnel.  The auditor will prepare sets of questions, which should be updated between audits, as more project and specific environmental knowledge is accumulated. 

Supplier / Sub-contractor Audit

Where required, audits on suppliers and sub-contractors are initiated to ensure they have an acceptable Quality Management System in place or that they are working toward achieving this.  The documents to be reviewed prior to the actual audit are the inspection and test plans; the quality manual and the questionnaire prepared by the auditor.  It is also necessary to arrange for a tour guide and provisions for a temporary office.  Once a satisfactory confidence level is established only 1/2 yearly or yearly Audits should be necessary. The main objective is to develop a closer relationship with all main suppliers which is in line with the philosophy of Total Quality Management principles.

Customer Audit

Customer Audits or, Second Party Audits, may be required by some larger customers and where contractual requirements specify Second Party Audits, the following conditions may apply:

-        Before any Audit commences the scope, nature and timing details must be mutually agreed;

-        The Second Party is permitted access only to those documents and work areas which are directly related to the contract;

-        Before handing over procedures, work instructions, forms or quality records a Confidentiality Agreement must be signed by the Auditing Organisation and the parties to the Audit;

-        The group being audited should provide reasonable assistance, equipment and facilities to the audit team.

Third Party Audit

Third party audits are initiated with the objective of obtaining an independent, recognised assessment of the organisation’s quality system effectiveness and its compliance with relevant Australian and International Quality System Standards.

The following should apply:

-        Before any audit activities commence, the scope, nature and timing of the audit must be agreed;

-        When agreed, the auditor is invited to offer suggestions for improvement to the quality system without divulging any confidential information gained from other audits;

-        The auditor must be permitted access to all relevant documentation, manuals, records, procedures and work instructions;

-        Before handing documentation to the auditor a Confidentiality Agreement must be signed by the auditing organisation and the parties to the Audit; and

-        The group under audit should provide reasonable assistance, equipment and facilities to the audit team.

5.0       MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

Tender and Contract

When tendering for work to be performed by a consultant or contractor it is important that all of the Selection Criteria be known by the tenderer.  The selection criteria are usually based on proven work history and the names of referees, details of industry experience and / or past projects; also the experience of the consultants staff; proposed methodology; fee competitiveness; and availability to complete the project within the allocated time.

To ensure optimal selection it is important to frame questions so as to obtain all information needed to accurately assess the tender.  Fisher (1995) suggested that the following questions need to be answered by the shortlisted:

1.      What are the issues involved in this project or function ?

2.      What is the proposed work breakdown structure ?

3.      What are the specific factors or issues relevant to this industry ?

4.      Why do you suggest specific methodology and what are the risks associated with its use ?

5.      How is this methodology preferable to the stated methodology in the Tender Paper ?

6.      Has this methodology been used before and what were the result ?

7.      Give examples where this methodology did not work; and explain why it was un-successful.

8.      What are the key performance indicators ?

9       What are the key issues ?

10     What difficulties do you anticipate at the different project phases; could you elaborate on them ?

11     Is the time frame adequate ?

12     What is your past experience, and who is in the project team ?

13     Are you aware of any additional expenses ?

14     What percentage value does this contract represent to your current turnover ?

15     What are your company current financial commitments ?

16     What is your company financial capacity, i.e. how freely can you borrow at present ?

17     What is the company and your teams track record ?

18     How flexible is the company with relation to the starting date ?

19     What staff numbers have you allocated for the project and, what are their job titles ?

Project Brief

Fisher (1995) states that the brief should clearly and specifically outline what is required.  At the outset there needs to be a clear understanding of the “what” and “why” of the project.  This should be followed by a specific outline of the “when”, “how”, and “who” as it applies to the project.

The brief should cover, as a minimum, the following details:

1.      Background and Introduction: - factors leading to the need for the project;

2.      A Statement describing the aim and purpose of the project;

3.      A description of the Objectives or expected outcomes of the project;

4.      Scope and Tasks in the form of milestones and main tasks of the work    breakdown structure;

5.      Details of the Target Group or project stake holders;

6.      Management or main responsibilities for the project;

7.      Timing details including start and finish dates;

8.      Resource requirements;

9.      Information Requirements describing what must be provided;

10     A reference to possible Conflicts of Interest;

11     Details of the Quality aspects of the project;

12     Conditions of Contract describing resource, legal, administrative, technical,    commercial and other specific responsibilities which may effect the outcome of    the project;

13     Ownership of material including security, safety and other rights and    obligations;

14     Details of relevant Contact Persons if more information is required; and

15     Financial Details and possible Risk which must be considered.

Project Approval   

A documented project approval is required prior to commencement of any proposed activity and associated expenditure.  An “Authority to Proceed” submission from a team member to the project manager or from the project manager to senior management should contain, in summary the baseline details of the proposed project.

An Authority to Proceed should contain the following:

-        Purpose, nature and scope of the work for which approval is sought;

-        Total cost of the works;

-        Accounting treatment of the expenditure;

-        Economic evaluation and other forms of justification approval criteria used;

-        Responsibility for post implementation review;

-        Where necessary, evidence that agreement from other organisational units has been      obtained; and the

-        Commitment to monitor actual project costs and the progress of work during the project.

An authority to proceed should be accompanied by an Estimate Sheet detailing the proposed expenditure.

Contract Review

In a successful project the contractor must ensure that all customers wishes and objectives have been reviewed and incorporated into the project plan.  If the Requirements Review has not been performed before the contract review it should take priority at a meeting where the project information may be analysed in its entirety.. 

Questions which need to be answered are:

-        Has all the information in the Project Brief been actioned ?

-        Have all additional requirements which were not directly stated been actioned ?

