Ontario Electrical Contractor 17 •  In addition to implementing the model planning process, consider implementing a “double-check” system, where the supervisor double checks the planning that was performed by the project manager. This will ensure the planning is performed consistently across the company. •  Ensure that excellent planning effort is applied to those activities that are identified as “critical,” such as: turnover meeting, material handling, and scope review, among others. These are the activities that have the greatest potential for impacting the outcome of the project. If you have a very short time between the notification of pending award and when you need to begin working on the jobsite, perform the critical activities first, then perform the important activities after completing the critical activities. •  The early involvement of the field supervisor in the planning process has been shown to improve the chances for a successful project. Therefore, consider selecting and involving your field supervisor during the bidding stage or in the early part of the post-award stage. •  The planning kickoff meeting alerts all involved team members that the planning process is officially underway, and it allows the project manager to establish deadlines for completion of activities. Likewise, the construction execution kickoff meeting brings the team members back together to review the progress of the planning and ensures that all tasks have been, or will be, completed by the deadline. These two meetings should be held on all projects regardless of size. •  Lessons learned and a feedback loop will be an essential part of your standardized planning process. Project Managers and field supervisors should share planning practices that worked especially or did not work well. While the model planning process identified in this document identifies the planning activities that should be performed, there are many methods to perform the activities. It is these different methods, and their subsequent results, that should be shared in your company. Consequently, projects that are planned using the pre-construction planning process can expect to increase their chances of achieving a successful outcome; however, it must be noted that good planning alone will not guarantee the success of a project. Instead: Good planning coupled with good project management that takes into account a project’s specific characteristics will improve the likelihood of achieving successful project performance. Therefore, good planning should be performed during the pre-construction stage, and good project management should be applied during the execution stage to maximize the chances of completing a project successfully. The writer will be back to Toronto on October 3, 4, 5 delivering seminars on estimating, pre- construction planning and foreman training. Dr. Awad Hanna is Boldt Company professor and chair of the Construction Engineering and Management program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Professor Hanna is a consultant to the construction industry and longtime provider of management training to Canadian companies and ECAO. He can be reached at ashanna@wisc.edu. 1-905-283-5600 Find out more: www.jimpattisonlease.com Vehicle Selection Customization & Delivery Lease Structure Fleet Operations Fuel & Maintenance Remarketing Any make, any model, new or used. . Customized lease terms that match your unique needs. Need upfitting or branding? Let us take care of it for you. Always available, one-on-one service means problems are taken care of. Our Fleet Card offers you access to 1,000’s of fuel & maintenance vendors. Our expert team will ensure you maximize your resale value. Jim Pattison Lease delivers flexible and leading edge vehicle leasing and fleet management solutions. With a total fleet management philosophy, we take care of you at every stage, making your job easier. TOTAL FLEET MANAGEMENT