After many months of contractors traipsing in and out, decisions on paint, walls, carpet and signage, we are pleased to announce that renovations to Level 2, 345 King William street are 100% complete!

Of course, pending defects rectification, warranty periods and such. We Joke.

Our new sign at the front of the office

Looking down the main hallway past the store room

Looking at our front signage

It’s been a little while since our last news update, but things have been really busy for us here at GBA!

Over the past few months, our senior management team have been toying with the idea of relocating offices. After many discussions, we have decided to renovate Level 2, 345 King William Street and expand the floor.

Coming in the next few weeks will be photos, a new layout and information about our grand re-opening!

So stay in touch! A lot is about to happen!

If you are like us, and both enjoy but dread the process of obtaining site progress information then this article may be of some relief to you.

Site progress information gathering is all about taking a copy of the plan, putting on a hard hat and boots and walking around the site to assess Physical Percent Complete. If you are in the middle of construction and are not performing this weekly ritual then we would recommend getting in the habit and fast. Not only does it allow for weekly monitoring of work (which you can physically see) but it also helps planners understand the construction process  and enable them to develop better and more logical plans.

The biggest problem in performing this task is the amount of time the process consumes. A planner on larger scale construction projects has many programs, sub-programs, mini-schedules and overarching reporting plans to keep track of, monitor and issue. After all, who has time to take 3-4 hours to traverse the site looking for the number of walls erected?

On a recent project in regional NSW, we determined that a greater efficiency could be generated using a simple map and activity coding structure.

The following tasks were performed:

1. Initially, the Work Breakdown Structure was setup by splitting the Conceptual Drawings for each of the floors of the rather large building.
2. The map was then colour coded and each ‘functional’ area of the building was named and ordered (to mimick the direction each work front would take).
3. The maps were printed, laminated and bound
4. The activity schedule was then structured by the Work Breakdown Structure and then coded by the numbers used in step (2). This allowed the schedule to be grouped and sorted by work-front and also by order of works.

Taking this additional printout around site reduced the amount of time spent trying “to work out where we were” with respect to the drawing. We followed the map based on the order of each work-package presented in the schedule thus reducing what was a 4 hour walk around to a 2-3 hour walk around.

Now, for a project that might span a long period of time, an hour a week saved is better than having to do extra work. It just goes to show that proper planning “up-front” goes a long way towards creating efficiency in project delivery.

After reading the book titled “99 Tricks & Traps for Microsoft Office Project” by Paul E. Harris, we decided to make a few notes of our own. Many of our clients use Microsoft Project and on a daily basis we encounter issues, errors, problems and handy tricks to help us on the next project.

Many people grapple with the software in different ways. Knowing the theory behind planning and scheduling (such as the forward and backward pass) and knowing how to use the software is imperative, but having a bag of tricks for the problematic software can be of great assistance.

So visit our MS Project hardware store, grab your MS Project tool belt and start building better, more stable project plans.

GBA Projects would like to take the opportunity to welcome our newest starter Ashleigh Smith. Ashleigh holds a Bachelor 
of 
Aerospace 
Engineering
 (with honors) and was a pivotal member of her final year honors project. She assumed the role of 
Project 
Manager 
to design
 and
 build 
a 
search
 rescue unmanned
 aerial
 vehicle.

For the last 25 years, we have provided our quality services to a wide range of sectors on over 600 projects. In keeping with the times and a fast moving economy, the G G Betros & Associates logo, name and trademark has been transformed into GBA Projects.

It is with great pleasure that we announce our rebranding and assure you that we will continue to provide our usual services with the same excellence, energy and enthusiasm as seen in hundreds of successful engagements.

GBA Projects aims to minimise the risk of your project under-performing, and to do this we offer the following services:

• Project Scheduling, Planning & Cost Control
• Project Controls Management
• Project Management and Program Directorship
• Construction Management
• Development of Project and Portfolio Processes, Procedures and Guidelines
• Development of Training Material for Successful Project Management Practices
• Expert Witness reporting and analysis

Critical to our services is our own tried and tested Project Management Framework for successful delivery of EPCM projects, software to analyse project plans for quality control and risk analysis software to make the correct decisions on your projects.

For more information about us, refer to our about us page and don’t hesitate to contact us either.

Also, if you are interested in receiving news, events, tips and project management information, please signup for our regular news feed. Or alternatively, you can subscribe to our RSS feed which is delivered into your inbox!

Last night, we gathered around the pergola with a beer in hand to witness the great shave. Normally one commences Mo-vember at the start of November.

About 3 weeks ago, Matt was going through his Movember routine, when out of the blue, Greg leant over his coffee and said: “well sign me up and if I get over $500 I will shave my beard off”.

Needless to say, the call went out and the amount was reached in no time…

Luke shapes the Status of David into the Boss’ face

This picture was taken after we had gone through several razors

Yo! That is a great Mo Bro!

So what are the lessons learnt from this escapade?

1. People are willing to dig deep and donate to a fantastic cause to have a good laugh
2. There is actually a bit of skin under the grey beard of our MD
3. You cannot chop down a forest with a pocket knife; get a good razor!

Well the new year has arrived, and with the majority of your project team returning from leave there can often be a slump before work really starts to take off again. It is important to ensure that you take every precaution to prevent the holiday period from causing stress to your project.
To our Valued Clients, Associates and Suppliers, two weeks ago we sent an email out urging you to dig deep and give generously to Movember, a fantastic cause for men’s health. This year, both Matt and Greg participated in the Movember tradition, setting a target to raise $500. If the target of $500 was reached, then Greg’s grey beard that has provided warmth, shelter and general distinction of character for the last 30 years was to come off. It is with great pleasure that we announce “$500 has been reached”.We’d like to thank all those who donated to the cause, we have managed to raise $555 for research into men’s health issues. We are aiming to shave the beard off on Monday night, so pictures will be provided on our website.
To be updated first thing Tuesday morning, simply subscribe to our notification service at

http://www.betros.com.au/?page_id=156

Once again, many thanks.

Regards,

The GBA Team

Dear Friends, Family, Clients and Colleagues.

For the last 30 years people have claimed that “grey knows best”. Whether it is old and wise father, old and wise Project Manager or just old, everyone has always commented on how distinguished Greg’s beard is.

Whilst Greg is not growing a moustache this year for Movember (he can do that in a day), he has decided to pick up a razor at the end of the month (November) and help raise awareness and funds for men’s health – specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

If $500 is raised, OFF COMES THE BEARD!

Remember, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

If you are interested in following the progress of my Mo, click here http://au.movember.com/mospace/454515/. Also, http://au.movember.com has heaps of useful information.

In many projects we have seen to date, the one technique commonly used to evaluate risk is Monte Carlo analysis. Monte Carlo analysis is a handy statistical method which we have covered in many articles over the past week.

In performing Monte Carlo risk simulations there are several requirements to be considered. For a description of these requirements, refer to this article.

It can be a confusing technique to understand and indeed there are many other techniques available to a project manager. However it is the Monte Carlo technique that removes the subjectivity of risk analysis, allowing a project to be simulated thousands of times over.

It’s formula can be quite complex and for this reason,we have provided a small paper introducing the analytical method.

Download: Qualitative Methods of Risk Analysis