Lecture 2 2012 Identification of Contemporary Issues

7/31/2019 Lecture 2 2012 Identification of Contemporary Issues

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7CN003 ContemporaryIssues in Project

ManagementLecture 2Chris Williams

Built Environment

School of Technology (STech)


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Content of this session

What is a Project?


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What is a Project?

Project definition


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Task 1Brainstorm

Working as directed brainstorm what a

project is .

Use the A3 sheets provided and be prepared

to present your content (5 minutes each)


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Brainstorm results

One definition often used is that a project is

A temporary endeavour undertaken to create

a unique product, service or result

It needs organised work efforts

Planned, first in outline, based on scant

information, and then in detail as the project

develops It is limited in respect of resources


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Brain storm results What resources?

Time, Money, People

Have a defined start, and end Have goals or targets that the project should

achieve when eventually completed Have a unique band of stakeholders

Persons or organisations that may influence or areinvolved with the project, or affected by the

outcome positively or negatively Need a variety of people to work together for

a limited time


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Project Management

Project Management can be defined as The application of knowledge, skills tools and techniques to

project activities to meet project requirements

Includes Project Initiation, Planning, Execution and Control all within

pre-defined limits of Scope, Quality Cost and Time

Project Management then needs administrative tasks

for planning, documenting and controlling andleadership for visioning, motivating and promoting

work


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Contemporary

What does contemporary mean?

A dictionary definition says

1. existing, occurring, or living at the same time;

belonging to the same time: something that was done at the same time as something

else

2. of about the same age or date:

a Georgian house still contained contemporary furniture

3. of the present time; modern: of today


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Task 2Brainstorm

Working as directed, given the previous

definition

What does the work contemporary offer to the

term project management


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Brainstormconclusion

It means that what ever the issue is that is

under discussion it is coexistent, concurrent,

simultaneous with today.

Contemporary, contemporaneous, coeval,

coincident all mean happening or existing at

the same time. Contemporary often refers to persons or

their acts or achievements


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Contemporary Issues

So, what are the Contemporary Issues for

Construction Project Management

Some ideas


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Contemporary Issuesin Project Management It can be argued that five challenges are

common to all project-based businesses: Risk

Cost Cash flow Time Resources

The way these factors are managed, bothindividually and collectively, determines thesuccess or failure of a project.


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Contemporary Issuesin Project Management All five factors are variables that should be weighed

against each other before any major decision can be

made.

They have to be considered in the light of otherdrivers that are now moving the construction industry

towards a project-based approach such as Consolidation in the construction industry

Cross-functional collaboration A move towards off-site construction

A future with Building Information Modelling (BIM)


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Consolidation in theConstruction industry Many smaller contracting businesses have

merged or been purchased by larger

concerns recently, while at the top of the

supply chain there have been a number ofhuge mergers and acquisitions.

This activity has created larger construction

conglomerates with multiple divisions, eachoften operating in different disciplines and

starting with unique business models.


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Consolidation in theConstruction industry A traditional builder may well be able to manage

with conventional construction software packages,

but once the business expands to incorporate

utilities, road building, rail maintenance and the

extraction of aggregates, most legacy systems will be

entirely unable to cope.

Increasingly, these larger companies are now hiring

technology leaders with experience from outsideconstruction to add to the corporate gene pool.


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Cross-functionalCollaboration Traditionally, construction companies have

been extremely departmentalised.

Separate departments for estimating,

procurement, valuations and constructionplanning etc.

In many cases even the planning process

itself was carried out on a different system attender stage to that used to manage the

project during construction.


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Cross-functionalCollaboration Unfortunately, in many cases, few (if any) of these

point solutions were integrated with the core

financial system. This meant, for example, that site-

based valuations and applications for payment were

often carried out in complete isolation from the so

called cost control process undertaken in the

accounts department.

It could take weeks to reconcile the two figures, andonly then would it be clear whether or not a project

was making money.


