Construction Interface Management

Construction Interface Management Guidebook

• The purpose of the guidebook is to provide additional context to the eLearning course Module 3: Construction Interface Management.

• The guidebook is intended to bring a practical focus for built environment professionals who have worked in the industry for some time and want to learn and apply specialist project management techniques.

• Construction Interface Management is the third in a series of guidebooks that, together, forms a suite of training that will lead to the PMI Construction Professional (PMI-CP)™ certification.

• This course is organized into six parts:

  • Interface Management in Construction Projects
  • Interventions Throughout the Project Life Cycle
  • Attributes for a Good Interface
  • Interface Management Tools and Design Processes
  • How to Effectively Manage Interfaces
  • Capabilities Needed for Interface Management

• Fundamentals of interface management (IM).

• How IM is applied and managed effectively throughout the project life cycle.

• Tools and processes that are available to enhance interface management.

• Skills and core competencies required to embed IM into a project.

• It's recommended to review further reading and supplementary information provided.

• Recommend reviewing the PDFs that this course follows:

  • Interface Management CII 302-1
  • Interface Management Implementation Guide CII 302-2
  • Interface Management CII 302-11

Interface Management Overview

• Interface management (IM) is the appropriate management of communications, relationships, and deliverables among two or more interface stakeholders.

• The objective of IM is to create awareness and effective management of the potential risks that exist between the handoffs and responsibilities of two or more entities in the project.

• Implementation of IM systems provides:

  • Common goals and processes
  • Effective communication
  • Improved oversight
  • Timely resolution of conflicts that will, in turn, improve project performance

• IM first emerged in 1967 on an aerospace and electric power pool project, as a way of analyzing the contact points between interacting project parties and identifying the corresponding inter-organizational issues.

• In 2014, the Construction Industry Institute (CII) researched the impact of adopting IM across 45 megaprojects.

  • Megaprojects using mature IM systems experienced a 4% increase in costs.
  • Similar projects without mature IM systems experienced an 18% increase.

• Major built environment companies have adopted formal IM practices to minimize the risks that megaprojects face by establishing dedicated teams.

• Challenges IM practices address:

  • Complexity and scale of megaprojects
  • Globalization
  • Geographical distribution
  • Various working cultures
  • Different internal and external risks
  • Implementation of new technologies and project management approaches

Interface Management in Construction Projects

• Interface management (IM) is the management of communications, relationships, and deliverables among two or more interface stakeholders.

• Research conducted by the Construction Industry Institute (CII) indicates that IM implementation:

  • Increases stakeholder alignment
  • Facilitates communication across the project
  • Improves real-time visibility and oversight
  • Proactively mitigates risk

• Megaprojects are more complex, increasingly global, involve multiple vendors, require more capital, and carry a high degree of risk.

• Without effective IM, a project could experience delays in the project schedule, increased project expenditure, and lower-quality assets and production levels, plus long-term operational problems.

• Complex capital projects require far more attention and tools to manage and automate IM processes and need a controlled communication environment where discussions among vendors can be documented and assessed.

• IM tools and processes ensure all parties are working with the same information that enables the formation of a bridge between various parties involved in the execution of the project.

• IM tools and processes ensure the following within a project:

  • Consistent identification of critical interfaces
  • Streamlined communication
  • Monitoring of ongoing work progress while mitigating risks

• Large and complex built environment projects require robust IM, as entities work toward the common, agreed-upon goal: successful completion of the project.

