Project Programme Management Newsletter No.1

Newsletter Title Issue 1 October 2009

A New Age of Project Planning and Programming has Arrived . . .

Project Programme Management Company Profile Welcome to Project Programme Management Ltd, a newly established planning and programming consultancy servicing all aspects of construction and civil engineering projects.

Our Managing Director, Matthew Edwards, is a long serving member of the planning and programming community gaining his knowledge through experience on and off site working for consultants and main contractors in the UK and Ireland.

He holds an honors degree in Construction Engineering and Management and is a member of the CIOB, IEI, CIARB and is a Chartered Environmentalist.

What sets Project Programme Management apart from other similar consultancies are our • expertise, • broad range of services, • extensive knowledge of both the industry and the most up to date technology on the market, • dedication to our clients ensuring satisfaction and • competitive pricing that enables our clients to get the very best value for money.

We are aware that in the current economic climate outsourcing has become an integral part of our industries and we are confident that our place will be made in this niche market.

We invite you to contact us and explore our service range as we are sure you will find that Project Programme Management will be beneficial to your company.

Inside this issue: Main Feature:

Building Information Modelling 5D Techniques and its advantages and benefits to Construction and Civil Engineering Projects over traditional project management methods.

Page 2 Focus: Construction related software Asta Powerproject Synchro Contact Us: Project Programme Management Ltd contact details

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Building Information Modeling The advantages and benefits of Building Information Modelling 5D techniques in Construction and Civil Engineering Projects over traditional project management methods.

Introduction BIM 5D for Contractors and Engineers : Background to Development Construction and Civil Engineering planning and programming software technology first started to appear on the construction and civil engineering market back in the late eighties. Planning and programming software companies have since evolved and adapted these software products to suit customer expectations in terms of project activity costs and income, activity resources, contractual obligations and constraints and on-site project tracking and monitoring. Whilst developing software products that would help construction and civil engineering companies deliver their projects on time and within budget. It is now becoming reality that such planning software today has a greater part to play in the success and timely completion of construction and civil engineering projects.

In the same period, CAD software companies have also developed 2D drawing software packages into 3D Building Information Modelling (BIM) design software packages so that architects, structural engineers and M & E engineers can share their project design information and collaborative flow in a 3D model environment, whilst the client can visualize their project, albeit an office building, motorway project or an underground railway station with a clear understanding.

With BIM, it is now possible to combine 3D drawings for a project and the project programme time schedule (4D) and project costs incorporated within the programme (5D). With this BIM 5D technology, construction and civil engineering companies now have the ability to simulate and manage a project ‘model’ in “real time”, so that the entire delivery team can share one virtual vision to enable project success. The main benefit of the BIM 5D process and techniques is that the entire turnkey construction delivery team – clients, engineers, architects, operators, main contractors, subcontractors, manufacturers and materials suppliers can share and understand a single “Real-Time” view of the entire project.

This BIM 5D approach is also dedicated to enabling the construction delivery team to explore options and manage solutions like never before due to the accurate interface of design, programme and engineering costs. BIM 5D construction techniques have the following advantages over current traditional

construction project management approaches : • • • • • •

Clearly defined processes to manage corporate responsibilities, protect workers’ health and safety, care for the environment and deliver shareholder value Control over planning and programming, logistics and site conditions to minimise uncertainty, lost production and rework Efficient task sequencing and planning of work spaces Encouragement of engineering innovation and value engineering Consistent quality and better planned performance Shorter overall project delivery

Concerns and issues with current site project delivery By most measures, the construction industry is unpredictable, above all in delivery time, cost and quality. In today’s global competitive Construction and Civil Engineering markets where profit margins are narrowing, large and small engineering projects are becoming evermore complex, then it is now evident that effective risk management is the key objective for every member of a construction team. All construction projects will succeed or fail largely on the basis of how well a team works collectively to explore options and manage solutions in light of potential risks. With complex designs, site constraints, health and safety issues, design revisions and unplanned events, these risks can disrupt momentum, add time and cost and create more risk. If the project delivery team can’t share a clear view of a continually evolving project, then they will have to communicate and resolve issues efficiently. This gives rise to other potential concerns: • How do they track and report progress clearly and measure earned value accurately for each stage of the project in line with contract requirements (I.e. New Government form of Contract, FIDIC, NEC) • How can they connect the Architects, Structural Engineers and M & E Engineers design within a fixed programme and coordinate the essential details to still deliver work on time and on budget?

