Fast-Track Projects

Initially, a project activity sequence network may be prepared by following the logical sequence of individual activities being performed when all the required information, or previous related activities, are 

Based on these drawings, the steelwork supporting the equipment is designed. 

Based on the steelwork drawings, foundation plinths are designed. 

The piles, pile caps, and plinths are built, steel erected, and equipment erected. 

However, a project schedule based exclusively on such an orderly sequence of events is seldom acceptable. Having identified the critical path (or, after sufficient experience, usually knowing instinctively what has to be done), it is necessary to reduce the overall planned duration by various means. 

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Currently, PC hardware has a life cycle of less than 2 years. Operating software typically has a support hfe of 5 years, then a further 2 years of reduced support before the operating system is no longer supported by the supplier. Management of the IPC upgrade protects the system investment from threats to the system s validated status, serious maintenance problems, and potentially costly fast-track projects. 

Lose control of quality during what are often fast track projects. There are often large numbers of project staff from a variety of backgrounds, not all of which are necessarily conversant with either IT systems or validation. 

If there is a large schedule impact, most municipalities have provision for phased building permits concrete and underground, steel and enclosures, etc. This requires a good relationship with the building commission but can often mean that a fast track project stays on schedule. 

Cost predictability for fast track projects is less definitive. The potential exists for early construction packages to have errors or omissions that would have been uncovered if the remaining design had been complete. Whenever the design is not complete there is cost uncertainty. Any late changes can impact design components that have already been ordered or constructed. Accordingly, the administration of a fast track project requires extensive field effort and manpower. The... 

Application of the component commonality principle caused some components used to be overrated for the duty, but cJlowed for a substcuiticJly accelerated manufacturing cycle, which was critical for such a fast tracked project as the Deeps. 

An application of the commonality principle on two mines and within the mines allowed major reduction in design and manufacturing time for the fast tracked project, as well as savings on common strategic spares. 

The making and control of assumptions, in order to expedite engineering, is one of the key issues of project engineering in a competitive environment. This is discussed in Chapter 27, Fast-Track Projects. 

Detailed steelwork design, and its effect on access and relationship to connected items, can be some of the most challenging aspects of plant design, in particular for solids handling plants, which sometimes need complex and non-perpendicular coimections between conveyors, chutes, and supports. Information flow is often problematic steelwork connects to, and supports, most other discipline items. Especially on a fast-track project there may be a need for many site modifications, and still there may remain some unsatisfactory compromises. 

In practice, a combination of these methods is normally needed. Too often there is a tendency to under-resource the site queries resolution function, especially on fast-track projects where many design assumptions are made, and a high number of discrepancies have to be resolved on site (a fairly predictable outcome). There may also be an attitude by the plant owner or project manager that this concentration of resources should not be necessary if the engineering work is performed properly in the first place, even though half the problems are usually generated by manufacturing or construction error. Whatever the cause, false economies should be avoided. 

The purpose of an inspection and test plan (ITP) is to summarise and present in a user friendly tabular form the complete programme of inspections and tests for the whole contract scope or for a section thereof, based on information extracted from the relevant drawings, specifications, codes, standards and regulations. It is intended for day-to-day ready reference on site. The ITP can be produced contractually by the construction contractor, which has the advantage that it will in effect own the document and benefit from having produced it. Alternatively, it could be produced by the EPCM contractor. This latter option would be appropriate in a fast-track project where there would be little time to prepare the document before putting it into application. 

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