THE PROJECT MANAGER › resources › ck › files › Newletter › SPM-NEWS... · 2018-01-09 · SPM 22nd Annual General Meeting The Society of Project Managers held its 22nd Annual

HIGHLIGHTS

September 2017

THE PROJECT MANAGERNewsletter of the Society of Project Managers, Singapore www.sprojm.org.sg MCI (P) 153/08/2014

6 June 2017 – this day marked yet another significant milestone in the journey of the Society of Project Managers with the Official Launch & Seminar for the Accreditation of Project Managers (APM). The APM is a formal accreditation scheme of project management professionals established and administered by SPM for the built environment and construction industry in Singapore. It is an official recognition that the

BCA-SPM Seminar 2017

SPM launches the Accreditation of Project Managers Scheme

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Project Manager (PM) has met the competency standards as laid out by the SPM for the practice and provision of good professional project management service.

Held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, the event saw the congregation of prominent figures, major partners and players in the construction industry coming to witness the official launch of the APM scheme. The event commenced with a welcome speech by President, SPM, Dr Ting Seng Kiong, followed by the speech and official launch of APM by Guest-of-Honour Dr Teo Ho Pin (Mayor, NW CDC). Mr Liew Mun Leong, Chairman, Changi Airport Group & Surbana Jurong Group also gave a keynote speech. Mr Chow Kok Fong, Founding President of SPM then shared on “getting a good project manager and pay him well”. The launch event cum seminar rounded off with Mr Yip Kim Seng, Vice President, briefing on the SPM APM Scheme.

Verbatim by Dr Ting Seng Kiong “We will be operating on a higher level. We will raise the level of professionalism of Project Managers. We will be an example for others to follow.”

Dr Teo Ho Pin highlighted on the 3 challenges that the construction and real estate industries face now (1) more complex building projects within a densely built up environment, (2) more projects involving underground works and (3) industry transformation map which requires industry stakeholders to champion practical changes which can attain time, cost and quality outcomes for every project. Hence, with the APM, he opined that the professional project manager can be a “broker” - to bring all stakeholders, partners and the like to come together, collaborate and transform the industry.

Verbatim by Dr Teo “I hope the industries… come together and support this framework”

Meet the Project Manager of the Future

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SPM 22nd Annual General Meeting

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Project Managers play a critical role in delivering projects on time and within budget. With the increasing complexity of projects, there is a need to manage projects more efficiently through collaboration with various stakeholders. Jointly organized by The Building & Construction Authority (BCA) and Society of Project Managers (SPM), this seminar presents various roles project managers can play for effective and successfully project collaboration through the integration of technology, people and process to improve productivity.The seminar started with Professor Hum Sin Hoon, Deputy Dean of the NUS Business School, speaking about Zheng He’s Art of Collaboration. He shared the results of his extensive research into the 15th Century Admiral Zheng He from a management perspective. Zheng He’s art of Collaboration offers a fresh approach to doing business and providing leadership in the 21st century. It presents a peaceful, win-win collaboration paradigm that is in contrast to the aggressive and antagonistic mindset inherent in Sun Zi’s Art of War. This was followed by Mr Khoo Sze Boon, Executive Director of Arcadis Singapore Pte Ltd, who presented a value approach in delivering projects through the adoption of Value Management concept. He stressed that Value Management focuses on maximizing value rather than simply minimizing cost. In addition, the Value Management approach took into consideration whole life costs which could add value to a project even if construction costs increase. Mr Khoo presented in detailed the techniques and processes of Value Management approach adopted during the various stages of a project.

Maximising Productivity through Project Collaboration

Project Management in Corporate Leadership

Construction Projects: Manage Risk To Achieve Success

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Group Photo with Speakers & SPM Council Members

01THE PROJECTMANAGER

Welcome! New SPM MembersWe extend warm welcome to the following new members in SPM:

Name Membership Place of Practice

President's Message

We just had our AGM on 21 July 2017. The new 12th council were elected. All of us look forward to serving you for the next two years.

We had overwhelming attendance at our recent 17 August 2017 talk on “An Overview of The New SIA Building Contracts”. We had outstanding speakers. I hope all of you have learned much.

We also carried out successfully on 13 July 2017 a one day BCA-SPM seminar on “Maximising Productivity through Project Collaboration”.

As you can see, we want to keep our members updated on the latest.

On 6 June 2017, we launched the SPM accreditation of project managers with very strong support from government entities, developers, consultants and contractors. We have 39 statements of support. More came in after the launch. This sent a very strong signal to SPM and the industry that we are proceeding in the right direction. We have twelve assessors in our panel of assessors. They are practitioners who are highly regarded in our industry. We want to start the process of putting Singapore’s Professional Project Managers (PPM) as the Gold Standard for

Project Management. For this, I welcome all of you to find out more and go for accreditation if possible. We need more PPMs. The months ahead will be exciting and I hope to draw on your strong support as we drive PM accreditation and give project managers the recognition they deserve.

