Introduction

Value, in its broadest sense, is the benefit to the client, offered by a project. Value Engineering (VE) is a creative, organized approach that enables providers of a product, service, or project to engage proactively with stakeholders to ensure that project value is optimized, life-cycle costs are reduced, and unnecessary costs are eliminated. The VE methodology emphasizes the return-on-investment aspect of decision-making in terms of benefits management during project planning, procurement, and execution. It enables design teams and organizations to identify and evaluate alternative ideas and solutions at any project phase avoiding wasted design and investment effort and delivering the best value solutions that meet client requirements. VE is not about selecting the cheapest option; rather, it is about realizing the best value for money and improving the productivity, competitiveness, and effectiveness of organizations in addition to stimulating innovation.

This course is designed to provide the participants with expert guidance for securing real benefits and cost savings by implementing VE in their projects with a greater emphasis on the development of project scope, cost estimates, design solutions, and budgets. Within the project management context, the course significantly enhances creative thinking, problem-solving, objective assessment, and informed decision-making skills.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course the participants will be able to:

• Understand the fundamental concepts of value engineering and how it supports effective project management by providing a continuous thread of good practice throughout the project development process

• Gather and organize information and cost relevant to key elements of the project

• Learn how to capture and incorporate stakeholders’ input in the development of the project charter and plan

• Critically assess and evaluate the relationships among key attributes such as cost, value, and function

• Report effectively to top management and project stakeholders in the context of proposing alternatives that improve the overall project value; and

• Objectively present a convincing case in support of certain project alternatives

Targeted Audience

• Project Managers

• Operational Excellence Personnel

• Operations Managers

• Asset Managers

• Quality Assurance Personnel.

Course Outlines

Day 1

Framework for Applying Value Engineering in Projects

• What is Value?

• What is Value Engineering? Why is it important?

• Defining Value Engineering concepts and principles

• How and when is Value Engineering applied?

• Project stakeholders analysis and management

• Understanding teamwork and cross-functional Project Teams and team player styles

Day 2

The Function Analysis Phase - Expressing Project Functional Needs and Constraints

• Overview of Different Value Engineering Phases / Job Plan

• The Information Phase – steps and procedures

• The need for Function Analysis in projects

• Developing FAST Diagrams to identify critical project components and perform project value analysis

• Defining project constraints – relationships and trade-offs

• Aspects of Cost Estimating

Day 3

The Creative Phase - Inspiring Creativity in Your Project Team

• Risk Management

• Relationships between Value, Cost, and Worth

• Facilitation skills

• Creativity and Creative thinking within the project environment

• Creativity techniques as applied to optimize project value

• Blocks to creativity within the project team

Day 4

The Evaluation Phase - Making Informed Project Decisions

• Reaching consensus and leveraging the power of project team collaboration

• Idea selection

• Evaluation methods and value criteria

• Development phase

• Techniques in problem-solving

• Life-cycle costing analysis

Day 5

The Planning and Reporting Phases - Getting Results Through Effective Communication

• Effective Decision-making in a project environment

• Develop action plans and assign project roles and responsibilities

• Reporting VE findings to Senior Management and project stakeholders

• Integrating VE into the project process and Continuous Improvement and application at project initiation