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Eventually from here project baseline will be set-up and lay out the network diagram, esources and time duration to complete the task given. b) Measuring progress or Planning In order to meet the goal in the stage 2, Project Manager has to create a system to measure the progress. In this case, I will name it as Planning or Work Programme to measure the progress. With this system either using Microsoft Project, Primavera and others suitable system, Project Manager will being able to measured, monitoring and know what’s the status of the project right now. ) Comparing actual with planned performance Using the Microsoft Project or others system that I already mentioned on the tage 2, definitely we will know exactly what is the actual progress percentage vs. planning performance percentage. This information is very important in order to control the running of the project and make sure that it will achieve the goal set-up at the stage 1 . d) Taking Action The Project Manager have to study and planning how to overcome for example the actual work-done percentage is getting slow or decreasing against the planning programme or why the project is delaying and not following the work programme.
In other words, he must quickly planning strategy to overcome the problem from getting out of control. It is called corrective action either minor or major depend on the nature of problem or issue. After taking action, we must monitor closely so that it is according to our goal or mission in the stage 1 that we already target. In conclusion, we can say that the four stages is crucial to determine or make sure the successful of the project. If we did not have any strategy to follow, it will eventually lead to the project failure and the company will suffer in the long term. b) Discuss the shortcomings or drawbacks of S-Curve in the monitoring and controlling of project’s progress (6 Marks) First of all whats the usage of S-Curve in the monitoring and controlling of project’s progress? S-Curve is tracking device in order to monitoring the progress of actual workdone vs. projected planning workdone. It will assist the Project Manager to know the reality of what is happening at the project site either project ahead of planning or delay compare with planning.
With this info, Project Manager will plan remedial and corrective action to overcome the situation or control the situation from getting worst or beyond control. Now, let us discuss regarding with shortcomings or drawbacks of S-Curve in the monitoring and controlling f project’s progress as below. – 1) S-Curve as we know will only show what is the actual percentage of work-done compare with planning schedule, however it will not give the reason why the delay happen. Project Manager has to analyse and investigates the cause of delay further . For example material on site purchased but not delivered to the site will not reflect in the S-Curve.
It means that S-Curve did not included the material on site order but not yet delivered to the site or alert the Project Manager on the way to monitor the purchasing of material whether already purchased or not? I trongly recommend that material purchased but not yet delivered to be included in the S-Curve in order to show some progress of the element or trade of works. But sometimes when Project Manager when doing the S- Curve Planning forgot or cannot predict the actual date of purchasing of material until the material delivered to the site.
Eventually the money we spend to purchase the material and delivered to site will also reflect some percentage. Same thing also due to site constraint for example lift equipment storage at the warehouse outside the site but waiting to delivered at the site, t will not reflected under S-Curve since the material not yet delivered to the site. 2) S-Curve also did not take into account preliminaries money that we spend in advance such as insurance, mobilisation of machineries, project signboard, temporary water and electricity supply and others preliminaries work.
Sometimes the initial cost to provide the logistic or the preliminaries can be more than the initial progress of work done. Even-though progress at the site delay, but in-term of financial the company have come out with money for preparation ofwork to start. So the S-Curve have to take into ccount the preliminaries cost in advance in order to reflect the percentage of work done at site even-though the physical work not much at the site. 3) Project Manager also have to been alert if money spend too much at the initial stage more than the physical work-done that can be claimed back to the client.
It will show positive progress but in reality the physical work done should more than the initial money output otherwise it will have negative impact in the long run to the financial cash flow of the company. In conclusion if because of the money expenditure the S-Curve shown positive rogress percentage instead of physical progress and time at the site versus the budget expenditure it will lead to making wrong interpretation of progress reality at site. (c) Cost variance is a measure of the cost performance in terms of deviation of reality from the plan, Explain briefly how to interpret the result of cost variance analysis. 6 Marks) Cost variance is used by the management to identify the areas of operation that are not meeting the target or budget allocated. The formula as listed below:- CV= EV -AC CV is Cost Variance, EV is the earned value and AC is Actual Cost. So it means hat if we received more that we spend, i. e. Earned Value minus Actual Cost, that automatically we are in the positive sign and the cost performance is better than expected. Same goes if the result is negative, it means that we did not make the cost performance expectation or worst.
