Engineering Management Principles

Why learn engineering management?

: Because engineering projects are -

1. Complicated: lots of activities and people involved

2. Expensive: inefficiencies can cost

3. Important: provide infrastructure for community

4. Dangerous: risk of injury to workers and community

So, effective and efficient management is required to construct engineering work as required, on time, to budget, and without causing harm.

 

Aim/Purpose of Engineering management

: To develop the knowledge and skills required to administer and manage projects effectively in a specific discipline of engineering.

 

Management can be defined as

: the process of achieving objectives efficiently and effectively through organizing resources and implementing action plans.

 

* Management functions

- Planning, Organising, Leading & Controlling (PLOC)

* Managerial roles

- Interpersonal, Informational & Decisional roles

* Management skills

- Technical, Interpersonal, Conceptual, Diagnostic & Analytical, Communication, Decision Making & Time Management skills

* Levels of manager

- Top-level (Executive), Middle & First-line managers

* Types of manager

- Line, Staff & functional managers

 

 

What is a project?

A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service.

PMBOK - Project Management Body of Knowledge

Temporary: Definite beginning and end

Unique: Not done before (not routine work)

Product: Physical object (e.g. bridge, subdivision, computer system)

Service: Capability to do something (e.g. new student enrolment system, producing bridge design, surveying site)

Result: Something happens (e.g. rock concert, better work practices, winning the Rugby World Cup)

 

-Each project is specific and unique.

-Each project has a specific deliverable (product) item when complete.

-This deliverable is aimed at meeting a specific need or purpose (service).

-There is usually a specific due date for completion of the project.

 

Types of projects

-Commercial (e.g. new office building, business developments)

-Industrial (e.g. factory, warehouse)

-Civil Engineering (e.g. roads, bridges, power stations)

-Residential (e.g. housing developments, high rise, standalone bungalow)

-Mechanical Engineering (e.g. gas turbine installation)

-Electrical Engineering (e.g. new 11kv substation)

-Environmental (e.g. environmental impact study for steelworks)

 

Helpful tips in planning a project

-Break the project into small manageable bits, completion of bits can be measure, positive affirmation of progress, set and meet milestones

-Define all the role-players and their responsibilities

-State assumptions made and specifications applied

-State expectations of all role-players

-Explain inclusions and exclusions, limitations, or extent of the project, don't just list project

-Be flexible in the initial planning stage 1:10:100 RULE

 

10 Knowledge areas of project management

-Project integration

-Scope management

-Time management

-Cost management

-Quality management

-Human resource management

-Communication management

-Risk management

-Procurement management

-Stakeholder management

 

Skills of a project manager

A project manager must have a range of skills including:

Leadership, People management (customers, suppliers, functional managers, and project team), Effective communication (verbal and written), Influencing, Negotiation, Conflict management, Planning, Contract Management, Estimating, Problem-solving, Creative thinking, and Time management.

 

Objective of projects / Project constraints

-Project must be within cost

-Project must be delivered on time

-Project must be within scope

-Project must meet customer quality requirements

 

Project roles in Engineering Management

-Sponsor: Formal authority for the project and FUNDs it.

-Client: OWNs the project. The project is undertaken for them.

-Steering Committee: Strategic decision-makers who GOVERN the project.

-Project Manager: DIRECTs the project on a day-to-day basis.

-Project Team Member: Does the work to DELIVER the project.

-Project Auditor: REVIEWs the project.

-Project Consultant: Provides ADVICE to the project.

-Customer: Ultimately USEs the product or service.

 

Project barriers

: Many things can go wrong in project management. These things are often called barriers. Here are some possible barriers.

Poor communication, Disagreement, Misunderstandings, Bad weather, Union strikes, Personality conflicts, Poor management, Poorly defined goals and objectives.

 

* The triple constraint

* The project management diamond

 

* Main parties

 

* Project cycle and players

Client's responsibilities

-Project Financing

-Establish and communicate project requirements

-Selecting and hiring other project players

-Taking over project deliverables

 

Consultant's responsibilities

-Feasibility study

-Design

-Tendering

-Construction monitoring

 

Contractor's responsibilities

-Build contract works to (time, cost, quality)

-Comply with laws, codes, and standards

-Manage onsite construction works

-Health and safety management

 

Communication Management plan

Purpose of a communications management plan

-The overall objective of a communications management plan is to promote the success of a project by meeting the information needs of project stakeholders.

-The communication management plan (CMP) defines the project's structure and methods of information collection, screening, formatting, and distribution, etc.

-The intended audience of the CMP is the project manager, project team, project sponsor, and any senior leaders whose support is needed to carry out communication plans.

 

Stakeholder identification and analysis

-Power/interest grid: grouping the stakeholders based on their level of authority (power) and their level of concern (interest) regarding the project outcomes

-Power/influence grid: grouping the stakeholders based on their level of authority (power) and their active involvement (influence) in the project

-Influence/impact grid: grouping the stakeholders based on their active involvement (influence) in the project and their ability to effect changes to the project's planning or execution (impact)

-Salience model: describing classes of stakeholders based on their power (ability to impose their will), urgency (need for immediate attention), and legitimacy (their involvement is appropriate)

 

Total number of Communication Channels Formula

=N x (N-1) / 2

 

Project Planning Process

Project planning is the process of determining "how" to achieve a stated project objective. The key steps in the project planning process are

1. Defining the Project Scope: Project objective that is SMART, Deliverables, Milestones, Technical requirements, Limits & Exclusions Reviews with clients/customer

2. Determining the extent of Work involved in the Project: developing the project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) - i.e. a breakdown of the whole project into component parts by progressively decomposing the project into different levels of details.

3. Establishing activity interdependence&Logical relationships: Identifying the sequence (logical order) in which project activities/tasks are to be executed.

4. Estimating the resource, time, and cost requirements: Estimates of activity costs and time can be based on experience, past project records, or industry standards.

5. Representing the project plan graphically: Use of bar or Gantt chart, Network diagrams (AOA, AON) to represent the project plan.

 

PERT (Project evaluation and review technique)

-PERT is a variation on critical path analysis that takes a slightly more skeptical view of time estimates made for each project stage.

-To use it 1. estimate the shortest possible time each activity will take 2. the most likely length of time 3. the longest time that might be taken if the activity takes longer than expected.

-Use the formula below to calculate the time to use for each project stage.

[ shortest time + ( 4 x likely time ) + longest time ] / 6

Te=(O+4M+P)/6

Where Te: expected time, O=optimistic time, P=pessimistic time

- The helps to bias time estimates away from the unrealistically short time scales normally assumed.

 

CPM (Critical Path Method) or CPA (Critical Path Analysis)

-Mathematically based algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities

-It is an important tool for effective project management and is commonly used with all forms of projects

-Any project with interdependent activities can apply this

 

*Rules and regulations

1. Just one start

2. Just one finish

 

*Activity identity box

*Determine LS & LF example

 

 

EVA [Earned Value Analysis]

 

*Graph

*Formular