Project Management in the Oil and Gas Industry

5.11 Quality Control in the Design Phase
The purpose of this phase is to develop the required procedures to ensure 
that the design will be identical to the client’s needs.
After the owner and engineering office on contract sign the final con-
tract, the head office will select a project manager who will have direct 
responsibility for the project.
Figure 5.11 Document movement.
Distribute to
departments
Top management
Does it
need
action?
Deputy
chairman
Follow up
Finish issue
Action
Does
work
finish?
Special for
chairman
Copies
Save in file
No
Yes
No
yes
No
yes
Fax
Normal 
mail
E-mail
Mail
dept.

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Resource Hiring 165
The main role of the office manager or general manager of the company 
is to verify customer satisfaction and follow up with the progress of work. 
Each project manager and general manager should determine the depart-
ments that will design work and should send letters to these departments 
to clarify what the project objectives are.
The project manager and the planning engineer have to specify the 
number of drawings required and the number of working hours and the 
work schedule of the project, which is determined by Form (2a).
The project manager will submit form (1a) to the heads of departments 
and the work file to the project to record data in a form (7a).
Before starting the design, the department head should determine the 
work plan using Form (3a), which contains a plan of action and the names 
of teams and estimates the number of working hours, the number of draw-
ings required, and the foundations of design.
The responsibility of the project manager and planning engineer is to 
follow-up with the performance of all departments. The project manager 
and the planning engineer should start the preparation of the final time 
schedule after receiving schedules from all departments involved in this 
project.
One of the responsibilities of the project manager in the main office 
and the construction manager on site is to schedule meetings between 
the relevant departments for discussion or review of all departments and 
make sure that information is circulated between departments regularly 
and properly. It should fall to management to identify the engineer respon-
sible for design, who gives approval of the drawings, and the Director of 
Administration should pursue his design through the timetable that has 
been prepared and sent to the Project Manager through the previous 
form (3a).
In the start-up phase, before the signing of the contract or in the ten-
dering phase, the project manager should hold a meeting for all the disci-
plines, as with lead, civil, mechanical, piping, and others.
In most cases, the client sends information to the engineering office, 
usually the SOR, original drawings, or scope of work. The project manager 
then distributes a copy of these documents to all the discipline leads. In oil 
and gas projects, there should be good communication between the main 
departments, which are usually the civil and piping departments.
However, if the document is read by every discipline separately, every 
discipline may understand or interpret a paragraph differently. It is pre-
ferred that the project manager explains the project to the different disci-
plines and transfers the client requirements and expectations clearly to all 
the disciplines.

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Project Management in the Oil and Gas Industry