The best example as shown below for Cost for supply and pouring of ready-mix concrete grade 25 to floor slab to site as follows: 1) Concrete Grade 25 purchased from ready-mix Supplier – RM 237. 30/m3 2) Wastage at the site -RM 7. 12/rT13 3) Labour to pour the readymix concrete for slab -RM 26. 90/m3 Sub Total r Actual Cost RM 271. 32/m3 For EV the main contractor is getting paid up to RM 300/m3 for every m3 of ready-mix concrete used for slab at the site. So the calculation for CV should be as below:- CV = RM 300 (EV) -RM 271. 32 (AC) CV = 28. 8/m3 is positive and the return or performance is very good for the company. In conclusion CV must be zero or positive to indicate that the cost performance is better than expected but if negative it means that the cost performance was worst . Question 2 (a) Direct and indirect costs are two main categories of cost of accidents of construction projects. Discuss what these costs are with suitable examples. (7 Marks) Direct cost for accidents of construction means that the cost that can easier to see and understand such as below:- 1) Medical bills either to cover medicines or emergency rooms.
Normally company will limit the cost per doctor visit at RM 50. 00 per bill for outpatient. But if serious injury that the workers have to be hospitalised and the cost will be much higher. 2) Cost to repair damaged property even-though it is already under insurance coverage. Normally it will take longer time for insurance to compensate the company fter investigation by the panel insurance company. 3) Stop work order to investigate the cause of accident if it involved major accidents such as death or building collapsed during construction.
Report have to file in and Department of Occupation Safety and Health (DOSH) or JKKP together with Local Authorities such as police will investigate if death occurred and corrective action on the way to prevent accident from occur have to submitted to DOSH by the Safety Office and management of the company. For indirect cost is the hidden cost that cannot be seen clearly or know the actual cost impact after accident happen. Listed below is the example of indirect cost such as:- 1) Administration time to deal with injury and medical care. ) Raises in insurance cost since the insurance company will imposed higher premium due to arising case of accident happen at the site. 3) Replacing the hours lost of the injured workers with hiring another workers. 4) Media newspaper attention and strict local authorities inspection such asJKKP due to the injury reported. (b) In your opinion what are the three most important causes of accidents on construction sites? Explain in detail. (6 Marks) 1) Tight schedule to finish on time When dealing with the tight schedule, the management sometimes will neglect the safety factor in order to catch up the time to complete the works.
Work until night time or sometimes work double shift have make the Safety Officer at the site in the difficult situation to implement or monitoring the safety workplace. Since the management will been under pressure they will compromise on the safety procedure in return that they finish the work within the time frame given. 2) Unsafe working environment at the site Injuries and accident happen due to negligence or unsafe working conditions uch as uncovered holes or trenches and also exposed stakes and rebar.
Even-though Safety Office have brief or give induction to all the workers at the site but sometimes they take it for granted and Safety Office and their Safety Supervisor have to make sure that safety factors have to implement strictly at the site. Basic safety helmet and safety shoes are the compulsory to use at all times at the site. 3) Lack of enforcement and routine safety inspection carry out It is common that when accident case happened it will bring the DOSH or Department of Occupation Safety and Health to inspect the site.
If no accident occur, DOSH it is seldom that DOSH to inspect the site. Lack of enforcement will bring the safety rules and regulation taken for granted since there in no check and balance carry out at the site. (c) Other than ensuring that the buildings designed fulfil the requirements of the client, the architects, engineers and other designers also have their share in safety and health matters of construction project. What are the duties as stipulated by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH)? 7 Marks) If we refer to DOSH it listed below herewith the guidelines as follow in order o guide the architects, engineers and other designers to follow strictly regarding with safety and health aspect in the construction project:- 1) Planning stage of any proposed building or civil engineering works First of all safety requirement have to follow strictly not only for the public that will used the building but also for the workers who will construct the building structure. For example if we build nearby the hill or riverside, retaining wall has to construct to prevent earth not to collapsed or disturbed.
If not, even-though building already completed the structured himself will collapsed or disturbed y the surrounding area such as overflow water or soil erosion from the hill above it. 2) Architects and engineers have to cross checking with latest building material whether the material they intend to used is complying with the safety and health set by DOSH or world standard. There is no compromised in term of using hazards material such as asbestos ceiling that already proof to be health problem not only to the workers but also to the public that will used it. ) unsafe method of construction in their design criteria. Based on my experience, I come across engineer design staircase beam that fter completed the structure beam staircase, we only found out that the clearance of the staircase is not height enough. Public and even workers have to watch their head and bow down in order not to knock their head when walking down the staircase. For me failure to design on the safety aspect will bring safety issue during and after construction to the public. ) Engineer should take into detail regarding with maintenance of plant that will be bring dangerous or hazards to the public and surrounding environment. 5) Safety and health facilities have to incorporated for work performed in order not to reated high risk to the workers and public. 6) All the related construction works have to make sure that they follow all the safety and health rules and regulation in order no minor or major accident happened. Question 3 (a) It is inevitable for a project manager to run into problems with his project.