On 10 and 11 November, we would be hosting the Global Alliance for the Project Professions Thought Leadership Forum. Foreign delegates will gather at the Singapore University of Social Sciences for the forum. I would welcome all of you to come and participate.

For now, I look forward to seeing all of you at annual dinner on 22 September 2017 at the Shangri-La Hotel.

Work safe and work smart.

Dr Ting Seng KiongPresidentSociety of Project Manager

We want to start the process of putting Singapore’s Professional Project Managers (PPM) as the Gold

Standard for Project Management

Ang Hock Beng Associate Surbana Jurong Consultants Pte LtdAng Wei Hao Associate Project Innovations Pte LtdChoa Yee Cheng Andy Associate Surbana Jurong Consultants Pte LtdGovindasamy Shanmugam Bharathy Associate SIPM Consultants Pte LtdHan Foun Tee Associate Surbana Jurong Consultants Pte LtdLim Pui Chung Associate Surbana Jurong Consultants Pte LtdTan Dunlin Veronica Associate SIPM Consultants Pte LtdTan Soon Peng Associate SIPM Consultants Pte LtdTan Zhiqian Steve Associate PM Link Pte LtdPrashant Tharmarajan Associate SIPM Consultants Pte LtdWee Gee Kheng Associate Harvest Consulting Engineers LLP Singapore Ajith Muralidharan Ordinary Vaangden Pte LtdChin Yoke Leng Christine Ordinary SIPM Consultants Pte LtdFoo Jiok Soon Ordinary NAKoh Hwee Koon Cheryl Ordinary PM Link Pte LtdLam Yue Kwai Ordinary AECOM Singapore Pte LtdLee Chek Shih Ordinary Project Innovations Pte LtdLim Soo Kim Ordinary AECOM Singapore Pte LtdLoh Chih Kang Ordinary Surbana Jurong Consultants Pte LtdLoke Guoliang Ordinary SIPM Consultants Pte LtdLow Hoon Wong Desmond Ordinary Koon Seng Construction Pte LtdMohamed Arshad Ordinary SIPM Consultants Pte LtdMoong Khai Chee Ordinary SIPM Consultants Pte LtdNg Hai Yan Ordinary SIPM Consultants Pte LtdOh Chee Chieng Ordinary ECAS Consultants Pte LtdOon Meng San Tony Ordinary Singapore General HospitalPaul Leong Liam Yeat Ordinary PM Link Pte LtdRajasegaran Ramasamy Ordinary SIPM Consultants Pte LtdSeow Yong Chye George Ordinary PM Link Pte LtdSiah Yeow Kia Desmond Ordinary SIPM Consultants Pte LtdTan Kong Yeow George Ordinary SIPM Consultants Pte LtdTang Tat Wah Ordinary Project Innovations Pte LtdTay Heng Chuan Ordinary SIPM Consultants Pte LtdWong Wai Ying Ordinary CPG Consultants Pte Ltd

02 THE PROJECTMANAGER

SPM 22nd Annual General Meeting

The Society of Project Managers held its 22nd Annual General Meeting on 20 July 2017 at the Singapore Recreation Club Lounge 1883. Members gathered for networking and catching up over a hearty buffet lunch prior to the AGM commencement.

President’s Address at 22nd AGM on 20 July 2017

Let me first thank the SPM council and the various working committees for the support and time they have given to promote the objectives of the Society.

Total membership of the Society as of June 2017 stands at 432 comprising 4 Honorary Fellows, 65 Fellows, 301 Ordinary Members, 60 Associate Members and 2 Student Members.

During the past year 2016/2017, SPM had continued our engagement with our partners both internationally and locally.

We continue to be active in the Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS) and the Construction Project Management Committee (CPMC) of the China Construction Industry Association.

The Society will continue to be active in conducting talks and professional courses for our members. The evening talks at UniSIM and the lunchtime talk at the SRC had been very well received. On 13 July 2017, we had a full day seminar with BCA on the theme “Maximising Productivity through Project Collaboration”. We had 80 participants.

SPM had just completed our 13th run of the course on Project Management for Professionals of the Building & Construction Industry with BCA Academy on 25 May 2017.

I am pleased to announce that we launched the SPM Accreditation of Project Managers on 6 June 2017. We had very strong support from government entities, developers, consultants and contractors. To date, we had 40 statements of support. This sent a very strong signal to SPM that we are proceeding in the right direction. The next phase is outreach and building up the pool of accredited project managers. For this, I welcome all of you to find out more and go for accreditation if possible.

For this year, our annual dinner will be on the 22nd September at the Shangri-La Hotel.

I look forward to your continued support and for more ideas on how we can make our Society even better.

Thank you.

Ting Seng KiongPresidentSociety of Project Managers

22nd SPM Annual General Meeting

The President highlighted a few activities organized by the society, particularly the launch of the Accredited Project Manager (APM) scheme on 6 June 2017. He also mentioned the numerous talks/seminars/courses conducted for our members. The President thanked the Council members and the various working committees for their support and the time they had given up to promote the objectives of the Society.

