The Communication In Design Process Between The Employers And Consultants

Construction industry in Vietnam has grown up quickly since 5 years ago. The Vietnam government is striving to attract foreign investment by altering the Foreign Investment Law and developing the tax system in the country. This has caused the development of the global construction since 2006.

Professional construction management is a major force for change in conventional practice, predominantly to manage the design process in a better way. By Pareto approach, if we can find out and solve the design changes and design errors, every rework in construction can be solved.



Design is a complex process that combines with varieties of special knowledge, such as aesthetic, technology, economic, management. Within the modern period, architecture design has borders with as many as twenty – one different disciplines and fields. The knowledge is diversified and fractured into many sub-disciplines.

From its own characteristics and disciplines, it has many problems by itself. How to solve and avoid these problems? The answers come from the nature of design process which comprises of stages such as interpretation, generation, comparison and choice.

At any point, for moving to another step, it is necessary to interact and evaluate it to understand the original problem, and so the process is continually cycling between and within the parts of the thinking process. For the thinking process move smoothly and the problems are solved thoroughly, the designer needs to have a good strategy of communication with perfect communication tools. As the practice of management and nature of design characteristics had proved, communication is a priority issues to solve all problems of design.

Ms. Tran Thi Nguyen Cat made a study which focused on the communication between Employers and Consultants in design process. The objective of her study is to investigate the communication during design process which involved the following:

1. Develop the framework to investigate the communication practice between owners and consultants during design process.

2. Investigate the communication problems with regards to:
- The expectation between the employer and the consultant
- The project organization in terms of the communication roles and responsibilities on the managerial levels and the effects of project team leader backgrounds on communication.
- The stages of design process.

3. Prepare the recommendations for input of communication in design process.

Conclusion

The Design and Construction in Vietnam is in state of globalization. The relationships in the project organization are more and more complicated, so the role of communication in design process is considered. In this study, it focused on the communication interface between the employer and the consultant design team, and among the consultants in term of function, timescale, finance and aesthetics. In there, the communication problems that can exist between expectation and realization in design process are considered, such as:

 Problems between employer’s expectation and foreign consultant’s expectation.
 Problems between employer’s expectation and local consultant’s service delivery.
 Problems between foreign consultant’s expectation and local consultant’s service delivery.
 Problems between interior design consultant’s service delivery and local consultant’s service delivery.
 Problems between the design progress and construction progress.

These problems happen because of the main reasons such as:

 Lack of understanding of client requirement by design team
 Insufficient input brief by design team
 Inappropriate composition of client briefing team
 Lack of expertise by client team leader and briefing team
 Form of brief inappropriate for communication of requirements
 Inappropriate design team experience as a whole

By using the frameworks, the components to investigate the communication problems in the relationship between the employer and consultant during the design process are as follows:

a) The communication problems in project organization regarding to
 The communication roles and responsibilities of the levels of managers
 The effects of project team leader backgrounds on communication

b) The communication problems at each stage of design process.

Throughout the frameworks of research and defining the communication problems, the recommendations have developed to achieve the success:

 Find out the barriers of communication. These barriers should be taken out and innovated to improve the communication skill.

 The communication roles and responsibilities have to set levels according to the levels of organization. These roles and responsibilities have to be clear and obvious. The intra- and inter-communication frequently need confirmation and delegation in appropriation, to avoid the lack of information.

 The backgrounds of project team leaders at each stage of design process have to be appropriated to the scope of work.

 The most important agenda of communication at each stage needs to be discussed in sequence carefully and formally. It cannot move to the next stage until the previous stage is thoroughly understood and approved.

The table below is the list of the key communication problems, recommendation to solve it and also show the person who create most problems.

The list of key communication problems and their solutions



For achieving the design success, the communication management takes an important role. Based on the investigation, the communication problems and the recommendations of communication management have been proposed. In this study, the tools of communications are not concentrated. However, for improving the communication skill, both employer and consultant need to develop a complete procedure of communication.

A further study should be:
 Tools of communications in design process.
 Procedure of communications in design process including the design checklist establishment in Vietnamese case.

