Project roadmaps get you there

Procurement

• Procurement/purchasing specification
• Documentation approval deliverables during system construction
• Documentation deliverables with system delivery
• Documentation as-built deliverables after system startup and commissioning
• Determine suitability of supplier safety record and credit rating
• FAT schedule, plan and personnel
• FAT punch list and agreed method, personnel, schedule and documentation for resolution
• SAT schedule, plan and personnel
• SAT punch list and agreed method, personnel, schedule and documentation for resolution
• Startup and commissioning assistance
• Order tagged items and accessories in order of expected delivery schedules

Many of the documents and their contents are, or should be, routine for capital projects, including control systems in general. But they are included in this list with the analyzer-specific documents so that we do not lose sight that, though analyzer system are highly specialized measuring instruments, they are nonetheless part of control systems technology.

Table III below with the construction documentation is actually a continuation of the detailed engineering documentation and includes nearly all of the latter. The additions are to address construction safety and to prevent us from overlooking or assuming too much about bulk materials/non-spec items while being so heavily involved with the spec items and their procurement.

TABLE III: TYPICAL DOCUMENTATION FOR CONSTRUCTION

Bulk commodities are instrument tubing, mounting hardware, conduit, wiring, fiber-optic cable, junction boxes, terminal strips, and so on. Piping and valves may or may not be spec items or bulk commodities, depending on their chemical service. When construction presents a safety issue, it must simultaneously be addressed as a cost issue. For example, a “simple” lift over lethal service piping or a hot tap to create an analyzer sample point create challenges that are more safely and economically addressed in earlier project stages. The lift is generally forbidden by operations safety procedures and could add significantly to the cost of construction logistics; hot taps are generally straightforward, but nonetheless require following a detailed procedure that costs money and time.

At this point, we must note that the terms “scope” and “narrative” were used frequently in the previous discussion and in the corresponding tables. The analyzer systems project engineering team must be clear that each of these scopes and narratives include much of the same information, but in different forms and levels of detail for different audiences. The initial scope for concept development will often take on an “executive summary” tone to let decision-makers know what needs to be done, why and how it will affect operations and budgets.

The scope that is developed during detailed engineering is much more detailed to give the engineering team highly specific technical details of what to purchase and what documents need to be developed, and to work out potential technical conflicts. The construction-stage scope is written for project execution. I like to write construction scopes as if the field construction supervisor plans to unstaple the pages and give each section to the respective construction crafts to install their respective spec items and bulk commodities. Naturally, this is not what happens, but this idea helps focus on construction’s mission to safely and efficiently put together materials that benefit the production owner/client.