Annexure 2
Project Report for Construction Project Managers (Pr. CPM)
Project successes and challenges
CONTENTS
Chapter Description Page
report brief 1-1
introduction 1-1
1 part 1 - SUCCESSES 1-1
1.1 Project Integration Management 1-1
1.2 Project Scope Management 1-2
1.3 Project Time Management 1-2
1.4 Project COST Management 1-3
1.5 Project Quality Management 1-3
1.6 Project Human Resources Management 1-3
1.7 Project Communication Management 1-3
1.8 Project Risk Management including Health and Safety Issues 1-3
1.9 Project Procurement Management 1-4
2 part 2 – CHALLENGES, FRUSTRATIONS AND FAILURES 2-4
2.1 Integration Management 2-4
2.2 Scope Management 2-4
2.3 Time Management 2-4
2.4 Cost Management 2-5
2.5 Quality Management 2-5
2.6 Human Resource Management 2-5
2.7 Communication Management 2-5
2.8 Risk Management 2-6
2.9 Procurement Management 2-6
3 conclusion 3-6
E Espach Annexure A2 Sucesses and Achievements report (2).docx Rev 9 / September 2012
E Espach Annexure A2 Sucesses and Achievements report (2).docx Rev 9 / September 2012
report brief
Provide a report of 1500 words detailing the successes that I have achieved on example of a project that I have managed and how these were achieved. The report must demonstrate your technical competence as well as your understanding and project management competence both as a Principal Consultant and Principal Agent.
The report is written under the following nine project management knowledge areas:
1. Project Integration Management
2. Project Scope Management
3. Project Time Management
4. Project Cost Management
5. Project Quality management
6. Project Human Resources Management
7. Project Communication Management
8. Project Risk Management including Health and Safety Issues
9. Project Procurement Management
introduction
The Happy Valley low cost housing project consists of 1452 serviced erven with top structures. GIBB was appointed in 2008 as the external Project Managers to assist the City of Cape Town Project Manager with the overall coordination and management of the extended team activities. GIBB was appointed via a professional services CIDB format contract. I have been working on the Happy Valley low cost housing project since 2009, firstly as assistant Project Manager under Sean Molloy and later as main external Project Manager.
Managing external professional service providers and the contractor who are not directly contracted to GIBB has its challenges. I have played a supporting management and advisory role to ensure that service providers undertake their scope of work within the conditions set in their contract with City of Cape Town. Our client has given us a client feedback score of 6 out of 7 and has been very happy with GIBB’s services.
1 part 1 - SUCCESSES
The following successes have been achieved on the project.
1.1 Project Integration Management
Working closely with the client’s Project Manager and the wider professional team, we have managed to get the required environmental authorisation, town planning approvals and funding in place. With the Marketing Subsidy administrator, we surveyed the community residing on the development site and planned the relocation process to clear the site. In 2011, I was able to manage the process of procuring the services of a turn-key contractor via the City of Cape Town’s supply chain management office. This initiated the start of close liaison with the contractor, various City departments, Provincial Government of Western Cape (PGWC), Department of Human Settlements, National Housing Building Regional Council (NHBRC), the Occupational Health and Safety Officer as well as the Environmental Control Officer. Ongoing interaction with the professional and wider team has ensured that 1452 housing units have been delivered. It has been a great success to get so many organisations to work together and timeously give their inputs. I now have a better understanding of what provincial governments role is when it comes to planning and implementing housing projects.
1.2 Project Scope Management
The scope for this project was to provide affordable housing for applicants living on the development site who were registered on the National Housing Waiting list. Through planning processes a town planning lay-out for 1011 erven was approved. My role in this was to follow up with role-players such as the Environmental Assessment Practitioner, land surveyor, town planner and engineers to ensure that required tasks were completed on programme. The site was split into two portions; one for low cost housing and for the other as an industrial site. During the course of the project it was confirmed that the industry planned for the industrial site was not viable and it was developed into 141 low cost housing units.
An additional change in scope which came to light during the preparation of the construction tender was the possible exclusion of up to 300 sites from the contract. 100 could be only serviced erven and 200 could be re-allocated to a Peoples Housing Process organization.
Part of our initial appointment was to monitor the construction of the top structures. Due to a dispute between the original engineers and City, GIBB was also asked to assist with the contract administration and site monitoring for the Civil Services. This closer control over site activities made it easier to manage construction activities. It has been good to work with a client who understands the dynamics of an ever changing situation on site and supports the professional team with the funding as well as resources such as Law enforcement as needed.
1.3 Project Time Management
GIBB was appointed in 2008 and it was envisioned that the project would be completed by 2012. The programme was adjusted due to additional processes such as Environmental Authorisation for changing the industrial site to residential sites and the related town planning processes. Construction completion was now planned for 2013. My role was to monitor the progress, and that team members completed tasks in the planned timeframes.
The procurement of the contractor was concluded in 2011 and a construction programme was tabled. I assisted the client with procuring a turn-key contractor which prevented duplicate procurement processes and future extended meetings with multiple contractors. Though some delays such as community unrest, delays with services inspections and even a national strike were experienced, the construction has managed to stay on target for completing the 1452 erven and top structures before the end of 2013. This was due to discussions and agreement with the contractor who assisted with accelerating the initial programme to reach City housing delivery targets for 2013/2014 financial year. Taking a piece of land from a derelict un-serviced area to a community of over 10000 people living in save houses with full services in the space of just over five years has been a major success.
