Root Cause Analysis
Sometimes when you try to resolve a problem, you find that what you thought was a root cause is really a related symptom, not the actual cause of the problem itself. Consider the following classic example. …
PMP Hints
PMP Hints
Project Approach
The project approach is a section in the Project Charter that describes in words the thinking that goes into the creation of the project schedule. There are two benefits to creating an approach section. First, this information will help the client and stakeholders understand how the project will progress without having to interpret the actual schedule. …
PMP Hints
Collect Requirements
Most project team members like to follow the Nike creed – Just Do It! The client has a business need and the team immediately wants to move into problem solving mode. There is no better feeling than completing the solution and showing the client. Until, of course, the client informs you that this is not quite what he or she had in mind. …
PMP Hints
Ensure Traceability
Traceability refers to the ability to trace, or track, requirements throughout the lifecycle and into the final solution. Tracking requirements through the project ensures that all requirements are considered as a part of design, all requirements are built into the solution, all requirements are tested and all requirements are implemented in the final solution. Likewise, the process also ensures that features and functions are not designed and built into the final solution if they are not a part of the agreed-upon requirements. …
Project Management
A Quick Guide to Crashing a Project Schedule
by Diana Harding
What exactly is project schedule crashing? How do I use it? When is crashing NOT a good idea? If you’re a project manager, these questions will eventually hunt you down and find you. Read below for a quick guide to project schedule crashing. …
Contract Administration
Quantity clause needs update
by Chris Larkin
The UAE has undergone dramatic changes in recent years and the building boom has led to increasingly sophisticated methods of procuring construction work. The speed of these changes has made it difficult for the legal framework to keep up. As a result, some provisions of UAE law can appear outdated and even in conflict with modern forms of contract. …
Project Management
Estimate-To-Complete, or,…Guess What?!
By W. Scott Tidemann
During the life-cycle of a construction project, most contractors routinely predict in some fashion the project’s final job costs to determine whether it will be in a profit or loss position at completion. If these predictions are frequent, accurate and timely, the contractor can also often identify job problems, take appropriate action and mitigate or eliminate potential economic loss while the project is underway. Armed with this information, a contractor can make critical business decisions more confidently. …
Construction Law, Contract Administration
Good form for resolution
by Joe Colgan
For a market whose construction projects are almost beyond imagination in terms of scale and design, the UAE’s contracting policy, when compared to the UK’s, is languishing in the past.
Whilst the UK has introduced novel forms of procurement and contract, such as PFI, PPP and the NEC, virtually all contracts in the UAE are executed using the FIDIC conditions of contract.
Both the 1987 and 1999 forms are used to varying degrees, with bespoke project requirements generally picked up in the Particular Conditions of Contract (PCCs). …
Construction Law, Contract Administration
Resolving the issues with FIDIC
by Joe Colgan
In his second article, Joe Colgan, senior project manager, EC Harris, follows up on the problems associated with FIDIC’s nomination clause.
FIDIC ‘99 provides for a right of objection under Clause 5.2 that is conditional upon the contractor’s receipt of an indemnity from the proposed nominated entity. …