VARIATION may be initiated by the client through instructions to the contractor increasing or decreasing the scope of work. The contractor may also initiate variation when he thinks that circumstances have given rise to an increase in cost or duration of the activity. In any case, the contractor prepares the change notice with evaluation of variation to the cost or duration of the work for authorization of the client.

Analysing the change

All data and information relating to the change should be included in the change request form. The reason for the change, the description of the change and the scope of the change must be included in the form. The background information should be clearly and concisely explained using the change request form.

Impact of the change

The potential impact of the change on the project which may be significant must be evaluated. The effect of the change of the change on the project must be assessed using the project baseline documents. The assessment will include
Impact of change on the project cost
Impact of change on the project schedule
Impact of change on operability

Impact of change on standards and specification for the project

The impact assessment will produce a clear indication on the effect the change request will have on the project baseline parameters for cost,
time, quality, risks and benefits. This is very important not only to know the extent to which those parameters may be affected, but also to identify the approval authority or who should authorize the implementation of the changes.

Corrective action plan

The project environment is dynamic and no matter what baselines has been established, there may arise the need to implement changes in the course of executing the project. The changes may affect cost, schedule, quality, scope or a combination of these. If the change is authorized, there will be need to update the project baseline parameters which have been established. The updates may include altering the forecast durations, budgets, and quality expectations. The new parameters involving amended durations, altered budgets and changed quality expectations will form the project revised baseline against which future changes will be assessed.

Project Planning

Project planning is the process of matching the project requirements or goals, tasks and resources to accomplish the project goals within a defined period. A project can be looked at as a process that involves inputs and outputs. Before creating a project plan, it is helpful to know what the project intends to deliver at certain periods and at its completion. These are the project milestones or deliverables. A project plan will normally answer the following questions

What are the tasks that need to be carried out to accomplish the project?

When and in what order will these tasks be done?

Who is responsible for each task?

What are the deadlines?

The planning process of a project involves breaking down the project into discrete and related tasks, estimating the resources and time required to complete the tasks and creating a schedule for the various tasks that include the assignment of the tasks to specific people. The issues that will arise during the planning process include

How long will each task take?

What dependencies exist between the tasks?

Who will be responsible for the execution of the tasks?

What are the external constraints?

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The work breakdown structure looks like a simple organization chart and it is an important tool for project planning. It is a deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed to accomplish the project objectives and create the project required deliverables.
Each level of the WBS represents an increasing level of detailed definition of the project works. The WBS is a graphical tool that allows the scope of work to become clearer and helps to reveal the totality of what is to be done. In the work breakdown structure, complex tasks are decomposed into smaller manageable units required for scheduling and budgeting. At this point, it is easier to estimate how long the small tasks will take and how much it will cost to perform.

However, it is still not easy to estimate task durations for activities that have not be performed before. This is the typical situation for most projects, due to their uniqueness. The WBS is still the best tool for estimating time, costs, and allocating resources to project tasks.

Engr. Obumeyan is a Chartered Chemical Engineer and is presently engaged as Consultant on the Abuja Light Rail Project.