PL:Project Management Plan

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Revision as of 19:50, 26 June 2008

Generalities

The ITERMAG Project Management Plan is a document that describes the ITERMAG Project Management System used by the ITERMAG Project team.

The objective of the ITERMAG Project Management Plan is to define the approach to be used by the ITERMAG Project team to deliver the intended scope of the ITERMAG Consortium Project .

An ITERMAG Project Leader creates the ITERMAG Project Management Plan following input from the project team and the Stakeholders, who are the Members.

The plan should be agreed and approved by at least the project team and the stakeholders.

The ITERMAG Project Management Plan includes the following main aspects:

• Project Structure;
• Scope Management;
• WBS Management;
• Schedule Management;
• Financial Management;
• Quality Management;
• Resource Management for resources like people, tools and others;
• Communications management;
• Project Change Management;
• Risk Management; and
• Procurement Management

It is good practice and mostly required by large consulting and professional project management firms, to have a formally agreed and version controlled Project Management Plan approved in the early stages of the project, and applied throughout the project.

We go through these proposed components one by one for ITERMAG to determine whether they should be part of the ITERMAG Project Management Plan or not, and what the current status is.

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Structure

The ITERMAG Consortium is structured as a Project, with a single Quality Management System. The Project shall be in a position to respond to multiple calls for interest, which shall give rise to multiple Contracts. The elements of the Consortium Structure are described in this section.

Members

The Consortium is a group of "Members". Three (CEA,CIEMAT, CRPP) are EURATOM Associates and one (RFX) is a Research Unit in the form of a Consortium (Consorzio RFX) inside an Associate (ENEA). Members are defined in a formally binding "ITERMAG Consortium Agreement".

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee includes:

• a Representative from each Member with a single vote
• the ITERMAG Project Leader
• the ITERMAG Deputy Project Leader
• an open number of nominated Technical Advisors, forming a "Technical Advisory Group".

The Steering Committee is represented externally by the Chairperson of the Steering Committee who has delegated power of representation for the other Members within the scope of the ITERMAG Consortium.

The Steering Committee shall meet at least twice per year, and otherwise on demand of any Member, according to the ITERMAG Consortium Agreement. This ITERMAG Consortium General Meeting shall:

• nominate or replace nominees in the Steeering Committee and the ITERMAG Project Leadership
• verify the accounts of the ITERMAG Project Leadership and discharge this leadership
• submit a formal report of activities and financial status to each Member
• select the Chairperson for the following term.

ITERMAG Project Leader

The ITERMAG Project Leader assumes the technical responsibility for managing the Consortium, reporting to the Steering Committee and chairing the ITERMAG Project Leadership Committee (PLS). The ITERMAG Project Leader also chairs an ITERMAG Shared Resources Committee (CSR).

ITERMAG Project Leadership

The ITERMAG Project Leadership (PLS) includes:

• the ITERMAG Project Leader
• the Deputy ITERMAG Project Leader
• the Technical Advisory Group
• all Contract Managers
• an open number of ad hoc experts, called upon by the ITERMAG Project Leader.

The ITERMAG Project Leadership Committee is chaired by the ITERMAG Project Leader, or his Deputy.

Technical Advisory Group

The Technical Advisory Group includes at least one nominated technical delegate from each Member who is not either ITERMAG Project Leader or his Deputy. Its purpose is to guide the ITERMAG Project Leader and thereby the Steering Committee in all technical judgments, and to ensure that each Member is represented at the technical level by a nominated representative.

The Technical Advisory Group shall meet regularly, and communicate on demand, to ensure that the technical competence of the Consortium is well used, and to analyse and respond to any technical issues. Each Member shall nominate one delegate to the Technical Advisory Group. Additional experts may be invited to attend specific meetings where appropriate.

ITERMAG Shared Resources

The ITERMAG Shared Resources are provided by the Members to provide common shared resources to the ITERMAG Project Leadership and to the Contract Managers. ITERMAG Shared Resources include accounting, administration, planning, documentation and quality control.

The ITERMAG Shared Resources are distributed among and within the Members, according to competence and availability. They have separate accounting and will constitute an overhead to be distributed between existing and future Contracts. Before the existence of a Contract, the ITERMAG Shared Resources shall constitute an accumulated debt to the Members, to be recovered from subsequent Contracts.

Contract

Each call for tender identified by the Steering Committee as within the scope of the Consortium, and considered to be of interest to the Consortium, will give rise to a "Contract" for which a Contract Manager will develop a plan of action with a Contract Team.

Contract Manager

The Contract Manager is nominated by the ITERMAG Project Leadership (PLS) when a Contract is formed. The Contract Manager reports to the ITERMAG Project Leader.

Authority and Reporting

All ITERMAG Consortium staff remain under the authority of their employer who is one of the Members. Staff are "assigned" either to the ITERMAG Shared Resources, or to a Contract Project. In this assignment role, they report to either the ITERMAG Project Leader or to the Contract Manager for all affairs related to this assignment. Any case of dispute not resolved by these two authorities will be resolved by the Steering Committee. Reporting in this context corresponds to ensuring the correct execution and planning of the assigned activities, and does not replace any line management within each Member.

Within this context:

• the ITERMAG Project Leader reports to the ITERMAG Steering Committee
• the Deputy ITERMAG Project Leader reports to the ITERMAG Project Leader
• the ITERMAG Shared Resources and the Technical Advisory Group are chaired by the ITERMAG Project Leader
• the Contract Managers report to the ITERMAG Project Leader

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ITERMAG Consortium Scope

The scope of the ITERMAG Consortium is described in an Annexe to the ITERMAG Contract of Agreement.

