SYNOPSIS

1. TALK ON SURVEY FINDINGS & IMPLICATIONS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES IN MALAYSIA- Ir. Frankie

The objective of the talk is to present and deliberate on the survey findings of project management best practices in Malaysia carried out in late 2008, and to share experiences and formulate strategies for further enhancement and improvement. The survey was based on the responses received from 200 professionals who are mainly engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, and executives holding positions like project leaders, project managers, project directors, IT managers, COO, CEO, suppliers, contractors and consultants.

The survey consisted of 20 questions relevant to project management practices. Some of these questions are:
  1.    What determine the success of projects?
  2.    In your experience, what is the average success rate of Projects carried out?  
  3.    What level of Project Management does your company practise?
  4.    Would you support the idea of a national Project Management Standards?
  5.    Which type of Project Contract is widely used in your company?
  6.    What is the common type of organisation structure used for your projects?
  7.    What Project Management Software is used in your company?
  8.    What are the biggest problems you face in your project work?  
  9.    In your experience, what are the main causes of project delay?
  10.    In your experience, what are the success factors in projects?


2. PMBOK Best Practices & Applications from an Oil and Gas Project Practitioner: First Part – Ir. Retnakumar

This presentation will focus on best practices in Project Management from an Oil and Gas Project Practitioner and discuss how they relate to the PMBOKR. This will be the first part of series of presentations, with this presentation focusing on the front-end elements relating to Projects Definition, Roles, Organization and Project Integration. The presentation will illustrate the speaker’s oil and gas project experiences including the theoretical aspects as well as practical considerations. Retna will also highlight processes and methods including generic case examples and practical applications.
This talk will cover the tailoring of Project Management processes, knowledge areas, environmental factors, roles and influence, project management plans and integration unique in oil and gas projects. The speaker will discuss both Greenfield and Brownfield Projects with elaborations on the latter based on his annual Brownfield Projects series talks. The challenges involved in the management of retrofit (Brownfield) projects is generally not fully understood which could be alleviated by application of project management tools methodology and knowledge.
  
The target audience includes Project Management professionals who wish to understand and learn more on Oil and Project Management. These principles could be similarly applied in projects in other sectors.


BIODATA OF SPEAKERS

Ir. Retnakumar has over thirty-three years of oil and gas project management experience with a Major international oil corporation involving development planning, project services and controls, engineering, fabrication, hook-up & commissioning and offshore retrofit (Brownfield) for major oil and gas development projects. He has led the engineering, construction and hookup/commissioning of several manned and satellite oil and gas platforms including major offshore Brownfield (retrofit) projects. Whilst he was based in Houston, USA, he led schedule, cost management and project controls supporting African and affiliate projects worldwide including onshore and offshore brownfield projects.

Currently he is the Facilities & Projects Director, as well as Business Strategy & Systems Head with an international oil and gas operator with offshore assets including FPSOs. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Committee Member of the Project Management Technical Division and Member of the Standing Committee on Activities in IEM.

Retnakumar is a Registered Professional Engineer with a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering (Honours) from the University of Liverpool and holds a Masters in Business Administration (specialization in Project Management) degree. Retna is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has certification in Training from HRDF.


Ir. Frankie Chong (B.Sc. Hons., MBA, P.Eng., MIEM, PMP), professional engineer, certified PMP®, writer, speaker, trainer, past Chairman and Adviser of Project Management Technical Division, current Chairman of Seniors SIG, Institution of Engineers, Malaysia has more than 30 years of experience in leading and managing many large and small projects, in various industries such as engineering, telecommunication, construction, IT, education, military and finance.

He is also actively involved with the government Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), being a panel expert and trainer in National Competency Standard course development program in Project Management, and is a certified trainer registered with the government PSMB (Human Resource Development Fund). He now focus on providing strategic training and consulting services in Project Business Development, Project Management Standards & Methodology, PMP certification, Project Leadership and Microsoft Project software applications.