Why Adopt Operational Readiness For Your Projects?

Operational readiness is a structured process that runs within a project, to ensure at handover to the operations group, sufficient systems, processes, and resources are in place to operate and maintain the installed infrastructure or systems safely, and in a manner that achieves the intended production rates or other benefits to the organisation.

To maximise the benefits of operational readiness, the process should begin very early in the project development and be inclusive of all organisational departments. As the operational readiness process can affect the future state of all, or parts of an organisation, it should also be included in the management of the change process for any plant upgrades or modifications.

There are several benefits to including an operational readiness component in all projects, primarily to ensure the project attains its expected benefits as soon as possible after commissioning

The level of effort required for the operational readiness process is dependent on the project size, complexity, and criticality of the organisation. Large greenfield projects introducing new technology may require the involvement of all departments within an organisation. In contrast, an update or replacement project on a brownfield site will potentially only directly affect local operations and maintenance staff.

Many elements which fall under the banner of operational readiness should be addressed in the project phase, including:

•Staffing requirements

•Training and competency needs

•Operational procedures

•Maintenance strategies, plans, and procedures

•Risk-based process safety management

•Inventory and warehousing

•Asset management plans

These factors can have a profound effect on a project outcome and need to have been considered and implemented before handing the project over to operations. Failing to recruit sufficient new staff or to address issues around reducing staff numbers can severely delay the effective operation of a new plant, and having untrained staff or no operational procedures can lead to ineffective use of and potential damage to a new plant.

A robust asset management plan and maintenance schedule, supported by effective work instructions and trained maintenance staff, either in-house or contract resources, is essential to ensure the new equipment does not succumb to premature failures, and potential failures are detected and rectified before significant damage can occur. If issues do occur, the cataloging and holding of strategic spares enable a speedy return to service.

The average cost of an operational readiness process can be considered at around five percent of the project value, but this will vary based on project complexity. Some of these costs can be rolled into the capital project. Suppose this money is not spent within the project phase. In that case, significantly greater costs are likely to be incurred later by the operational group as they integrate the new plant into existing systems and processes while it is in operation.

While operational readiness may add cost to the initial project, all the activities involved in preparing the new project for operation must be undertaken at some point. Many projects have suffered long delays before fully realising their expected benefits due to real or perceived safety or operational issues that could have been mitigated with early involvement from the eventual owners and operators of the project.

There are several benefits to including an operational readiness component in all projects, primarily to ensure the project attains its expected benefits as soon as possible after commissioning. Other benefits include having trained and competent operations staff at startup, maintenance staff is provided with appropriate schedules and work instructions, downtime being reduced as spare parts required for servicing are available, and compliance with regulations and standards being maintained through the scheduling of required inspections from the maintenance plans.