In addition to the property owner’s requirement to manage maintenance contracts for reactive and preventive work orders execution and other related maintenance and inspection services for real estate and equipment assets, the property owner needs to also the contracts for refurbishment and re-capitalization projects. Those could include projects for elevator lobby refurbishment, tenant improvement, parking renovation, installing new fire alarm system, fountain pump repair and replacement of pump, installing new X-Ray machine, new administration offices, repairing toilets, installing new kitchen equipment, replacing the escalators, replacing the built-up roofing, refurbish retail store outlet, renovating a restaurant, upgrading a movie theatre, renovating retail bank outlet, replacing the access security system and associated CCTV cameras among many others.
Regardless of the scope of work, cost, or duration of those refurbishment and re-capitalization projects, the property owner must adopt project management best practices in managing the contracts for those projects. Using the same PMWeb Project Management Information System (PMIS) to address the real estate and equipment assets, the property owner will use PMWeb to implement those practices. The processes detailed below are considered the absolute minimum process that a property owner must adopt when managing refurbishment and re-capitalization projects. Almost all proposed processes for this minimum project management practice are based on PMWeb out-of-the-box modules. Those will include modules for capturing details of all tasks and consolidating them into programs, project schedule, cost and contract management, document management, everyday communication management, issues management, and progress reporting.
There are many other additional project management processes that property owners might consider implementing to improve the likelihood of successful project delivery. For example, those include the processes of risk management, field inspection, testing and commission of equipment assets, handover certificates, authority permits, and NOCs, material procurement, work permits, among many others. Some of those processes are available by default in PMWeb, but the majority will be created using PMWeb Custom Form Builder.
Regardless of Project Size, Cost or Duration, a Unique Project Needs to be Created
PMWeb Project module will be used to create the refurbishment and re-capitalization projects. Each project will be linked to the asset location where the work will be performed. The project module allows capturing all needed data for the project with the option to add an unlimited number of user-defined fields if needed.
It is also recommended to create a program to group all refurbishment and re-capitalization projects like this enable the property owner to decide if the facility management department will be the entity to manage those projects or the real estate development department will manage them, project management department or outsource the program and project management to a third party. The property owner can decide if all those refurbishment and re-capitalization projects to be grouped under a single program or multiple programs.
Set the Document Management Repository to Upload, Store and Attach All Supportive Documents to All Project Management Process and Records
PMWeb Document Management repository will create the folders and subfolders to upload and store all project documents, including the different versions of each document. PMWeb allows setting access rights for each folder and subfolder to restrict access to uploaded documents in a folder or subfolder. Also, project team members can subscribe to a specific folder to receive email or online notifications when documents/revisions are added, when documents are checked in/out, when documents are moved out/deleted, and when documents are downloaded. These notifications can be sent to PMWeb users as well as non-PMWeb users.
The uploaded documents could include drawings, BIM models, catalogs, method statements, certificates, insurance documents, permits, among others. Attributes and other details can be added to each uploaded document. The uploaded and stored project documents will be available to be attached to all relevant project records and communications.
Each Project Must Have a Delivery Schedule
PMWeb Scheduling modules allow importing projecting project schedules created in Oracle Primavera P6 and MS Project and making the schedule. The property owner’s project schedule must detail the different activities needed to perform the refurbishment and re-capitalization projects and the sequence to perform those activities. The project schedule must include all necessary activities for the project, including design, tender, construction, testing and commission, and turnover. The schedule should include exercises for permitting authorities permits and no-objection certificates, interfaces with tenants, and others affected by the project. If the schedule was created using the PMWeb Scheduling module, the schedule could be resource loaded with the needed labor and non-labor activities.
Project Cost Estimate, Budget and Budget Adjustments, Procured Bids, Awarded Contracts, Change Management, Progress Invoices, Miscellaneous Invoices, Payment of Approved Invoices and Timesheets
All of the maintenance contracts management processes implemented using PMWeb different modules will be repeated to manage the refurbishment and re-capitalization projects. Details of all these processes and relevant PMWeb modules were detailed under “How Can Property Owners Have a Single Version of the Truth When Monitoring, Evaluating and Reporting Performance Status of Facilities and Assets Maintenance Contracts?”
