Ernesto Toxqui Damian has 5 years experience with PMA and is a certified eBuilder Partner with a software engineering background. He is a proven software developer, business analyst, and project manager with hands-on experience with Java, Javascript, SQL, VBA, and Business Intelligence tools.

We sat down with Ernesto to discuss Microsoft Power BI and dashboards for a wide variety of projects. In this second part of our conversation, Ernesto addresses KPIs and recounts his experience with a project integrating many diverse sources of data analysis into Power BI.

What is a KPI in construction?

In general, a KPI is a Key Performance Indicator. Specifically, KPIs in construction are particular to that industry. As it is defined, we are working with two different types of practices. One we call best practices. That is what, in general, the industries or that specific industry work with. In my experience, best practices say what we have in terms of value. We have SPIs—Score Performance Indicators—or we can have performance indicators. And with a specific name, they also provide the definition.

The other metric is the specific KPIs or specific practices of a company. For example, a KPI could be an enviro-metric to know the cost performance indicator. Am I doing well? Then the ‘I’m doing well’ could be deliverables: Am I receiving the sheets ordered at a specific time?

Also, within a week of milestones in our schedule, we could ask: are we meeting those milestones on time? I may have a specific number of people that I’m working with. Am I using those people, and are they completing the work that they were assigned to do? Possibly I can complete the work with fewer people. It could be that I complete the work with more people, as in resource leveling.

These examples could be general standard rules. On the other hand, sometimes specific companies have their own company-defined rules, even specific technical jargon.

Some companies say, ‘I’m going to create my indicators because they’re important for me’. But, because they’re essential to compare against what I’m doing, I indicate the name VOWD—value worked on. They have a specific definition of why they use this name and those initials.

Tell me why it’s crucial to build a KPI dashboard.

The KPI is a compass that allows you to check and measure the project’s health, progress, and status. First of all, even when the credit goes to Power BI, a lot of work must be done beforehand, in the back end, in the company. The decision-maker that uses it must understand what every KPI means. Otherwise, we are presenting information; metrics; the results of formulas that nobody understands, and nobody knows what they are.

These inputs could be rolled up, put together into a formula, and presented in a dashboard that allows anyone to check if things are correct and the health of the project. For example, if I know that somebody is late in payment or the work is done already, but it’s late in payment, there will be a metric about accounts payable: how frequently or how many days after the work is complete; how many days after the work is paid, the invoice is paid, etc.

Another point could be in my schedule: Am I focusing on critical activities? How many critical activities did I have before? How many critical activities do I have now? My project is based on a critical path that used to be one year, 365 days.

Suddenly, the next month I can see in my metric that the number of days is now 400. So, what happened? When we cut these kinds of metrics about calculating critical path, calculating the cost, calculating a comparison, or a trend in a month, this allows me to check if I’m managing it correctly, if the project is performing appropriately, or if it is something to which I have to pay attention.

Can you describe the use of Power BI on a project that you have worked on?

The project I’m going to share is when a client specifically wanted to have a passport with multiple areas or many areas in project management. The typical cost on a schedule, risk, and a log of issues about which you may ask, well, what is additional, or the relevance of this?

First, the client wanted to reduce human interaction to a minimum. Obviously, during the development, this is almost impossible. We develop it, so we need to interact. But once it’s up and running, the intention is that with a click of a button (not even a click of a button!), we can reschedule that information at specific times. Like every four hours, or like every day, like at night, or a specific time frame, the information is refreshed to be self-fed with the most recent information automatically. The other complexity was that the information comes from multiple systems, and the main one is PCX.

For those who have worked with PCX, we know that there are different flavors. There is PCX when we are working in standalone—basically, my computer. There is another version of PCX that can be in the cloud. There’s yet another version of PCX for companies when we manage a lot of records and many projects. Here the database is Oracle which can handle a significant amount of records.

On top of that, the client had security. To connect, you need to have VPN, and you have to cover specific drivers and database drivers to achieve the connection. To achieve that, it also requires multiple teams. One team responsible for the company is the administrator of the PCX application.

We also had the network administrator. The network administrator eventually permitted us to have a VPN so we could have access to the information. Then, we had the administrators and the database administrators, or Oracle administrators. So, organizing ourselves was a daunting task.

