Planners and EPC scope

Planners and EPC scope

In my suggestion, planners who delegated to manage and control the project or the manufacturing site
must understand engineering drawings, specification, detail scope and quantities. A planner who is sitting
in front of the computer and just playing with Primavera or MS Project program and doesn't read and
understand engineering drawings, documents,specifications and dependencies among the
disciplines/tasks is a just program operator.
Generally, planner who fully involved with EPC project must read and understand all aspect of
engineering, procurement and construction methodologies. The following exercise is a for-instance for an
EPC project plan(schedule, cost and resources).
(A) For engineering and construction schedule, you must study the deliverables and dependencies
among the disciplines
1. Process engineering ; P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams) , PFD (Process Flow
Digrams),
2. Piping engineering ; line list, plot plan, piping GA (general arrangement), tie-in list, piping BOM
(bill of materials)
3. Mechanical engineering; equipment list, data sheets, equipment GA drawings, requisitions,
technical bid analysis and specifications
4. Civil engineering; civil foundation plan, piling location plan, structure GA drawings, underground
drawings
5. Electrical & Instrumentation; electrical and instrument cable/tray routing plan, instrument index
and lists
(B) For procurement schedule, get the requisitions for all disciplines and understand the work steps such
as
(a) Inquiry issued to bidders
(b) Bid evaluation and owner approval
(c) Purchased Order to Vendor
(d) Vendor drawings receive
(e) Fabrication
(f) Final Inspection and
(g) Delivery at site
(C) In summary, gather the following basic information after the contract awarded.
(1) Meeting of Minute during tendering
(2) Project contract
(3) Base line scope and bill of quantities
(4) Project Execution Plan
(5) Budgeted cost and man hours
(6) Estimated cost
(7) Tender schedule
(8) Risk assessment

Review the engineering drawings and specification as mention in "A" & "B" as and when required. Create
your project schedule based on the information "A", "B" and "C". Assign the man-hours based on the
approved schedule and productivity rates. Then, the required resource plan can be developed.

Progress Calculation Procedure for Engineering

Normally in an EPC project, progress calculation procedure for engineering deliverables is developed and
used to monitor project performance against man hour spent. When working with progress calculation,
you should know the level of reporting. In a typical project, engineering progress is measured as level 2
(phase wise) and level 3 (engineering discipline wise) and level 4 (document wise). Refer to the following
procedure to calculate engineering progress,
1. Engineering progress for each document(Level 4 ) = the sum of the product of weight factor for
each work step and engineering progress for each work step
2. Engineering progress for each discipline (level 3) = the sum of the product of weight factor for
each document and engineering progress for each document
3. Calculate total engineering progress (level 2) = the sum of the product of weight factor for each
discipline and engine ering progress for each discipline
Weight factor for each work step for each engin eering drawing
Weight factor is calculated based on man hour spent for each work step for a particular
drawing/document and the ratio of weight factor for each work step would be different depends on your
project teams expert judgment. The following work steps are required to produce an engineering drawing.
1. Start
2. Study/Preparation
3. Issue for internal review
4. Issue to client
5. Approval by client
6. Issue for construction
The projects I involved describe the weight factors for the above work steps are as follows;

5% (0.05) of total hours for Start" work step.

45% (0.45) of total hour for "Study and preparation" step.

10% (0.10) of total hours for "Issue for Internal Review"

10% (0.10) of total hours for "Issue to client"

15% (0.15) of total hours for to get "Approval by Client"

15% (0.15) of total hours for "Issue for construction"

Progress calculation for an engineering drawing -level 4

The sum of total weight factors for all work steps must be 100% (1). Let we calculate the progress for a
piping isometric drawing design work that has been started and physical complete (50 %) done for study
and preparation step.

Progress for a piping isometric drawing at the said stage =

Weight factor for Start work step (0.05) x progress for Start work step (100%) + Weight factor for
Study and Preparation (0.45) x progress for Study and Preparation work step (50%)

Therefore, the actual progress for that drawing completed up to 50% of study and preparation step is 27.5
%. The actual progress would be 50% when Study/Preparation work is completed 100%.

Weight factor for each work step for each engineering specification/requisition

Weight factor for each work step for each specification and requisition is required to calculate the weight
progress. The following are work steps and weight factors for a production of engineering
specification/requisition.
1. 5% (0.05) of total hours for Start" work step
2. 45% (0.45) of total hour for "Study and preparation" step.
3. 15% (0.15) of total hours for "Issue to client"
4. 20% (0.20) of total hours for to get "Approval by Client"
5. 15% (0.15) of total hours for "Issue for construction/Purchase
Progress calculation for an engineering specification/requisition-level 4

Progress calculation for an engineering specification/requisition can be done using the same exercise for
engineering
drawing.
Weight

factor

for

engineering

document

Weight factor calculation for engineering document is required to calculate engineering progress for each

discipline. Engineering documents are normally categorized drawings, specifications, requisitions and
information documents. P&ID drawings, isometric drawings, pump GA,foundation drawings, etc are in
drawing category. Material specification, equipment/piping fabrication and erection specification and
Instrument cable specification are in specification category. REQ for piping material, REQ for
pump/compressor/blower
and
etc
are
in
requisition
category.
Weight factor for an engineering document = budgeted man hour for a document/total budgeted man hour
for
all
documents
in
each
discipline
Assume the budgeted man hour for an iso metric drawing is 200 and 10,000 hours for all piping
documents. Therefore, weight factor for that iso drawing is ( 200/10,000) 0.02.
Progress

calculation

for

engineering

discipline

-Level

Progress calculation for mechanical engineering discipline = the sum of the product of weight factor for
each document and the actual progress of each document in mechanical discipline for a particular project.
For instance, a project includes the mechanical scope required to produce a list of drawings and
documents and the work is in-progress. Suppose a table of mechanical documents are shown as the
following,