The Honorary Secretary, Ms Audrey Tee presented the Annual Report and the Honorary Treasurer, Ms Pauline Sim presented the audited accounts.

Besides the usual agenda, this year happened to be an election year for a new 12th Council (2017-2019/ The results were validated and witnessed with no objection from those present in the AGM. The new 12th Council has four new faces, namely Mr Patrick Too, Mr Kenneth Ng, Mr Ng Meng Hui and Mr Yew Boon Cheat. After the AGM, the President on behalf of the new 12th Council took the opportunity to express their gratitude to those who have voted and given their support to them and encouraged more members to come forward to support the society, particularly the APM committee.Written by:Mr Tan Kok Siong


Meet the Project Manager of the Future

As a leader it is important to empower the team and follow for as long as I can remember - which is a long time! - project management has been described as the process of delivering projects to meet time, cost and quality objectives. Rarely were project outcomes described as delivering benefits, enhancing capability, or creating additional competitive advantage.

As projects become more complex and business becomes more competitive, delivering projects to prescribe time, cost and quality requirements is no longer enough. The next generation of project managers must be more strategic, more commercial, and more in tune with their clients’ business needs than ever before. They must also embrace new processes and technologies to deliver a step change in tangible benefits.

Projects are a vehicle for creating change and moving from a current state to a future state where the future state is an improvement. Such improvement could be increased capacity, better efficiency, or creating different capability to enable new business operations. Project Managers will therefore need to work in an increasingly integrated way with their clients to better understand their business drivers and what improvements are targeted from the investment made in projects.

Next generation project managers will define, lead and deliver programmes of work that create competitive advantage for the business and increase shareholder value, ultimately translating into a positive return on the money invested in the project.

How is this objective achieved?

Achieving better outcomes and increasingly positive returns from capital employed can only become a reality by challenging norms and historical benchmarks and by applying new thinking and new techniques to old problems.

Here are Six Steps for Success.

Step 1 – Identify the Benefits

The first step on this journey is for the project manager to identify how the future state of the business can be improved through the delivery of a project.

Examples include:• Speed to market – Beat competitors to a new revenue stream.

• Improved customer experience – Create built assets that improve the Customer Experience, leading to increase

loyalty and higher spending.

• Higher outputs – Achieved by increasing the capacity of production facilities

• Reduced risk – Reduce risks which if realised could adversely affect the performance of the business.

• Reduced operating costs – Implement projects that reduce maintenance or energy costs.

• Increased staff productivity – Create work environments in which staff deliver better outputs.

Step 2 – Project Definition

Define what features and attributes the future state needs to achieve to realise the benefits identified in Step 1. Use benchmark data to produce accurate baselines for the performance and delivery of the future state such as functions, capital costs, operating costs, and timelines. Quantify the magnitude and timing of the benefits.

Step 3 – Solution Development

Establish robust project controls, risk management and value management processes to continually measure the alignment of the solution as it develops with the target outcomes. Keep close to the business and recognise changes in business direction, market, and other factors that might modify the intended future state. Implement corrective actions as necessary to keep the project on track and delivering the maximum benefits

Step 4 – Procurement

Develop procurement strategies that result in the engagement of a supply chain that can best deliver the overall project benefits – not just lowest cost. For example, if speed to market is valuable, paying a premium for that speed might result in a better overall return on investment.

Step 5 – Implementation

Carefully plan the optimum method of implementation in conjunction with the supply chain. Embrace new technology and more efficient and effective ways of working, such as prefabrication, robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, and mobile technology. Constantly look for performance improvement and innovation to deliver better outcomes. Think “more for less”. Hand over a defect-free, fully-tested, and operational asset.

Step 6 – Lessons LearnedNever forget to learn from the project experience, identify opportunities to deliver it better next time, and NEVER repeat mistakes!



Andrew Macpherson is the Asia Pacific Head of Project and Programme Management for Arcadis, a Global Design and Consultancy Business with over 27,000 staff worldwide.

Andrew started his career as a Quantity Surveyor in the UK and moved into the Project

Management field over 20 years ago. His sector expertise includes hotels, schools, hospitals, mixed use, retail, corporate real estate and residential.

His geographical experience includes UK, UAE, Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.

Andrew frequently uses workshops, facilitation, partnering, mind mapping, and team-building techniques to identify performance improvement in projects, define mutual objectives, and align teams for better results.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-macpherson-051a3b1/

Andrew Macpherson

About the AuthorKey areas for Project Managers to improve their knowledge and skills

Next generation project managers must develop their knowledge and skills in the following key areas:

• Develop a deep understanding of the vision and strategy of the core business they are supporting.

• Identify ways in which the business could be improved and define how that improvement can be achieved/supported by capital investment.

• Develop metrics that can objectively quantify the financial and non-financial benefits of the improvement.

• Learn how to effectively delegate – or ideally automate – routine tasks to free up time for strategic thinking, planning, solution development and problem solving.

• Embrace systems that can present real time monitoring to support timely decision making and keep control.