When we opened a ticket that needed information, we needed access to that system. The first complexity was trying to identify who was responsible, trying to put all these teams together, which would have been great from the beginning. You are the link to different layers and different responsibilities, which we learned down the road.

Eventually, we had access, and we had the experience to work and write the Microsoft SQL Server schedules. The theory says that if you write something in a SQL statement, it is a standard. You can transfer the SQL information from Access to a Microsoft SQL Server to Oracle and Oracle database and SQL.

But, in practice, those standards are met only by a specific percentage: say, 90%, maybe 95% (as a guess). Eventually, we have all this information written in other queries in other environments because we continue the work. Still, we need to put it together in the real environment, in production with the client. And when we did that, it was not working. We needed to re-test; we needed to re-do the work.

The other complexity was in the multiple versions of PCX. All that information, in theory, is recorded in the database. But, voila! We found out that you have a schedule when it comes to time-faced information, and it goes from one start date to one finish date. And that start to finish could be within a year. When we have a cost, and that cost is spread across the year, we use curves.

Well, it happens that the information of the curves is recorded in a specific format that is not standard. Not even within Oracle is it a standard format; it is not XML; it is not Jason; it is what it is. And even the records are different. This situation created a significant challenge in using Power BI to its fullest potential. Do we use any M query, docs functions, whatever tool, whatever idea we had to implement and deploy this dashboard successfully?

I was fortunate to work with very skillful people in PMA so that, as a team, we managed to pull it together and be successful with implementation.

What issues were identified that would have been missed with the use of a Power BI?

I think when we are working on a project, there’s a very objective area. For example, we work with metrics and KPIs because they are formulas that we have to comply with and represent. The representation can be visual, a graph; but eventually, the calculation behind it is a number, a formula.

Sometimes an issue arises from things that are not that objective. For example, there are subjective perceptions that could come even when you are finishing the dashboard you presented. It could arise from thinking that there are different ways to present the same information. For example, I could be using conditional formatting and represent a known by putting it in red if it is not good, or in green, if it is good, and have a traffic light kind of representation on this same principle; green for good, yellow for so-so, and red for something else.

But we can also use gauges like the arrow, which can say this is good within a threshold. There are multiple ways to represent information and present it in reports and dashboards. This is an advantage, but sometimes it poses a challenge when working with a client as we present something because of differing perceptions.

When we are working on projects, from the very beginning, we create a quote. We estimate how many hours until we are going to finish, how long it will take us to complete, how many resources, and so on. These are “little things” and can expand and roll up and eventually consume a significant amount of time and cost if they are not cared for. The other aspect is, as I mentioned, the objective ones; they may sometimes be complex.

I’ve faced complex relationships between one set of data and another because the format and data sources are different. But at least we have a compass, and that compass is that the numbers and the formula should be there. Eventually, we know the numbers were not calculating correctly from the very beginning. We know that something is wrong, and we have to fix it. It’s visible for me as a developer to know that something is wrong. However, with colors, with interpretation, with subjectivity, it’s a different story. To my eyes, it could be good, but to the eyes of the beholder, beauty can be different.

How did Power BI impact the project?

Power BI, as an aide, helps to avoid significant impacts on a project by being visible and providing data visualizations. It allows the project managers and every person who needs to know the information to see the progress of that specific project. Making that information visible allows you to check; it allows you to reap the benefits of transparency. And if something is not going correctly, this will catch your eye so you can immediately raise your hand and ask. I think Power BI is an excellent tool that allows the project to avoid significant adverse impacts.

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PMA innovation and teamwork have achieved significant energy savings for a client in southern Florida. PMA served as owner’s representative services on multiple facilities including new air handling units, updates to the central utility plant and airlocks, and upgrades to its building and environmental management systems.

Attaining the very tight temperature and humidity control for manufacturing required fine-tuning the various environments and processes required. Each process uses all outside air to cool the space and the air is exhausted back outside after one pass through the system. In southern Florida, where temperatures and humidity can exceed 90 degrees, the air has to move through the air conditioner, be dehumidified by the 40-degree cold water from the chiller plant and enter the manufacturing space at about 50 degrees. While the air is at the right humidity, it is still too cold for the room.

