PMIS

• PMIS


  A web-based, centralized database created and used by the project team
• PMIS


  • Built around documentation and communication of project-specific information
  • Maintains project status from the initial idea for a new facility to its completion
• Information PMIS will accumulate

  • Cost
  • Schedules
  • Quality
  • Project team
• Cost


  Each contract and each project will have the budget, estimates, contract amounts, changes orders, contingencies and forecasts of completion cost. There may be a capital plan with projects scheduled over future years. It may include funding sources.
• Schedules


  There will be a master schedule, design schedules, procurement schedules, global "push" construction schedules, short interval "pull" schedules, closeout schedules, occupancy schedules and commissioning schedules. It may display meetings that the user must attend, show deadlines for the user's work products and send automatic reminders. There may be a user-customized calendar for specific responsibilities.
• Quality


  Given that most owners choose to define quality as "conformance to requirements," the PMIS may include space programs and other requirements. The PMIS may include procedures for quality control or quality assurance programs, post evaluation data and include checklists to meet regulatory requirements.
• Project team


  Within the PMIS database there is a simple list of the projects with contact information for each company, its key people and their project role. Since so many people deliver a project it makes sense to have a resource where everyone can find everyone else. And it sure helps to know how they fit into the project. A web-accessible database with that information improves communication. That speeds the project. It also adds to the quality of the work. When starting a new project, it helps to know what companies have done similar work and how they performed.
• Agreements and documents in PMIS

  • Contracts
  • Owner approvals
  • Permits
  • Routine commitments
• Contracts


  The PMIS will include a database of the contracts for reference. It will also summarize the scope of work, the financial aspects of the contract and the general terms and conditions. Often problems arise because contracts are negotiated between executives and not explained to execution teams. There are mistakes because people just don't understand their job. If the scope of work is accessible online it makes it easer for leaders to monitor progress and ensure compliance.
• Owner approvals


  The owner's organization must be managed as well as the design and construction groups. The owner will have policies that govern approvals. They will want to approve designs, change orders, color samples and so on. Some approvals will be contractually required; others will be less formal but important to manage. Accounting must know to schedule cash flow; the legal department must know when to prepare contracts.
• Permits


  The project will be constrained by permitting, entitlement and other regulatory agencies. It will help the project team members to have requirements for these permissions online. Many permits have time-based requirements that need a reminder that is triggered by other events or tasks.
• Types of reports in PMIS


  • Standard "push" reports
  • Custom "pull" reports
  • Dashboards
  • Summary roll-up reports
• Standard "push" reports


  Push reports may be routine status information or notifications when action is required. They filter data according to the requirements of the recipient. The objective is to send the right information—no more no less.
• Custom "pull" reports


  PMIS needs a simple tool that allows a non-technical user (with the proper credentials) to "pull" information from the database, arrange it for analysis or import it into spreadsheet, presentation or word processing software.
• Dashboards


  Too often, the big picture is buried under layers of minutia. To avoid that, the system must present an easy-to-grasp, conceptual view of the program with graphs, diagrams and alphanumeric summaries of vital signs. But if a user is interested, he or she should be able to drill down into the details.
• Summary roll-up reports


  The PMIS should roll up and summarize both contract and project information into a presentation of information for the entire program. At the program level, a user should be able to view cost, schedule and quality summaries along with the program contingency, cash flow, and other summaries of project information.
• Performance metrics


  These little indicators of current project health typically include statements of cost and schedule growth, items such as RFI aging, status of approvals, change order resolution and other project-level detail. Many users like to use green, yellow and red "traffic light" signals to color-code these indicators. Then these project results can be filed in historical databases to provide guidelines for planning future projects.
• Policies


  Properly honed, clearly documented but flexible procedures improve the efficiency of the team. People are far more productive when they have a clear idea of what to do. When these policy and procedures manuals are electronic they can use all the tools of electronic communication like mouse-over pop-up boxes, hyperlinks and animation. They are also easy to access and update because they reside in only one place. And anyone with web access can get to them.
• Smart folders and electronic forms


  The program manager can set up a PMIS with folders that are programmed to notify specified people when a document is filed, eg. RFIs.
• Standards


  As owners execute a program, they develop standards to form baselines for continuous improvement. The standards may be for process (contracts, approval requirements etc.) or for product (design guidelines. preferred building systems etc.) They are stored in the PMIS along with links to the requirements of entitlement and permitting agencies.
• Values of PMIS


  • Information for common understanding
  • The cheapest and most reliable way to document and communicate information
  • Armor for defense against political or legal attack
  • A window into the project
  • Improving performance with report cards
  • Educating management
• Information for common understanding


  Collaboration requires a common understanding of purpose and the relevant facts. A PMIS will never replace face-to-face meetings, but there's too much information on even the smallest project to hold in our brains. So we need a rigorous, disciplined system. PMIS offers a comprehensive, near real-time, web-accessible database of electronic project information, available 24/7. Like BIM, it's a resource for the team, created by the team. The chore of data collection is endured only once and the pleasure of getting accurate needed information is enjoyed often.
• The cheapest and most reliable way to document and communicate information