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Cross-functionalCollaboration In an industry where real-time information is so

desirable, the inefficiencies of maintaining all thesedata silos has been questioned time and again

Bringing these separate departments together and

getting them working on the same application on thesame database can solve some of the problems thatmany contractors for decades have taken forgranted.

By unifying the data sets, it becomes possible to putin information and receive an accurate picture of theproject from financial and operational perspectives inreal time.


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Cross-functionalCollaboration Unified data is crucial for proper cost-value

reconciliation.

Traditionally, as a contractor measured

earned value on-site, the back-officeaccountants would tally supplier invoices and

determine the costs.

However, reconciling the cost and value

figures takes time and effort, and if any action

is needed to correct a problem, the project

manager may be the last one to know.


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Cross-functionalCollaboration

With cross functional integrated data an

accurate view of the financial health of the

project can be brought up in real time,

anytime. This allows a contractor to make smaller and

more measured adjustments as work

progresses instead of drastic action when it isalready too late.


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Off-site Construction Major contractors are now investing heavily in factories

and production facilities designed to move more workoff the construction site and into a more controlledenvironment.

Mechanical & electrical (M&E) contractors have led the

way, building M&E sub-assemblies off-site anddelivering them just in time. But the off-site construction trend is driving even more

activity into highly controlled factory environments withattendant cost, labour and safety advantages.

Today, entire plant rooms are being designed andconstructed in modules for final assembly in positionwhen the site is ready forthem.


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Off-site Construction

This type of construction activity not only reduces the

amount of work done on site, but significantly limits

exposure to risk that naturally results from doing

intricate work at height.

What this really means from a business process

perspective is that contractors are turning parts of

their operation into manufacturing businesses.

As a result, they are turning to manufacturing

techniques for help implementing lean manufacturingpractices for construction.


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Building informationmodelling (BIM)

Major contractors are feeling pressure from clients to

deliver more structured data about the building and

this is leading to an increased interest in buildinginformation modelling (BIM).

BIM can deliver to the client the essential information

used to plan maintenance activities, maintenance

inventories and budget for the entire lifecycle of thebuilding from handover to decommissioning and

replacement.


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Building informationmodelling (BIM) Some contractors are keen to play a greater

role in the asset lifecycle management

process (ALM).

As one major contractor said, We are no longer builders - we are asset

managers. Its just that some of our assets have

not been built yet!

Building information modelling and ongoing

asset management


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Building informationmodelling (BIM) Considering that a buildings working life

might typically be 30 to 40 times longer thanits construction period, with maintenance

costs similarly multiplied, the case for anintegrated construction and assetmanagement approach is a strong one.

By the mid 1990s, contractors were already

addressing the issue of buildability with thedesign & build approach and increasinglybranching out into the lucrative facilitiesmanagement market in search of the long-

term revenue stability that comes with it.


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Building informationmodelling (BIM) The construction industry suffers more than most in

periods of economic decline. It is pulled down early - as soon as the economy

loses the confidence to invest in the built

environment - and its recovery is held back by theglut of empty properties on the market when theupturn finally arrives.

In order to survive these difficult times, senior

managers need accurate, up to the minuteinformation on the performance of every part of theirbusiness so that problems can be addressed quicklyand action taken where necessary to prevent lossesand to boost profitable activities.


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Conclusion In this presentation four contemporary issues

have been identified and an outline of their

currency and influence on the industry at this

time has been established.

They are Consolidation in the construction industry

Cross-functional collaboration within businesses

A move towards off-site construction A future with Building Information Modelling (BIM)


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Conclusion There could be more that you could identify

yourself

but there may be sufficient there for

establishing a subject area of study for the

module. Refer back to the assessment regime and

consider the work you have to produce over

the next nine weeks (hand in date 3 June2012)


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Any Questions??

Lecture 2 2012 Identification of Contemporary Issues

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