Before PMA came on the scene, electric heaters in the ductwork worked year-round to heat the air-conditioned air. As PMA worked with the client to install the expansion of the chiller system, the team suggested using a heat exchanger and adding a hot water coil inside the new air handlers to reduce the need for the duct heaters. By capturing the warm water that leaves the cooling coils, the overall power bill is reduced and the return on investment will be less than two years for just one air handler. There are between four to five air handlers to be replaced or added to the system in the next year.

How does it work?

The warm water that leaves the air handlers is diverted through the heat exchanger, where it is routed to the third set of coils back inside the air handler that warms up the air just before the air leaves the unit. By doing this, the warm water does most of the work of the duct heaters but does not add any additional energy costs to the daily operations. While the duct heaters will still be in place and help the warm water system as needed, they won’t have to run as much. Since the plant is in a location with mild winters it can take advantage of this ‘free’ heat year-round.

The piping for the heat exchanger runs on the same rack at the chilled water (much smaller pipe!), and the whole system runs on a 1 HP pump. The good news is the savings will grow, and the power bill will decrease even more reducing the need for fossil fuels. Capturing the heat that was formerly expelled as an unused by-product has turned into a plus for the environment!

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Case Study: Tissue Paper Manufacturing Plant

I was recently hired by an engineering firm to provide schedule management, budget management, earned value tracking, and commissioning schedule development for a $400M tissue paper manufacturing plant.

Why a summary schedule?
The project had multiple design and construction contracts and 200+ systems to commission. This translated into a 46-page P6 commissioning schedule that was simply too big to manage and effectively communicate with the project team.

When commissioning begins and you need to track progress on a day-to-day basis, you need a detailed P6 schedule to monitor the work. Unlike construction schedules, a commissioning schedule is planned by the hour and not by the day. Every hour counts when you are trying to get a tissue paper manufacturing machine up and running! With this degree of detail, it becomes challenging to depict the workflow and understand the plan the team has in mind.

If you do not understand the plan, you cannot understand the issues. People often become overwhelmed when looking at a P6 schedule so they do not talk about it. By design, P6 may have multiple activities linked on different pages and it is difficult to discern from a printout. When I was invited to a 4-hour meeting scheduled with all stakeholders to review the commissioning schedule and discuss strategies to improve the completion date, I knew a 46-page schedule would not work.

What makes a good summary schedule?
I set forth to present the information in the simplest way possible so that everybody understood the issues in minimum time. I used NetPoint, a real-time, planning and scheduling application, to summarize the entire 46-page schedule into one page. The team needed to know: What was the problem? Why is this happening? How do we resolve this?

The steps I used to summarize the schedule included:

1. Identify
   • Identify the critical path in the project and summarize it in NetPoint.
   • Define the near-critical path in the project and summarize it in NetPoint. This path will vary from project-to-project depending on its duration, size, update frequency & schedule sensitivity.
   • Include important activities in the summary with the intent to gain the audiences’ trust. Important activities for stakeholders could be major milestones, primary interfaces, high duration activities, significant scope items, or activities that were problematic in previous projects.
2.  Condense
   • Activities from P6 can be condensed in NetPoint as depicted in the examples below:

• • Understand your audience and to what level you need to summarize.

3. Simplify

• • Simplify condensed activities. This is often a trial and error process. Try a different grouping approach, color-coding, fade non-critical activities, criticality, further condensation, or a waterfall approach to convey the story. The objective of this step is to:
    • Not overwhelm your audience
    • Convey the message in minimal time
    • Provide the ability to follow logic

Current View

Different Grouping Approach

Color Coding Approach

Fade Non-critical Activities Approach

Criticality Approach

Further Condense Approach

Results

By showing the project team the plan at a summary level, I am reinforcing the plan. Is this what we are really doing? If it is correct, we can talk and fix the issues in real time. It creates a dialogue for the whole team who need to understand how they interface in order to work together.

The summary schedule was able to show that commissioning was starting late and reminded the team to check and confirm all the prerequisites required to start the work. It also helped the team understand that the vendor was now requesting additional time for certain systems. Moreover, the team understood the construction contractors’ sequencing of completing the systems was not in line with the commissioning plan. The 4-hour meeting, with all 20 key people, was finished in 40 minutes. All parties had a clear understanding and a usable project plan.

Why did I choose NetPoint?

