Project Scheduling Requirements for Asset Management

How are Asset Management and Project Management Related?

The CMMS toolkit includes work breakdown structures and work orders. Using integration tools, the schedule activities (from scheduling software) can be uplinked to work orders and cost accounts. Further, the CMMS can be configured to support resource-leveling.

Best-in-class organizations will routinely seek continuous improvement by pursuing improvement initiatives that improve asset performance, workforce productivity, and job safety. These initiatives are projects themselves and require risk management, change management, communication, and training.

Example initiatives:

— RCM Facilitator conducts on-site training and assists with RCM analysis for critical systems and assets

— Implement automated weekly maintenance scheduling using intelligent automation

— Implement chronic failure analysis with the reliability team running bad actor report

— Implement a defect-elimination program

— Implement an ODR program

— Implement new CMMS/EAM/ERP software

Day-to-day asset management can involve special projects. Examples:

1. Utilities that experience significant downtime events will require asset repair, replacement, modification, and/or installation activities. This work needs to be planned and scheduled. A scheduled outage will have an outage manager, WBS, schedule, risk management plan, and budget. Scope, schedule, and cost will be closely controlled by the outage manager.
2. Major work by contractors may need to be performed under the guidance of a project manager and HSE/risk manager.
3. Sometimes there is high-risk work that is performed during online conditions and requires a focused effort (i.e., formal project) due to complexity and/or risk.
4. Weekly maintenance schedules contain work that can be done with the unit online. They are not technically a “project” but do require the selection of jobs from the backlog for scheduling. Maintenance supervisors create daily plans.

Project Management is a Critical Component of Successful Businesses

Projects are one of the principal means by which we change our world whether the goal is to replicate nuclear fusion, tunnel under the English channel, or plan the Olympic games, the means through which to achieve these challenges, remains the same: project management.

Project management has become one of the most popular tools for organizations, both public and private, to improve internal operations. Tom Peters, an expert on business management practices once said projects, rather than repetitive tasks, are now the basis for most value added in business. Project management has become a critical component of successful business operations in worldwide organizations. As never before, companies face international competition, and the need to rapidly pursue commercial opportunities. They must modify and introduce products constantly, respond to customers as fast as possible, and maintain competitive cost and operating levels.

There is a higher probability that things will go wrong in a project than go right.

When is a Project a Project?

A project is a set of tasks that must be completed within a defined timeline to accomplish a specific set of goals. These tasks are completed by a group of people known as the project team, which is led by a project manager, who oversees the planning, scheduling, tracking, and successful completion of projects.

A project is a set of tasks grouped with a common goal in mind that has a clear start and finish, creates something new, has boundaries (such as project scope and specifications), and has someone in charge or someone personally invested in the outcome.

Common Project Risks

1.       Scope creep: When a project's scope expands beyond the initially agreed parameters, leading to delays in the timeline and increased costs.

2.       Budget overrun: When the project's expenses surpass the approved budget, potentially straining financial resources.

3.       Timeline delays: When a project or its phases take longer than anticipated, causing ripple effects on other project or program timelines.

4.       People constraints: When a lack of available personnel or missing skillsets hinders the project's completion within the desired timeframe or quality level.

5.       Resource constraints: These constraints or insufficient resources, such as equipment, tools, and materials, prevent a project from staying on track and maintaining acceptable quality levels.

6.       Communication issues: Communication breakdowns between people or teams involved in a project lead to confusion and errors.

7.       Technical issues: When problems with the technology required for or supporting a project cause delays and quality concerns.

8.       Performance issues: When a completed project fails to yield the intended or necessary results despite staying within the scope and on time and budget.

9.       Legal and regulatory issues: When new or changing laws, regulations, or policies directly affect a project's ability to stay on track.

10.   External factors: When factors beyond the project manager's or organization's control, such as natural disasters, impact a project's scope, timeline, or budget.

Risk Management

Risk management requires an organization to anticipate all possible scenarios and outcomes. A risk management plan allows the business to evaluate how much risk it can afford and which risks must be eliminated. The most common responses to risk are risk avoidance, risk reduction, risk sharing, transferring risk, and risk acceptance.

Managing Risk – Things to Think About

With thousands of assets, which ones are the most problematic, i.e., have the most recurring breakdowns? How do we know if the PM/PdM tasks are the right tasks and focus on the right failure modes? How do we best manage outages using the CMMS, in support of schedule, cost, and scope? For the ongoing improvement projects (new construction, modification, and renovation) what projects should receive funding first? How do the planners know what to plan next? What work is most critical? How can we reduce reactive maintenance? For the defects discovered by PdM technicians, when should they be scheduled? Does the reliability team run a bad actor report to find worse offenders? How do you know the weekly schedule is working on the right stuff?