• Adopt a thirst for knowledge

Project Managers can add real value to support the future vision of a business and the above steps are key to success.

Sub-heading: good risk management makes a valuable contribution to the success of construction projects. Gareth Byatt explains some key elements of how to deliver effective project risk management.

Risk is uncertainty. It can be positive (opportunities) or negative (threats). All construction projects require risk to be taken and managed. How a construction project team takes and manages risk can be the difference between a successful project and an unsuccessful one. Good risk management can also play a valuable role in maximising productivity, which The Economist magazine highlighted recently as being lower in the construction industry than in other industries.

Project team culture is key

For risk management to be effective, you need a positive team environment and culture to exist. In a positive environment, project leaders regularly discuss project risks (positive and negative) and they set an example with the right “tone from the top”. When project leaders discuss risks and emphasise the importance of managing risk, the team’s attitudes and behaviours to risk should be aligned with the project objectives. The project team will be willing to articulate and communicate its risks and to ask for help when they need it.

Plan your approach

It is good for a construction project to have a project Risk Management Plan (RMP), or a “Risk Section” of a Project Management Plan. Whether your project is residential, commercial, infrastructure or some other form, documenting and agreeing how you manage risk will pay dividends.

An RMP should cover at least four elements:First, it should describe how all disciplines and teams on your project will manage risk in a coordinated way.


Second, it should describe roles and responsibilities for taking and managing risk, and the governance structure to review deliverables at key project phases and milestone reviews.

Third, it should describe the risk tools and techniques you will use, and how they will be embedded into the rhythm of the project team’s activities.

Risk tools and techniques may include: • structured Risk workshops, planned into the schedule at key

milestones (the way they are run will alter as the project progresses);

• a laminated “Risk card”, which summarises the RMP;• an IT tool (ideally a database rather than Excel) to capture

risks and controls and track actions as a shared risk register; • good practices such as schedule risk, quality risk, and

quantitative risk analysis for evaluating risks on cost and schedule.

Fourth, the RMP should describe how you will measure your success in managing risk, and leverage lessons learned from other projects.

Agree your risk appetite

Risk appetite is a technique common in industries such as finance. Projects can benefit from it also. It is used to define the appetite for taking different types of risk (financial, safety, quality, community risk etc.). Specific metrics are agreed and tolerances defined within which you want to operate. When risk appetite is designed well, it guides the decision-making of the project team on how to tackle risks, what actions to take and resources to apply to them, and when to correct trends that indicate under-performance.

When a good team environment and culture exists, and your appetite for risk is understood, taking and managing appropriate risk should be ingrained into everyday project activities.

Construction Projects: Manage Risk To Achieve Success

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In addition, to meet needs of larger and more complex building and infrastructure projects, the APM PM Competency Standards will focus on (1) Purpose/Objective/Scope Definition, Risk Identification and Management and Stakeholder Management. And to support the BE&CI, PM’s capability in Productivity, Workplace Health and Safety and Environmental Sustainability will be assessed.

(ii) Assessment SystemThe assessment system of APM is developed in alignment with international requirements. It will assess both the knowledge and practice experience of the practitioner. As Project Management is a practice discipline, greater emphasis is placed on the PM practice experience. The candidate for accreditation will still be assessed on his tacit PM knowledge As part of the submittals prescribed in the APM Application Handbook, he has to show sufficient proof of practice to demonstrate the required scope of PM experience to meet the SPM APM PM Competency Standards. Interview of the candidate will be conducted by a panel of assessors.

An inaugural panel of 12 assessors was carefully selected to carry out the assessment of APM candidates. These assessors were selected based on their good standing in the BE&CI and their experience in Project Management; and they are respected in the industry. The 12 assessors collectively have a good coverage of the industry – public and private sector; developer, consultant and contractor segments.

PM practitioners applying for the APM accreditation can refer to the APM Applicant Handbook for guidance. Comprehensive information about the APM scheme, application submission requirements and assessment requirements are found in the handbook. The APM Applicant Handbook is available from the SPM website[http://www.sprojm.org.sg/links]

The Accreditation of Project Managers (APM) is a formal accreditation scheme established and administered by SPM for project management practitioners in the built environment and construction industry (BE&CI) in Singapore. It an official recognition that the Project Manager (PM) has met the competency standards as laid out by the Society for the practice and provision of good professional project management service. An accredited practitioner will be certified as a Professional Project Manager (PPM). Key Objectives of APM

The APM scheme is essentially to raise the standard of Project Management practice in the BE&CI, which is experiencing high volume of work and facing increasingly larger and complex projects. The APM scheme will also address the call for more differentiation between the good and experienced project managers from the mediocre ones.

The APM STAR Framework

(i) Practice StandardsAt the onset, SPM has set its sight to have the APM scheme to be recognized internationally. The PM practice standards to be adopted need be of international standing. There are many international PM standards that are relevant to construction projects, including GAPPS’ Global PM Standards, the PMI’s standards based on the PMBoK, the IPMA’s International Competency Baseline (ICB), the Association of Project Management (APM) of UK based on the APMBoK, the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), and PM Association of Japan’s Project & Program Management.

