In order to ensure a successful project, roles must be clear and well defined. The following project leadership roles are essential to any project: Project Manager Functional Manager Executive Project Manager Clearly the success of the project depends on the project manager. The project manager's job is simply to ensure the success of the project, and their … [Read more...]
How to Calculate Present Value
Present value calculations are an essential part of almost every industry. I see projects every day whose economic basis depend on knowing the present value of a stream of cash flow. Unfortunately most of the time projects are justified simply on the basis of having money in the budget and choosing the next project in the priority list. A … [Read more...]
Swell Factors for Various Soils
A cubic yard of earth measured in its natural position swells to more than a cubic yard after it is excavated. This occurs because of an increase in voids. Swell is expressed as a percentage of natural volume, for example, if 10 yd3 in the ground becomes 13 yd3 after excavation, the swell factor is 30%. The following table lists swell factors for various … [Read more...]
The World’s Largest Solar Power plant
The Indian government is building the world's largest solar power plant in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. The project, called the Sambhar ultra-mega solar power project, will have a total power generation capacity of 4,000 MW. It will be spread out over 23,000 acres of land, which is 94 km2 or 36 mi2. This is the equivalent of 17,000 american football fields, or … [Read more...]
ProjectEngineer is a web based project management system for technical projects
It's always there, always on, and always powerful. Features include: Project Home Page: Keep up to date with all your project information. No second guessing. Project Forums: Make sure your project team is always in the loop. Documents: Keep your documents in a secure, easily accessible place. Document Control: Effortlessly track document reviews and make … [Read more...]
Nigeria is building a massive skyscraper city on land reclaimed from the atlantic ocean
Nigeria's Eko-Atlantic is rapidly taking shape. Most of its 10 km2 land mass has been reclaimed from the atlantic ocean, and earth moving equipment is now moving upwards of 10,000 m3 per day. The "Great Wall of Lagos" is complete, a 3.5 km long berm that protects the development from the slow but steady sea erosion that plagues Nigeria's southern coastline. Eko … [Read more...]
Tips for Writing an Engineering Project Report
All of us have written technical reports for clients or other stakeholders. It is one of the tasks that are central to an engineer's job. In this edition of the technical brief, I will provide a checklist that should be relatively comprehensive. This has been taken from several of my old reports, and each of these were their own section (1.0, 2.0, … [Read more...]
ProjectEngineer at Gas & Oil Expo 2013
Thanks to all for a great and enjoyable Gas & Oil Expo last month. The draw for the iPad mini was made by my 19 month old son, and the winner was Mr. Jim Little of Greenland Consulting. Greenland Consulting is an oil and gas consulting firm providing the energy and resource sectors with guidance from industry-leading specialists. The winners of the free 12 month … [Read more...]
How to Calculate Project Variance
Hopefully your projects never have this type of variance! A variance is defined as a schedule, technical, or cost deviation from the project plan. Variances should be tracked and reported, as well as mitigated through corrective actions. There are two types of variance which normally receive most of the attention: Cost Variance Schedule Variance Calculating … [Read more...]
Engineering Economics Crash Course
We engineers exist, by definition, on the interface between the economic and sub-economic. It is often our job to try and define the boundary, and it is often defined by technological factors that have to be developed to a new point. Most colleges and universities give engineering students a course on engineering economics, but this does not translate to widespread use … [Read more...]