EMA Engineering Project Management Assessment Page1of1
PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD MEETING
AGENDA ITEM
REGULAR MEETING
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
SUBJECT
EMA Engineering Project Management Assessment
BACKGROUND
EPWU desires to improve the management of the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) by implementing a capital project management system. A critical step in selecting the appropriate software and determining which processes would change involves performing an assessment of the current capital project management framework and its supporting workflows. Upon completion of the assessment the information gathered would be available to support decisions on any needed workflow improvements and identify the software capabilities to take into consideration during the evaluation of project management software.
EVALUATION PROCESS
EMA has institutional knowledge, industry experience and an established history of working with EPWU to provide assistance with assessments, strategic plans and software implementations.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Sufficient funds are available in Account Number 1214-042 and the funding source is the Improvement Fund.
PROPOSED ACTION REQUESTED
Approve a professional services contract with EMA, Incorporated, to perform an engineering project management assessment in the estimated amount of $74,995.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION PROVIDED:
September 15, 2015
Gilbert Trejo
El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) 1154 Hawkins Blvd.
El Paso, TX 79925 Dear Gilbert:
Thank you for discussing your challenges and vision related to EPWU’s capital project management processes. This letter provides a Scope of Work based on our discussions.
Project Understanding
At present, EPWU does not have a mature, disciplined capital project management workflow.
Employees face technology, business process, and timing challenges trying to manage project budgets – and so each person does it the way they feel best. The project management process is heavily paper-based, supplemented by a variety of individual spreadsheets. As a result, it is difficult and time
consuming to truly understand the current status of a project, including the budget and schedule. One consequence is that approximately, only half of the annual CIP budget is spent each year.
EPWU is in the process of upgrading its enterprise PeopleSoft implementation to version 9.2. The upgrade is expected to be done in the fall of 2015. Currently EPWU uses the Purchasing and A/P modules. Project Costing and Asset Management modules are installed but are only used to support the other modules from an accounting and finance perspective. They are not currently used to support capital project management.
EPWU desires to develop and implement a more formal and disciplined capital project management program. The first step toward that goal is to define “to-be” workflows related to capital project management, and needed software capabilities to support the to-be workflows. This includes a recommendation regarding supporting software (whether PeopleSoft or another direction).
It is anticipated that improving the capital project management processes will be a multi-phased project. The scope proposed below addresses Phase 1 – Develop Roadmap. Deliverables from this phase are: to-be workflows, recommendations, and a roadmap to carry out EPWU’s vision.
Scope for Capital Project Management Workflow September 15, 2015
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Project Approach
The proposed tasks are described below.
Phase 1: Develop Roadmap
Developing the roadmap involves establishing a vision, understanding the current situation, developing the to-be workflows, developing related recommendations, and developing the roadmap.
Task 1: Define vision.
An agreed-to vision related for how capital projects will be managed in the group will set the overall direction. It will define the guiding principles and high level expectations. To develop the vision, EMA will first meet with EPWU management (including Gilbert, and others as EPWU desires) to discuss management’s goals and desires, and develop a draft vision statement. We will then meet with the capital project PMs to discuss the vision, and refine it as needed.The vision developed in this Task will guide the remainder of the project.
Deliverables:Documented vision
Task 2: Understand current situation.
While we don’t want to focus extensively on the current situation, it is important for EMA to understand how work is carried out today, and associated issues, constraints, and needs. This ensures that our analysis and recommendations are relevant, and that they address the appropriate issues. As part of understanding the current situation we will characterize the CIP workload in general (for example, the type of projects, the number of projects and typicalcost/duration, funding sources, types of contracts, cash flows, project forecasts, etc.).
After meeting with management, we will then meet as a group with the PMs (and other key team members, if any). After that, we will have one-on-one (or small group) interviews to understand the current situation more fully. We anticipate that we will need to meet with one or more people from accounting, to understand accounting constraints that are, or will, impact the PMs. An example of a potential constraint is carrying over unspent capital to subsequent years.
We will “walk the current process” – take a representative project from inception through completion, and have people show us associated documents and supporting systems (spreadsheets, maps,
PeopleSoft, document management system, etc.). We will also develop an understanding regarding the need for third party access to project information.
We will also talk with staff to understand their training needs related to managing capital projects.
Task 3: Develop to-be workflows.
To further develop the project managers’ vision related to how capital projects could be differently and better managed, EMA (working jointly with EPWU) will identify two utilities in the water sector with good capital project management practices (one that usesPeopleSoft and one that does not). We will coordinate a working session with each of the other utilities to discuss and demonstrate how they manage their capital construction projects using their respective software.
Then, in a series of working sessions with the PMs, EMA will work through and sketch out core to-be workflows:
• Capital project initiation – defining funding sources and amounts, internal participants and roles, external stakeholders and roles, defining project scope, developing WBS, schedule and cost.