SPM is a founding member of the Global Alliance for the Project Professionals (GAPPS) in 2003. Since 2003, SPM has been involved in the development of the two Global Project Manager Standards (GPM1 and GPM2). GAPPS PM standards were developed drawing on what were common across all existing PM standards in order to identify the common core covered by the majority of standards, provide a neutral basis for comparison. GAPPS has a robust mapping framework for the comparison, that shows how well each standard covers the core and identifies the extent to which each standard goes beyond the core. See Figure 2. [Reference: http://globalpmstandards.org/ ]

SPM has adopted the GAPPS PM Standards to establish its own SPM APM PM Competency Standards to be used in the APM Scheme.

The APM PM Competency Standards contains 6 core PM Competencies as in the GAPPS PM Standards, namely:

i Manage Stakeholder Relationships ii Manage Development of Project Planiii Manage Project Progressiv Manage Product Acceptance v Manage Project Transitionsvi Evaluate and Improve Project Performance


The Accreditation of Project Managers Scheme


Mr Liew Mun Leong, in his keynote address on “Project Management in Corporate Leadership” shared his experience in 3 key aspects – (1) to trace the origin of project management and how it was the project management tool used to construct the largest building project (the changi airport terminal 2) in Singapore more than 30 years ago; (2) to acknowledge how project management had influenced his own professional career; as well as (3) to

discuss why it is important to endorse the accreditation of project managers in Singapore.

Verbatim by Mr Liew “we should ambitiously extend our project managers' scope of work to include other industries and not just be limited to the building industry alone. A project manager building an oil rig, an aircraft carrier or a rocket programme is still a project manager by definition”

The event then proceeded with the presentation of certificates to Supporting Organizations who had pledged to support the APM scheme. More than 40 organizations, ranging from developers, consultants to contractors had provided their statements of support for this scheme. For more detail on Statement of Support, please refer to page 8 - Encouraging Support for Accreditation of Project Managers Scheme.

After a short tea-break, the event continued with Mr Chow Kok Fong delivering his speech on the importance of project management by citing a prominent example in Berlin Brandenburg

Official Launch of the SPM – Accreditation of Project Managers Scheme

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Mr Liew Mun Leong,Chairman, Changi Airport Group & Surbana Jurong Group

Mr Chow Kok Fong,Founding President of Society of Project Manages

Airport which had experienced extensive delay (about 11 years) and huge cost overrun (more than 3 times the original budget), and is now still under construction. He also shared studies by Mckinsey company which showed that good project management can provide an additional value of up to 25% in a project in 3 key functions of design, procurement and construction.

To round off the event, Mr Yip Kim Seng briefed on the APM scheme, which focused on the following key areas (1) The Practice Standards; (2)Training; (3) Assessment System and Eligibility Requirements and (4) Recognition.

For more information, please visit: http://www.sprojm.org.sg/links

The seminar ended with a Q&A session where enthused participants exchanged views and sought clarifications on the APM scheme. After the event, participants were then treated to a

sumptuous lunch, at the same time catching up with friends and partners of the construction industry.

Reported by:David Cheong &Lee Kok Boon Owen

Mr Yip Kim Seng,2nd Vice President

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Candidates who successfully pass the assessment will be accorded the accreditation and be awarded the Professional Project Manager (PPM) certificate. This certificate qualifies the PM practitioner for one year and is renewable annually based on the APM Continual Professional Development (CPD) system.

(iii) Training Training is an important third pillar of the APM STAR Framework. Training together with the CPD system will help raise and maintain the standard of PM practice. It will help drive and encourage the PM fraternity in continual development and lifelong learning in the PM profession.

APM candidates who fall short of the requirements in assessment may be recommended by the assessors to attend training courses to help close the knowledge or practice gap, where appropriate.

(iv) RecognitionWith more PM practitioners attaining the PPM certification and producing higher standard of PM services, and when effective and impactful outcome results in projects, recognition of the APM by the BE&CI stakeholders – public sector agencies, government procurement entities, private sector developers and contractors and consultants - will grow.

It is heartening to note that at the official launch of the APM Scheme, SPM has received statements of support from close to 40 public and private sector organisations. This is a strong

endorsement from our partners and industry stakeholders of the SPM APM scheme.

Changing the Industry Landscape

The APM scheme will propel the standard of project management practice in the BE&CI to greater heights. The scheme is aimed at improved project outcomes for the benefit of project sponsors and users, and will help the industry to achieve better project outcomes in productivity, workplace health and safety as well as environmental sustainability. Building and infrastructure projects, particularly the larger and more complex ones, managed by project managers accredited by the APM scheme will benefit in having clearer scope and objective definition, risk identification and management, and greater stakeholder satisfaction.

Written by:Yip Kim Seng2nd Vice President, SPMChairman, Accreditation Committee


At the official launch of the Accreditation of Project Managers (APM) scheme on 6 June, SPM received statements of support for the APM scheme from 39 organisations from the built environment and construction industry (BE&CI). This is a strong indication of support and a clear endorsement that SPM is moving in the right direction with the APM scheme.

