Planning for Startup - Instructor's Guide
Project management and the perception of project success must be aligned with a new paradigm: successful commercial operation, rather than mechanical completion, is the project objective. Successful commercial operation requires a successful startup, which requires effective planning.
The importance of startup planning is evident given the challenging characteristics of today’s industrial business environment: pressures to increase profits by reducing costs; reduction in owner project staffs and increases in outsourcing of services; and demand for shorter project cycle times. These business challenges have increased the demands for organizational efficiency, management effectiveness, and associated planning and training tools. As such, the primary objective of this education module is to facilitate improvements in startup planning in the following ways:
- Provide a planning model and implementation tools to support thorough, effective, yet efficient startup planning.
- Develop an understanding of the relationship between planning for startup, startup success, and overall project success.
- Provide performance metrics tools for measuring startup success and to facilitate benchmarking.
The Planning for Startup Model is presented in this course in the form of a 45-activity flow chart organized according to eight typical project phases. These planning activities are fully described, as are the 26 supportive tools. This course also includes demonstration project case studies and workshop exercises that reinforce the message of the planning model.
