Late designs
Late designs
(OP)
What would it be the latest aceptable design shedule for a project, is there any theory, some kind of regulation or standard.-
We are finishing a project already overdue, because ( as we see it, tehre have been too many changes ), and our fixed costs are running, how do we convince the client that he has ton pay for it, is there any method to show them the cost of late designs??
Thanks
We are finishing a project already overdue, because ( as we see it, tehre have been too many changes ), and our fixed costs are running, how do we convince the client that he has ton pay for it, is there any method to show them the cost of late designs??
Thanks





RE: Late designs
Regards,
RE: Late designs
What I am looking for is some document, a history of other large projects, this one goes for about $6,000,000.00. Any regulations from a goverment or something? that we can use as examples. Any spreadsheet on monetary impact due to changes?
RE: Late designs
As a caution, this may make a client more sensitive to errors and omissions if these occur.
Dik
RE: Late designs
TTFN
RE: Late designs
First off, the client should always be made aware of the status of a job, be it intermittently, or on scheduled intervals. Even if things are going perfectly, they should be aware (even if they don't care).
When things go wrong, they should be made aware immediately, and the economic impact should be explained once the issue is known!
As for scope creep, that requires a good manager to know when to draw the line and inform the client that additional work will cost. If not, it's incredibly unprofessional to ask for payment after.
ANYWAY,
in your case, when did those "too many changes" occur? Who requested them? Who authorized them? What benefit did it give to the client? How far out of scope were the changes?
You'll need to know all these things before you approach the client.
RE: Late designs
Changes are still ocurring, the client has always requested them, the project manager has always authorized them,and of copurse the benefit is always for the client. As I see it, and as many projects are, the design wasn´t finished at the beginning, but ther was a very close time shedule for start up. Most of them are small changes but all of them take time and money. What is hard for the client to understand is that changes not only have direct costs but other indirect ones like RISK of making mistakes, ENGINEERING to acomplish changes, you name them...
Any book, stories, references????
RE: Late designs
I spent five years working at a start-up company where the product went through continual design modifications. We would get the product set up an running for one process and then would be told to add capability for another. We ended up never shipping a product that we actually received payment for. Source of the design changes, the company president. Eventually the company itself was sold. Design or feature creep can be deadly within a project if not controlled.
Regards,
RE: Late designs
RE: Late designs
Dik
RE: Late designs
RE: Late designs
The indirect effect of many small changes in disrupting a project is well documented in many industries. Many large defence contractors seem to feed off delay and disruption claims against their client (the government = the taxpayer = us).
But even in the real world, this effect does exist and is often much greater than the direct cost of the change if considered in isolation.
But it is hard to prove.
One journalistic account of a major project gone wrong because of late and changed design (and other factors) is RUNNING CRITICAL, by Patrick Tyler. It is about Hyman Rickover and the US Navy design for the Los Angeles class submarines, General Dynamics Corporation and their Electric Boat shipyard where they were built. It is about many things, but delay and disruption is one of them.
If nothing else it will make you feel relieved to know that other people have gone through even greater project catastrophes than your own (although that can sometimes be hard to believe).
SYSTEMS DYNAMICS or feedback dynamics is one area whose practioners claim can provide the proof. But these consultants are expensive.
Here are some professional references which might not be of much practical use but they (and THEIR references) will indicate to you that the literature is HUGE.
Eden et al
THE ROLE OF FEEDBACK DYNAMICS IN DISRUPTION AND DELAY ON THE NATURE OF DISRUPTION AND DELAY IN MAJOR PROJECTS
Journal of the Operational Research Society (2000). 51, 291-300
Kumaraswamy
SUBSTANTIATION AND ASSESSMENT OF CLAIMS FOR EXTENSION OF TIME
International Journal of Project Management, 21 (2003) 27-38, Pergamon Press
Williams
ASSESSING EXTENSION OF TIME DELAYS ON MAJOR PROJECTS
International Journal of Project Management, 21 (2003), 19-26, Pergamon Press
Cooper
NAVAL SHIP PRODUCTION - A CLAIM SETTLED AND A FRAMEWORK BUILT
Interfaces, Vo. 10, No. 6, Dec 1980. Institute of Management Sciences, Dec 1980
RE: Late designs
Good Luck!
RE: Late designs
What is Eichley?
Dik
RE: Late designs
It is used to compute the cost of a fixed pool of home office overhead costs. It is widely used in construction to compute these costs for suspension, delay, extended performance and certian extra wok claims. There are several variations as well as other methods.It has many supporters and detracters.
The concept is simple. A pool of overhead costs is defined. Typically FAR (Fed. Aquistion Register) Rules or GAP (Generally Accepted Practice - Accounting)is used to define the allowable home office overhead. Next the ratio of the final earned value of the contract is divided by the earnings of the company for the same period.Tis ratio is then multiplied by the total overhead to determine the total overhead attributal the project. This value is then divided by the total number of days of performance to get a daily rate". This daily rate is then multipied by the number of days the project was delayed to arrive at the total home office that the company would have earned but for the delay. It is not an actual amount, but a projected forcast and the value of the daily rate is heavily dependent on the company's sales volume
RE: Late designs
Dik