Her thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

Design is the activity of turning a ‘need’ into a solution, a ‘concept’ into a reality throughout the process of human interaction, consequently, the result contains the interpretations, perceptions and suggestions of the people involved. During the design process, communication acts will occur in many channels, but in there, the main channel deciding the success of project is the communication between employer and consultants.

By reviewing the issues and knowledge regarding to communication between employer and consultant in design process, the frameworks to investigate the communication problems are establish. The literature is reviewed in two fields, one are about the communication problems and the source of communication failure, one are about the design process including the organization, leadership, tactic for developing a project culture.

Throughout a case study of the office building project in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, the communication problems that exist in the interface between employer and consultants during design process will be investigate and analyze based on the frameworks. The frameworks of investigation are related to the expectation between employer and consultants; the communication roles and responsibilities of the levels of managers; the affects of project team leader backgrounds on communication; the communication at each stage of design process. In according to the common problems would happen in practice, some proposed recommendations will be discussed to improve the communication management in design process.

Factors Causing Delay In Construction Projects: A Case Study Of Commercial Construction Project In Ho Chi Minh City

When Vietnam got the WTO membership in July, 2006, it has gained greater opportunities than ever before for investment from international company and global integration, FDI has continued to rise since 1997 and it increased sharply in 2008. The development of economic always brings about the development of construction industry. In fact, the rate of construction project is increasing quickly in recent years. So, how to manage them effectively and efficiently is not only the owner’s essential requirement but also the responsibility of construction industry, this demands special knowledge and experience from project managers. However, according to recent survey, a numbers of commercial building which had the delay problems are very significant.

In commercial construction building, factors of time and quality are prioritized. Investors would have significant financial damage if their project had problems on quality and delays. The time, cost, quality and scopes of work are core factors contributing to a project success. Managing well these factors is project manager’s top priority task. There are many documents and studies of project management which have been conducted, so project managers have a lot of chances to access huge knowledge and experiences and apply them to their job. However, depending on the type of construction works, the actual circumstances and the knowledge and experiences are utilized differently. Mr. Phan Hong Hoan made a study which main purposes were to: (1) develop framework to investigate delay problems affecting on schedule in commercial building construction; (2) investigate the delay problems so that the critical delay problems can be identified; (3) propose solutions to prevent the critical delay problems from occurring during construction execution stage.

Conclusions

Delay problem is the thorny question in construction industry not only in Viet Nam but also all over the world. The cause of delay in construction stage arises from countless factors. The problem cannot be solved thoroughly, if these factors are not identified and restricted or eliminated. However, the restriction of time and finance doesn’t allow project manager to solve all influencing factors, so it is necessary to identify the critical factors.

This study developed the framework which is very practical to find out the critical factors causing the serious delay problems in construction building stage. The impact level of these factors on construction duration can be different from this project to another project, but the method to evaluate them is similar. So this approach can be applied to almost construction building.

Case study is analyzed to illustrate the systematic method to investigate and identify the delay problems and their causes in SECC, a project concerned with international contractors, consultant.

The investigation result of delay problems in SECC showed that there were many factors leading to the delay of the SECC. The severities of these elements are arranged in order of priority. Below is the table of top critical factors:



Basically, the results of the investigation showed that most fundamental source of the top critical factors was derived from the following basic elements:

- The Government’s legal regulation in importing has been inefficient and not clear.

- PM in SECC has shortcomings and weaknesses especially in risk evaluation or project planning and human management.

- Contractor’s construction organization is not really efficient and effective.

- The shortage of engineers and workers having experience and highly professional, is contractors’ inextricable questions, especially the contractors for the project which has scale and high technology specification such as SECC.

- Legal regulation in construction industry is not really strict, so the collusion among parties likely to be existent, it makes contractor collection process unfair. So some contractors having financial competence were chosen.

- Collaboration between investors and designers in the design phase plays an important role in reducing the design changes during construction.

Recommendation for project management improvement

Based on the conclusion above, human factors is one of the original delay problems. There are many potential solutions for fore-mentioned problems; however, the really effective solution depends significantly on specific situations of each construction building. The following texts relies on individual perception, these propositions need to be analyzed and studied deeper in another research or need to be verified before these assumptions become official statements.

- Build an ideology for project manager, engineers, architects etc so that they can recognize delay problems which will lead to large losses as well as the project completion on time. Simultaneously, top management should establish a fair reward and punishment policy which has to be strictly applied.

