Front End Planning for Renovation and Revamp Projects: An Overview

A stakeholder is defined as any person who has influence on the course of an event and/or a material interest in that event’s outcome. The number of stakeholders for R&R projects is generally larger than for Greenfield projects.

Clear definition of what is in and what is out of scope of a project should be made early in the Front End Planning (FEP) process. It is extremely important to have all key stakeholders involved in project decisions, but even more important to have alignment between these stakeholders so that the parameters of the project can be agreed upon. For R&R projects in particular, individuals involved may be tempted to increase scope to fix issues with the existing facility as part of the R&R project when these might be more appropriately dealt with under the facility budget. (RS242-1, p. 16)

CII defines alignment as the condition where appropriate project participants are working within acceptable tolerances to develop and meet a uniformly defined and understood set of project objectives. For R&R projects, there are increased requirements to interface with local engineering, operations, and maintenance staff, making alignment more difficult. Key site stakeholders can be distracted by other duties during project planning, but later may invoke unexpected requirements during project execution. All key stakeholders need to feel involved as contributing members of the project team and participate in front end planning to help ensure project success, alignment around project plan and goals.

One way to achieve alignment on a project is through teambuilding. Teambuilding is a technique used on projects to establish trust and cultivate relationships among stakeholders. This is especially valuable when the project team is new or from outside the facility where the R&R project will take place. (RS242-1, p. 17)

The front end planning process is characterized by a formal progression that guides an organization through various planning efforts with regular gate checks, using checklist to identify deliverables. Since many R&R projects are smaller, shorter in duration, and performed by local staff that may not typically oversee larger projects, there can be a tendency to skip some or all of these planning steps by project team members. (RS242-1, p. 18)

The scope of a project has a large impact on cost and schedule. A well-defined scope for R&R projects should include early identification of project elements and risk factors so that project team members can develop mitigation strategies. Of special importance for R&R projects is the identification of what scope items are not in scope of the project, as there can be a tendency during project execution of such projects to inappropriately allocate non-value or maintenance items into the project.

Project drivers need to be clearly defined and understood by the project team in order to choose the proper contract strategy. A project driver can be defined as the why of project execution. Project drivers, which are normally identified in the front end planning phase of the project life cycle, can affect a R&R project in terms of a specific design solution, funding, and contract strategy. (RS242-1, p. 19)

A thorough definition of existing conditions is one of the key factors in R&R project risk mitigation in that it reduces the possibility of surprises or discovery issues later. A relatively small amount of work in this area can yield large savings later. (RS242-1, p. 21)

Risks to a project are increased if the chosen contract strategy is not a good match to the project’s drivers and goals. R&R projects often involve requirements specific to a site or facility regarding preferred suppliers, specific labor force to be used, hours of work, unions to be used, requirements for pre-purchasing of material, remediation contracts, demolition contracts, and others. Close coordination with the local purchasing organization, operations and maintenance staff, and between contractors is required to ensure the correct strategy has been chosen. (RS242-1, p. 22)