National Project Management System Real Property Procedure on Time Management

1. Effective date

December 2012

2. Authority

This procedure is issued under the authority of the Director General (DG), Professional and Technical Service Management Sector (PTSM), Real Property Branch (RPB), Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC/PSPC).

3. Context

This procedure is to be implemented in conjunction with the PSPC National Project Management System (NPMS) Policy and the associated NPMS Directive for Real Property projects.

4. Scope

This procedure applies to all PSPC employees involved in the management of real property projects that follow the NPMS.

The information presented below provides for all phases of the NPMS, as applicable to Real Property space and asset-based projects funded by PSPC.

For projects funded entirely by other government departments (OGDs), only the procedural steps identified under Planning, Design, Implementation and Delivery Close Out Phases (sections 6.6 to 6.9) apply.

5. Purpose

To describe the processes necessary to develop and maintain schedules with good industry practices and to provide project reporting.

6. Details of the Procedure

The information presented in this procedure is modeled on a large Design-Bid-Build (DBB) project and is not intended to be applied verbatim for every project.

The project management level of effort is directly proportionate to the project size, project complexity, contracting requirements, and reporting needs of the individual project. Ensure an appropriate level of detail in the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), activities and milestones to properly monitor, control and report on project progress.

Adjust contracting needs for Construction Management (CM), Design-Build (DB) and public-private partnership (P3) projects as required on a project-by-project base.

As projects develop, the schedules will become more detailed, and more sub-projects may be required for the monitoring and control of activities.

Throughout the life of project, a Cost Planner must be consulted to provide cost planning, estimating and cash flow projections.

6.1 project inception stage

Definition phase

During the definition phase, the statement of requirements (SoR) provides a broad description of the nature of the problem or opportunity in order to seek approval to develop the project to the Analysis Phase.

6.2 project identification stage

Initiation phase

The decision to proceed with the development of the project to the investment analysis report (IAR) is obtained with the SoR approval.

A master schedule shall be developed including all activities from the project initiation phase through to the Identification Close-Out Phase.

The preliminary project plan (PPP) must include the milestone list required to get to the preliminary project approval (PPA).

Feasibility Phase

The feasibility report identifies any potential solutions to the defined problem or opportunity. It provides sufficient detail and non-financial evaluation on each of the potential solutions in order to permit the Project Leader to recommend, to the approval authority, all viable solutions that should be further analyzed in the next phase.

Provide a proposed timeline (project milestones only) for each option to be analysed.

Larger complex projects require more monitoring and control of consultant activities during the development of investigation and feasibility reports. The project schedule and cash flow variances must be monitored and controlled throughout the Feasibility Phase.

Analysis Phase

Based on the feasibility report approval (FRA), an IAR shall be prepared.

For the option being recommended for approval, develop a schedule to include:

The schedule and cash flow variances must be monitored and controlled throughout the analysis phase.

All milestone lists within the schedule and all reports must have the same milestone dates.

Identification close out phase

Review and update the project schedule for inclusion into the identification close out documentation.

6.3 project delivery stage

Planning Phase

In the project management plan (PMP), include the updated project schedule and cash flow based on the PPA. Re-baseline the schedule based on any approved milestone date changes from the PPA/lease project approval (LPA) to EPA and end of project.

The project schedule and cash flow variances must be monitored and controlled throughout the Planning Phase.

All milestone lists within the schedule and all reports must have the same milestone dates and are based on the PPA/LPA.

Design Phase

During the Design Phase, a prime consultant for either a DBB, CM, DB solution shall be engaged to produce design options, implementation strategies and “what-if scenarios”. This is for the purpose of testing alternatives to the present PMP and/or validating the project's present direction and cash flow projections.

The time management section of “terms of reference” must be developed for the prime consultant and/or construction manager contracts.

The schedule and cash flow variances must be monitored and controlled throughout the Design Phase, as well as the consultant's deliverables against contractual milestones.

Input the milestone lists and cashflow projections into the EPA documents.

Ensure that all milestone lists contained in the PMP, contracts, schedules, internal documents and reports all have the same milestone activity dates and are based on PPA.

Implementation Phase

The Implementation Phase generates the most activities related to the management of schedules. The prime consultant and/or construction manager will need to maintain their sub-project schedules. Verify general contractor's monthly construction schedule (sub-project) to insure compliance with the contractual milestones and validate the requests for payment.

Schedules must be reviewed and updated based on the EPA documents.

Re-baseline schedules based on any approved milestone date changes from the EPA to the end of project.

Monitor and control schedule and cash flow variances throughout the implementation phase. Also, monitor the consultant and contractor deliverables against contractual milestones.

Ensure the appropriate NMS “Construction Progress Schedule” section, is developed for the constructor.

Ensure that all milestone lists within the PMP, contracts, schedules and internal documents and reports all have the same milestone dates and are based on the EPA.

Review all Impact Analysis Schedules prepared by the constructor for validity and ensure that change orders, with durations, are correctly included in the revised general contractor's schedule.

Delivery Close Out Phase

Time management documents must be reviewed and finalized for their inclusion in the close out documentation, based on the product turn-over approval documents.

7. Definitions

Baseline:
An approved plan for the project work against which project execution is compared and deviations are measured for management control. These plans integrate scope, schedule, and cost parameters of a project.
Cash Flow:
A projection of the project commitments and expenditures against the approved funding limits over time.
Control:
A comparison of actual performance against planned performance, including the analysis of variances and proposing appropriate corrective action as needed.
Detailed Project Schedule:
A detail-level project schedule that identifies all the activities, milestones and work breakdown structure components needed to achieve projects objectives.
Impact Analysis Schedule:
A report and stand alone schedule provided by an individual proposing a change to an approved project schedule (most often with a contractor's change notice or client request), identifying the effect of potential delay or change on a project schedule due to proposed change.
Master Schedule:
Also called master plan or master project) this is a summary-level project schedule that identifies major deliverables and work breakdown structure components and key schedule milestones. A master scheduled is extracted from the detailed project schedule.
Milestone List:
A summary-level listing of major project milestones, required to meet an objective; extracted from the detail project schedule.
Monitoring:
The capture, analysis, and reporting of project performance, usually compared to the planned performance.
Re-baseline:
After approval of changes to the approved project plan, the schedule is modified to meet approved changes and saved.
Sub-project:
A smaller portion of the overall project created when a project is subdivided into more manageable components or pieces. Subprojects are usually represented in the work breakdown structure. A subproject can be referred to as a project, managed as a project, and acquired from a seller. May be referred to as a subnetwork in a project schedule network diagram.
What-if Scenarios:
A method of experimentation to determine the optimum schedule of tasks or utilization of resources. Project documents are usually saved to disk before and after this analysis, often with different version numbers. Interim baselines can also provide useful comparisons.

8. Responsibilities

Project LeaderFootnote *

The PSPC Project Leader is responsible for:

Project Manager

The Project Manager is responsible for:

Project Team Members

Every project team member shall:

9. References

10. Enquiries

Director, Advisory and Practices—Project Delivery, Professional & Technical Service Management, Real Property Branch, Public Works and Government Services Canada Government of Canada.

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