Introduction to

Interface Management

By Ketan Shanishchara, P.Eng., PMP

May 3, 2014
 Table of Content
What is Interface?
What is Interface Management?
Why Interface & Interface Management?
Who is Affected by Interface Management
How does Interface Management Process
work
Interface Management Organization
Structure
Interface Management Process
Requirements
Interface Management Documentation
Interface Management Storage Location
Activities in Interface Management Process
Interface Management Process Flow
Diagram
Basic Rules to Follow While Filling Out
Interface Agreement (IA)
When can the IA be generated?
 Questions & Answers
 What is Interface?
An interface is defined as a
boundary or point of connect
between entities working on a
common project. This point can be:
Physical - Physical interaction between
components
e.g. flange connection details, cable
connections, etc.
Functional - Functional Requirements
between systems
e,g. DCS controls for communication, fire
alarms, etc.
Contractual - Interactions between
subcontractors/suppliers
e.g. scope of work, exclusion,
assumption, etc.
Organizational - Information exchanged
between disciplines
e.g. drawing back grounds, use of the
latest design revisions
Knowledge - General information exchanged
between parties
e.g. schedule, site specific logistics, etc.
 Resource - Points of dependencies
between equipment, material, and
labor suppliers
e.g. sharing resources like
accommodation, utilities,
transportation, etc. with other
organizations
What is Interface Management?

The Interface Management is

a process that is designed to
provide a method to formally
document and track the
exchange of information
between project participants
and to monitor the
performance of all
participants in making
available the required
information.
Interface Management
is a risk mitigating
process.
Why Interface?
Why Interface? (contd.)
Why Interface? (contd.)
Why Interface
Management?
 Effective management of the interfaces will
facilitate good communication and
transparency across these boundaries and
allow each party to request, offer or exchange
data and technical information in the best
interest of the Project.
A formal communication process of
effective interface management provides
an auditable trail to project decisions and
developments.
As the number of different entities and
scope of a project increases, so does the
risk associated with interfaces.
Informal or Improper interfacing can
negatively impact the cost and schedule
of the project and lead to excessive re-
work.
This process enhances awareness of critical
issues to large audience of stakeholders
Many expensive project failings are reported
worldwide that are resultant of informal
interface management processes.
Why Interface management?
Emails wont do?

The answer is NO.

The Interface Management process
encourages meaningful
communication between the various
project stakeholders, assisting in
breaking down barriers between
organizations.
The requirement to provide specific,
detailed requests means that the party
making the request must give careful
thought to the details of the
information requested, and to the
timing of the delivery of information as
opposed to composing informal email
which contains interface information
that may be key to the success or
failure of the project.
The Interface Management process
promotes clear, accurate, timely, and
consistent communication for
exchanging interface information
towards process success.
Who is Affected by Interface
Management
How does Interface
Management Process work
Interface Management
Organization Structure
To meet the intent of interface
management, each organization shall
nominate a representative as
Interface Manager to act as a single
point of contact for all interface
correspondences between the parties;
Interface Manager of each
organization has overall
responsibility for implementation
and maintenance of the interface
management process through out
the project life cycle by following
the
interface management work
process;
recording and logging the interface
agreements;
monitoring and chasing progress;
 ensuring that schedule
requirements are maintained;
and highlighting any area of concern
to the top management team of the
project.
Interface Management
Organization Structure (contd.)
Interface manager of each organization
must promote effective and timely
communication and exchange of
information between participants;
The Owner nominates the Lead Interface
(LI) who has the overall responsibility to
lead the interface management process
with all parties engaged on the Project;
Discipline leads, being the subject
experts within each organization, are
responsible and accountable for
identifying respective interfaces, and
effectively responding to Interface
requests in timely manner.
Interface Management Process
Requirements
In order to ensure an effective
exchange of critical information
for project success, the process
must be simple to understand
and follow to coordinate
activities directly with other
project participants.
Process must be formal, robust
and transparent to all
participants, and more
importantly must be managed by
someone who is aware of the
criticality of the process for
project success.
Process requires a
management structure with
the ability to cross the relevant
participants boundaries
without impacting or
overriding the contractual
relationships.
Interface Management
Documentation
Interface Agreement Form
The Interface Agreement (IA)
contains interface information and
Need Date by which the interface
data to be made available for
resolution;
IA shall be the only recognized
document for the sharing of interface
information between all parties;
There is one IA per interface with
Unique identifier /numbering for
each IA;
The IA may contain more than one item
as long as the general topic and need
dates are the same. The description of
the interface should be specific and
detailed to avoid misunderstanding of
the interface requirements;
IA form can be supported by Interface
Data Package, i.e. documents and/or
 drawings that have relevance to
interfaces such as P&IDs, Plot Plans,
battery limit tables, tie points etc.;
IA residing on the shared site for users
actions and status review.
Sample format of Blank Interface
Agreement (IA)
 Interface Agreement Form
Doc No.
170216-0000-BA00-FRM-0002
Project
KSPC Legacy Project
Interface No : Group Area Number Rev : A