• Key terminology:

  • Interface management (IM): The management of communications, relationships, and deliverables among two or more interface stakeholders
  • Interface stakeholder: A stakeholder, stakeholder group, or organization involved in a formal interface management agreement within an IM plan for a project
  • Internal interfaces: Those interfaces identified within a single scope of work
  • External interfaces: Those identified between two or more scopes of work
  • Interface point (IP): A part of the project's scope, as defined by project documents, in which the responsibility passes from one interface stakeholder to another
  • Interface register: A central repository of interface data, which is available to users located worldwide
  • Interface agreement (IA):A formal and documented communication between two interface stakeholders regarding an IP; it contains deliverable descriptions, due dates, and required actions
  • Interface action items (IAIs): The tasks or activities that are performed to provide the deliverables defined and agreed upon in each IA
  • Interface control document/drawing (ICD): The documentation that identifies and captures interface information and any approved interface change requests; ICDs are useful when separate organizations are developing design solutions to be adhered to for a particular interface

• Interface stakeholders are involved in several interface points (IPs) and may need several deliverables to efficiently handle the interface point; thus every interface point gives rise to numerous interface agreements (IAs).

• Each interface stakeholder may be dealing with several interface points and their accompanying IAs.

• Inter-project interfaces refer to the interactions and dependencies between different projects within the same organization or program.

• Intra-project interfaces are the interactions and dependencies within a single project.

• Extra-Project interfaces involve the interactions between the project and its external environment.

• IM implementation benefits:

  • Increased stakeholder alignment by having regular face-to-face meetings and implementing the master interface plan (MIP)
  • Facilitated communication across the project by creating a formalized framework
  • Improved real-time visibility and oversight through defining clear roles and responsibilities, agreeing upon deadlines to provide interface-related deliverables, and accessing real-time project information
  • Proactive risk mitigation through increased alignment and coordination between stakeholders and a common understanding of interfaces, deliverables, and their associated deadlines

Interventions Throughout the Project Life Cycle

• IM methodology allows the standardization of processes, tools, and templates while optimizing communication.

  • Is particularly beneficial when working with multiple contractors, subcontractors, and clients.

• IM delivers benefits to a project through maturity model adoption and monitoring of ongoing work to minimize risk.

• Interfaces are connection points between the different project parties that reflect the interdependencies between:

  • Organizations
  • Clients
  • Contractors
  • Suppliers
  • Subcontractors

• Interfaces also describe their roles and deliverables.

• Project success depends on: -How well deliverables are defined

  • Whether roles, responsibilities, and project accountabilities are detailed and unambiguous
  • Enabling information flows that are clear and timely to ensure all teams fully understand project milestones and deadlines

• Project-specific IM aspects to review and agree on include:

  • Interface identification and assigned deliverables per interface
  • Definition of interface-specific roles and responsibilities
  • IM processes and information flow definitions
  • Effective cross-party IM communication and coordination mechanism design
  • Interface assurance, oversight, and expediting issue resolution
  • Progress reporting
  • Agreement on a schedule for interface requests, issue resolution, and closeout

• Common risks and issues resulting from the poor adoption of IM include:

  • Existence of numerous suppliers and subcontractors
  • Lack of previous experience collaborating with one or more contractors, subcontractors, or suppliers
  • Poor definition of project interfaces
  • Lack of communication and coordination between project parties
  • Poorly defined requirements or responsibilities of the involved parties
  • Inefficient decision-making process
  • Mismanagement of responsibilities
  • Poorly defined scope
  • Schedule overruns
  • Cost escalation and overruns
  • External constraints and dependencies, including regulations, permits, and bureaucracy
  • Execution risks due to unknowns and stakeholder dependencies
  • Conflicts due to multiple cultures and languages

• CII IM maturity model enables built environment project professionals to follow a structured approach when assessing and implementing IM for their projects.

  • Early implementation of IM helps project professionals identify potential risk sources, making them easier to mitigate.

• The IM Maturity Model contains these four elements:

  • Business processes documented in company or project-level procedures.
  • Enabling tools and systems: support the IM processes implemented on a project.
  • Qualified personnel and practitioners use the work processes and systems that create an effective IM environment on a project and can sponsor the company-wide organization and adoption of IM implementation.
  • Sustaining culture: the organization sustains behaviour that establishes IM as a routine part of the organization's project execution practice.

• CII recommends that IM implementation follow a step-by-step process to move a built environment organization or project to a desired state of IM maturity.

  • Management and project teams can determine this desired maturity state by identifying the project interface risk and its potential consequences.