Turner (2009) has recommended five basic options for taking action in such situations. Described these options in detail (10 Marks) Five basic options for Project Manager to take action if he run into problems with his project as follows:- 1) Find an alternative solution It is basic way to resolve problem, quickly find an alternative solution. The question such as way and method to resolve it without compromised on the quality, cost and time. Sometimes instead of waiting for first activity to resolved, we must make sure that the second activity can also start without delay .
My experience at the site such a way that when the Project Manager cannot start work at the basement, he will start at the ground floor onwards in other to make sure that construction of project stay remain the same. When the condition suited him, he will proceed back at the basement level ithout compromised on the time factor. This type of method were call top bottom construction when the above ground floor in progress first compare with below ground floor that can be constructed at later stage. ) Compromise Cost If the delay means that we have to catch up with time, we have to increased man power together with machineries and material. Automatically it means that we have to spend money to buy time. But it not necessary if we put in more resources it will expedite the work. Coordination of the work and part of working space have to give them in order they can fully utilised effectively o show drastic improvement of work done. Sometimes new comers or next group of people have to been trained in order they can master the skill to do the work.
Otherwise their work also will delay since they are trying to learn how to do the work for the first time. 3) Compromise Time If there is no other way to catch up with time, Project Manager may decide to forget about the already delay in time and continue with completion of the project beyond the schedule of original date. But he have to bear in mind that iquidated damages for the project per day delay will have an impact on the verall cash-flow and profit margin of the company. What-ever the action taken regarding with this strategy have to convey to his team and top management after taking into all aspect.
Approval and cooperation have to get first before proceeding with this option. 4) Compromise Scope Compromise Scope means that we reducing the amount Of work done, either declin ing to accept more additional work and concentrated with existing scope of work and also nominated others sub-contractor to do some of the work. For example instead of completed all the three block in one go, maybe PM can recommend to the management to award one block to third party and just focus for only 2 block.
Quality cannot be taken for granted due to the consultant have the power to reject the portion of work that did not follow the requirement specification and quality. 5) Abort the project This is the last resort for the Project Manager if all the other way not found. To proceed with the project is not worth it since the return at the end of project not profitable to the company. With delay in hand and liquidated damages imposed to the company, the only ways of the Project Manager is op stop and abort the continuity of the project.
Same goes if Project Manager on the client side, when the client spend too much of investment and feel it did not recoup the investment, the Project Manager will cut the lost and recommended to the management to stop and abort the projec t. This is why a few mixed development either commercial or housing in Malaysia abandoned such as Kemayan Shopping Complex in Johor Bahru and others. (b) Explain the functions of “cost baseline” in managing projects. (5 Marks) Cost baseline is the planned budget allocated for the project over a time eriod.
The purposed performance is to measure, monitor and control the cost performance of the project. The cost performance is measured by comparing the actual cost with planned cost over a time period. In-term of contractor point of view, the awarded tender price is the cost baseline for the project. Based on my experience we can use cost baseline to manage the project as follows 1) To award the subcontractor base on the margin that we already set before tendering exercise, say around 10% profit margin. 2) Same goes to supplier of material and machineries since we already know ow much the target profit that we want to achieve. ) Distribution of cost over a duration of the project also can be planned to make sure that whatever money we spend, we can received back the investment together with profit margin company target to receive towards the end of project. So in conclusion, based on the cost baseline, as a Project Manager he will act to planning his work based on the resources such as subcontractor, labour, supplier of material and machineries that him already secure since he already know the profit margin company set to achieve.
With the resources in hand, e will plan and distributed the cost over a duration Of the project in return for the cost performance that the company already set to receive. (c) Discuss five benefits of using milestone as a form of project control (5 Marks) Project Milestone is scheduling and status device as a form of project control to measure progress through planned lifecycle Listed below is benefits of using milestone:- 1) It will give some indication about the completion of important project steps. It will give an indicator of the current status of the on-going project whether it is in positive or negative sign.
Project team will analysed he data provided by the milestone . 2) Milestone can give moral boost to the project team in-term of project achievement. When project duration take too long to completed, the project team will used this milestone as a way to know their progress and journey towards achieved the completion. 3) It also will assist the client of any potential change request based on the milestone achieved. It means that the client have the opportunity to review their milestone achievement whether want to change the direction of the project or add in the new scope of work to the existing project. ) Milestone with elp to planning the schedule of purchasing and delivery of material, machineries and equipment in order to achieve certain progress and eventually to make sure that the milestone target are achieved. Without proper resources planning the milestone target will not been achieved. 5) Milestone also will act as coordinator between team in the construction such as quality assurance team when certain milestone is achieved. This is necessary and important due to rejecting or suspended on certain progress due to the quality problem will make the project delay and the milestone not met the target planning.
