As projects grew more complex in size, scope, labor and budget, the skills needed to manage projects became more critical. Thus was born the field of “project management.”
The Project Management Institute (PMI, www.pmi.org), an organization of 100,000 project managers worldwide, says project management has become more popular due to corporate downsizing, global competition, more sophisticated customers and increasingly complex technology. Project management provides the tools to establish success measurements, quantify value vs. cost, optimize resources and speed time-to-market.
Those business drivers are especially valuable in automation projects, whether “greenfield” sites or retrofit applications. Manufacturers are coping with reduced engineering staffs, multivendor automation systems and the need to upgrade decades-old equipment. Outsourcing project management can minimize the risk associated with large-scale automation projects.
Says Kris Perkins, a manager of projects with Emerson Process Management (www.emersonprocess.com), “Project management is important because it crosses multiple product lines and disciplines. Often, end users are looking for one supplier to provide an entire multivendor, integrated solution. They want one control system vendor to ‘own’ the entire project.” Typically, cites Perkins, Emerson products may comprise only 20 percent to 40 percent of the project. The remaining 60 percent to 80 percent is made up of third-party products and services, for which Emerson takes full project responsibility.
Five-step process
Project management, as defined by PMI’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, consists of five processes: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Closing. Perkins discusses how these processes are applied in a typical automation project.
“Project management is used to coordinate all aspects of the project, from customer planning to managing internal and third-party resources. We are the single point of responsibility to the customer.” Perkins’ project management team, which is part of the Emerson upstream hydrocarbon group, manages projects that range in scope from hundreds of thousands of dollars to $20 million, with a typical project priced at $1 million to $5 million and requiring 12 to 15 months for completion, from Initiating to Closing.
At the beginning of the project, or what Perkins call the “Pre-Initiating” phase, project managers work with the Emerson sales team to assist the customer in the front-end engineering. In a retrofit or migration installation, this includes answering questions such as, “What equipment is already there? What are the operating concerns? Are shutdowns possible? What’s important in the start-up phase?”
The Initiating and Planning phases start when the project is handed off from the sales team to the project management group. During Initiating, the project is completely defined, from scope to budget, schedule and resources. In Planning, steps followed include:
• Validate the plan and assumptions made during the sales process.
• Establish a plan to assess internal and third-party resources.
• Hold a kick-off meeting with the customer to review the project.
The Initiating and Planning phases of the project typically last about one month each.
The Executing phase consumes the lion’s share of the time and resources for the project, typically from nine to 12 months for completion. While executing, the project management team analyzes data to keep a forward look on progress. “This is where we become the risk management team. We are responsible for the financial, technical and logistical considerations of all aspects of the project. In this stage, we don’t want to miss a technical problem that could show up later and cost the manufacturer time and money,” explains Perkins. For Emerson project management teams, the Executing phase has five components: system design; executing (includes custom software and hardware development); testing; customer delivery; and site work (installation).
Controlling, the fourth process in project management, is an activity that occurs throughout the project. Says Perkins, “The project manager is the watchdog. At every step of the way, we measure actual progress against expected progress, make corrections where needed and continually revalidate the original plan.”
Closing is the final process in the project, and typically lasts several weeks. At the end of the job, project managers review what was and was not done well, with the end goal of continuous process improvement.
Depending on the complexity of the project, the project management team can consume anywhere from 6 percent to 15 percent of the direct-work hours dedicated to the project. Why would an end user want to outsource this expense? Replies Perkins, “The proper use of project management will always save you money. In the delivery of an engineered solution, we manage the risk for the customer and the suppliers. Project management is an investment. Make the most of it.”