• Factors contributing to interface complexity and risk level on a project:

  • Important to determine at which stage the project currently stands concerning each of the four elements of the IM maturity model and should establish the desired end state for each of these elements.

• As the best practice, CII recommends using the project interface risk impact (PIRI) matrix and is a high-level decision-making guide enables project professionals to identify the extent of IM implementation required for a specific project.

  • PIRI considers various degrees of overall project interface complexity and risk level, as well as the project's business impact on the organization.

• Once a project has been matched to its appropriate PIRI cell, the tool recommends the necessary IM implementation requirements based on the IM maturity model's elements:

  • Qualified people and practitioners
  • Business processes

• Microsoft Excel-based Interface Complexity Assessment Tool (ICAT) prioritizes the interfaces between each pair of interface stakeholders involved in a project.

• PIRI matrix and ICAT are two discrete tools that are complementary.

  • ICAT is a lower-level tool used to assess and prioritize interface points from the project perspective.
  • PIRI is a higher-level qualitative analytical tool that supports IM implementation from an organizational perspective.

Attributes for a Good Interface

• The Construction Industry Institute (CII) defines interfaces or interface points (IP) as "... a soft and/or hard contact point between two interdependent interface stakeholders. An IP is also a part of the project's scope as defined by project documents, in which the responsibility passes from one interface stakeholder to another.”
• Interface Management.com defines an interface as "... a point of connect between entities working on a common project.”
• Interfaces are connection points between the different project parties and reflect the interdependencies that exist between all entities, who are working toward the common, agreed-upon goal of successful project completion.
• General types of interfaces:
  • Soft: involves the exchange of information such as design criteria, clearance requirements, or utility needs between delivery teams or between a delivery team and an external party and regulatory/permit issues, differing languages/cultures.
  • Hard: represent physical connections between two or more components or systems, such as structural steel connections, pipe terminations, or cable connections, like tie-in points.
  • Internal: identified within a single scope of work
  • External: identified between two or more scopes of work
• Specific and purposeful interface categories:
  • Physical; Actual physical connections between two or more construction elements or components
  • Functional; Functional requirements between systems
  • Contractual; Occurs when two or more stakeholders interconnect through the contractual agreement
  • Organizational; Interactions between various parties involved in a project
  • Knowledge; General information exchanged between parties
  • Resources; Interaction between equipment, labor, materials, space, or information
  • Social; important because they capture the interactions of human involvement in complex projects
  • Static; not a function of the way the project develops Represents relationships between ongoing subsystems, such as engineering and procurement
  • Dynamic; Arises due to the activity and interdependencies, and is time-dependent
• Typical interface attributes should include:
  • Unique interface number
  • Revision number, to be updated when changes are made to the interface description
  • Date of last revision
  • Supplier and receiver details
  • Interface description stating activities and dependencies
  • Supplier and receiver signatures agreeing upon the required interface details
  • Final closure signatures from the supplier and receiver, confirming the interface can be closed out
• Properly implemented IM processes utilizing a central interface management system helps ensure proper communication and transparency between multiple parties on the project.
  • Failure to consistently document interfaces/knowing the current state can cause significant delays in project delivery, lead to excessive rework
• Implementing a centralized interface data register (IDR) for the whole project and logging all interface agreement forms in the project's register makes it easy to review, assess, and action.

Interface Management Tools and Design Processes

• CII has developed tools that are helpful with implementation of IM on a project, such as:

  • Master interface plan (MIP): details how to manage interface points (IPs) and interface agreements (IAs) by management procedures and activities for effective delivery of internal and external IPs throughout the project life cycle
  • Interface management spreadsheets/registers: managing and registering IPs
  • Interface control document/drawing (ICD): represents the IP physically

• Software and tools aiming to improve efficiencies/eliminate waste.

