Typical Schedule for Engineering (Onshore Projects)

Abstract

I made this final thesis in the planning section of Saipem, an engineering company specialized in the Oil& Gas industry. In this competitive business, planning team is a key element of the project. Indeed, price, technical solution and lead time are the decisive factors to win a project. In execution phase, planning team must highlight to key project’s managers critical points and control progress, so that the effective duration of the project is consistent with the contractual duration. The main objective of this thesis is to realize a typical schedule of engineering for an onshore plant. This typical schedule must be a referent tool for planning engineers working on a real project. This document must contain: an exhaustive list of engineering activities, a typical codification for engineering activities, and, the most important, typical logic sequences of engineering. To fulfill this objective, I first had to study engineering, then I had to learn how to use “Primavera P6” - project management software - and I finally had to merge those skills to realize the “Engineering Typical Schedule”. To study engineering, I had to understand the breakdown structure of this phase of the project, to understand technical content of main engineering activities, to identify inputs and outputs of these activities and their relationships. After implementation of the schedule into “Primavera P6”, I had to analyse the schedule I did to correct it, to make it consistent, and to strengthen the credibility of this document. The result of my internship is a typical schedule designed to make easy its use by planning engineers on a real project. I made a typical structure compliant with engineering organization in Saipem and I grouped sequences of activities into typical sequences to put a special emphasis on main logics of engineering. Besides, I worked on a “Handbook for planning engineers” and add many comments on the schedule so that it can be considered as a training tool for junior planning engineers as well. To conclude, I am very satisfied with this professional experience. I think I have reached the target and made an efficient tool for Saipem. Besides, I gained specific project control knowledge thanks to my final thesis supervisor, Mr Olivier Nègre, head of planning section for Saipem.