In the Name of God, the Almighty
An Interview with Ms. Farzaneh Rahimi
Ms. Farzaneh Rahimi holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the Faculty of Technology, University of Tehran. She has been working with the National Iranian Gas Company since 1986. Since that time, she has been designing gas supply networks and has written papers on the applications of polyethylene pipes in gas networks and analysis of tension in gas pipelines. She has been posted for two years at Iran Engineering and Industrial Inspection Company, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Industries and Mines and has been in charge of inspecting goods imported from Japan and Far East. Since 2003, she has been in charge of planning and project control for building 50 gas turbo-compressors and is currently in charge of project control at Plan and Project Control Department of the company.
Asked about her activities with regard to project management, Ms. Rahimi said, “The department is in charge of planning and project control for all projects implemented by the Gas Engineering and Development Company. The statistics and reports unit collects information on various projects and draws up regular reports, including weekly, monthly and annual reports as well as case reports.”
She added, “The most important activities of our department include:
- Study and confirmation of new schedules and getting approval of board of directors;
- Following up progress of projects in a continued manner and formulating compensatory plans to make up for delay in projects;
- Funding projects and following up on supplying needed funds;
- Formulation of agreements related to projects;
- Formulation of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS);
- Collection of reports and correction of reporting forms;
- Following up on procurement of specific goods for projects;
- Cooperation with various committees of the company.”
Explaining about the use of new administrative and managerial systems, she said, “Our department is the first and the sole department at the Gas Engineering and Development Company which is totally paperless and uses Filter Plus office automation system. The system has increased speed and accuracy of our activities and has led to great saving on energy and paper.”
The official in charge of project control then focused on the manpower at her department, saying, “We have 14 official employees and 17 contractual ones. The most important characteristic of our employees is high level of specialty and education. The Gas Engineering and Development Company enjoys the highest percentage of specialized workforce among subsidiary companies of the National Iranian Gas Company and this is due to specialty of the company in implementing projects and its dire need to specialized manpower as compared to other subsidiary companies. Inside the Gas Engineering and Development Company, the highest ratio of specialized workforce is related to project management department where about 75 percent of employees have finished higher education and 45 percent of them hold master’s degrees.”
Ms. Rahimi noted that absence of confirmed and transparent procedures to contact various parts of the company was the most important problem faced by her department, adding, “Absence of project coding system has further complicated follow-up of projects when it comes to procurement, finance, credits and other important matters. Given the nature of planning and project control, which calls for extensive links to other departments in the company, this reduces productivity.
“Formulation of such procedures and paving the way for establishment of necessary infrastructures to make those procedures operational are among the most important goals of our department. At present, procedures have been formulated for cash flow, work breakdown structure and presentation of reports on projects, which will be notified after confirmation by company’s managers.”
She concluded by expressing hope that the Gas Engineering and Development Company will try more than before to increase knowledge, specialty and experiences of its staff and while creating an intimate and lively environment, provide them with adequate access to the latest technologies and modern management systems.
Public Relations Department of Gas Engineering and Development Company
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