The organisations are from public and private sectors, covering all segments – developers, contractors and consultants. Notable organisations are Building & Construction Authority, Centre for Public Project Manager, MOF and the Singapore Contractors Association Limited.

To date, the number of supporting organisations has reached 40!

We welcome and look forward to more

organisations to partner SPM in the APM Scheme to raise the standard of

Project Management practice in Singapore.

If you are interested to support us in this cause,

you can contact us atsocietyofprojectmangers

@gmail.com

Encouraging Support for Accreditation of Project Managers Scheme


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Prioritise Prioritisation of risks can be challenging. You need to agree and focus on the risks that matter most (such as safety risk), and how they change over time.

Many of us are familiar with an “impact x likelihood = rating” method to prioritise risks into a “risk matrix and heat map” and/or a risk register. Using a risk matrix – the structured of which is influenced by your risk appetite – to prioritise risks, and displaying these risks in a heat map, is a common approach. Additional factors can be considered when you evaluate risks, such as risk velocity and impact that one risk has on others.The size of your project will influence the number of risks on your risk register. On a large project, you may split your register up into project segments, which ensures that people remain focused on the areas they are working on whilst being able to see the overall picture in project reviews.

Team members should have a manageable number of risks to own – perhaps a maximum of ten per person (it depends on the project).

Avoid filling up your risk register with hundreds of detailed risks. On closer review, many of what you first think of as risks may be tasks. Remember that risk is uncertainty, and what you need focus your efforts on are the uncertainties that matter most (which change over time) to achieving your objectives.

Controls are keyControls are key to managing risk. These include strong Health & Safety controls, Scope Change Control, Procurement and Contract controls, and others. Having the right controls in place to manage risk, knowing which controls are critical, rating control effectiveness and testing controls is important to ensure that you have a robust control framework in place. Controls must be proportionate to the risks that are faced so that effort is focused on what matters most. The biggest risks need the most controls focus, and controls that are “critical” are those that need the most attention. Modern technology solutions offer new and innovative ways of managing risk and controls in a project environment (for example, technology can provide good safety benefits). Embedding risk management into regular activitiesWeaving the management of risk into the rhythm of your project governance structure is critical to ensuring it adds value. Management reviews, design reviews, schedule reviews and so on should have an agenda section dedicated to managing risk.

It is vital to review operational construction risks as part of your daily activities. The nature of construction projects means that operational risks are dynamic – they change over time. What was a low risk yesterday or last month may be a high risk today / this month, due to various factors (a new team coming onto site, weather changes, working in a new part of the site, or something else). Taking the time to consider “what’s new or different today?” is crucial when you are undertaking your daily construction work.

You are what you measureMeasure the cost of controls and actions to manage risks, and their effect and benefits on your project’s outcomes and objectives.

Track the cost of managing risk and your performance against risk appetite over time to achieve project objectives – review

your safety metrics, financial, schedule, supply chain metrics, community metrics and others.

LearnCapture and share knowledge and lessons learned of how you have managed risk so that others in your organisation can learn from your experiences. Your RMP should include details of how you will run knowledge capture sessions, such as peer assists (seeking knowledge before activities commence), after action reviews (quick-fire learning during activities), and retrospectives (post-implementation lessons learned).

An example in action – taking and managing schedule riskLet’s look at an example of a construction project that is assessing an opportunity to deliver – safely – a project to a tight schedule. It is prioritised as significant in the opportunity matrix. You have ideas of how to achieve a fast schedule safely (top-down construction, lean construction techniques, smart working shift patterns, etc.). You need to ensure that decision-makers understand and agree to the risks that are involved, with scenarios reviewed on how to take and manage risks and the costs to doing so that fit within your risk appetite for schedule and safety, and other types of risk (safety being paramount at all times).

The team analyses the schedule to see insights into key risks - which ones to take, which ones to manage and which ones not to take. A Schedule Risk workshop, including a Pre-mortem analysis to work backwards from an imagined successful end outcome, is held to decide what to do. Controls against risks, including those that are critical, are agreed and costed. An assessment is undertaken, including quantitative risk analysis, to demonstrate that the cost of all actions is outweighed by the benefits of achieving the schedule. The work is then performed per the agreed plan, monitored and adapted when required, with cost-benefit and safety outcomes tracked. Lessons are learned and shared.

SummaryRisk management is a project team’s ally. Taking the time to plan, implement and monitor good practices to take and manage risk increases the likelihood of achieving your project’s objectives and achieving successful outcomes.

Article by:Gareth Byatt

Construction Projects:Manage Risk To Achieve Success

Gareth Byatt is an Independent Risk Consultant and owner of Risk Insight Consulting. He is based in Sydney, Australia, and has 20 years experience in risk and project management, including working in Asia.


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Dear Readers,We invite you to contribute articles of Project

Management interest so that this could be shared with and learnt by the project management fraternity.

