Front End Loading (FEL) or Front End Engineering Design (FEED), often referred to as pre-project planning analysis, is an essential element of project management, mostly applicable to construction, the oil or gas industry, and manufacturing. Related to FEL is that it comprises detailed planning and designing tasks performed prior to the actual start of the project implementation. Thus, FEL’s purpose is to ensure that all aspects of the work are clear, all potential risks are seen and addressed, and that a project is as prepared as it can be to succeed.
This article establishes that knowledge of distinct phases of front-end loading processes will significantly increase the probability of the successful completion of projects with regards to time, cost, and quality.
The Importance of Front End Loading
Front End Loading is essential for several reasons:
Risk Mitigation: The potential risks can be recognized and evaluated in the course of their emergence, and, therefore, ways for their minimization can be elaborated with the purpose of decreasing the probabilities of project delays, cost increases, or project failure.
Cost Efficiency: Careful planning and cost estimates during the FEL phases help avoid possible expenditures and make it much more efficient.
Stakeholder Alignment: Incorporating stakeholders in the project from the early stages makes sure that their requirements and expectations are met during the project.
Improved Decision Making: Data and analysis are collected for every related factor and make effective use of the substantial data for decision-making in every phase of the project.
The Three Key Phases of Front End Loading
Front-end loading typically comprises three distinct phases: We agree with them all; its labels are FEL 1, FEL 2, and FEL 3. In other words, each phase expands the work done in the prior phase in terms of the definition and detail of the project scope, design, and cost.
FEL 1: Feasibility and Conceptual Design
The FEL is divided into five phases: The first of these is the FEL’s first phase, which is basically an orientation to potentials and also the determination of prospecting ideas. Key activities in this phase include:
Project Definition: Know the aims and objectives, how much work is expected to be done, and what outcomes are expected to be realized at the end of the project. This comprises ideas about the project, the challenge that the project poses, and the benefits that are expected to be obtained from the project.
Initial Feasibility Study: Conducting a feasibility study in order to establish the aspects of technical, economical, and, importantly, environmentally possible. It could take the form of such things as market questionnaires, technological audits, and effect assessments.
Conceptual Design: The generation of the first concept, the refinements of the design, and the choices. This involves coming up with several possibilities and prospects for handling the problem, eliminating the improbable solutions, and looking at the most probable means of resolution.
Preliminary Cost Estimates: Estimating concept designs in very general cost categories of an order of magnitude. These estimates provide only a very rough picture of the economic liabilities of the project.
However, the objective of FEL 1 is to essentially evaluate the feasibility of the outlined project and, if favorable, recommend the project for the next phase. In this regard, if the project qualifies to be certified as meeting these requirements as and when it goes through this first phase or process of the feasibility check, then the project goes to the next level.
FEL 2: Preliminary Engineering and Design
The second phase of FEL is somewhat more specific with the levels of engineering and designs being carried out at this phase. The key activities in this phase include:
Detailed Project Scope: Tightening down the project deliverables and fine-tuning the overall program of the work to be done. For example, identify the scope of the project, what is going to be done in this project, and the significant goals of the project.
Engineering Design: Executing pre-engineering to come up with an enhanced design and specification of the project. This may include drawing plans at complex levels, making decisions on the material to be used, and the construction processes.
Risk Assessment and Management: An assessment of the risks that are likely to be faced in the business and come up with measures of minimizing the risks. This includes technical risk analysis, financial risk analysis, and operational risk analysis.
Cost Estimation and Budgeting: Specification of more accurate costs and conditions for creating the detailed budget of the project This means you have to look for all possible costs: the materials, the human resources, the machinery, and even a little extra for the unknowns.
Schedule Development: Establishing the initial project schedule, which can include the WBS, about the main activities, milestones, and their timeframes. This assists in order to avoid the projects lag behind or even delay, and this is actually important.
FEL 2 is the occasion to refine the project scope, its risks and costs, and get a more precise vision of what is needed. This phase offers the background information required to make a decision on whether to continue with the project or not.
FEL 3: Final Engineering and Design
The final phase of FEL is defined as the final engineering and design work that has to be accomplished. The key activities in this phase include:
Final Design and Specifications: Finishing off all the small work that is being done for the detailed design work and to finalize the specifications of all project elements. This also involves matters such as drawing, material selection, and construction procedure determination.
Detailed Cost Estimation and Budgeting: Designing and preparing the final costs and providing details of the overall project breakdown of costs. This involves the documentation of all possible costs and the requirement for contingencies to confirm the economical nature of the project.
Risk Management Plan: Creating the actual risk management plan together with specifying the detailed risk-control procedures. This encompasses a range of activities, such as risk evaluation, which entails the estimation of risks; risk assessment, which entails evaluating the risks; and risk treatment, which involves discovering ways of dealing with the risks.
Detailed Project Schedule: Developing at least a cumulative comprehensive project plan for the project at the completion of all activities. This assists in maintaining order, control, and erection of the project so as to meet the intended time of completion.
Stakeholder Review and Approval: Seeking the approval of the stakeholders on the last plan implemented in the course of the project. This makes sure that all the interested parties are behind the project with the aim of making it successful.
FEL 3’s purpose is to enhance the knowledge of the project particulars down to the required level of detail to support the actual project implementation. In this phase, every aspect is well defined, risks are mitigated, and every condition is established to warrant a successful project.
Benefits of Effective Front End Loading
There are several advantages that can accustom a particular organization once it applies effective front-end loading, namely:
Reduced Risks: The FEL process actually involves a sort of risk management consideration where all risks likely to contribute to the delay of projects, the implementation of projects over budget, and eventual project failure are excluded.
Improved Cost Control: The stakeholders utilize specific planning as well as proper estimations, which in turn tend to control costs outside the value added and channel the utilization of resources.
Better Decision Making: Comprehensive data and analysis are also available; hence, they act as a guarantee that the right decision is made throughout the stages of the project.
Enhanced Stakeholder Alignment: Participants are required to be involved early in the project in order to understand their needs and meet those needs.
Increased Project Success: At the initial stage, FEL has also created conditions for achievement; thus, it enhances efficiency and achievement in the time frame, cost, and quality aspects of any endeavor.
Conclusion
Front-end loading is crucial in project planning since it is capable of raising the likelihood of project success. FEL is made up of several phases on its own and, if well understood and implemented, will help organizations control risks, costs, and time in their ventures. This is because whether one is in the construction industry, oil and gas, manufacturing, and so on, the time required in the initial phases to implement intensive and rigorous front-end loading turns into a victory, and in any given project, there are signs of a positive shift.