- Wage policy should meet the minimum standard of living. This will reduce the pressure of economic and help managers focus on their work fully and integrally.

- It is necessary to build up the relationship between benefits from the project
completed on schedule and the benefits of project manager and participants. This will be a motivation for them to have positive outlook to work actively.

- Each individual responsibilities and rights must be clearly defined; this will limit the avoidance of responsibility, the dodge of work and bureaucracy to a minimum.

- The working conditions should be improved gradually aiming at building proper working atmosphere; this will help work done more effectively.

- The human resource training towards professionalism in the management and professional ethic improvement need to be set out and prioritized.

- The procedures of legal regulation in imports and some other areas have remained very limited and inadequate. To be the member of WTO is a challenge which forces Viet Nam to improve this legal procedure. This legal process not only in import-export but also in the other fields must be clear and transparent. This will help project planners to have the basis to plan for their projects accurately. If this procedure is not improved soon, Viet Nam will be left behind, compared to other countries in the region and we, ourselves, will be faced with great damages.

- Consultant’s managerial skill is weak; it is not be able to satisfy the size and the demand of project. It is not only necessary to promote professionalism in the work of quantity estimates and design, but also very strict in choosing the consultant, designer and the basic of collecting consultant must rely on their capacity. Simultaneously, the responsibility must be assigned to definite individual.

- Project management has been a new concept in construction section in Viet Nam. So almost project managers were not professionally educated, instead engineers or architects who used to work many years in construction field are usually assigned as a project manager.

- The project management training should be paid more attention in the future. It should be the main goal in Construction University. It is not only reduces delay problem but also enhances the success probability of construction project. Not only project manager must be educated professionally, but also their capacity has to comply with the assigned duty.

- The collusion between supervisor, stakeholder and contractor can be existent. This intricate question not only happens in Viet Nam but also in developing countries. To restrict this problem to a minimum, the wage policy should satisfy actual living standard, and award and punish policy should be impartial.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

In construction industry, a project is known to be successful when it meets three fundamental criteria such as finishing on time within the budget, the prescribed quality requirements such as satisfying customer’s demand and adapt safety in operation stage. Unfortunately, many commercial construction projects in Ho Chi Minh City have problems of project management leading to their delay. Investigating these problems has become project manager’s indispensable demand.

In general, the problems involved with project delays are solvable. In making effort to solve these problems, the critical factors influencing negatively on construction duration need to be discovered. Hence, it is very important to establish a systematical approach that will be used as a tool for the investigation.

This report will assess and analyze key factors causing the delay problems in construction project in Ho Chi Minh city. The qualitative method, basically is based on the principle of assessing the risk level of factors impacting negatively on the progress of the project, and it is conducted to fulfill the objective of the study. Case study is brought out to discus about delay problems in the Exhibition and convention Center Project (SECC).

Finally, some solutions dealing with project delay problems in construction executing stages are proposed.

The Delay Factors In Building Construction Stage: A Case Study Of Office Building In Hochiminh City, Vietnam

Recently, many construction projects in Vietnam are being delay, which become a big problem for each project and has not been solved yet. In construction stage of the project, project managers have to anticipate many factors that might cause delays. Therefore, they need to have better solutions before construction start. However, in Vietnam, both owner and consultants do not care about this, which is the reason why many construction projects are delayed.

Mr. Phan Vu made a study which main purpose was to find out the major events causing delay and consequential effects at construction stage. These were analyzed in different prospective: owner, contractor, designer and consultant. Then, recommendations for preventing delay are proposed for future construction projects.

Conclusion

An overall view and solutions for preventing or reducing delay for future projects are summarized as follows:

Table 1: The major events causing delay and their recommendations



Recommendations for the further research

This research analyzed the delay factors and responsibilities of all parties in building construction project. However, for further research, more specific causes should be analyzed. Moreover, it needs to be focused in finding solutions, which use to get back the lost schedule or push all work in site faster.