Weight factor for pump data sheets is 0.0366 obtained based on 200 budgeted hours/ 5470 total
budgeted hours of mechanical discipline. The progress data in "% complete" column is referred to the
document progress calculation based on work step completion. The progress data in "Weight Progress"
column is referred to the progress calculation based on document weight and work step completion. Total
progress for mechanical section is 38% the sum of weight progress for each document.
Progress calculation procedure for process, piping, civil,structure, electrical and instrumentation can be
done
using
the
same
methodology
for
mechanical
discipline.
Weight factor for engineering phase/stage
Weight factor for each engineering discipline is required to analyze the total progress of all disciplines.
Weight factor = budgeted hour for each discipline/Total budgeted hour for all discipline for a particular
project
Progress calculation for engineering phase/stage -level 2

Progress data for engineering phase can be obtained using the same exercise for discipline wise
progress calculation. The difference is the way how you want to group it. The following formula is applied
Progress for engineering phase/stage = the sum of the product of weight factor for each discipline and
progress for each discipline

Basic concept of civil/structure engineering work flow

for schedule development
The basic concept of engineering work flow is essential to know developing engineering schedule. Once
you have done adding activities and linking logically, you have done 70% of schedule development.
Below diagram shows the linkages of civil/structure deliverables for EPC project. The in puts of civil
design calculation sheets are specifications and standard, mechanical equipment loading data and
structure loading data . Based on design calculation result, piling design documents are produced. The
predecessor of underground composite drawing is information for underground piping, foundation
information.

The in puts of design and calculation sheet for structure engineering are piping flexibility and loading data
from piping discipline, and mechanical equipment loading data from mechanical discipline. Successor of
design and calculation sheet is structure GA drawing. Detail assembly drawings would be produced by
vendor/subcontractor when the purchased order is issued.
Pipe rack modules are begun to manufacture once assembly drawings are ready. Finally, main pipe racks
are delivered to site. This concepts are applied when EPC level 3 schedule is developed

Progress Calculation Sample for Pump Installation

Work
If you are preparing a progress calculation sheet for a work, a weighting factor for each work step and each WBS
component is used to calculate to give the weighted progress. For example, to calculate percent completion for a
pump installation, the following typical work steps and weight factors are required.
Work step Weight factor
Chipping & Padding ---------------------------------------------------- 10%
Installation ----------------------------------------------------- 40%
Levelling & Grouting -----------------------------------------------------20%
First Alignment ------------------------------------------------------20%
Final Alignment ----------------------------------------------------- 10%
The percent complete for a pump installation can be obtained by the sum of the product of each weight factor and
each work step progress.
Pump Installation Progress = Chipping & Padding (10%)* work progress + Installation (40%)*work progress+
Levelling & Grouting (20%)*work progress + First Alignment (20%)*work progress +Final Alignment (10%)* work
progress
Pump installation progress would be 10% when chipping & padding activity is done 100%. Percent completion would
be 50%, 70%, 90% and 100% respectively when each work step is done 100%. Generally, progress calculation
method for other work is the same although weight factors are different. Read more about weight factor
for mechanical equipment installation work.

Concept of Engineering Work Flow for

Process,Mechanical and Piping Engineeirng
The concept of engineering work flow is required to understand for someone who involved in the activity
sequencing. This concept is applied when the EPC level 3 schedule is developed. The process of
engineering work to produce the required deliverables depends on not only within the functional discipline
itself but also among the process, mechanical and piping engineering functions. The below net work
diagram shows the links among the process, mechanical and piping engineering deliverables for oil, gas
and
petrochemical
project.
The diagram shows the input of process/utility engineering flow scheme (PEFS/UEFS) drawing is the
process flow scheme or process flow diagram (PFD) and process study.The input of engineering data
requisition sheet for mechanical equipment is the process data sheet consist of fluid properties,
temperature and pressure rating. The requisition for equipments can be prepared when the specification
and process data sheets are available.
The technical and commercial analysis report to be submitted to client and finalized prior to issue
purchase order to equipment suppliers. The equipment loading data which is the inputs for civil and
structure would be available after the vendor started working on equipment drawings.
The plot plan is started to prepare when the process flow diagrams includes major equipment tap
numbers are confirmed. Piping general arrangement (GA) drawings can be produced when the process
and utility engineering scheme and piping routing drawings are available. Iso drawings can be started to
prepare after the pipe support data and the latest PEFS/UEFS drawings are available. Piping material
requisition can be prepared after the confirmation of piping specification and standard. The final MTO

(material take off) and tie-in list (if revamp scope is involved) are finalized upon the ISO drawings are
issued. Upon confirmation of order, vendor drawings will be started working and issued for approval. The
materials would be manufactured if the drawings are approved.