• Vendor selection – establishing vendor SOWs, costs, schedule, deliverables and creation of purchase orders or contracts.
• Project execution – managing and communicating internal and external costs, schedule, and risks.
• Project monitoring and control – timely execution and reporting of cost, quality, schedule and risks.
• Project closeout – capitalization of CIP to assets; closing out vendor contracts and PO’s; other closeout activities.
We will also discuss managing portfolios of projects and project/portfolio dashboards.
Typically as we carry out this type of working session a number of other items are identified that will need to be addressed. These might include related policies, procedures, other systems, training, and so on. We will also document these in a high level.
After the working sessions, EMA will refine the to-be workflows and turn them into Visio diagrams. We will then review and validate/refine them with the EPWU PMs (and others as needed) in another working session. We have found that people often have additional questions, ideas, or concerns that occur after the 1stset of working sessions. This follow-up review and validation provides a means to
address such items.
The to-be workflows will provide overall guidance related to roles, responsibilities, and the systems. However, they will not be design documents to support additional PeopleSoft configuration, or SOPs that can be used as job aids.
Deliverables:To-Be workflow diagrams; list of additional items to be addressed, presented to EPWU in a PowerPoint Presentation.
Task 4: Recommendations.
Based on the work above, EMA will develop a series ofrecommendations. The recommendations will address, from a holistic perspective (people, processes, and technologies) items to be carried out to achieve the vision defined in the first step. This will include an assessment and recommendation regarding the use of other software (SharePoint, eBuilder, etc.) to support a robust capital project management program.
Scope for Capital Project Management Workflow September 15, 2015
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After we have developed the recommendations, we will have a working session with EPWU management and staff to review and discuss the recommendations. We will then update the recommendations based on the discussions.
Deliverables:Recommendations memo and PowerPoint presentation
Task 5: Roadmap.
Based on the agreed to recommendations, EMA will develop a cost estimate, schedule, and potentially staffing requirements, for the recommendations. We will review the cost estimates and schedule with EPWU, and refine them to incorporate EPWU’s perspective.The desired vision, finalized recommendations, cost estimate, and schedule will be consolidated into a summary report. The workflows and current situation understanding will be included as an appendix.
Deliverables:Roadmap; PowerPoint presentation
Phase 2: To Be Determined
We anticipate that the recommendations will be phased. Potential phases could include acquiring supplemental software, configuring (or tweaking) PeopleSoft’s Project Costing module to support the desired workflows, piloting/refining the new workflows, and implementing the workflows, and then rolling out related workflows to other areas of the enterprise.
Project Resources
Melanie Rettie, Principal-in-Charge.Melanie has been with EMA for over 25 years. She is an Executive Vice President, and has been Principal-In-Charge on numerous related projects. She was involved in the first IT Strategic Plan conducted by EPWU. Most recently she was the Principal-In-Charge for the call center assessment.
Bill Rivers, Project Manager/Subject Matter Expert.Bill has a very strong accounting manager, and has led several ERP replacement projects. He has a strong understanding of the relationships between project, capital planning, budgeting, and related topics. He also brings PeopleSoft implementation experience from an implementation and optimization perspective.
Michele Samuels, Subject Matter Expert.Michele brings a manager’s perspective to the project. Michele has over 17 years of experience in the water sector. Her experience includes utility
management, treatment process design and optimization, strategic planning and capital project delivery, regulatory compliance, quality/environmental management systems, and policy development.
Kayla Vogel. Administrative Support.Kayla will provide the project team with strong administrative support. She will be responsible for final production and delivery of project documentation.
Project Costs
The estimate of costs for Phase 1 is provided below.
Billing rates
Proposed team members and associated hourly rates are provided in the table below:
Team Member Melanie Rettie Bill Rivers Michele Samuels Paul Dawson
Hourly Rate $335 $240 $205 $90
Estimated Hours 27 141 72 18
These rates will be effective through March 2016.
Cost Estimates by Task
The labor to carry out the work as proposed is presented below:
Task Hours Estimated Cost
Phase 1: Develop Roadmap
Task 1: Define vision 28 $7,130
Task 2: Understand current situation 30 $6,850
Task 3: Develop to-be workflows 96 $22,110
Task 4: Recommendations 47 $11,245
Task 5: Roadmap 26 $7,190
Task 6: Project Management and support 31 $4,740
Total Labor 258 $59,265
Expenses (at cost, estimated at ~15%) $8,890 Contingency (to be approved in advance) 25 $6,800
Scope for Capital Project Management Workflow September 15, 2015
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Project Schedule
We estimate this project to take approximately three to four months, depending on availability of staff. EMA is prepared to start within 2 weeks of notification to proceed.
Contract Contact
Melanie Rettie will be the contact person for this contract, and is the person to whom documents should be mailed. Her contact information is:
Melanie Rettie
2355 Highway 35 W St. Paul, MN 55113 651-639-5651