This paper mainly analyzed at the construction stage of building. Therefore, further study should be carried out to find out delay factors on preparing construction stage or feasibility study stage. These stages usually cause delay longer than construction stage. Besides, further researches should analyze other delay topics, not only for civil and industry construction but also for hydraulic projects and traffic projects, etc. Moreover, the information and coordination among parties in construction project are also very important in solving delay problem. Therefore, it is necessary to research these fields.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

Nowadays, many construction projects are hardly on time (exclude the small projects). This problem is common but finding the causes and issuing the best solutions are not easy. Although it affects to all related parties. Delays in construction affect to variation of time and cost. Delay of construction project will affect to investment effect and the speed of economic increase, especially in office building project.

By using many analysis methods in methodology section, these methods will be applied in case study to analyze the major factors and responsibility of client, project manager, construction manager, consultant and contractor.

Report the findings of a research study, which was undertaken to examine the underlying factors affecting the delay of construction project. It also aims to identify factors that show a strong correlation to delay. The ultimate goal is to provide clients, project managers, supervising consultants and contractors with information that can help them become more efficient with reducing delay in construction project.

Matrix Structure In Small Scale & Fast Track Construction Project: A Case Study Of Office Fitting-Out Projects

Vietnam is a developing country which needs a large amount of investment special in infrastructure and construction industry from ODA and FDI. In infrastructure and construction industry, the technology of Project Management is one of the most important factors lead to successful projects.

Most of these projects are under project management unit of a state company (PMU). If there is a new investment, a new PMU has to be set up for new policies, forms, norms. This method wastes a lot of human resource, time and cost resulting to late delivery and over budget.

The lack of skilled persons to meet the requirement of construction projects in an emerging market as Viet Nam is a big issue especially in small and medium companies which precede small scale and fast track projects. The functional organization is not suitable for Project Management in construction because of not using & not salvaging all capability of white collar worker. Pure Project structure is also not suitable because it has hard structure and it is un-flexible in temporary sharing human resource, experience. So, the Project Matrix Structure which is more efficient using resource than other single hierarchy is a new model which can be reviewed and considered as a suitable model for Viet Nam situation now especially in medium & small scale companies, accompanied with small scale and fast track construction project.

Mr. Nguyen Phong made a study which focused on the: (1) study the literature of Project Matrix Structure in construction project; and (2) analyze a Case Study in application of Project Matrix Structure in Small Scale and Fast Track Project in Viet Nam

Conclusion

Most of private business in Viet Nam have just established around 15 years, a short of time compare with international business, so the application of a new concept in management is a risky selection. Project Matrix Structure was applied all over the world but still a new concept in Viet Nam, especially in small scale and fast track project.

The change from functional structure to Matrix Structure is a process of deep thinking and careful selection which need a lot effort of all members. Matrix Project Structure is a good choice and brings out a great success for organization in Viet Nam in which TTT Corporation is one example. TTT Corporation became a well-known contractor in small scale and fast track project, specifically in fitting-out and interior areas.

Matrix structure is not only suitable for organization development but also in helping organization members in self-study and self-development. Project Matrix structure is a good model apply in fast track project in VN which come out a lot of advantages in labor force allocation, project team allocation and major improvement of team productivity.

Recommendations

Beside the success of this model in TTT Corporation, there are many issues happened that need to improve in soft ware application, in system buidling and in human resource usage as recommeded below.

General

- Experience sharing need to be enforced to become company policy, then giving back rewards to the people having the best.
- Improve existing norm, regulation and organize training course to team members to update their knowledge
- Develop an individual assessment form for functional manager and project manager to assess the project right after the hand-over.
- Provide training to increase recognition of communication management
- Required over view report which is a part of project bonus to encourage PM to have right evaluation sent to supervisor whose not popular to project team
- The increase of internal project information is a problem in which the way end user transfer & discuss the information on CRM, need to be reviewed and be classified suitable with business strategy and not a forum.

Human resource

- Minimize the amount of virtual project manager and increase the number of professional project manager to take care of bigger projects.
- Support project manager to attend training course in order to be familiarized with new technology and new concept in project management
- Provide technical trainings for project manager because small scale and fast track projects need a project manager who understands not only project management but also all technical issues of the project. This understanding helps the project manager in making decision in a short time.
- Training about communication management, which help project manager and each member understand the importance of communication and classify it in a right way which support to long term goals of organization.

