“How bad is the flooding, Joe?” I own a small apartment building in Ventnor NJ. Although police are restricting property owners and even residents from returning to this barrier island, my long term tenant, a retired Fire Department Chief, is able to talk his way through and is now viewing our basement. We are lucky, being located at the high point of Ventnor, but the cutoff of electric has allowed water to rise from our sump pump.

 

The answer is “two feet” which is one foot too high for our elevated boiler system. So no heat nor hot water. As he is reporting to me, the electricity comes back on, the submerged sump pump begins its work, and within hours the basement is again dry. Some “stuff” not kept in waterproof tubs (as per my “suggestion” to tenants is damaged, but overall we are okay except for the washer/dryer and most importantly the boiler system.

 

A few quick phone calls to my maintenance contractor and commercial plumber who installed the system devises a plan of action. It will still be three days before residents will be permitted to enter the island and a week before contractors can enter. But, we know it is likely the control systems for the boilers will be compromised while there is a good chance the boilers are otherwise okay. Electronic funds are transferred, and orders are placed for four new controllers and one new boiler. What we do not need is to wait a week to further assess, and only then to order parts which others will also be ordering – to delay the return of their homes to our tenants while waiting for parts.

 

This is not the most cost effective repair process – if the one boiler is not needed we will pay a restocking fee, if more than one needed a second shipping fee. But it is designed to get the project finished as quickly as possible. This is CPM scheduling.

 

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The College of Performance Management (having split from PMI Project Management Institute and re-incorporating under their original name) had planned their first re-independent event for October 29-31 in Washington DC. Sandy resulted in this event being cancelled, but the organization, along with its Marriott Hotel host, are working to reschedule for December 10-12 at the same location. Please check http://www.mycpm.org/ for more information.

 

Your Construction CPM Conference, set for January 27-30 in New Orleans, continues to grow in size as other groups join with us to make this event (sandwiched between 1st Weekend Mardi Gras and Super Bowl Weekend) into a fantastic education and entertainment venue.

 

Courses from Oracle University in P6, in ASTA, and separate User Meetings of PMA Netpoint, Synchro and Acumen precede the conference, as well as parades that pass our hotel on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We expect over 300 attendees to attend our nearly 100 sessions spread over three full days. More information is at http://www.constructioncpm.com/.