MS Project Training at Heavy Water Plant, Talchar, Odisha
After couple of successful training at Mumbai for DAE, I got a request to conduct a MS Project Training at Heavy Water Plant at Tulchar, located around 125 km from Bhubneshwar.
Talcher
Talcher is a small town in Angul District of Odisha, India. It is around 125 km from Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Odisha and nearest airport. Talcher and surrounding areas are known for its coal reserves. Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (a subsidiary of Coal India Limited) is the main company that mines coal hear. For the same reason, there is a Thermal Power Plant based on Coal. Presence of plant by Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI) for ammonia & urea and Heavy Water Plant (HWP) have made this area an importance place.
Heavy Water Plant
Heavy Water (D2O) is used as moderator and coolant in an atomic power plant. Some of Heavy Water Plants are established near to fertilizers plants as the material and gases used in fertilizers production are also used to produce heavy water. Talcher is one of them. At Talcher, HWP takes ammonia from FCI plant, uses Monothermal Ammonia-Hydrogen exchange process to produce heavy water and return the gas back to FCI.
HWP at Talcher stopped producing heavy water in 1994 due to closure of FCI Factory. It was converted into a R&D unit. Recently it is being used as pilot plant to produce Di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) which is used to extract uranium.
Before the training
MS Project training being practical and exercise oriented workshop, a PC installed with MS Project and MS office is required with every participant. All engineers and above were nominated for the program that made the count to 25. This was first of its kind training happening in Tulcher, therefore arranging PCs in the conference room for 25 people was a big challenge. High security at such plants made it even more difficult. But the General manager, IT support and administrative staff did an outstanding job in moving peoples working computer to conference room and made a perfect facility for the training.
A day before
I reached Tulcher a day before and settled down at the guest house. Thanks for Administrative Training Institute and Administrative Staff at Talcher that made the journey absolutely comfortable. I met Mr. Arun Kumar, Superintendent who briefed me about surroundings, arrangements made and schedule of the training. He use to go for a morning walk and I requested him to take me along the next day.
1st Day
Right at 6am, Mr. Arun Kumar was at guest house and we went for a morning walk. We walked through FCI Township where thousands of families used to live but now deserted as the factory was closed. It was heartrending to see abandoned building, schools, colleges, playgrounds, shopping complex, canteen etc. It was not difficult to guess that this was a very vibrant place at one point of time.
We started the training with a small inaugural function. General Manager Mr. Srivastava gave a small speech sensitizing participants about the importance of Project Management, MS Project and training. We started with a quick overview of the Project Management Processes and Knowledge Areas, connecting project management with MS Project and introduction to MS Project. We took an example project selected by participants and start building the project in MS Project.
MS Project Training – Day-2 at Heavy Water Plant, Talcher
2nd Day
Second day was power packed. We continued with same examples and added few more complexities in the schedule. I was amazed by seeing the level of interest of participants and doing exercise so religiously. We covered resource management, what data is to be collected and how to update progress with this data. Also covered report section which is overhauled in 2013 version.
3rd Day
It was the day of recollecting what all learned so far with a case study. People enjoyed the case study. In the evening, we completed the program with a feedback session and small closing ceremony. I felt very good seeing GM himself present and asking feedback from everyone on the arrangement and training contents. Mr. Srivastava (GM) presented me a traditional art.
Returning back:
Day 3 of Training at HWP, Talcher
After 3rd day’s training, I moved to Bhubaneshwar and stayed there for a day to visit Puri temple and Konark Sun Temple. I was especially impressed by Konark Temple. The architecture and art on the walls of temple was just amazing. Built in 13th Century, this massive temple was constructed in the form of a chariot having 24 wheels (12 on each side representing 12 months in a year). It is pulled by 7 horses (representing 7 days of a week). Spokes in every wheel on south side are used for measuring hours and minutes in a day. There was no cement or limestone used to join granite stones but it was told that they were hold together with the effect of magnets and iron. The main structure (Garbh Grah) is collapsed, the audience halls was filled with sand by a British Bengal Governor and natya grah is still there with some damage. Taj Mahal is most popular monument especially outside India but I think people should visit monuments like Konark Sun Tample and learn about knowledge of architecture, astronomy and science in ancient India.
Conclusion:
I reviewed the feedback collected on 3rd day. The program was successful as most of the participants rated it very good and excellent. They liked planning, tracking and reporting of a project that they chose. Most of the people found the case study as most interesting part of the program. Many participants suggested to increase the duration of the program so that they can do more case studies. I am really grateful to all officials and participants for their contribution and support in making this training a success and for the gift presented to me.
What participants said?:
Mr. Ramakant Sahoo
Very good approach and very useful for handling any type of project.
Mr. Pramod Deodhar
Faculty is very friendly. Be with the faculty during the course.
Shrinivas Tullishetti
Trainer is very good explaining the topics and very coherent in what to explain more. This training is very useful for project managers & project engineers for improving their planning and execution in a very effective manner.
Satya Prasad
Quality of the course is very good. Instructor knowledge is excellent
L B. Singh
A new experience. A good software with varied applications in almost every field of work. I would expect all future participants not to miss any of the steps as all the steps are important. Also practice a lot.