1.4 Project Cost Management
As Project Manager I assisted the client with the overall funding application to Province for housing budget and the allocation of budget per service provider as they were appointed for project implementation. I monitored claims against the project on a monthly basis and assisted the client with planning of the expenditure on a financial year basis. By procuring a turn-key contractor, we were able to prevent many claims to the city for delays in activities between the civil services contractor and the top structure contractor which would have been a further cost to the project.
The internal GIBB costing was made easier with the use of our Project Resource Execution and Planning software to plan effort/ cost of each team member. Completing the project in the allocated budget even though additional effort was required has been an achievement.
1.5 Project Quality Management
GIBB is an ISO 9001 certified company and I used our Quality Management System (QMS) to assist with checks and record keeping required for such an extensive project. Working closely with my site team, we were able to ensure compliance with industry and client standards for the various service providers and the actual construction. An internal project assistant helped to keep track of the bulk documentation which will be part of our records proving that the services and top structures delivered are of a high standard. In an ever more audit orientated setting, the QMS has ensured that I could respond to requests for information and remind the client of previous decisions made.
1.6 Project Human Resources Management
The GIBB team initially consisted of a Project Technical Executive for strategic oversight; I was the Project Manager and a top structure clerk was sent to site to oversee the top structure construction processes. GIBB was contracted to review the services design and assist with the contract administration, construction monitoring and additional resources could be allocated to the project as we had experienced site staff available. It is of immense value to be able to pull in the right staff who are flexible in their approach and can cope with the added strain of being at work even if it is raining and at times part of the site is flooded.
1.7 Project Communication Management
With the help of smart phones, project communication has been simplified as site staff is able to send photos and e-mails from site to make enquiries or provide information to resolve queries. It was agreed from the start that all project communication had to be cc-ed to me as Project Manager to be able to oversee information flow to the client and contractor. This meant I could pull together information that I received from different sources. Formal communication was then logged on an outgoing and incoming register as per our QMS.
1.8 Project Risk Management including Health and Safety Issues
A huge risk to the project was that we might not get enough individual beneficiary subsidies approved. The GIBB team worked closely with the Marketing Subsidy Administrator to manage the progress and be able to complete this task. I monitored the handover of the top structures to check that only persons with a subsidy moved into top structures
To ensure that the project complied with Health and Safety standards, monthly inspections were undertaken and site monitoring staff monitored activities. For example, the contractor was asked to pump water from a flooded section of the site and City Disaster Management also assisted the community.
1.9 Project Procurement Management
Knowledge of municipal requirements for Supply Chain Management (SCM) ensured that we could support the client with relevant advice and follow the correct processes to appoint various service providers. A good working relationship with SCM staff at City assisted that a turn-key contractor, which offered value added options and provided the beneficiaries with a high standard of top structure, be appointed.
2 part 2 – CHALLENGES, FRUSTRATIONS AND FAILURES
The following challenges, frustrations and failures were experienced on the project.
2.1 Integration Management
A challenge on this project has been to get internal Client representatives to sign off on designs and tender/construction drawings. Working within a system of approvals, which if not formally given timeously, could have delayd the project and could have incurred claims against the client? Though City design standards were taken into account, new requirements were enforced when the contractor was already on site. This placed a burden on the design engineers and site monitoring team, but the final product was improved. A further frustration on this project was trying to get internal City finance representatives to understand the dynamics on site and how this affected the claims to province and payment to the contractor.
2.2 Scope Management
With the changes to GIBB’s scope of work, it added challenges of extensive monitoring of the administrative documentation process. Having to adjust to the City engineers changing requirements as well as site specific elements and the additional time inputs from the team, required extra checks and balances. We found that the interaction of having a community on site added the challenge of managing expectations. After their appointment, the contractor suggested a different approach to moving occupants of the site. The community facilitator had to liaise closely with individuals, while the GIBB and contractor team had to adjust the plan of action from day to day to accommodate certain individuals who were not prepared to move to the Temporary Rest Areas (TRA) as instructed.
2.3 Time Management
It was found that the processes, which did not have a regulated timeframe linked to it, were delayed. We, the Project Manager and the City Project Manager had very little control over this. Delays with the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in transferring the Mother erf ownership to the City and then getting the town planning approved extended the timeframe. Further disputes between City of Cape Town and a professional service provider caused delays in going out to tender for the construction phase. I was involved in the negotiations with the service provider.
The residing community had their own agenda. They created serious disruptions which stopped the contractor from working on site. Only after careful negotiations with the community was the construction continued. Further strain was put on the programme by national civil services construction workers strike for which we could not have planned.
2.4 Cost Management
Linked closely to scope management, challenges arose when some service providers indicated that they were doing additional tasks which were not originally included in their terms of reference. A price for such additional tasks had to be negotiated within available project funding.
Getting access to additional funding for the project based on the increase in subsidy quantums as gazetted by the National Department of Housing was frustrating. As the contractor’s agreement included an increase in fee’s based on such funding increases, application processes had to be followed. The implementation of such increased fees has not been straight forward as it is one thing to have it approved budget for the project and quite a different situation to be able to make payments against individual subsidy claims.
2.5 Quality Management
The extensive requirement of having documentation as supporting deliverables to prove that deliverables were provided has created filing space challenges. Though it was agreed with the contractor that the documentation for each top structure unit would be provided in scanned electronic format, some original documents such as the Handover Happy letter and the top structure plan are of such importance that it is kept in the GIBB office during the project. This meant we had to ensure close control over monitoring the receipt of such documents and of where original documents are filed, so it can be handed over to the client at the end of the project.