System

- CRM is a soft ware for customer relationship management, and not suitable for project management, although it gives very good support for project management process: it supports for centralize project information, clients information, integration with other soft ware (ERP, Share Point…), helps board of director in controlling, monitoring and reviewing most of project, but only the project milestone and not the general progress of the project. So Project Central is a recommendation for developing and application for some next years.

- ERP is a soft ware suitable for manufacturing and not for design & built project. This application is just for production department. To apply ERP software for construction area, it should have ERP department to manage and control ERP and support others.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

ABSTRACT

Project Matrix Structures are applied in large scale projects & long term projects in many western countries and comes with many successes. How it can apply for small scale & fast track projects in developing countries as VN?

There has been a tendency in recent years to manage more activities in more application areas using project management. More organizations are using “management by project.” This is not to say that all operations can or should be organized into projects but the real efficient of the management by project can be the good answer.

This Project Report has taken a general view of Project Matrix Structure in theory & application in developed countries then finding out the case study that applied in VN with a relative successful to propose some recommendations to improve & change in suitable with practical condition of VN.

Office Fitting-out has started in VN around 15 years from the time VN did the “Open Policy” to open the country and to set up relations with other countries & receiving FDI and ODA. By FDI and ODA from developed countries and International Institutes – Office Fitting-out works are developed very fast in VN with high requirements in doing the fast-track project including high quality of finishing, keeping reasonable cost & schedule.

The adoption of “management by project” is also related to the adoption of an organizational culture that is close to the project management culture but this is outside of this report.

Claim Management and Analysis: Case Study of Hydropower Plant

Construction projects may seldom be performed exactly as it was planned during project design. In addition, the underground conditions on the site are not quite exact as it was considered by the contractor or the designer at the outset to this project. Small differences have little importance to the parties involved but when the economic consequences of these differences are significant, they are of great interest. Therefore, many construction contracts, in particular those issued by governmental entities, comprise two significant clauses: a 'changes clause` and 'different conditions of the site clause". The names of these clauses can vary, but the content is generally the same.

In general, there are stated processes, often with legal requirements and keeping records, contained in the contract to facilitate the use of these clauses.

Entitlement, Cost, Documentation Sections and participation satisfaction have reflected the success of any construction claim management.

The entitlement is usually presented in two parts. First, the claim description must clearly establish the law of the part of the party of relief. This part of the narrative should always flow from the contract. Secondly, as part of the law section, there is usually a technical description which links the facts of the evolution work or failure to perform the right theory. It is generally substantial in detail describing this subject. It is the story of the project, which uses of journalists classic 'who, what, when, where, why and how' method in both quantitative and qualitative terms.

The cost section concerns the costs incurred by the party or owner to the following changes. This section is generally organized in such a way that it goes hand in hand with the organization of the technical description. The costs are directly related to each element detailed in the technical description.

Documentation is the ultimate success of a construction claim. Even a claim to merit may be failed if it fails to show itself in this section. Generally, the right description will mention contact provisions and appropriate case law, copies of which would be established in this section. The technical description could probably be supported by copies of relevant correspondence, calendars, the reports, agendas, newspapers, etc. Documents submitted in support of the cost section could include invoices, compensation, time sheets, delivery tickets, etc.

In addition, the claim management success is based on an interdisciplinary method, involving project managers, engineers, lawyers, construction site managers. This broad range of expertise is necessary to the analysis of often complex claim situations whose origins and scope might, at first sight, resemble a maze.

Therefore, by company audit, you may discover possible weaknesses of your claim management so you may close the gaps. After solving those gaps, the strengths of your claim management can be demonstrated. Strengths that your company may use can complete projects with the maximum profit.

Audits typically, but not exclusively focus on:
- Integrating claim management into your project design and handling.
- Internal and external communication of your company in claim situations
- Complete, court-proof and transparent project documentation.
- Efficiency of existing contracts and vehicles for securing payment.
- Decision-making processes in strategic claim situations.

In construction claim management, the most potential problems affecting project entitlement, document and cost in construction claim related with:
- Incomplete and inadequate definition of scope
- Lack of mutual understanding of scope
- Contract document
- Owner does not complete any conditions which are necessary for contractor’s to work
- Accelerating the time of completion.
- Constructive acceleration
- Owner asks the contractor to accelerate the progress to meet the planned completion schedule. In other words, no time extension is given.
- Delay with excusable and non-excusable or compensable and non-compensable
- Disruption with Incomplete and incorrect contract drawings or changes in the work.