-        Has all specific information from the Project Definition phase been actioned ?

-        Have the customer’s specific wishes been actioned ?

-        Do any assumptions made during contract negotiations need clarification ?

A project can not be successfully commenced unless the stake holder and end user's wishes and objectives have been reviewed and incorporated into the Project Brief.  This first step will ensure a higher probability of success since decisions as to project function, cost, schedule and quality requirements are made at the project’s inception.  The contract review should take the form of a major review meeting for analysing of available project information.

The following questions need to be answered:

-        Has all necessary information been recorded in the Project Brief ?

-        In what form is additional information available to the Project                 Implementation Team?

-        Has all specific information been recorded in the Project Definition?

-        What specific arrangements have been made with the customer?

-        What assumptions were made during contract negotiations?

-        Must the customer be asked to accept any changes to the contract?

Contract Variation

A contractor should not vary the work specified under the contract except where directed to in writing by the stakeholder or project client.  A pro-forma Form for this purpose is supplied in the Appendix, Section 5.

The client may direct the contractor in writing to increase, decrease, omit or make substitutions for part of the work under the contract, or to change the character or
quality of material, to change elevation, lines, positions or other dimensions, or to execute additional work or supply items after the date of contract completion as mutually agreed. 

The contractor must advise the client in writing if the variation, as proposed, can be undertaken and what effect this will cause to the scheduled final completion.  A cost estimate for the contract variation work should be provided together with advice regarding the payment schedule from which the value of the variation should be added or deducted, as applicable.

The contractor should endeavour to commence to carry out the work required under the contract and the variation order as if the additional work was included as part of the works and within the time specified by the latest approved programme.  The total sum agreed for the variation shall be paid in accordance with the revised payment schedule.

Project Definition

The definition, and explanation of all the project phases should be covered within a short description and, include the following details:

-        Customer details and addresses;

-        Project description, contract and job number;

-        Specific details under the contract;

-        Specific assumptions relating to the tender document;

-        Time Table; and

-        Obligations and Conditions.

Project Planning

Project planning may be performed in three levels:

-        Master or phase plan;

-        Detail or milestone plan; and the

-        Group responsibility or task plan.

All three plans are usually interlinked with the project software program, used for project planning.  The preferred planning software may be Microsoft’s Project for Windows, for word processing it may be Microsoft’s Word for Windows, and for spread sheet and financial computations Microsoft’s Excel for Windows.  It is recommended that for ease of communication, all subcontractors should be encouraged to use the same packages and / or other packages that can be transferred into, the preferred Microsoft formats. 

Project Duration

The following definitions and unique milestone identifiers may be used:

000     Contract Negotiation Start = Start of negotiation after tender submission;

100     Project Start; = Contract signature at milestone;

400     Project Finish;  = End of support phase at milestone.

Project Milestones

000     Start of Contract Negotiation Phase 0 and Tender Submission;

100     Start of Specification Phase 1 and Contract Signature;

200     Start of Development Phase 2 and Complex Detail Design;

300     Start of Support Phase 3 and Service & Maintenance Involvement; and

400     End of Project. 

The Planning Phase

All projects need effective planning to determine their scheduled time, cost and resource requirements.  Good planning also enhances early project success which assists in keeping management committed to the program.  Techniques such as Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), Network / Gantt Charts and Cost Centre Schedules, Resource Levelling, Risk Planning and use of Decision Tables all may be applied to support management with the project.

The Execution Phase

The project manager must launch his/her project and  control it throughout its whole life cycle.  Certain steps need to be taken to improve prospects for a successful outcome, such as, establishing realistic project objectives; setting up an effective project organisation structure; staffing the project; identifying key milestones; planning the project; assigning tasks to be performed; estimating time and costs; scheduling of work; distributing the plans; and control and monitoring of the project once work commences.

The project manager develops a team, of people from diverse and unique backgrounds with many different skills; he/she creates an effective team for achieving the projects objectives.  Large projects may be divided into a continuous series of smaller projects with each project undertaking all of the various phases of planning, execution, review and termination.  Continuous project reviews are particularly important since the results of each phase in each project should lead towards the next phase of the project.

Termination Phase

A project can be considered complete when all the project’s objectives have been satisfied, this includes setting up a Service and Maintenance Plan for the remainder of the life cycle of the facility.  Termination of any project at the completion phase needs tight control to avoid schedule overruns whilst the myriad of loos ends are all completed.  Motivation and encouragement of all project employees may be needed to ensure successful completion as many of the team members may feel uncertainty regarding their future employment prospects.

Breakdown Structures (BS)

The BS’s are a formalised and systematic method used for definition and identification of the component parts of a project and these include: breaking down of all work to be planned; structuring and integrating of the project organisation; and the control and information systems to be utilised.  This systematic approach to organisation, planning and control is essential for effective management of larger projects.  Activities in a project plan should be of such size that responsibility changes; resource requirements; and their interrelationships can be readily depicted.  The BS integrates the control and information system with work which is to be performed, cost centres selected and the relevant deliverable’s for the project.

Hierarchical Planning

The use of Hierarchical Planning, together with the breakdown structures, enables the project to be broken down into Phases, Milestones and Tasks.  It enables individual cost centres to be set up.  This breakdown of the work content makes it easier to overview the whole project which assists in more effective planning and control of large projects.

The concept of work structuring to the level of creating smaller self contained projects with their own unique cost centres, planning, and control cycles, facilitates managerial control of all contractual obligations which can then be apportioned between the project manager and other team members.  It also improves individual commitment and motivation.  Thereafter, all sets of cost centres which, in-toto, form the whole project, can now be treated as separate projects.

Hierarchical Phases

1.         PHASE LEVEL 1:    For seni