Corvative’s project execution planning approach is standards and principles-based. It incorporates fundamental Australian and international policies, legislation, standards and recommended practices.
One of the challenges in applying PMBOK® and other standards is that they are ‘one-size-fits-all’. As such, they need to be tailored to the project’s national, regional, and industry contexts. They also need to be applied appropriately to the project’s scale and maturity.
Project execution planning is an iterative process. The exact path depends on the contracting strategy selected, but the process described below is typical. The initial project execution plan is established during prefeasibility and comprises two parts: the current phase and the execution phase.
In each phase of the project, the current phase plan is detailed only in the areas where controls are required for that phase. For example, design, project controls, procurement, information management, and health and safety (if fieldwork is taking place) or quality (if sampling or testing is taking place) are required early on.
In early phases, the plans are not particularly integrated. E.g., the designer, the environmental and approvals consultant and the geotechnical consultant (if these are not self-performed by the owner) will usually develop their own management plans and incorporate them in their scopes of work.
As the project develops and becomes more complex, the current phase plans also develop until, by the commencement of execution, the current-phase and execution-phase plans are essentially the same.
The execution-phase plans also develop.
In early phases, the owner sets out the framework for the project execution plan and decides how the plan will be structured. This structure is tested and refined in later phases. For example, if a managing contractor is appointed, they may become the custodians of the plan and take responsibility for development to execution level. A mature and experienced owner may retain that responsibility, or validate the plan through external review.
When major contractors are being selected (e.g., designer, construction, underground development, original equipment manufacture), they should be asked to contribute to the development of the management plans during the early contractor involvement (ECI) or tender phase. It is essential that they fully understand what the plans require of them and that they incorporate the owner’s requirements into their offers.
Contractors should be asked to submit pro forma management plans with their offers. The quality and comprehensiveness of these plans should be included in assessment criteria for selection.
After contractor selection, and once a final investment decision has been made, contractors should be asked to develop and submit their own required management plans.
These do not all need to be available as of the notice to proceed. Management plans, such as commissioning, are typically developed much later.