G²D’s competence in the fields of civil engineering and project management is substantiated by its ongoing involvement on the ~$1-billion Emergency Storage Project (ESP) of the San Diego County Water Authority. Slated for completion by 2012, the ESP is a system of reservoirs,  interconnected pipelines, and pumping stations designed to make water available to the San Diego region in the event of an interruption in imported water deliveries. The scope of G²D’s project support services include: compilation of information from Water Authority project managers and from the Water Authority’s Peoplesoft financial system to assist in the preparation of periodic reports to the Water Authority’s Board of Directors on the status of the ESP; assisting in the monthly updates of the Water Authority’s Primavera-based project schedules and resources pertaining to the ESP; assisting in the estimating and tracking of costs for the various ESP components, as well as the performance of cost control analyses to support management decisions; assisting in technical reviews; and assisting in the preparation and delivery of presentations on the ESP to various audiences as requested.

G²D has essentially been involved in the ESP since 1993, when Dr. Gerald Iglesia, G²D Principal, developed a linked-spreadsheet model for evaluating various alternative systems to provide emergency water storage for the San Diego region in the event of a disruption in the water supply due to a major earthquake or flood. In conjunction with the excellent technical insight afforded by its own staff, G²D’s outstanding capabilities with spreadsheets and other software applications have proven to be valuable in formulating the bases for various important decisions on the ESP. G²D has also been instrumental in incorporating the ESP into the Water Authority’s Primavera-based Project Controls system, and in updating, from the ground up, the cost estimates for the project.

Recently, G²D has been supporting Water Authority staff, in Engineering and other departments, on the management and tracking of costs and schedules of the different components that comprise the ESP.

Some of the meaningful contributions by G²D personnel to the ESP in particular, and to the project management discipline in general, have been showcased in a recent technical paper entitled “Cost-Effective and Efficient Management of Project Schedules and Budgets Using Spreadsheets” (Iglesia et al., 2001). This paper demonstrates that modern spreadsheet applications can be used to perform critical path analyses, in addition to merely tracking project schedules and budgets. This paper, which was presented and well-received at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Specialty Conference on Fully Integrated and Automated Project Processes (FIAPP) held at the Virginia Polytechnic and State University in January 2002, also essentially addresses the “wish list” of project management (PM) software users. This “wish list”, as documented in a separate independent study (Liberatore et al., 2001) published in the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, includes: (1) integration of PM software with other software packages; (2) increased flexibility of PM software; and (3) userfriendliness, with lower training/learning cost. The efficient use of readily available modern spreadsheet applications for the management of projects can effectively tackle the documented concerns of PM software users – a capability mastered by G²D.

G²D’s exceptional work on the ESP has drawn many praises, including:

! “… I appreciate the tremendous efforts of Gerald Iglesia in helping us with PSM/budget forecasting for the G0200 projects. His grasp of the issues and ability to quickly cut through to the important things has been a lifesaver.”

! “… You are doing really fine, untiring work. Your assistance on a particularly knotty project is greatly appreciated.”

! “… You have been a great help to us in the schedules, Critical Success Factors, and project budget arenas (as well as being a utility player on many other tasks).”