• How can they allocate and coordinate work space, phases and safety zones and achieve project milestones and logistics effectively?

• Is the project strategy to analyze and manage risk performing well enough in respect to achieving the objective & goals of the project and forecasting an accurate project completion date?

The delivery team’s greatest challenges often demand that they identify the most promising options to solve construction problems, and then select the best competing solutions to implement.

BIM 5D techniques: The management solution to efficient project delivery With the advent of BIM 5D techniques, a shared vision of the project to help clarify and resolve competing solutions in the project is instigated. By reviewing and analysing several scenarios in a graphical computer model simulation as well as understanding the effects on project earned value and time prior to project commencement, contractors can compare various options so that the best solutions consistently emerge to add real value and target uncertainty right from the beginning. By utilizing the BIM 5D approach, the entire team, as needed, can participate in the process of eliminating uncertainty. BIM 5D also brings pre-construction project visualisation to new heights to help and develop strategies that will deliver projects on time and within budget.

BIM 5D techniques enable contractors to better manage the essential activities of construction delivery to ensure project success by :

• • • • •

Enabling dynamic team participation within the BIM process Enhanced synchronisation of project planning and delivery workflow Dynamically share one vision of the entire project in “Real -Time” Manage effectively continuous and iterative design revisions during the contract

Coordinate multiple planning and programming scenario’s whilst base-lining, tracking and reporting the project programme status on a regular basis Integrate the supply chain at a detailed level within the model to enable Design, Procurement and Just in Time delivery to site in line with the design team BIM 5D project techniques are the foremost construction simulation and task management solution currently available to contractors, incorporating the ability to define and represent re-usable 3D materials, equipment, human and location resources and communicate these in a full project visual simulation model.

With construction and civil engineering planning and programming techniques now inherently becoming surpassed with BIM 5D technology, contractors will be able to plan and monitor their projects directly against the design, which will provide a cross-check and clash detection by linking current and revised design to the construction schedule. This will allow “Real-time collaboration”, in turn allowing each project delivery participant to contribute and manage simultaneously in a BIM 5D model. BIM 5D modelling also has the following advantages over more traditional project management systems and methods: • Ability to allocate workspace for work area planning, programming and coordination.

• Arrange multiple planning scenarios to support divergent decision-making techniques.

• Provide real-time, programme manipulation and updating with remote access.

• Identify, segment, manage and track delivery risk at the task level coordinated with programme logic.

• Accurately analyse and forecast project cash flow over the duration of the project.

Since revisions to a project design, project costs and contract programmes are ongoing throughout a typical contract, BIM 5D techniques have the advantage of integration and assisting the project delivery team collaborative planning process and activities, supply chain management design, procurement and construction activities integration to within the project planning process, effective design file revision and integration from multiple CAD systems and inclusion of programme files from multiple planning and programming software systems including costs and resource allocations.

The single, shared view projected in real time through BIM 5D techniques in a construction environment has also the clear advantage that all members of a project team clearly understands their roles and responsibilities in a dynamic work site. Clients can also attain a visual perspective of the entire construction project and key areas of greatest uncertainty or risk. Through communication and dialogue, this then enables an interactive programming and virtual construction simulation within the BIM 5D environment. Project teams can also simulate and review two project scenarios with BIM 5D technology and generate AVI (audio and video file) progress reports for wide distribution and high production quality whilst undertaking detailed, task management schedules, which interfaces accurately the complete inventory of 3D design, machinery and equipment and permanent and consumable resources on-site. When BIM 5D techniques are used to enable collaboration, all project stakeholders experience the full power of synergy and workflow support built into the entire BIM 5D system that successfully enable project teams to deliver on time and within budget.

Conclusion With Building Information Modelling now reality and BIM 5D techniques and software available, all project stakeholders will be able to integrate and enter a shared thought process enabling constructability and value engineering proposals to be clarified and understood. The benefit of the BIM 5D techniques over more traditional project management techniques is that by creating a 3D project model and interfacing a cost and resource loaded contract programme interlinked to produce a 5D effect, projects will be more efficiently managed and tracked, whilst engaging all project stakeholders to engage thought and communicate clearly in order to deliver a construction or civil engineering project on time and within budget.