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WBS - Work Breakdown Structure

A WBS is defined under Primavera for the operation of the ITERMAG Project Leadership. This WBS is managed by the ITERMAG Project Leadership. A generic Work Breakdown Structure will form the basis of a set of Contract WBS, each of which is managed by a Contract Manager.

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Schedule

The scheduling of the ITERMAG Project is handled under Primavera using the following independent project schedules:

• ITERMAG Project planning, for the activities of the full ITERMAG Consortium
• Magnetics construction planning, strongly linked to the ITER IO planning
• Contract planning, independently generated for each Contract, but linked to the ITERMAG Project Planning for schedule and resources

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Financial

The finance of the ITERMAG Consortium is defined in the ITERMAG Consortium Agreement. Monies are received for any Contract , or for ITERMAG Shared Resources, for all Members collectively. The amounts due are calculated by the Contract Managers, submitted through the ITERMAG Project Leader to the ITERMAG Steering Committee for approval, and transmitted by the ITERMAG Steering Committee Chairperson to the Client. Handling the surplus or deficit for each Contract is specified in the ITERMAG Contract of Agreement. Payment is preferred through a single channel via a specific and isolated accounting system provided by the ITERMAG Project Leader Member.

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Quality Assurance

The ITERMAG Consortium will function with a single Quality Management System. This Quality Management System will present the procedures and tools to ensure that the ITERMAG Project Management Plan will be correctly and traceably executed by the ITERMAG Consortium.

Individual Contracts generated to respond to multiple Calls for Proposals or Calls for Interest will each have a Quality Plan developed as part of the offer.

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Resource Management

Nominated Consortium Staff

Nominated Consortium Staff includes:

• ITERMAG Project Leader
• ITERMAG Deputy Project Leader
• ITERMAG Technical Advisory Group
• ITERMAG Contract Managers

ITERMAG Shared Resources and ITERMAG Contract Team Resources

Human Resource management will be a challenge for the ITERMAG Consortium, since all human resources will remain under the employment and authority of the independent Members.

They are either "assigned" to work for the ITERMAG Consortium on a contract by contract basis, but remaining under the authority of the employer, or "seconded" to work under the authority of the Host.

Clear accounting of the allocated resources fall under "Finance". Forward planning of the required and allocated resources will be generated by the ITERMAG Project Leadership for the ITERMAG Project and for by the Contract Manager for the Contracts. Non-release of the required Human Resources is foreseen to be a major difficulty due to the extreme pressure on Human Resources in all the Members, a current situation which is likely to last.

Comment --Jo 10:59, 9 May 2008 (CEST) We have to set a minimum on assignment, to avoid past difficulties. I see this as a challenge for generating real resources for the Consortium and for the contracts.

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Communications

Internal communications are described under Project Structure, and include spontaneous internal and external communications as well as regular internal and external reporting.

External communications (spontaneous)

• Commercial and contractual communications:
• Client <--> ITERMAG Steering Committee Chairman, copied to ITERMAG Steering Committee and ITERMAG Project Leadership and archived.
• Technical decisions : Client <--> ITERMAG Project Leader, copied to ITERMAG Project Leadership and Contract Manager and archived.
• Technical information exchanges : Client <--> Contract Manager, copied to ITERMAG Project Leadership and archived.

Internal communications (spontaneous)

• ITERMAG Steering Committee --> ITERMAG Project Leader, copied to ITERMAG Project Leadership and archived.
• ITERMAG Project Leader --> ITERMAG Steering Committee, copied to ITERMAG Project Leadership and archived.
• ITERMAG Project Leader --> Contract Manager, copied to ITERMAG Project Leadership and archived.
• Contract Manager --> ITERMAG Project Leader, copied to ITERMAG Project Leadership and archived.

External communications (reporting)

Note: All external reporting is under Contract Project Management.

Internal communications (reporting)

ITERMAG Project Leader --> ITERMAG Steering Committee, copied to ITERMAG Project Leadership and archived. Regular (2-monthly) reporting of the status of all current activities, including the status of each current Contract Project.

Contract Manager --> ITERMAG Project Leader, copied to ITERMAG Project Leadership and archived. Regular (1-monthly) reporting of the status of each current Contract Project.

External communications (publishing)

Responsibility for clearing all public communications (publication, conference abstract, paper or presentation, workshop presentation) on matters concerning a Contract Project lies with the ITERMAG Project Leader, who shall consult the ITERMAG Project Leadership in case of divergence of opinion. Notice of 5 working days is required.

Responsibility for clearing any public communications (other public meeting) on matters concerning a Contract Project lies with the Contract Manager. Notice of 5 working days is required.

In case of disagreement between the ITERMAG Project Leader, the Contract Manager and a proposed presenter, the Chairman of the ITERMAG Steering Committee shall take prompt action to resolve this disagreement.

Communications within the institution of a Member shall be clearly marked "In Confidence" unless previously cleared.

Electronic Document Management System

The ITERMAG Consortium will use a common EDMS for all documents transferred from one responsibility to another responsibility. The responsibility for the EDMS will come under the ITERMAG Shared Resrouces.

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Change Control

Change control only concerns the ITERMAG Project Management Plan through modifications to the ITERMAG Consortium Agreement.

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Risk

Risk assessment mainly concerns the Contract Management Plan. The risk to the ITERMAG Consortium is a) absence of contracts to offset the ITERMAG Consortium Shared Resources, b) loss of opportunity and c) loss of reputation.

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Procurement

Procurement of external resources/material appear under the Contract Management Plan, with the exception of investment of software for the ITERMAG Consortium Shared Resources.

Status --Jo 23:10, 25 April 2008 (CEST)

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To be added

• publication and IPR under CA
• management of non-disclosure agreements between Members