TOOLS TO MANAGE

SCOPE, TIME AND COST

IN AN EPC CONTRACT
Mimoune djouallah
mimoune.djouallah@gmail.com
http://www.plannertuts.com/author/minoune-djouallah /

The Purpose

The purpose of this presentation is the

description of the process for Project
Controls (covering engineering,
procurement and construction) for the
execution small size projects
The tools are developed as database
systems, with a clear separation between
datasets and reports.
Excel was used for simplicity, but for
more data integrity it is advisable to use
RDMS ( Like MS Access )

The Approach

The approach used in this presentation :

There is no real time integration or one system to
manage the different process.
instead every process is managed using a separate
tool, the integration is done using well defined
interface.
The data generated from different process is
integrated in one place to generate Reports, curves,
and dashboards.
All the stakeholder must agree before the start of the
project on the interfaces and the level of the details
and integration between the different process.

The interfaces
WBS
: Work Breakdown structure.
CBS
: Cost Breakdown structure.
AREA : a geographic division of the plant.
Workpackage is a group of deliverables.
- Construction: Group of items ( building, piperack).
- Engineering : Group of drawing.
- Procurement : Group of equipment, material etc.
Task_Code is a standard activity with efficiency and
physical quantity
SCOPE_ID is the business rule primary key
It is a concatenation of Area, Task_Code and
Workpackage
Steps is further detail of Task_code to basic activities

WBS

Level 1 & 2

L1 : the project.
L2 : Phase (General, Engineering,
Procurement, Construction,
Precommissioning, Commissioning, Startup, Handover.

Level 3 : General
L4 : Milestones, Management
L5 :
- Milestones are split between
contractual Milestones and Project
Milestones.
- Management is split between the
different Department output for the project.

Level 3 : Engineering

L4 : Disciplines
L5 : Work Packages

Level 3 : Procurement

L4 : Subcontract, Long lead items,

Disciplines ( auxiliary, Civil ) and Bulk
Materials.
L5 : Work Packages ( group of
equipment)

Level 3: Construction

L4 : Zone
L5 : Area
L6 : Work Packages

Level 3: Precom, Commissioning

L4 : systems

Tools

SCOPE: provide The whole scope of work(EPC),

including manhours and quantities
Schedule: Time Management ( Planning software)
PRT
: Progress reporting and tracking, excel
tool to managed update progress and reporting
Time_Sheet: The manhours spent in Construction.
Job Card
: detailed Progress report at level 5
DPR
: Document Progress Register.
PSR
: Procurement status report.
Cost : Cost Control is managed by Separate tool.

Task_Code

Task_Code : is a unique six digit Code.

It is the concatenation of Discipline, Task
Class and a unique identifier
The efficiency per Task_Code is a based on
a historical data of the company.

Level

Exampl
e

Task_Code

XXXXXX

Descipline
L1
XX

Task Class
L2
XX

Unique identifier
L3
XX

CV1020

CV

20

CV1060

Civil
CV

Civil

10
Concrete
Works
10
Concrete
Works

Foundation Civil Works

60
Pipe support Civil Works

SCOPE

SCOPE is a live List incorporating all new

update to the scope of works (EPC).
The integration between the planning
software and SCOPE is using SCOPE_ID.
When there is a significant change in
Scope of Work, the Planning software is
update from SCOPE

SCOPE Flow Chart

Document
Progress
Register

Procuremen
t Status
Report

Constructio
n ITEM List
SCOPE_ID

SCOPE_ID

SCOPE_ID

SCOPE ( Budget manhours, Quantities,

weightage to the client as by the contract
revenue)
SCOPE_ID

Master Schedule Level 4

Constructio
n
Productivity
database
Contrac
t Value

PRT

The data in the PRT is mapped at the

activity level in The Planning software,
basically it is the same schedule but
handled in a separate spreadsheet.
It is easier to record period performance
in excel then in a planning software.
Anyone with basic Excel skills, can
update the progress and produce reports
without the need to operate a Planning
software.

PRT ( Progress Reporting and

Tracking) Flow Chart
Planning software

(Weekly, Or Monthly)

SCOPE_ID

Job Card
Time
sheet

PRT (Progress Reporting and Tracking)

Procuremen
t register

Weekly

Engineering
Register
WBS

Invoic
e

Dates by
CBS

Productivity
Internal Report

S
Curve

Progres
s report

Cost

Planning software

Planning software is used only to manage time, by using the CPM

calculation.
In the initial baseline, load the physical quantities to level your
production output.
A hammock can be used to split an Activity assigned to SCOPE_ID
The Frequency of updating the schedule, depend if you want to
generate a Forecast curve, Weekly or Monthly.
The actual start, actual finish ( the facts) are imported from PRT.
There is no magic formula to generate remaining duration, talk to
the guy doing the work, he is the best one to provide this
information.
After scheduling, the new forecast dates are exported to PRT, to
generate the forecast data.
Any planning tool can be used (MS Project, Primavera, etc).
Never Ever input dates directly in Excel !!!!!

Time Sheet

For the sake of simplification the spent

hours in the site will be recorded only by
subcontractor, but in order to have a
more accurate Productivity analysis, the
hours should be at least recorded at the
Subcontractor/ discipline level.
The data is recorded in a daily basis, the
productivity factor in a weekly basis.
The time sheet records the roles by direct
and indirect.

Cost

Cost control is a separate process.

The cost breakdown structure is implemented using
the activity codes in the planning software.
The spread of cost by cost account is done using the
dates from the schedule.
PRT generate progress report by CBS, it should be
considered as an approximation, as progress based on
cost weight and revenue weight are little bit different.
It is important to avoid the use the best guess
method in distributing cost data.
The more CBS is detailed the more the distribution is
accurate.

The Weight Factor

Engineering and construction the budget

is in manhours.
Procurement the budget is the cost.
The revenue Factor
Revenue = Budget X Factor
The overall Progress (EPC) is based on
the contract Value.

Reporting Format

1.
2.
3.
4.

The Primary Progress reports for the

client are based on the WBS.
For different audience, there is a different
reports.
By Contractor.
By discipline.
By Work Package
By systems.

Effective reporting

Separate datasets from the reports.

Never Hard Code a report
Understand your Primary key.
Use codes, standardize your codifications.
Always prepare and generate data as
database.
Pivot table in Excel is very powerful reporting
utility.
Automatize your workflow, manual data entry
is a waste of time.
Use both WBS and activity codes for maximum
flexibility in reporting.

Change Management
Two Approaches
1- Keep two revision of PRT.
Stable Revision issued to the client, the
budget is frozen.
An internal live revision incorporating the
latest changes from SCOPE.
2- update the current schedule with the latest
data from SCOPE ( without adding weightage)
The period performance ( % complete) does
not change, as it is calculated in the JOB
CARD using always the latest update from
Construction ITEM LIST

PS :
I added a new Excel file Project
dashboard, it is much easier to use, and
all the calculation are automated