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  2. 2014
  3. August
  4. A
  5. An Evaluation of Front End Planning (FEP)
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Exit Survey
 
 

What is Front-end planning (FEP)? 

Front-End Planning (FEP) is a pre-planning process that allows clients and key project stakeholders to effectively identify and assess all project-related requirements and potential risks in order to make the most appropriate decisions that will lead ultimately, to either acceptance or revision of a project prior to its detailed design. This decision is necessary to avoid sub-optimal projects going forward with the more likely than not chance of their failing to deliver on their objectives in regard to cost, time and function/quality. FEP has three main stage-gated processes which are: (1) Feasibility, (2) Conceptual planning; and (3) Detailed scope definition.
 
 
 
Job Title:
   
 
 
 
Employer’s organization

 
Public body
 
Private company
 
Public-private partnership
 
Other (please specify)
 
 
 
 
The nature of your participation in projects
 
Client
 
Project manager
 
Consultant
 
Quantity Surveyor
 
Contractor
 
Other (please specify)
 
 
 
 
Is the FEP concept adopted by your organization?
 
Always
 
Often
 
Sometimes
 
Rarely
 
Never
 
 
 
In relation to the above question, in which stage of FEP have you been mostly involved?

 
Feasibility study
 
Conceptual planning
 
Detailed scope definition
 
All FEP stages
 
Not involved at all
 
 
 
The cost of your most recently completed projects, when compared with their FEP cost estimate, shows that they were
 
Within the cost estimate
 
Exceeded the cost estimate by less than 5%
 
Exceeded the cost estimate by 6-11%
 
Exceeded the cost estimate by 12-19%
 
Exceeded the cost estimate by more than 20%
 
 
 
The duration of your most recently completed projects, when compared with their FEP planned duration (schedule), shows that they were
 
On or ahead of schedule
 
Late by less than 5%
 
Late by 6-11%
 
Late by 12-19%
 
Late by more than 20%
 
 
To what level do you feel that each of the following FEP tasks is effectively defined based on your experience gained from the most recently completed projects?

Stage 1 (Feasibility Study):
Undefined Poorly defined Reasonably defined Well defined Completely defined
Consideration of project stakeholders’ needs and concerns
Opportunity analysis and selection of project alternatives (scenarios)
Identification of boundary conditions (environmental or risk factors) of project
Preliminary setting-out of project’s scope with the help of lessons learned
Evaluation of project financial resources
Evaluation of staffing requirements
Evaluation of project materials/equipment requirements
Determination of project’s success criteria
Developing a basis for an impact assessment of FEP on project performance
 
 
Level of definition of FEP elements
Stage 2 (Conceptual planning)
Undefined Poorly defined Reasonably defined Well defined Completely defined
Final selection of identified project alternatives
Estimates of project time (duration) and cost
Probabilistic risk analysis of project time (duration) and cost from the standpoint of project’s nature and technology
Formulation of all inputs in feasibility study into a measurable set of scope entities (i.e. project activities)
Evaluation of project’s scope to account for all needs and concerns of key stakeholders
Developing a validation tool for testing the effectiveness of definition of the project’s scope elements
 
 
Level of definition of FEP elements
Stage 3 (Detailed scope definition)
Undefined Poorly defined Reasonably defined Well defined Completely defined
The project’s objectives
Project Work breakdown structure (WBS)
Project risk management plan
Communication and control plans
Project execution strategy (PES)
Project organization structure (POS)
Time (duration) estimates for each work package
Cost estimates for each work package
Final review of project scope elements
 
 
Measuring level of practitioners’ perception about contribution of the effective FEP to the success of project performance

To what level of agreement do you feel that effective FEP is positively related to each of the following criteria:
Strongly disagree Somewhat disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree
Proper understanding of the implementation of project plan by key stakeholders than is normally experienced
Far fewer scope changes in the implementation stage than is normally experienced
Better risk management in the implementation stage than is normally experienced
Significant Reduction of growth in time and cost than is normally experienced
More efficient control of the project execution than is normally experienced
Improved accuracy and effectiveness of design phase than is normally experienced
Strong alignment/or matching among project’s outcomes and stakeholders’ expectations than is normally experienced
Increased sense of project team accountability than is normally experienced
 
 
Major Barriers to the effective implementation of FEP

Degree of impact of each of the following barriers on the effectiveness of FEP
None Insignificant Minor Significant Major
Insufficient contributions of key stakeholders during FEP
Inadequate time-frame provided for FEP
Insufficient resources allocated to FEP
Insufficient adoption of lessons learned from past projects when developing FEP for the new project
Costly efforts incurred in FEP on the part of clients
Lack of standardized guidelines for the start-up and control of FEP
Lack of team knowledge on project planning fundamentals
Overly complex or large projects
Improper alignment among the FEP development stages
Lack of realistic information about the project strategy during FEP
Ineffectiveness of the client’s decision when finally approving the detailed scope definition
 
 
 
Based on your experience, what are the most significant FEP stages that need to be given a high priority or greater emphasis when developing FEP? Why these particular stages?
   
 
 
 
In relation to the above question, is there any possibility to omit any of these FEP stages (Feasibility; Conceptual planning; detailed scope definition) without influencing effectiveness of overall project planning? Why or why not?
   
 
 
 
What are other management strategies to be adopted for enforcing the application of FEP in your organization?
   
 
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