Revision Date

IA Title : Need Date

IA Short Description: Forecast Date

Supplier : Receiver :

Interface Contact : Interface Contact :

Technical Contact : Technical Contact :

Company Contact : Company Contact :

IA Details (Deliverable/Activities Description) :

IA Discussions / Comments :

IA Discussions / Comments :

IA Deliverables/Activities to be DELIVERED (Doc title/description and document rev/coding reqd for docs)

Interface AGREED

SUPPLIER: RECEIVER:

Date Date
Printed Name : Printed Name :

DATE Interface Deliverables DELIVERED/Activities COMPLETED

Date:

Interface CLOSE OUT AGREED

SUPPLIER : RECEIVER :

Date Date
Printed Name : Printed Name :
Interface Management
Documentation (contd.)
Interface Data Register (IDR)
The IDR is a consolidated list that
records the status of current Interface
Agreements (IA) identified with
assigned action for each IA within the
parties;
IDR resides on the shared site for users
actions and status review;
Lead Interface (LI) Manager own and
maintain the IDR as an active
document and distribute to all parties
as required. Parties having the read
access can also review the IA status and
print the current IDR report from the
shared site at any time;
IDR is reviewed within Interface
Managers on prescribed time
frequency in meetings.
 Sample format of
Interface Data Register (IDR)

Interface
Register

IA DELIVERABLES/ACTIVITIES from FORECAST Delivery ACTUAL Delivery

IA No. IA TITLE Supplier Receiver IA Revision # IA Revision Date NEED Date
SUPPLIER Date Date
Interface Management
Documentation (contd.)
Interface Data Package :
Interface Data Package (IDP) consists
of document containing Information
that has relevance to Interfaces e.g.
PFD, P&IDs, Plot Plans, battery limit
tables, tie points etc. to support the
specific IA;
The customized interface data
package shall be attached with
individual IA as deemed necessary
for effective communication in
resolving that particular interface
agreements.
Interface Management
Information storage location

The interface
management documents
reside on the common
web server where all the
parties involved in
Interface Management
can read.
The interface managers
are the people who
should have read and
upload rights, other
team members can
have read only rights.
 the process will notify all
users with an auto email
update for any specific IA
status update on the web
server.
Activities in Interface
Management Process
Identification and recording an
interface
Creating an interface agreement
(IA)
Agreeing/ Resolving interface
Monitoring the status using
Interface Data Register (IDR)
Reporting the status using
Interface Data Register (IDR)
Sign-off and Closing the interface
agreement (IA)
In
t
e
rf
a
c
e
M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t
P
r
o
c
e
ss
Fl
o
w
D
ia
g
r
a
m
 Basic Rules to Follow
While Filling Out
Interface Agreement (IA)
Breakdown the complex
interface into multiple small
manageable interfaces
IA is used for two distinct entities-
Originator and Responder (no cc to
multiple parties);
IA should be unidirectional from
Originator to Responder and back;
IA should be specific and simple to
understand and with only one request
per IA;
Single IA should not be used to
capture multiple items (difficult
to track the response);
IA should have a specific and realistic
Need Date.
When can the IA be generated?
 As soon as the discipline lead
identifies or foresees that
he/she requires certain details
from other parties to complete
or to complement their own
work, he/she in consultation
with their Interface Manager
can initiate the IA.
Discipline lead should ideally
review the project schedule
to determine the realistic
NEED DATE for each IA.
The success of interface
management process lies with
early identification and
generation of IA.
Questions & Answers