When does a Project Require a WBS and Schedule?

Imagine you are working at a utility, such as a power plant, and there needs to be a scheduled shutdown within the next 4-6 weeks. Often, the maintenance manager takes charge and creates a list of work that needs to be done. If he expects the duration to be 1 week or less, can he get by with just a “list of work”?

Every organization should have a procedure that defines this requirement. In this example, if the utility is to be down for less than a week, then perhaps they can get by with a “list of work” in Excel. If the downtime is expected to be 1-2 weeks, then there should be a dedicated manager (other than the maintenance manager) and a schedule. If the downtime is going to be 4 weeks or more, then a WBS with a schedule and a dedicated manager should be involved. Other factors which might require this project to have a WBS and schedule are significant cost, criticality, complexity, resource leveling, CPM analysis, working overtime, hazards, downtime cost, scope control, use of contractors, delivery of materials, specialized equipment, and significant outage preparations. Any work added to this downtime event should be fully planned. Nuclear power plants prepare for refueling outages months if not years in advance.

How Can a CMMS be Set Up for Project Cost Integration?

Some CMMS products allow the creation of a work breakdown structure. The WBS is used to identify 100% of the scope and deliverables. The budget would be stored at the lowest level – called cost account (or cost element). A contingency bucket could also be stored somewhere in the WBS for use by the project (outage) manager. The master scheduler would reference the WBS when creating the schedule activities. These activities would be linked to the WBS cost account and a CMMS work order. As progress is reported against the schedule, a summary percent complete could be calculated that rolls up to the cost account.

The CMMS is used to create work orders linked to this outage, FALL2018. These work orders also have priorities assigned to them. The outage manager and scheduler can perform a what-if analysis to determine what work is possible based on cost. If we assume the CFO issued a maximum cost, this is what the CMMS total work order estimate should not exceed. In addition to cost, the outage manager must make sure the selected scope does not push the project finish beyond the target finish based on critical path analysis and resource-leveling.

Explaining the Project Cost Report

This report could reside inside the CMMS. It runs from the CMMS Project Finance application. The moment after the outage is completed, this report could be run. If not all actual costs were processed yet, you could still see the committed purchase order costs. The CFO is always concerned with the final cost of the project. If this report was “somewhere outside the CMMS,” i.e., Excel, it would take additional time to enter actuals.

Use the CMMS-WBS Application to Track Scope and Cost Changes

Scope and cost changes should be precisely controlled by the project manager. There should be a dialog box (or screen) that allows the project manager (or master scheduler) to record changes. In the above illustration, a transaction number is created. This generates an issue date and allows the user to enter a description or purpose of the record. The user also enters the WBS project identifier and cost elements involved. If a new cost element is indicated, then the “New Element” section will be filled out and the Scope Change radio button will be checked.

Explaining Earned Value

Because the WBS, CMMS, and schedule activities are linked using the cost account code, then it is possible to capture earned value. EV is applied to major projects where monthly updates are captured. Identifying emerging issues early, at the work package level allows management to intervene. When done right, the project managers can forecast both the cost estimate at completion and the schedule finish.

For the above example, the estimate at completion has slightly exceeded the management reserve and the schedule finish is expected to be delayed.

Creating a Weekly Maintenance Schedule with Intelligent Automation

A weekly maintenance schedule does not require a WBS or logic ties but it does require resource leveling. The objective is to work on the right stuff and maximize craft resources at the same time. By doing the right work then we are doing the best we can to minimize risk to the plant and reduce unplanned downtime.

The trick to automating this process so that any size organization can produce this output is to set up a backlog matrix that accounts for HSE/risk factors, work order prioritization, asset criticality, and many other categories. Example categories include emergency work, urgent work, CBM repair work, in-progress work, condition-based technology routes, PM service, work to remedy design flaws, supervisor force, asset with declining condition, operability issues, maintainability issues, energy efficiency issues, and ergonomic issues. Other work outside of those categories will fall into fully planned work orders or jobs with rough estimates only. All other work will be excluded from processing. A gatekeeper role will review incoming work and dispatch if needed. Otherwise, he will assign a rough estimate, basic work order priority, and assess if this job warrants an HSE/risk review.

The Weekly Schedule Process

The matrix creates a numerical ranking which is automatically applied to the backlog using global edits each night. The ranked backlog can now be resource-leveled using a resource-leveling program built directly into the CMMS.

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