and Services
IPA provides a Front-End Loading (FEL) Workshop to aid companies in achieving the Best Practical definition at authorization. Best Practical definition results in a more business-effective project. The objectives of the FEL Workshop are to:
- Clarify business and project objectives
- Ensure alignment
- Develop a road map to ensure that the Best Practical level of FEL can be achieved before authorization
IPA's FEL Workshop presents the fundamentals of FEL and focuses on bringing the effective principles of project management and definition to a project-specific level. To further assist project teams, IPA presents tools that can be used to improve a project's FEL. Effective FEL of a project is the first step in the overall development of a capital project. IPA's FEL Workshop stresses the key project factors that drive ultimate project outcomes. The workshop is tailored to address the front-end issues for a specific project or for a number of small projects. Breakout sessions are used extensively to provide an opportunity for the project's different functional groups to raise pertinent issues.
HOW CAN YOUR COMPANY BENEFIT?
The goals of every FEL Workshop include:
- Making the needs of the business the primary driver for capital project investment
- Assigning project responsibility to teams with multidisciplinary membership
- Improving the capital productivity of projects by using the best available technology
- Eliminating non income-producing investment
- Minimizing changes during project execution to shorten project cycle time, reduce costs, and improve early production rates
FEL WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES
The FEL Workshop teaches the essential knowledge and skills required to organize, plan, and execute FEL for capital projects of all sizes. A typical workshop is two days. However, a dialog (and possible meeting) between IPA and the project manager must occur to customize the workshop to the project's needs and to emphasize the areas that are critical to the project. As part of this dialog, the project manager shares with IPA any available project information (project objectives, project execution plan, etc.).
IPA's FEL Workshop format is intended to be interactive and makes extensive use of breakout groups. The workshop also includes a discussion of a number of tools that can be used to facilitate the project team's direction through preliminary engineering. Key tools presented during the workshop include a precedence diagram and FEL checklist. At the conclusion of the workshop, IPA encourages each project team to map their project on the precedence diagram and to prepare an FEL checklist to begin planning their front-end activities.
For more information about IPA's FEL Workshops, contact Mary-Ellen Yarossi (+1 703-726-5385).
