Introduction to Interface Management

By Ketan Shanishchara, P.Eng., PMP

May 3, 2014

Table of Content

ï What is Interface?

ï What is Interface Management?ï Why Interface & Interface Management?

ï Who is Affected by Interface Management

ï How does Interface Management Process workñ Interface Management Organization Structure

ñ Interface Management Process Requirements

ñ Interface Management Documentation

ñ Interface Management Storage Location

ñ Activities in Interface Management Process

ñ Interface Management Process Flow Diagram

ñ Basic Rules to Follow While Filling Out Interface Agreement (IA)

ñ When can the IA be generated?

ï Questions & Answers

What is Interface?ï An interface is defined as a boundary or point of connect

between entities working on a common project. This point can be:

ï Physical - Physical interaction between components ñ e.g. flange connection details, cable connections, etc.

ï Functional - Functional Requirements between systems ñ e,g. DCS controls for communication, fire alarms, etc.

ï Contractual - Interactions between subcontractors/suppliersï Contractual - Interactions between subcontractors/suppliers ñ e.g. scope of work, exclusion, assumption, etc.

ï Organizational - Information exchanged between disciplines ñ e.g. drawing back grounds, use of the latest design revisions

ï Knowledge - General information exchanged between parties ñ e.g. schedule, site specific logistics, etc.

ï Resource - Points of dependencies between equipment, material, and labor suppliers

ñ e.g. sharing resources like accommodation, utilities, transportation, etc. with other organizations

What is Interface Management?

ï The Interface Management is a process that is designed to provide a method to formally document and track the exchange of information between project participants and to monitor the performance of all participantsto monitor the performance of all participants in making available the required information.

ï Interface Management is a risk mitigating process.

Why Interface?

Why Interface? (contd.)

Why Interface? (contd.)

Why Interface Management?

ï Effective management of the interfaces will facilitate good communication and transparency across these boundaries and allow each party to request, offer or exchange data and technical information in the best interest of the Project.

ï A formal communication process of effective interface management provides an auditable trail to project decisions and developments.

ï As the number of different entities and scope of a project increases, so does the risk associated with interfaces.

ï Informal or Improper interfacing can negatively impact the cost and schedule of the project and lead to excessive re-work.

ï This process enhances awareness of critical issues to large audience of stakeholders

ï Many expensive project failings are reported worldwide that are resultant of informal interface management processes.

Why Interface management? Emails won’t do?

The answer is NO.

The Interface Management process encourages meaningful communication between the various project stakeholders, assisting in breaking down barriers between organizations.

The requirement to provide specific, detailed requests means that the party making the request must give careful thought t th d t il f th i f ti t d d t th ti ito the details of the information requested, and to the timing of the delivery of information as opposed to composing informal email which contains interface information that may be key to the success or failure of the project.

The Interface Management process promotes clear, accurate, timely, and consistent communication for exchanging interface information towards process success.

Who is Affected by Interface Management

How does Interface Management Process work

Interface Management Organization Structure

ï To meet the intent of interface management, each organization shall nominate a representative as “Interface Manager” to act as a single point of contact for all interface correspondences between the parties;

ï Interface Manager of each organization has overall responsibility for implementation and maintenance of the interface management process through out the project life cycle by following the

ñ interface management work process;ñ recording and logging the interface agreements;ñ monitoring and chasing progress;ñ ensuring that schedule requirements are maintained;ñ and highlighting any area of concern to the top management

team of the project.

Interface Management Organization Structure (contd.)

ï Interface manager of each organization must promote effective and timely communication and exchange of information between participants;

ï The Owner nominates the Lead Interface (LI) who has the overall responsibility to lead the interface management process with all parties engaged on the Project;

ï Discipline leads, being the subject experts within each organization, are responsible and accountable for identifying respective interfaces, and effectively responding to Interface requests in timely manner.

Interface Management Process Requirements

ï In order to ensure an effective exchange of critical information for project success, the process must be simple to understand and follow to coordinate activities directly with other project participants.

ï Process must be formal, robust and transparent to all participants, and more importantly must be managed by someone who is aware of the criticalitymanaged by someone who is aware of the criticality of the process for project success.

ï Process requires a management structure with the ability to cross the relevant participants boundaries without impacting or overriding the contractual relationships.