I needed a platform to communicate the problems and NetPoint allowed me to show a picture from a very high level. The graphical interface is nowhere close to the tabular format that P6 and Microsoft Project provides. In a nutshell, NetPoint provides a canvas for you to draw the network logic. There are no columns to match up, and you can see the actual flow of the work. Similar to Activity Network diagrams of the past, NetPoint brings the focus back to a network view that is easy for everyone to understand. Using NetPoint, I showed them the picture and they gave me the answers. We developed solutions and solved problems together in real time.

Reniz Moosa, PMP, is a project controls professional with significant experience in providing planning and scheduling services for mid-cap and mega projects. He is skilled in applying project controls principles to build, update, and track complex construction projects from project initiation to closeout. For more information about NetPoint, please contact info@pmatechnologies.com.

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PMA and Bruce Stephan leveraged NetPoint to better analyze, understand, and share the delay sources for risk assessment of a complex $1 billion+ transit project that was behind schedule with three years of work remaining.

Bruce presented his experience at the 2016 NetPoint & GPM Conference.

Download the Presentation

What made this project unique to others you have managed in the past?

Although not unique, design-build contracts are less common in the industry. This is a mega construction project with a contract value of $1.2B.

During your initial schedule analysis at month 19, a four-month initial delay was predicted in the P6 schedule that later was realized to be an eight-month delay.

When demonstrating the schedule to the client using NetPoint, did visualizing the schedule help convince the client that the eight-month delay was accurate?

Yes, it did. We found the initial delay during discussions, schedule analysis, and document reviews. During the analysis, we found that the contractor had not incorporated known change orders in their schedule. When we incorporated the known change orders, an additional four-month delay became obvious. NetPoint was used to graphically show the delay and communicate it to the project team.

Consolidating a 10K+ activity schedule into a one-page 200-activity NetPoint model is quite a feat!

How long did it take you to create the one-page model and how many other PMAers were involved (if any)?

Was this the most complex one-page schedule you had ever created?

It took about a week or two and it was done by David Weber from the PMA Phoenix office. We do this type of schedule consolidation on a regular basis, but it wasn’t the most complex. The most complex NetPoint one-pager we did was on the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center where we pulled 125 schedules into one NetPoint view.

Having worked on this project, what is the one piece of advice you would share with fellow industry experts?

When running risk workshops on complex projects, it’s best to use a summary schedule like NetPoint to do what-if scenarios live to show the impact of risks and mitigations being analyzed.

Are you still involved in this project?

My role on this project has been completed.

What outcome is expected to get the project back on track now that the client clearly understands the current schedule from the NetPoint demonstration?

As a result of our efforts, the client recently settled a large delay claim with the contractor and re-baselined the project. PMA was recently re-engaged to conduct another risk assessment for the project that will help keep the project moving towards timely completion.

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With the official grand opening of the Shrewsbury Public Library last month, we sat down with PMA Project Manager Paul Queeney, PE, FMP, MCPPO to learn more about this project and its many successes.

PMA provided comprehensive Owner’s Project Management services for this project. Can you tell us more about the team?
PMA’s Walter Hartley was present on-site full time during construction looking out for the owner’s interests with his long track record of success with design-bid-build and CM-at-Risk projects. Clerk of the Works, Jon Pope, was also on-site full time. Walter and Jon monitored the work of the CM and subs and coordinated with the architect, commissioning agent, and testing agencies to assure the project was built on time with high quality. I provided some support to Walter and Jon while Chris Carroll provided executive leadership to the entire team.

The Shrewsbury Library Project has been very successful, finishing both on time and under budget. What’s the secret to this success and how did PMA assist in these efforts?
The project was on time due, in part,  to the establishment of a reasonable project completion milestone within the bid documents. In addition, weekly on-site job progress meetings with frank and open discussions were key to keeping the job on track with respect to quality, budget, and schedule. The weekly meetings were supplemented by monthly CPM construction schedule updates during peak construction. The project came in under budget because of the good assembly of bid packages by the architect and the CM (with OPM oversight); good construction market for the owner with strong competition resulting in competitive bids; good design ensuring only limited concerns being raised by subcontractors; good construction management; few unanticipated/unforeseen conditions; and owner resistance to scope creep.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in the managing of this project? What made it unique to other projects you have managed in the past?
The project was built on a tight site in a busy mixed commercial, residential, and historic district. Demolition of adjacent and nearby structures had to be done without damaging the historic main library that was constructed in 1903. Although ample time was allowed for construction, late winter storms in February of 2015 at the start of the project created some challenges and required the close monitoring of progress throughout the summer and fall to assure that the exterior of the new addition would be closed in for interior finish work during the winter of 2015/2016.