  A PMIS reduces the cost of data collection. First, it's data that's always collected—usually repeated by several organizations. Second, with a PMIS the collection job is shared. Without a standardized PMIS, the same data will be recorded multiple times by multiple people in multiple filing cabinets and computers. Collection is inefficient and costly, and the data is inconsistent and unreliable. With a PMIS, there is only one on-line filing cabinet. Responsibility for data entry is assigned to the appropriate people and those who need and use that information may access it, review it or download it—a far more efficient approach.
• Armor for defense against political or legal attack


  An abundance of uncontrolled and conflicting documentation provides a target-rich environment for those searching for evidence to support a biased point of view. Hard project facts are the arsenal of defense. If there are defined project goals and if they are consistently maintained with current data, the owner and the facilities team will have plenty of ammunition for support. If there is a legal challenge, a PMIS will help the owner find facts for support.
• A window into the project


  A PMIS is a management tool for control and collaboration. Control systems require feedback to measure progress so adjustments can be made to stay on track. It is difficult to understand progress toward a goal, to know what caused problems and what contributed to success. A PMIS informs leaders about current progress so they can operate the levers of control.
• Improving performance with report cards


  What is measured is what improves. For instance, a project may be viewed as a network of commitments to deliver work products that meet given requirements at a given time for a given cost. These commitments may be recorded in the PMIS and displayed in a periodic status report. A PMIS will be replete with metrics that report progress against the objectives. Hundreds of little scorecards reveal the relationship between the current working estimate and the budget, the aging of RFIs, the status of submittal approvals—and on and on.
• Educating management


  Valuable experience comes from learning from previous projects and anticipating that similar events might occur. To learn these lessons, leaders must have accurate reports—true stories—about what has happened. So a crucial PMIS function is to enhance judgment by a clear presentation of project activity: the cause and effect of project results.
• Challenges to PMIS implementation


  • Implementation groups and incremental startuping
  • A sense of higher purpose
  • Starting small
  • Starting with the projects and the team
  • Agreements and document management
  • Electronic forms and smart folders
  • Resistance
  • Technical support
  • Current information
  • Handheld connectivity
  • Interoperability
• Implementation groups and incremental startuping


  The classic mistake is to organize a study group to decide on the total functionality of the PMIS. Each member of the group thinks of a valuable function to include. Each new idea makes the system bigger, the training harder, the politics more difficult and startup thornier. The system fails under the weight of its own ambition. The reciprocal mistake is not to involve people in the process. Without buy-in, resistance increases. But it's better to charge them with developing an incremental approach rather than to design the ultimate system. Some organizations tend to embrace change more easily than others, so the speed of change can be matched to the ability to absorb new processes. The idea is to view the process as a journey, not a destination. There is no ultimate system. Enhancement will be continuous and forever.
• A sense of higher purpose


  The challenge is people, not technology. A PMIS changes how people do their job. It's a culture shift. That requires executive leadership.
• Starting small


  There's difficulty while the team adjusts to the new procedures—typically accompanied by grousing from people who resist change. And the grousing is given credibility by the inescapable glitches that are inherent in a system startup.
• Starting with the projects and the team


  A strategy to install a PMIS may be to start with a little data for all the projects, or a lot of data for a few of the projects.
• Agreements and document management


  A PMIS is a good place to put a policies and procedures manual. The first step is simply an electronic version of the paper document in one of the folders. That's easy. More sophisticated user-interfaces (pop-up boxes, hyper-links and animation) can be added over time to make the manual more effective. Ultimately, manuals may be adapted into structured process, electronic forms and smart folders.
• Electronic forms and smart folders


  Electronic forms are tough to implement and can bog down a startup procedure. In the first phases it's best to maintain flexibility in the system so that people can use their judgment and their knowledge of the process to decide how to route information. It's easier to get going and users are less intimidated. With time, the team can begin to automate information flow—gently.
• Resistance


  Some of the team, indeed some of the most experienced and capable members, will see the chore of maintaining the PMIS data. They see project information as power, their turf and something they have always been responsible for. They may see their "real" job in traditional light as managing and meeting with people. The PMIS is treated as an afterthought.
• Technical support


  People procrastinate when they are unsure how to do a task. Some people can go to a training seminar and leave knowing what needs to be done, but most will need additional help. It doesn't work to train everyone once and then move on. Having tech help close by during startup reduces frustration.
• Current information


  Project managers will delay input if they are unsure of the data and that will cause a problem. And so the project is in trouble but the PMIS doesn't report it and loses credibility as a current source of project information.
• Handheld connectivity


  Reports should be formatted and accessible using handheld wireless devices such as a BlackBerry, iPhone or Treo. But what adds even more value than viewing data on a handheld is the ability to collect data—at the source. In traditional workflow information was captured first on paper in the field or in a team member's office, entered into a local computer and then pushed to the central database. Depending on the workflow rules, those steps can take time—perhaps several days. A handheld input device can shorten the process and perhaps provide important early warning to trigger management action.
• Interoperability


  As an owner begins to implement a PMIS, owner groups and outsourced companies will want to receive information from the PMIS to input into their software. And their software will produce useful information to supply to the PMIS. Everyone will want to exchange data without a new round of data entry. It's bad enough the first time and errors always occur in the duplication process. But each organization will likely have their own software and the software will not be interoperable: the programs don't talk to one another. So the issue of data transfer among the extended program team (AEs, CMs, constructors) and among the owner's groups (accounting, legal, administration, O&M) will rear its exceedingly ugly head.