What are the project plan that an engineer can execute?

The project engineer is responsible for the progress of the engineering part of the project and for compliance with the terms of the contract, the correspondence of actual and planned costs and the implementation of the schedule.

Within the limits of his competence, the project engineer, if necessary, can make changes to the process of designing and developing the product, as well as to the specification of tasks according to the concept of the project.

These changes are made with the permission of the project manager, and responsibility for them is shared with the engineering and technical managers of the project.

If there is a need for changes that may affect other functional units, it is necessary to inform them about the upcoming changes, prepare documentation for making changes, submit it to the project manager and provide conditions for correcting possible deviations in cost caused by such changes.

Project Planning and Initiation

The project engineer is responsible for preparing plans and schedules for all engineering work that is part of the overall project plan approved by the project manager. When planning engineering and technical work, the project engineer must compare the engineering proposals with the received contract. If the requirements of the contract imply a change in the cost, schedule, technical complexity of the solution, you must obtain permission from the technical director and the project manager to make the necessary changes to the engineering and technical evaluation of the proposal. In this phase, the project engineer is obliged to:

Update task and sub task descriptions to meet the requirements of the contract within the available resources allocated to the engineering aspects of the project. Plan the solution of additional tasks and sub tasks to form a complete project implementation plan;
prepare the main schedule of engineering and technical works in accordance with the requirements of the contract;
Prepare or provide detailed descriptions of tasks and sub tasks with technical requirements. Coordinate resource allocations, key monitoring events and task progress assessments with functional task leaders and their functional unit managers;
with the help of the heads of functional engineering and technical units or project leaders and with the approval of the project manager, appoint persons responsible for the implementation of tasks and sub tasks. Authorize the commencement of work in accordance with the commitments made, taking into account the cost and schedule of control events;
using contracted technical specifications as a basis, prepare specifications for (or provide) subcontracted components;
participate in the final decisions on the production or purchase of components and on the selection of suppliers. Provide appropriate support from engineering and technical units;

Prepare (or provide) plans for (or provide) comprehensive and acceptance testing of hardware and systems. Analyze the developed plan together with the quality assurance department and inform this department about the need for the participation of other units.

Usual Role of Project Engineer

The project engineer is responsible for the technical integrity of the project, compliance with the schedule for the implementation of all engineering and technical phases of the project, the compliance of actual and planned costs and compliance with calendar deadlines. His main responsibilities are as follows:

make sure that the technical requirements of the customer are correctly understood and that the company is able to fulfill them with the existing level of technical equipment and training;
define these requirements down to the smallest subsystems in functional units and services so that they can develop schedules, forecast costs and perform work properly;
make sure that the engineering and technical work determined in this way is carried out in accordance with the schedule and the allocated resources (human, material, monetary);
provide the necessary technical guidance for the implementation of the objectives of the project;
hold regular project review meetings to ensure that technical objectives are achieved;
act as a technical advisor to the project manager and other functional units (as directed by the project manager).

During the performance of the above duties, the project engineer should receive support from the engineering and technical units from the engineering and technical managers of the project.

Preparation of the proposal and negotiations

During the proposal preparation phase, the project engineer must perform the following functions:
coordinate and plan the preparation of a technical proposal;
analyze and evaluate the statement of work and other technical information;
form a team or teams for the preparation of an engineering and technical proposal;
within the framework of the general schedule of the proposal, develop a calendar plan for its engineering and technical part;
define customer requirements in the form of tasks and sub tasks;
define in writing the requirements, including preliminary technical documentation, that engineering and technical units make to other functional units for decisions on the production or purchase of components or on the conclusion of subcontracts;
coordinate and/or prepare schedules for all engineering and technical work, including the delivery and receipt of results from production units;
analyze and approve all costs, schedules, written and oral reports on engineering and technical tasks and subtasks;
coordinate the preparation or preparation of estimates of total engineering costs
participate in the preliminary decision-making on its own production or purchase of components;
participate in the analysis of all costs and schedules;
participate in contract negotiations if necessary;
transfer conflicts between the project engineer and project engineers to the level of appropriate technical directors for dispute resolution.

The following are the responsibilities of a project engineer in the above field:

prepare and maintain all project and technical documentation that ensures the technical integrity of the project and reflects the progress of its implementation;
Prepare, continuously update and maintain records of engineering costs and control events. Conduct regular reviews of these records to ensure that engineering progress is consistent with planned;
if necessary, initiate and prepare a forecast of the cost of engineering and technical work before the completion of the project;
in the event of conflicts, set priorities for engineering and technical tasks, consider disagreements and problems of interaction in engineering and technical units, inform managers of functional units about the need for personnel reshuffles;
plan and conduct meetings, as appropriate, on the analysis of design work and the audit of such works. Take part in technical meetings with the customer;
if necessary, prepare reports on the status of engineering and technical work on the project;
participate with the project manager and other functional units in the evaluation and development of alternative action plans, if required by any delays or changes requested by the client;
support procurement and subcontracting, production, commissioning, maintenance, interoperability and technical assistance within the resources approved by the project manager;
change and redistribute tasks and sub tasks, open and close cost accounts (expense accounts), redistribute resources within the quota allocated to the engineering and technical part of the project, together with the managers of functional units participating in the project. Inform the project manager about all such actions before the changes take effect;
at the direction of the project manager, provide technical information to the legal department and the contract administration department;
analyze and approve the technical part of the reports provided to the customer;
authorize the procurement of materials and/or services (within the allocated funds) as necessary for the implementation of the engineering part of the project;
Initiate meetings on technical issues and make technical decisions within the framework of contractual requirements. Decisions to change the cost and schedule that affect contractual requirements or other functional units must be approved by the relevant functional unit engineering manager upon notification to the technical director (or his representative) and the project manager;
approve all engineering and technical developments on which the supply and / or manufacture of the product or its elements for delivery to the customer are based;
if there are problems in the relationship of the project engineer with the functional managers of the engineering and technical units, refer the issue to the technical director;
if there are problems in the relationship of the project engineer with external engineering organizations, refer the issue to the project manager with the notification of the technical director and the director of administrative affairs.