Question 4 a) Described six of the employers’ general duties on safety and health of construction projects under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (5 Marks) If we refer to summary of Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 stated clearly that:- 1) Duties of employers and self-employed persons to their employees as follows:- a) Ensure, so far as is practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of all his employees. b) The provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work to ensure safety and without risks to health, c) Make arrangements for safety and absence of risk to health in the use of lant and substance. ) provide information, instructions, training and supervision to ensure safety and health. So in-term of six of the employers’ general duties regarding with safety and health of construction project can be listed as below:- i) Produced a write in documented Safety and Health Policy, keep it updated, review it from time to time to make sure its relevant and in line with Safety and Health policy Act 1994, DOSH 2007 or others relevant act in future. ii) Every party in the construction team either main contractor and also their subcontractor shall develop or complied with the Client Safety and
Health policy Manual that will safe guard the Safety and Health factor either public or his employees in line with Section 1 Occupational Safety and Health Act 1 994; Dosh 2007. iii) Every party in the construction team also such as Main Contractor, Contractor and sub-contractor shall make sure that during operation, handling, transport, storage of plant and substance is safe and without risks to health when property used either to the public or his employees. v) Every Developer, Main Contractor, Contractor and Sub- Contractor shall make sure that all workers are well informed and guide lways regarding with hazards of their respective occupations and take all necessary action and precaution to avoid any un-towards injuries, accidents and risk to health to all their workers either foreign or local workers including also to new workers that doesn’t have any experience at all. ) Every developer, main contractor, contractor and sub-contractor shall allocated and provide sufficient fund to ensure that all the minimum safety aspect requirement are executed, implemented and well maintained throughout the project duration as required and imposed by the DOSH 2007 and others elevant act. vi) Every owner, developer, main contractor, contractor and sub-contractor must and shall take all necessary effort and care to develop and promote safety and health programs.
This is necessary to make sure that who-ever conduct activities, so far as is practicable, that others are not exposed to risks of their safety and health. 4(b) The importance of conducting project closeout meetings has been increasingly recognized by the construction industry. Explain in detail the recommended six main areas to be covered by a project closeout review project with suitable examples (1 0
Marks Project closeout is the last part of the project life-cycle, in order to have a lesson learn and discussed at project review as part of the closeout phase. Project Closeout will be conducted when the project goal is meet that is project completion and complete hand-over to the client. Listed below are the six step procedures or main areas to be covered under project closeout review project 1) Completion of the project When we talk about completion of the project, it means that it 100% completed.
It is normal when they will some minor works still left out or in rogress such as cleaning works such as rubbish from site, touch-up works, testing and commissioning of Mechanical and Electrical items and others works that the percentage is small and not critical but mUSt been completed. When dealing with M equipment, manual operation in-term on how to operate and maintenance the equipment has to prepared and documented and ready to hand-over to client including training provided to the client maintenance team. This is essential to guarantee and make sure that the client maintenance list able to operate the building without any problem. Handling over the project It is standard practise in the construction industry, when the contractor feel that they already constructed according to the specification in-term of workmanship and follow all requirements listed by the consultant and the client, they will request for Certificate of Practical Completion (C. P. C) from the Architect to issue to them. This is the first step to handling over the project to the client. When the Architect receive the request from the Main Contractor, he will arrange final inspection together will others consultant team and client ide to inspect the project together with the Main Contractor.
It means according to PAM (Pertubuhan Arkitek Malaysia) Contract 2006, the defects or maintenance period will start from the date of CPC issued to the Main Contractor. 3) Gaining acceptance for the project It also related on item 2, Handling over the project. If the client accepted it after recommendation from the consultant side, such as the issuance of CPC, the client can occupied the building. This is necessary since the consultant together with others local authorities have dully inspected and issue recommendation, i. . Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC) received together with CPC from the Architect.
The client should not be worried about minor defects because it is still under guarantee or maintenance period. The Main Contractor will provide their maintenance team to take care any defects during the Defects Liability Period. 4) Harvesting the benefits When we talk about the project completion, the client will the one that harvesting the benefits and will be taking over the site and occupied the project and building. Eventually it is win-win situation to the client, consultant eam and main contractor that they have successful completed the projects.
The benefits will be soon make known to all the public and the public will know who’s the party involved in the successful of the project. With the successful track record and name already published, it will soon others potential client will follow suit and engaged the same team to continue with new project. The best example is LEGO land project in Nusajaya when people will want to know who’s the client, consultant and contractor team involved to build and launch the project.