The property can have a single real-time version of the truth report on the project’s cost and contracts’ performance status by having the data from all cost and contract management processes on a single platform. Implementing those cost and contract management processes using PMWeb modules will ensure that the reported data is trust-worthy, auditable, and traceable. The form and format of the output cost and contracts’ performance status reports can be designed in any desired shape and format.
Enforce Transparency When Communicating Project Information
The delivery of refurbishment and re-capitalization projects requires implementing different processes to formalize the communications and information sharing between the property owner, contractor, consultant, and suppliers. PMWeb comes ready with all those communication processes, although additional processes can be added using PMWeb Custom Form Builder, which be limited to creating the Issue form and Progress Report Input form.
PMWeb ready to use forms include Request for Information, Safety Incident, Submittal, Contract Drawings List, Meeting Minutes, Transmittals, Punch List (Snag List), Actions Correspondence. For each one of the forms, the property owner can limit and restrict access to each form and the fields within the form. This will ensure the trustworthiness, transparency, and accountability in communicated information.
Each PMWeb communication form can be attached with all supportive and relevant documents uploaded into the PMWeb document management repository and the option to upload documents directly. PMWeb also allows linking other relevant PMWeb records to the communication process and link relevant emails that were imported from MS Outlook. The PMWeb attachment tab is available by default to all PMWeb records, including the records that will be created using the custom form builder.
To enforce accountability in submitting, reviewing, approving, and sharing those communication processes PMWeb Workflow module will be used to map the different workflow steps needed for each communication type. The workflow steps will include the duration set to complete the step, how to return or resubmit, available actions for the reviewer, for steps with multiple reviewers if approval from all is needed or not, among others. In addition, PMWeb Workflow allows adding a condition to the workflow to enforce approval authority levels set by the property owner. The PMWeb Workflow is available by default to all PMWeb records, including the records that will be created using the custom form builder.
The default ready-to-use PMWeb Workflow Inbox by Project provides the property owner’s project management team with real-time visibility of the status of workflow steps for all project communications. The report layout and format can be modified to show, for example, delayed workflow steps in Red, those due to become critical in Cayan, and those that are still not due in Green.
Proactive Issues Resolution to Avoid Negative Impacts
PMWeb Custom Form Builder will be used to create the “Issue Resolution” form. The form will include issue type, category, criticality, issue description, issues raised by an issue owner, needed issue resolution date, and which project schedule activity makes its first impact. The issue form will also include the fields for issue impact and severity, automatically calculating issue severity. The form will also include fields for issue resolution actions and a description of the attached documents. In general, the form should be detailed to the level that eliminates ambiguities and miss-communication of the reported project issue to avoid any undesirable impacts to the project’s delivery.
The issues log will be used to provide the real-time status of all project issues captured in the issue form. The log that can be designed in any desired shape and format could also include visuals to summarize the problems by status, type, and issue owner. The report’s tabular section will consist of the complete details of those issues, grouped and filtered in any desired format. Usually, the Issue Report will be needed by senior organization’s executives as well as the project team members.
Reporting Project’s Progress
The data captured in the different PMWeb modules will become the basis for monitoring, evaluating, and reporting a single or a portfolio of refurbishment and re-capitalization projects’ status and performance. Also, PMWeb Custom Form Builder will be used to create the progress form for which the assigned project manager needs to complete to provide the progress narrative and insight on each project’s performance status. The progress report will be attached with pictures that could become part of the progress report.
The layout of the progress report can be designed in the desired form and format to communicate all refurbishment and re-capitalization project’s performance to the stakeholders who will be given access to the project dashboard. The created dashboard is dynamic; thus, the displayed information will be based on real-time data. Also, there could be the option to drill down for additional information and details when needed.
The status and performance information captured across the complete all refurbishment and re-capitalization projects’ portfolio will become available for the enterprise dashboard. This dashboard will summarize the project’s information into crucial performance measures. The stakeholder who has access to the enterprise dashboard can drill down to a specific project’s dashboard if the stakeholder has the access rights for this project. The created dashboard is dynamic; thus, the displayed information will be based on real-time data.