Mrs. Truc Thi Thanh Nguyen made a research which main purposes were to: (1) develop a framework on claim analysis approach; and (2) study the application of the framework in Hydropower Construction Project Claim.

Conclusions

The design process for the development of framework on claim analysis is evolutionary and informal. The claims analysis approach was adapted to offer a simple framework for describing the claimant activities and goals, framing them in a way that supports the claim reasoning. The claim format set forth in this article is a general outline of what should be comprised in a claim. The actual framework should be modified to present the claim in a persuasive manner.

In addition, in the hydropower plant construction project, the contractors followed the specifications closely and keep good documentation. As the owner strives to improved contract quality, the contractor followed the contract and specifications very closely, found out the deficiency of the contract, and keep good documentation. Therefore, the contractor has received a higher offer from his claim. Besides, the contractor was aware that the litigation opportunity cost is more than the direct litigation cost. The contractor understood that opportunity cost also includes indirect litigation costs, such as schedule interruption, idle labor, idle equipment, damaged reputation, and contractor-owner relationships.

In this case study, force majeure claims become complicated when there is a major event that not only directly impacts the work but also creates potentially changed working conditions after work resumes. Therefore, several questions regarding the contractual language with respect to allowable project extensions, responsibility for mitigating the event’s impacts, as well as the costs associated with mitigation efforts create complications when preparing and analyzing force majeure claims. The primary challenges associated with complex force majeure claims relate to continued impacts and mitigation responsibilities. Certain continued impacts may result from severe natural disasters, including idling cost of manpower, plant and machinery.

It is our sincere hope that all construction projects will be executed without claims. However, if claims are inevitable, the claim framework may attend as a template to analyze a claim situation and help to bring quick solutions to an interruptive event.

Her thesis abstract is copied and posted

Abstract

In general, construction claim happen on various reasons. It is required to understand the dynamic nature between construction claim and opportunist tender. Therefore, negotiation is a significant stage in construction claim management process. Unluckily, most construction claim negotiations are conducted inefficiently due to various reasons. The recent development of multi-agent systems supplies an innovative method of facilitating various negotiations. Besides, standard forms of contract supply for extensions of time (EOT) due to excusable delays, and EOT claims are frequent in many construction projects. The contractor and the supervising engineer commonly spend important time proving and estimating such claims. However, a variety of different techniques has been employed for such evaluations.

Only a small number of contractors fail to utilize some form of a scheduling device to determine the sequence of construction activities and events. A correctly though out schedule permits a contractor and owner to correctly coordinate the work with resources that are required to finish the project on time. Therefore, the cost of scheduling software is reducing and at the same time the level of complexity of the completed schedule is increasing. However, the correct usage of such software demands a basic understanding of construction scheduling concepts.

The idea of delay and disruption within projects is well-known and is frequently the subject of litigation claims. However, the term is not clearly explained, and it is difficult to justify such claims within a legal process. This paper shows a well-developed method that is a reasonable, translucent, auditable and sustainable means of presenting such a claim.

Quality Management in Design Phase of Construction Project

With the rapid growth of the economy since 1990s, the boom of construction industry has brought a quite new face for Viet Nam. Many large and complex projects are attracting international companies to attend. These multinational companies have introduced the new technologies and modern knowledge on project management in Viet Nam which have created a new and fresh air to the construction market – a more and more competitive market. This has new standards and needs. The customers have more choice. In order to survive in such an environment, the domestic companies have to change themselves to fit them in the market economy with the higher requirements of the customers/ owners.

High quality construction works is always the final target for any customers as well as the relevant parties – contractors, designers, etc. However, people used to imply about the construction process quality more than other factors that have the same affect on the construction works such as setting up investment project, survey and design, etc., –the first phases before execution. Therefore, if there is any problem to a construction project, construction companies is always find at fault due to poor quality. But in fact, people have forgotten a very important part in the chain of a project - the design consulting phase or designer.

In Viet Nam the role of consultant/ engineer in the design phase of the construction project has not been concerned properly, especially in the state own projects or small private projects.

