1. Introduction

“Plan the Plan and then Work the Plan”. A simple but very powerful concept that it is Often ignored. Every human effort, mission, task or any activity have a better Chance of achieving its objective if it is properly planned and then the Plan is carried out As planned.

Projects are complex human endeavors because they are the outcome of Creative process and do involve many different stakeholders (Clients, Consultants, Contractors,). Each of these Stakeholders often has its own methods, strategy, objectives and even agenda. Controlling all these different and conflicting Interests into a single and efficient Plan to execute a project is a major challenge In the success of a Project. Therefore, it is important for those who are Responsible for the execution of projects, to put in place very well-organized Tools, systems and processes that can effectively deal with the challenges involved in the Execution of projects. One of the proven and most efficient tools for managing large projects (in fact almost any Project), consists of breaking the project into the level of Deliverables that would be Required to execute such a Project. These Deliverables are then budgeted, scheduled, and Then tracked throughout the life of the Project. This is known as a “Level 4 Planning” or “Deliverables Progress and Performance Reporting”.

2. Deliverables Progress and Performance Reporting (DPPR) system

A Deliverables Progress and Performance Reporting (DPPR) system, in principle, is Rolled out a new project in the following manner:

1. A project is normally divided in different Areas (like 000: General, 100: Master Planning, 300: Civil Site Work, 500: Buildings…). Each Area will then be broken into Facilities, where each Facility will also have its own Sub-Area number (like 510: Hotel 1, 520: Hotel 2 …)

2. Develop a detailed list of Deliverables and Tasks per discipline for each facility

3. Assign man-hours budget for each Deliverable or Task on the project.

4. Develop overall project man-hours budget based on the sum of all deliverables Man-hours.

5. Establish fixed milestones for each of the Deliverables. For example, a drawing Will have the following milestones: Start, Issue of Concept, and Preliminary Design, Review, Issue for Construction and Final Issue. Other types of deliverables, like Technical Reports, will have different milestones.

6. Establish a scheduled date for each deliverable / task milestone based on the Project Master Schedule. Once the above steps are carried out, the information is entered in a computer application like primavera – or excel —etc. To produce Performance Reports and Statistics. At set regular intervals (usually monthly) each Discipline Lead would be handed a hard Copy of the Discipline deliverables to provide an update on the status of each Deliverable. Afterwards, the Discipline Lead will give to the planning engineer, who Will enter these updates and then, produce the following reporting:

a) Planned Man-hours to be achieved for the month.

b) Actual Earned Man-hours during the month.

c) Progress during the month. This is calculated based on man-hours Earned over

Project man-hours budget

d) Performance of each discipline and overall project. This is calculated by using

Spent man-hours (from timesheet tabulation) divided by Actual Earned man-hours,

e) To Go numbers of man-hours to complete the Project.

f) Percentage of project completion.

g) S curve that graphically illustrates the Project Planned progress versus Actual

Progress.