We also invite you and your esteemed company toplace an advertorial under our sponsorship scheme.

The cost of sponsorship is $3,000 for one full page or $2,000 for a half page. Your advertorial can be in the form

of a feature article such as a write-up on a project or projects undertaken by the sponsor or on any subject of

project management interest and practice.

You can convey your interest [email protected] sincerely looking forward to your

contributions and support.

Editorial Team

Calling for feature Articles and Sponsorship!

The Editorial Team

Mr Teoh Wooi Sin (Chairman)Mr Yip Kim Seng (Advisor)Mr Tan Kok Siong (Advisor)Mr Carlson Ng

Mr David CheongMr Lee Kok BoonMr Manish BangaMr Shaun Yeo

from the Editorial Team...

Note: No part of this newsletter shall be reproduced without the written permission of the Publisher, Society of Project Managers. The views of the writers expressed in the newsletter may not necessarily represent the corporate views of the Society and no liability is accepted in relation thereof.

< < ...from page 1

Mr Paul Wong, Senior Partner of Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP, shared the various legal and non-legal approaches to dispute avoidance and resolution. He mentioned that procurement method has a bearing on what dispute resolution mechanism will attract the attention of parties to a construction project. Fragmented relationships, separate goals and interests and competition, which are inherent in our local procurement approach and standard conditions of contract, breed confrontation and adversarialism. Each party is likely to insist in its rights and exploit the weakness of the other as much as possible. Parties involved in projects where such conditions exist are likely to seek rights-based dispute resolution mechanism at the earliest opportunity. On the contrary, some standard forms on partnering such as the ACA Standard Form of Contract for Project Partnering PPC2000, emphasize a clear preference for non-adversarial methods of dispute resolution. These standard forms provide a problem-solving hierarchy which starts with the Client’s Representative and “escalate” rapidly to the Core Partnering Group and subsequently to a conciliator or a mediator etc. if the problem persisted.

After lunch break, the seminar resumed with Mr Joseph Lau, Managing Director of DPR Construction (Asia Pacific) delivering his talk on Integrated Project Delivery: Streamlining Project Delivery Processes with Collaboration. Mr Joseph Lau gave an account that the traditional contracts (design-bid-build) are barriers against true high-performance and collaboration. Through some case studies, he showed how the Integrated Project delivery (IPD) built upon established alternative collaborative project delivery methods, and reduced capital cost by 20% while advancing schedule certainty, high quality construction, and increasing the team’s ability to accommodate additional client elected changes.

He also gave an overview of the history of BIM, VDC and IPD, how they are interrelated, the benefits of integrated collaboration, and implementation.

Mr Edmund Leong, BIM Manager, Innovation & Technology Adoption of Straits Construction Singapore Pte Ltd, then shared his experience on BIM Project Leadership. He demonstrated how BIM Project Leadership had helped in mitigating lack in productivity and challenges of achieving higher quality works in our local construction industry. He showed how BIM Project Leadership had taken centerstage, engaged beyond the roadmap in an organization, and taken a whole dimension in the company’s business to achieve the desired results.

The last speaker, Mr Eugene Seah, Senior Director at Group CEO’s Office of Surbana Jurong Group, delivered his message on partnering in construction with a review with current push in technologies and productivity. He presented how partnering should be carried out in the construction industry in Singapore, with touch points of bringing the practical benefits of what BIM, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) and other BCA initiatives together. He also highlighted how partnering helped other construction industries abroad which could also benefit our local construction industry.

The seminar ended with a lively Q&A session chaired by Mr Yip Kim Seng, 2nd Vice President of Society of Project Managers, and Associate Faculty, Singapore University of Social Science.

Written by:Mr Teoh Wooi Sin

BCA-SPM Seminar 2017Maximising Productivity through Project Collaboration


Project Management is a relatively new profession in the development industry. About thirty years ago, architects, engineers and quantity surveyors were the only key professionals working in both public and private sector development projects in Singapore. The architect, as the design professional who conceives and designs the project would normally be favoured with the highest fees. By default, he would play the role of the “big brother” to coordinate and implement his creation. Back then, it seemed fair enough and we conventionally accepted that.

But projects are now much larger, and many with more complex

innovative systems. They involve a myriad of other professional parties. The demand of project leadership

has gone beyond just creativity and aesthetics. It has to be multi-skills.

The job scope has now outgrown the designer's ability to play the lead role of managing the project.

In 1985, I was tasked by the Public Works Department to lead the construction of Changi Airport’s Terminal 2 project. With the construction area of more than 3 million sq ft and a price tag exceeding $700 million, it was then by far Singapore's largest project in terms of scale and cost. As an international airport terminal with all its latest integrated airport systems and M&E works it was then the largest and the most intricate project in the country. For example, the critical path network consisted of 11,000 one month duration activities.

It dawned on me that we would need computerised project management techniques to analyse the 11,000 activities in the network. It also required a wide variety of multi-skill sets including strong people management for the project leadership to be effective. I concluded that the Terminal 2 project could not be managed in the traditional way of the design architect leading the engineers, QS, contractors and other related professionals.