Design consulting is the essential knot to the success or failure of a project. Those who consult in the design phase must be responsible to the owners and the law for the design quality. They are requested to ‘eliminate hazards which may give rise to risks’ and to ‘reduce risks from remaining hazards’. They therefore must consider the materials and process in their design for the construction. They also must concern to the factors regarding health and safety in the project.

Some well-known factors in design phase affecting to the project quality are as follows:
- Misunderstanding the clients’ requirements to develop the design
- Using incorrect/ out-of-date information
- Lack of co-ordination between the co-workers
- Loose or inappropriate specifications

To have a good construction work, it is necessary to have a good design. It has been recognized that each error will cost ten times more to fix in development than it would to fix in planning, and 100 times more if the error actually reaches the customer. (Peter E.D. Love, 2002)

Mr. Nguyen Anh Kiet made a research to identify the activities should be taken to implement the quality management system in design phase of the construction project.

The awareness of the value of quality design would ensure that sufficient time and fees are available to allow designers to provide the needed level of services in order to satisfy customers, save time, cost and finally to maximize the benefits thanks to more projects will be completed on time, within budget, and with less rework and disputes. In addition, implementing the quality management system will help to measure the performance, increase efficiency and to create a more competitive position in the market.

Conclusion

Quality management in the design phase is as important as it is in the construction phase. It will help all parties involved in the project to save their time, cost and assure the project life. Although most of the companies have their own systems to manage the quality of the products and services from conception through disposal, there are still many works need to be done because no study has been done within the company to measure how effective were these quality management systems. The problem is that, companies need a good system to track accurately the causes of the failure and find out where the cost can be minimized.

In order to apply quality management system to the design phase of the construction project, companies need to define the factors that affect to the quality of the design phase in a construction project and set quality as performance to requirements. It depends on the characteristics of projects the quality management should be focused to different aspects. For example, requirements for a brewery project will be different from those for textile factory project. This means that the designs and specifications of the two projects will be different. Therefore the problems (if any) of each project will also be not similar. An experienced project manager will foresee the difficulties and has suitable preventive actions.

Below are the common factors that have serious affects on the design tasks:
- Misunderstanding the clients’ requirements to develop the design
- Using incorrect/ out-of-date information
- Lack of co-ordination between the co-workers
- Loose or inappropriate specifications

To improve the quality in the design phase, the drawings and documentation are considered as one of the most important factors which are assessed by the accuracy, time, completeness and conformance. Besides, the co-ordination between the team members and relevant parties will help to maximize the quality of the construction works and minimize the extra cost and time, by which will reduce the risks of disputes. Improvements in drawings and documentation in the design phase will create the efficiency in the construction process. Improved quality in design phase will lead to less construction waste and optimum performance of project stages. This will lead to significant cost savings both with regards to the project cost and to the cost to the environment.

To implement the quality management to the design phase of the project, there are a lot of activities that the organization must pay attention to.

Common Problems in Design Phase

Many researches showed that the followings are the most important causes of problems in a construction project that generates from design phase.



His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

In a perfect quality management system, changes should be confined to the design phase of the construction project. However, in the reality the changes often happen during construction phase and cause serious disruption to the project because the quality management in the design phase. Many researches showed that do the right things at the design phase can improve the overall project performance. The study focuses on the role of quality management in the design phase of a construction project and the factors influencing on the quality management systems.

Mendelsohn (1997) observed that up to 75% of the problems happened on site were generated at the design phase. Therefore, eliminating these problems at the design phase can reduce the problems on site. (Causes of discrepancies between and construction by Faisal Manzoor Arain, Sadi Assaf, Low Sui Pheng).

A systematic research on the effects of design in construction was performed by Design Task Force of the CII, by which the design were evaluated mainly on accuracy and usability. The quality of the design is very important as it influences on the quality of the whole project. The AQSC has published a guideline for quality system, in which “… it should assure that drawings and specifications provide a clear and cost effective design definition that incorporates all applicable requirements”.