This article will be featured in the an upcoming edition of The Institute of Engineers Ireland Journal.

Focus: Software Definitive Project Management Software Solutions For Construction Professionals

Asta Powerproject Version 10 Who is it for?

Asta Powerproject is proven amongst all types of organisation in construction from clients and professional advisors to civil engineers, main contractors, trade contractors and house builders.

It is ideal for managing both large and small projects.

Outstanding Presentation of Project Plans.

Customise all 4 sides of the page via a custom border, with your own logos and References.

Highlight important information by adding annotations such as text, pictures, colour shading and Microsoft Windows objects (Excel spreadsheets, AutoCAD drawings etc.).

Gain total control over printouts: you define where you want the page to break; what you see on screen is what is printed; and you can automatically scale your project to a single page.

Show only those parts of the plan that are relevant by turning different aspects of the bar chart on or off, e.g. float, critical path, holidays, links etc.

Asta Powerproject also allows you to: Create plans faster Plan and manage repeated tasks Schedule more precisely Share project plans Record and track costs

Manage labour, plant and materials Accurately record and show progress Monitor Actual v Planned progress Powerful, tailored reporting

Flexible, Cost-Effective Licensing.

As an alternative to standalone licences, concurrent licenses are available for use on a local area network. Concurrent licenses significantly reduce the price per user, for example, a 1 user concurrent license will typically be sufficient for up to 3 occasional users.

Full training and technical support is available. *All the above information is taken from the Asta Powerproject Version 10 Brochure. A full copy of this brochure can be obtained from Project Programme Management Ltd.

Synchro Professional Synchro Professional provides complete construction visualisation, project scheduling, advanced risk management, synchronisation with design changes, supply chain management and cost allocation for comprehensive, virtual construction simulation Synchro Professional enables consideration of alternative scheduling options, resource allocation, and time and cost savings to be evaluated.

Use Synchro Professional to define and communicate to your entire construction project delivery team what, when and where work is occurring on your project.

Synchro Professional can work either stand alone - managing the project model independently - or in combination with Synchro Server in managing collaborative access to a centralized model.

Functionality Planning Synchro provides a full range of planning features: Task status control Task sequencing options Resource management Multiple baselines to compare actual performance against your plan Progress tracking Rescheduling options Critical path analysis Design Synchro resource management includes the 3D representation of material, equipment, human and space resources. The planning process can now also effectively manage task locations. Moreover, these resource representations can be synchronized with revised CAD data, as it becomes available.

Visualization Synchro exploits the power of visualization. Synchro significantly enhances the task sequencing of the Gantt Chart with vivid time - based 3D views of the corresponding solid model at the same point in time.

Multiple 3D views can be presented for clarity and each can be modified interactively. This means you can improve the delivery of projects through a better understanding of site conditions and the implications of logistical plans. You can visualize and evaluate the impact of alternative construction sequences and avoid conflicts in assigned work locations.

Use Synchro to clarify and agree on proposed schedules with the entire delivery team, and interested parties, by sharing video simulations generated from the 3D views.

Cost Resources and tasks can be assigned fixed or variable costs, which are then displayed for selected individual or a hierarchical range of tasks, and are reported for Earned Value Analysis.

Interoperability Import and export project schedules in Microsoft Office Project Standard XML file format, and import, export and synchronize with Primavera™ and ASTA Powerproject.

Import and synchronize with DWF,DWG,HSF,CATIA V5, SolidWorks formats and Google SketchUp. Import from Bentley MicroStation™ and 3D Studio Max™ via an HSF export plug-in.

Activity costs can be imported and a range of actual cost data can be accommodated through customised file interfaces. *All the above information is taken from the Synchro Professional Brochure. A full copy of this brochure can be obtained from Project Programme Management Ltd.

Project Programme Management Ltd is an authorised reseller of Asta Powerproject and an authorised partner of Synchro. If you would like further information on the software featured in this months Focus Section or on the services provided by Project Programme Management Ltd you can contact us at: Project Programme Management Ltd Cappagh Inistioge Co.Kilkenny Tel: 056 7758788 E-mail: info@ppm5d.ie www.ppm5d.ie

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