Welcome & Introduction


Jack Ma, PMP JMAC Project Management Consultants, Inc.

　　Welcome to E&C project management class. Project management science in the past two decades has thrived more and faster than what we could thought of back in the 80s. Personally, I think this has been partly because of the evolutionary changes to most organizations in pursuing cost down and lean management in which project management is a “must have” skill, and partly because of the advancement of project management information system (PMIS) that motivates people much willing to learn and practice project management. On the other hand, professional certifications like IPMP and PMP are on the top of the cert chart in most countries. I hope that this course along with other modules in a series are to serve both benefits to you.

　　E&C project Management is the process of professional management applied to a planning, design, and project from inception to completion for the purpose of controlling time, scope, cost, and quality. A project manager with matured knowledge and experience does make a world of difference in balanced performance as viewed by stakeholders. This course develops a specific viewpoint in discussing the participants, the processes and the techniques of project management for construction. This viewpoint is that of owners who desire completion of projects in a timely, cost effective fashion. Some profound implications for the objectives and methods of project management result from this perspective:

　　The "life cycle" of costs and benefits from initial planning through operation and disposal of a facility are relevant to decision making. An owner is concerned with a project from the cradle to the grave. Construction costs represent only one portion of the overall life cycle costs. Of course, other stakeholders including designer, GC, and subcontractors will also find this class very useful as they will learn from perspectives of all. Throughout the class, concepts of total cost of ownership (TCO) and lean construction and engineering will be discussed in-depth like corner stone of learning.

　　For E&C project management fundamentals, JMAC has designed according to past 10 years experience that Modules I & II viz“E&C Project Planning & Basic Control” and “Earned Value Management Control”are a time span most professionals can afford in very busy work life. If you would like to get to know about other courses of PM, please check out at JMAC website: www.jmac.com.tw . During the class, you will team up with your peers working on a real life project of your organization from initiation to closure of the life cycle as you progress with the class. You will learn about processes, complete knowledge, and best practices of planning your project core elements – scope, time, resources, and cost to come up with a feasible plan that gets “buy-in” from all stakeholders. In risk management, some latest lessons learned developed from several famous projects will be discussed if time permits. If you have any suggestions to us for class improvement or personal experience to share and contribute to our class material, please email me at jack.ma@jmac.com.tw. Please enjoy the value and fun the class provides.

　　As in factory management, "Earned-Value Project Management "(EVPM) is employed as an effective controlling system for projects such as systems acquirement, constructions, and foundry that are cost reimbursable or with fixed price commitment to management, because they are particularly keen to a desired balanced performance over project scope, schedule and cost. The Earned Value (EV) concept can be described as comparing the "planned value" which is the objective of each project work package against the "earned value" of the physical work accomplished, and to relate this against the "actual costs" spent to do the work, in order to precisely measure the true project performance . EVPM, on the other hand, provides early signals of how things are getting progressed so that early adjustments to the project can be made. In the workshop, the instructor will give multiple illustrations of the effective use of EVPM methodology. Meanwhile, students will learn a great deal more from a complete case study covering quantitative analysis, judgmental decisions, and the reality of management by objectives (MBO) and management by exceptions (MBE).

Expected Benefits

Upon finishing this workshop, attendants will have learned as follows:

• A new language of management control in pursuance of balanced performance of projects.
• Monitoring performance against the baseline and using earned value analysis (EVA) to probe problems until
  the root cause at level of work package is found and removed.
• Forecasting the final cost and schedule outcomes that allow management to make early corrective decisions.
• Techniques of project scoping, estimating and budgeting resources within control accounts, and setting
  baselines.
• Implementing EVPM as a working mechanism alongside MBO and MBE in the project-oriented
  organization.