The supervision organisation was designed with a new project management model unprecedented in Singapore at that time. The architects, engineers and QSs would continue in their respective functional professional roles but a team of project managers supplemented them in managing three main success criteria namely “Time, Cost and Quality”. Instead of bestowing myself with some high sounding functional title, I designated myself as the “Chief Airport Project Manager or CAPM”. Our experiment worked well and we successfully completed the mammoth project within the planned cost, time and the quality. Interestingly Terminal 2 has flourished and my office is still there.

Following the successful completion of T2, our project management structure soon became the model for other mega projects in PWD.

The private sector gradually also adopted that model, though sometimes in different forms. I am therefore please to say that project management which we pioneered for large scale project originated in Changi Airport 30 years ago. That has become the norm in Singapore development industry today.

But as with all things, the criteria for successful project management continues to be broadened and has become increasingly demanding. We now include safety, sustainability, productivity and innovation aspects as required targets to be under the care of project management. I think it is the right direction to go.

I brought along the project management skills I learned in Terminal 2 to my subsequent careers. I adopted project management techniques to turn around a very difficult engineering firm called L&M, and used project management principles in the founding and building up of CapitaLand into a significant real estate company. Currently I have oversight in the development of Changi Airport’s next phase of expansion and am concurrently guiding Surbana Jurong’s transformation into an Asian consultancy powerhouse. Effective project management is again the main spine of our management and growth strategy.

I believe that the management and leadership skill sets I learned from my project management days can similarly be adopted in corporate management and leadership in any company or organisation.

Specific technical skills to focus on managing time, cost and quality are important for project management. To me, what is even more important is the ability to co-ordinate activities,

work with, motivate and influence people, resolve conflicts and lead

teams harmoniously.

Such responsibilities and skills are no different in corporate management and leadership except that the latter is on a longer term basis. I often say that project management, much like corporate management and leadership, is more an art than a science. And I often remind my project managers now working with me that I too was one of them before - a project manager. Similarly, they too can further progress along their careers as I did, on to corporate leadership, and to become President, CEO or Chairman of an organisation.

Let me say a few words about the accreditation of project managers. I have been working with project managers for a long while. At Changi Airport and Surbana Jurong we are easily the biggest employers of project managers in Singapore. We will need hundreds of project managers more. The question is where to find the right ones. And how do we ensure that the right project manager with the right qualifications and experience are employed to drive our project? In the first place, how should Project Managers, in general, be qualified?

In my opinion, as an employer of project managers in the building industry, any qualified professional in related industries can be accepted as a project manager. They can be trained architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, building or estate management graduates. But they must possess adequate hands on practical experience in managing projects.

I compare project managers to General Practitioners, or GPs, in the medical industry. A GP does not need to specialise in any particular medical field. As long as he qualifies as a doctor, he is able to perform as a generalist to look after the welfare of his patients. If you think about it, GPs can actually be viewed as specialists in caring for the overall health condition of patients. Likewise, project managers are specialists who are responsible for the overall management of the projects placed under their charge.

The proposed accreditation of projectmanagers by the Society of

Project Managers is in the right direction to assure us that they

have, at least, received some basic suitable qualification. It is akin

to the accreditation of registered professional engineers to practice

engineering in Singapore.

In the early 80s when I was an engineer building Changi Airport, I doubled up as the Registrar of the Professional Engineers Board. In the enforcement of the Professional Engineers Act, I had to ensure that only registered engineers with the approved accreditation were allowed to practise in Singapore.

There were some lobbies for inclusion of institutions and Universities that were not already in our approved list. We were accused of limiting the pool of professional engineers in Singapore to serve the vested interests of those who were already registered. We stood our ground, and did not change our position unless we were absolutely convinced that the proposed additional universities and their degrees met our criteria for accreditation.

My main argument was that if we lowered the standard of qualification for professional engineers’ registration, we might inadvertently grant the under qualified person a “license to kill”. Although project management registration might not be the equivalent of a “license to kill”, an ill qualified project manager might cause serious economic losses and time delays for our projects. Accreditation should reduce that risk though not in its entirety.

In conclusion, I applaud this effort by the Society of Project Managers to initiate the accreditation of Project Managers in Singapore. It is in the interest of our building and construction industry that our country’s projects are served and led by the rightly qualified and trained project managers. The Society of Project Managers is in effect conducting human resource screening for us in our recruitment programme.

My last comment is that in the long run we should ambitiously extend our project managers' scope of work to include other industries and not just be limited to the building industry alone. A project manager building an oil rig, an aircraft carrier or a rocket programme is still a project manager by definition. But that is a call to be made by the Society of Project Managers.

Project Management in Corporate Leadership

Speech by:Mr Liew Mun Leong,Chairman, Changi Airport Group &Surbana Jurong Group


THE PROJECT MANAGER › resources › ck › files › Newletter › SPM-NEWS... · 2018-01-09 · SPM 22nd Annual General Meeting The Society of Project Managers held its 22nd Annual

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