Customer-Driven Strategy And KPIs Using CRM Approach: A Case Study Of Construction Enterprises In Vietnam

Vietnam construction enterprises seem to be far behind compared with other industries in application of marketing strategy, customer study and enterprises business strategy adaptation. Construction industry should be the one to apply CRM the most. The value of a project is always very big; the number of projects and customer is very limited in comparison to any other industry. And because of the uniqueness and rarity, customer is different from any other. They require special, customized care and service. So, each customer is critical to construction project marketing.

Besides, CRM in construction is different from CRM in other industries due to the characteristic of construction industry.

The most important and different characteristic of construction industry from other industries is project-based production. Any projects are unique. Construction projects are always executed on site which much influenced by many factors such as weather, technologies, culture, social, politic, etc conditions, much more than any kind of production in the factory. Projects are always constrained by resources available, time for completion and quality required by Client.

The characteristic of customers is also much different. The number of customer is very limited. And the demand of the customer is much different from consumer product customers. Those characteristics make the marketing in construction different from other industries, especially CRM.

Those conditions make the construction industry marketing different from others. So it requires changes and adaptation in application of marketing strategy and technique.

Mr. Tran Dang Manh made a study to look into the CRM marketing technique and application in construction industry which includes:
- What is Customer relationship management?
- What is the characteristic of project-based construction industry?
- How to adapt and apply CRM in construction industry, especially in Vietnam?
- Based on real case of a construction enterprise in Vietnam, explore the actual conditions and level of CRM application. Identify any vacancy and adjustment applicable in CRM development to propose.

Conclusion

CRM is new to Vietnam construction enterprises. But CRM is a must for the enterprises development.

CRM helps enterprises understanding its customer and its own performance, classifying its customers, satisfying its targeted customer, and creating values to its share holders by creating values to both its targeted customer and its own.

CRM requires the commitment of the whole organization- from top leaders to every employee, and all of its related supplier chain. Only with the commitment of the whole production chain, the final product and customer service shall be achieved.

CRM requires the construction of information system capable of gathering customer information from any sources, media, and channel, analyze to give instructions to the production and management system, and store all information.

CRM requires its KPIs definition and application to give feedback to CRM system, continually improve itself and the whole organization.

Besides common strategy for general business, project-based industry has special characteristics: Uniqueness, non-standard working conditions, limited number of customers. It makes the CRM in project-based industry different from others.

In construction, the values that are critical to both customer and enterprises are time, cost, quality, and safety. To be competitive, each enterprise needs a unique strategy to ensure the value to themselves and customer. For all of that, CRM shall be able to find all necessary information, analyze, and evaluate the performance.

Vietnam construction enterprises are applying CRM in a very preliminary level. They do not have strategic approach to develop. Their management system also does not incorporate CRM. They need to change from its business ideology, its organization and business culture, its management system, and its employees’ behavior.

The primary values in construction- time, cost, quality, and safety- are still far from requirement in Vietnam. The CRM also has not been written and developed as an official strategy for the enterprises.

Vietnam construction enterprises need to assess its own performance to decide its targeted customer segments, apply appropriate customer policy, media, and channel, information system to manage CRM system. The assessment shall be based on clear and quantifiable KPIs set at the start of the development of CRM system. The KPIs to be used should be at least three categories:
- Enterprises general performance: profitability, operational criteria such as rate of inventory, liquidity ratio.
- Project performance: time, cost, quality, safety, and number of customer claims
- CRM performance: rate of customer retention, rate of referral.

CRM is a cross-functional activity. In order to develop CRM, enterprises need to change business ideology, organization and business culture, management system, and employees’ behavior. The improvement of CRM is part of an overall corporate restructuring

Only with the customized application of CRM, enterprises may understand their customer more, continually improvement of performance, and ensure its future development.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

Customer relationship management (CRM) has been developed for centuries. It decides the design, function, and cost of the product, turnover, and profit of the enterprises.

CRM is a cross-functional activity. In order to develop CRM, enterprises need to change business ideology, organization and business culture, management system, and employees’ behavior. The improvement of CRM is part of an overall corporate restructuring.

But it seems not to be in Vietnam construction enterprises. Construction industry should be the one that apply CRM the most. Throughout understanding each customer is critical to construction project marketing.

By this study, I would like to study Customer-driven strategy and KPIs using CRM approach- a case study of construction enterprises in Vietnam so that I can propose a framework for the application and development of CRM in Vietnam construction enterprises.