Did you utilize NetPoint, and if so, how did it contribute to the success and client understanding of this project?
Yes, a summary-level NetPoint schedule, depicting design, bid & award, construction, FF&E/IT delivery/set-up, move-in, and close-out was developed early in design and provided the Building Committee and the public with a simple big picture view of the entire project on a single 11×17 sheet.

The Town of Shrewsbury community was very supportive of this project in many ways. How did PMA get involved to further boost town support and funding?
A previous version of a library project, by another OPM and architect, failed at the ballot box. With the present iteration of the design, PMA collaborated with the Town and the architect in the development of the project scope and budget. The new design incorporated the concerns and interests of the Town’s voters and the project was approved at a Special Town Meeting in October of 2013 and at a subsequent Town-wide election in November of 2013.

How did PMA assist in communicating project updates along the way to keep town support thriving?
Weekly on-site job progress meetings and monthly construction schedule updates during peak construction were key to keeping the job on track with respect to quality, budget, and schedule. The OPM, architect, and CM met once per month with the Building Committee. All Building Committee meetings were open public meetings with the majority of the meetings televised on local community access television and then posted on the Internet. Additionally, Walter Hartley provided periodic televised job site tours with the Library Director with the tours being broadcast on local community access television. The televised Building Committee Meetings and job tours allowed the general public to see that the job was in good hands, guided by an experienced team. I believe that this public confidence helped support the Library project in meeting its private fund-raising goal of $1,750,000.

Modern libraries have transformed into community hubs that offer a variety of spaces, programs, technologies, and amenities. What kinds of modern features were incorporated into this renovated library?
The design included a multi-purpose room suitable for both library and community events (the Town has a shortage of available public meeting spaces). The room can be divided into 2 separate spaces by closing a movable partition. Each subdivided room has a short-throw projector and smartboard. Adjacent to the multi-purpose room is a community commons “hallway” with a high ceiling and clerestory that allows natural lighting to supplement the energy efficient LED lighting. The community commons also includes space for art exhibits. The multi-purpose room and community commons are located so that they can be accessed for events when the library is closed (with the hallway secured with a retractable gate that prohibits entry into the library during after-hours events). Other amenities and features are the 100 computers for staff and public and wireless Internet access throughout the building, computer training rooms, meeting spaces, and study spaces. The building includes a closed-off young adult area with a lot of space for both multimedia and quiet study. A secure children’s area on the ground floor features space for strollers, story-reading group areas, computers, and furnishings suited to the age-level – this children’s area opens up to an outdoor children’s courtyard that includes a pergola, sculptures, and limestone bench seating inscribed with quotes from classic children’s books.

Any other fun facts you would like to share about the Shrewsbury Library Project?
The project involved a 25,000 SF demolition (20,000 library, 5,000 credit union); 32,000 SF new construction; and 6,600 SF of historic renovation. Approximately 30 subcontractors worked on the job and at least as many significant manufacturers and material suppliers. Peak headcount of construction workers on site was approximately 65 workers with averages ranging from 35 to 55 workers/day during the busy times before and after the peak level of effort.

• Collaborative team of owner personnel, owner’s project manager, architect, and construction manager. The Town’s consultants and contractor knew that their own organizations’ measures of success were contingent upon assuring the Town’s goals being met.
• CM-at-Risk project delivery method allows owner to select contractor on a qualifications basis and bring in a contractor as an advisor during the design phase, a different way of doing business than the traditional design-bid-build project delivery method.
• A quality design, fully completed before the start of construction, resulted in only minor on-site difficulties in the field during construction; far less than what is common on many building construction projects.
• 16 months of construction: abatement and demo started on 2/2/15 and building was substantially completed by the end of May 2016.  This was followed by 2 months, June and July, of FF&E/IT deliveries and set-ups and punch list work.

View a video of the grand opening ceremony.

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