• CII:s reccomendations for aligning Maturity to Interface Complexity and Risk:

  • 1. Qualified people
  • 2. Enabling tools and systems
  • 3. Business processess

• Examples of PIRI:s matrix classification of projects:

  • 1. Low Complexity and Risk Level-Low Business Impact (sole-sourced construction companies)
• 2. High Complexity and Risk Level-High Business Impact (joint venture between companies in different countries)
• 3. Low Complexity and Risk Level-High Business Impact (routine valve repoprt on transport pipeline)

• After levels of IM implementation is decided by ICAT (section 1) based on influenceing factors(IFF's) it provides an interface complexity factor (ICF) for pair stakeholders, which leads to deciding correct implementaion startegy for each.

• Implementaion steps via framework for workflow-driven Interface Management System (IMS):

• 1. Interface Identification (through identifying many interfaces)

• Interface Documentation (including the characteristics, involved partys and deadlines).

• Interchange transferring/package issuing (after contract is awarded)

• Interchange Communication (parties start communicating).

• Monitoring and control (assessed using on-screen indicators and notification via workflows).

• Interchange closing (accountable aprty has to aprrove accuracy of delliverables )

• As numbers of interfaces grow, technology suported IM makes it improving efficieny and eliminating waste, creating collabration

How to Effectively Manage Interfaces

• Implement standard processes including workflows and workflows engine, all to make more formal IM and implement through project life cycle

• IM processes includes the Maturity module. All the elements:

  • 1. Qualified people
  • 2. Enabling tools and systems
  • 3. Business processes

• IM tools and processes ensure the following within a project:

  • Consistent identification of critical interfaces
  • Streamlined communication
  • Monitoring of ongoing work progress while mitigating risks

• Stages of maturity for enabling tools:

• 1. Use traditional (communicating and tracking ).

• Implement manually in (spreadsheets, databases)

• Impement tool/ or system with fundamental degree.

• Fully automated and stand alone system with wokflow and status tracking

• Fully implementing with schedule sharing, change management.

• Factors contributing to interface complexity and risk level on a project:

  • Important to determine at which stage the project currently stands concerning each of the four elements of the IM maturity model and should establish the desired end state for each of these elements.

• CII recommends using the project interface risk impact for identify

  • 1.. Qualified people

-Implement project life cycle, with its processes and phases, in order, as all phases is as effective implemented if follow these core thoughts: - 1.ImplementIM on strategy - 2,Specific

Capabilities Needed for Interface Management

• Interface communications accoplishment happens via following and issueing, which consulted party reviews after a certain fram time, with certain requsets if is needed: - 1 - A team member of accountable party requests informations or a task - 2 - This request generated via an interface agreement (IA) and sent to accountable interface coordinator or manager. - 3 - The interchange coordinator reviews the details for the manager and requests certain ddate. - 4 -- Next send the info to interface manager and request for the consulted party - 5 -- The manager, with the team accept, asks if clarification ius needed - 6 - Party and manager agrees - 7 - The interchange manager is responsible for providing needed info

• Hierarchy of a project: classified as interproject - intraproject interfeaces

• The three types of projce interfaces are in following defninctions - - Interproject

• • Intraproject

• Responsibilities of this team:

• Deveoping and implements managment plans for all processes.

  • Oversseing , implementing for both internal and external sides
  • Maintaing with key data, communitcations at both ends:

Interface responsibility matrix is a project. Each defnining is following and based on key responsibilities, highlighying most key: - Responsible - Accoutnable - Consulted

• Informed -In addition to technical skills manager have to ensure Im progress

Core Competencies is to communicate between all levels hierarchy, such list must be followed: -Influencing and negotiation

• Leadership

• Relationship management

• Communication

  • problem solving

• Decision Making -Maturity for qualified people ensures skilled implementatuion: -1. Task cordianteors with experience

  • 2. With experience coordinates
       • 3. with select professionals
  • implement a formal funcation as part for that role
    • Create a certain careef path for a role ,skills, or implement what skills if are needed.

• Stages of Maturity for Sustainment: - Each role have an understanding what his roels are - Ensure a few example what are best implementations - Assign what other mentors are doing.

• implement throug best implentaations , and what are the best system to implment there.

• Maintain is susteainablity of that levels.