Centerlines - June 2008 - (Page 36)

ON MANAGEMENT How to Measure Success Being able to measure success of the capital program and the airport team is also critical to effectively managing a capital program, said Wheat. “In Tampa, we’ve tried to keep that simple. There are three com- COMMON PITFALLS, RESOLUTIONS Kent McLemore is an aviation practice leader with the HNTB Corp., who previously spent 14 years with the Houston Airports System. He said that no matter the size of the airport or who/what operates the airport, challenges with managing capital programs are fairly universal. • Lack of a clear deﬁnition of a capital program and how it relates to the airport’s master plan. McLemore said those involved on a capital program need to fully understand “what the project is supposed to do, who is supposed to do it, and what the results will be.” • Lack of ﬂexibility in capital projects. Airlines are cyclical, said McLemore, and their ﬁnancial status is always on the move. And because most airports are owned and operated by a county, city or governmental board, they don’t have the ability to react to changing ﬁnancial conditions like private businesses do. This makes managing the timeline of projects especially important. • Looking beyond the building costs to the maintenance and lifecycle costs of a project. McLemore said today airports have the challenge of a shrinking revenue stream from struggling airlines competing with the growing demand of renovation and maintenance of existing facilities and the need for new construction. McLemore offered the following solutions to head off these challenges: • Involvement. In preparing for capital programs, he said, managers need to involve ﬁve divisions/key persons at the airport working together: planners, designers, constructors, operators, and ﬁnanciers. It’s when these roles are compartmentalized that difﬁculties occur. “The key is to involve those ﬁve entities with every project,” said McLemore. “You can do that through several ways depending on the size of the airport.” The most common way, he explained, is through a CIP (capital improvement project) group which is responsible for all capital projects. McLemore said, additionally, that it’s important to have a project champion—someone who can stay on top of each project. • Preparation. “Whenever you put together a project,” McLemore said, “you need a good understanding of what the project is, the purpose of the project, and the need it is fulﬁlling.” This saves airports from scope creep and costly changes, he said. • Documentation. McLemore said it is important to record all aspects of every project in some type of database. This database can serve as a learning tool so that mistakes aren’t repeated in further projects. Also, it’s a valuable method of tracking all the details of the project as well as any changes. “It’s a good tracking tool for an internal audit or if you need to explain to the FAA why you did what you did,” he said. Additionally, McLemore recommended that airports keep a descriptive packet of information about each project, often called a project development brochure, pre-design manual or a scoping document. “It clearly states the estimate, reason for the project, who started it, what the end result will look like, how it is funded,” he said. This is important for historical context—if a project gets shelved for a period or time—or, if the key person leading the project is no longer involved, the project can still move forward. ponents that we use to measure our success in the development program: if is it brought in under budget; if is it brought in on time; and if there were any new processes developed during that project that could be utilized to be able to do future projects more efﬁciently or cheaply,” he said. Wheat said no matter how measurements are established at different airports, they remain a critical component in terms of success, as well as letting everyone involved with the development project know who is responsible for delivering each aspect of a program. At the California Port of Oakland, which operates Oakland International Airport, there have been recent changes to the way capital programs are managed. Kristi McKenney, manager of aviation planning and development, said Oakland began following a plan within the last few years that she calls “total project management,” where her team manages a project from “cradle to grave.” She explained that the previous way of carrying out a project was a very linear process, without much communication between all interested stakeholders. Total project management is a more “holistic and systematic way of looking at a capital project,” said McKenney. It allows for “better control and consistency throughout the process in managing scope, budget, and schedule” because her team is managing all aspects of the project, with constant input from all the stakeholders. While the new process has only been in place for a short time from a capital project perspective, McKenney said it has “already paid off tremendous dividends and I think it has really allowed engineering, which is sort of a common place for capital projects to be managed, to focus on what they do best—designing and building things, as opposed to the overall project management.” 36 CENTERLINES | JUNE 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Centerlines - June 2008

Centerlines - June 2008 Contents President’s Message Canadian Airports Associates’ Corner Guest Column On the Hill and On the Stump Policy Center Cover Story: Hotter Than Last July? Revenue Arena: Building Non-Aeronautical Revenue Environment: Wind Turbines at Boston Logan Passenger Focus: Des Moines Deals with the Iowa Caucuses Safety and Security: Inline Explosives Detection Systems Air Service Recruitment: Holding on to What You’ve Got On Management: Managing Capital Programs Now Underway Grand Opening Conference Previews and Reviews New Members Index of Advertisers/Advertiser.com Box Scores

Centerlines - June 2008

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