Interface Management Documentation

ï Interface Agreement Form

ñ The Interface Agreement (IA) contains interface information and “Need Date” by which the interface data to be made available for resolution;

ñ IA shall be the only recognized document for the sharing of interface information between all parties;

ñ There is one IA per interface with Unique identifier /numbering forñ There is one IA per interface with Unique identifier /numbering for each IA;

ñ The IA may contain more than one item as long as the general topic and need dates are the same. The description of the interface should be specific and detailed to avoid misunderstanding of the interface requirements;

ñ IA form can be supported by Interface Data Package, i.e. documents and/or drawings that have relevance to interfaces such as P&ID’s, Plot Plans, battery limit tables, tie points etc.;

ñ IA residing on the shared site for users actions and status review.

Sample format of Blank

Interface Agreement FormDoc No.

170216-0000-BA00-FRM-0002

ProjectKSPC Legacy Project

Interface No : Group Area Number Rev : A

Revision Date

IA Title : Need Date

IA Short Description: Forecast Date

Supplier : Receiver :

Interface Contact : Interface Contact :

Technical Contact : Technical Contact :

Company Contact : Company Contact :

IA Details (Deliverable/Activities Description) :

IA Discussions / Comments :

Interface Agreement (IA)IA Discussions / Comments :

IA Deliverables/Activities to be DELIVERED (Doc title/description and document rev/coding reqd for docs)

Interface AGREED

SUPPLIER:

Date

RECEIVER:

Date

Printed Name : Printed Name :

DATE Interface Deliverables DELIVERED/Activities COMPLETED

Date:

Interface CLOSE OUT AGREED

SUPPLIER :

Date

RECEIVER :

Date

Printed Name : Printed Name :

Interface Management Documentation (contd.)

ï Interface Data Register (IDR)

ñ The IDR is a consolidated list that records the status of current Interface Agreements (IA) identified with assigned action for each IA within the parties;

ñ IDR resides on the shared site for users’ actions and status review;

ñ Lead Interface (LI) Manager own and maintain the IDR as an active document and distribute to all parties as required Parties having thedocument and distribute to all parties as required. Parties having the read access can also review the IA status and print the current IDR report from the shared site at any time;

ñ IDR is reviewed within Interface Managers on prescribed time frequency in meetings.

Sample format of Interface Data Register (IDR)

Interface Register

IA No. IA TITLE IA DELIVERABLES/ACTIVITIES from SUPPLIER Supplier Receiver IA Revision # IA Revision Date NEED Date FORECAST Delivery

DateACTUAL Delivery

DateAgreed IA Close Out

Date Comments

Interface Management Documentation (contd.)

ï Interface Data Package :

ñ Interface Data Package (IDP) consists of document containing Information that has relevance to Interfaces e.g. PFD, P&ID’s, Plot Plans, battery limit tables, tie points etc. to support the specific IA;

ñ The customized interface data package shall be attached with individual IA as deemed necessary for effective communication in resolving that particular interface agreements.

Interface Management Information storage location

ï The interface management documents reside on the common web server where all the parties involved in Interface Management can read.

ï The interface managers are the people whoï The interface managers are the people who should have read and upload rights, other team members can have read only rights.

ï the process will notify all users with an auto email update for any specific IA status update on the web server.

Activities in Interface Management Process

ï Identification and recording an interface

ï Creating an interface agreement (IA)

ï Agreeing/ Resolving interface

ï Monitoring the status using Interface Data Register (IDR)( )

ï Reporting the status using Interface Data Register (IDR)

ï Sign-off and Closing the interface agreement (IA)

Interface Management Process Flow Diagram

Basic Rules to Follow While Filling Out Interface Agreement (IA)

ï Breakdown the complex interface into multiple small manageable interfaces

ï IA is used for two distinct entities- Originator and Responder (no cc to multiple parties);

ï IA should be unidirectional from Originator to Responder and back;back;

ï IA should be specific and simple to understand and with only one request per IA;

ï Single IA should not be used to capture multiple items (difficult to track the response);

ï IA should have a specific and realistic “Need Date”.

When can the IA be generated?

ï As soon as the discipline lead identifies or foresees that he/she requires certain details from other parties to complete or to complement their own work, he/she in consultation with their Interface Manager can initiate the IA.

ï Discipline lead should ideally review the project schedule to determine the realistic NEED DATE for each IA.

ï The success of interface management process lies with early identification and generation of IA.

Questions & Answers