Programme Management
Project Planning
As Freelance Senior Project Planners, we will work with you to progress your project utilising the latest Oracle® Primavera P6 tools. If you have existing programmes in place we can take them on and run with them, or review and possibly develop them further if that's what you need.
We have experience at all phases of projects from inception through option development, outline design, detailed design, construction and closeout. The level of detail varies by stage and we can assist with creating the appropriate control level to suit the management information and control required. How much is too much will be determined by the pace of the project and its complexity.
For example, during Railway blockades which are implemented for intense works, say over a 54 hour weekend period - an hour by hour programme will be produced, reviewed, risk assessed and analysed and closely monitored during execution. The step by step stages of work will also include 'hold points' - certain stages where work could be stopped if timings are delayed too much for the works to complete successfully within the time-frame. Of course, with certain works - say replacing a bridge, once the old bridge has come out there is no hold point - the new bridge has to go in!!
A key aspect of project planning is obtaining the data with which to update the schedule. As well as planning, we are experienced in project management and also risk management, both of which have furnished us with the skills to draw out information from the team members to inform the programme update and add value by looking for the less obvious implications of certain situations.
It is precisely because we naturally sit, with the programme, at the hub of the project, with an understanding of the inter-disciplinary links we are often the first team members to recognise a potential issue .
We see ourselves not only as administrative operators for the planning software, but also as an additional set of eyes and ears to work on behalf of the Project Manager to highlight risks or potential impacts on the programme which may not be immediately apparent.
A specific area to note is the importance of both the Critical Path and also the Near-Critical Path - those activities which ordinarily fly 'under the radar' and if not monitored have the potential to, at worst, sink your project or more likely create time and cost issues.
We would always advise considering both Critical and Near-Critical activities when looking at the Critical Path.