Recently, the gas industry in Vietnam boost so fast. Some pipeline company start to learn and apply the new gas technology and even new gas pipeline management from some developed countries. Therefore, many problems and issues could be updated and maintained to improve the skill and knowledge in pipeline risk management.
After some years, pipeline shall be surfaced more risk from physical deterioration and environmental factors. Thus, the risk pipeline management system must be done well to extend the gas pipeline lifetime expectancy and made more profitable to the company.
Mr. Trieu Quoc Tuan made a case study which main objectives were to: (1) study the issues in pipeline risk management in recent international best practices; (2) review a case study of the pipeline risk management practices in a Vietnam pipeline company; and (3) provide recommendations and propose some key point that can be applied to Vietnam Pipeline Company to improve the effectiveness of pipeline management.
Conclusion
Gas transmission by pipeline was developed years ago in Vietnam. The application and the right way of setting up the risk management strategy may not be that professional.
Throughout this case study, the status of risk in general of pipeline operation was reviewed using risk assessment index model, and it was revealed that the company’s organization has to improve its competence to manage the pipeline risk.
The investment of risk management system and application of the modern international standard on the pipeline risk management is necessary.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Pipelines are generally the most economical way to transport large quantities of oil or natural gas over states or even country. In order to extend its life expectancy, a pipeline risk management has become more important nowadays.
Pipeline operation risk can be very high depending on how effective an organization is in managing its pipeline transmission system. Even the slightest defect on pipeline surface can bring great amount of oil and gas leakage. This is also the main reason why explosion and fire accident rates are increasing rapidly in the world. It will but human lives risk, pollution concern to environment as well as bring damage to millions dollars worth of property and asset.
It is definitely a necessity for a pipeline professional to keep learning and be aware of the updated pipeline risk management to ensure a more efficient and safer as well as profitable pipeline operation.
In this report, by the dimension of this study, the author would like to discuss about pipeline risk management and some issues of pipeline risk management recommendations in author’s experiences in a case study.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contracts Performance in Oil and Gas Industry: A Case Study of Delay in Commissioning Activity of EPC
Oil & gas prices fluctuated in 2007 to 2009 due to global financial crisis. This crisis affects almost all countries both in economic and social aspects. In turn, every economic fluctuation strongly affects oil and gas prices. The demand for oil and gas is increasingly growing despite of having some economic crisis. Some emerging countries would like to explore and exploit activities in nations where potentials for oil and gas are found.
Today oil and gas companies prefer to sign the EPC contracts than other forms of contracts so that they will be able to avoid and reduce any conflicts in execution of contracts due to interfaces and risks between project companies and contractors and easy to control the projects in every aspects.
Mr. Hoang Huu Cam made a study which focused on the delay for commissioning of GDC project that had occurred during the execution of EPC contract of Phu My GDC project in Ba Ria Vung Tau province, Viet Nam. His study also focused in the following topics:
1. An agreement signed by and between Petrovietnam (PVN) and Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) had been executed instead of off-take agreement signed between PVGC (the Owner) and Phu My Fertilizers Plant, Phu My Power Plant 1 and Phu My Power Plant 2.2 (the customers of the Owner).
2. When the construction of GDC project was completed on time as planned schedule and ready for commissioning, but three above projects had been under construction. As a result of this, GDC project had no customers to supply gas to do the commissioning activity at that time and had to wait for six months.
3. The owner had to give an extension of time to the EPC contractor who suffered from the delay to take standby time of 6 months for commissioning.
4. The Owner had to compensate a standby charge as a Change Order to EPC contractor.
5. The Owner had to make compensation as a standby charge to Certifying Agent, Germanischer Lloyd.
6. A Gas Supply Agreement signed between PVGC and BP was on the take or pay basis, therefore PVGC had to pay an amount of money for BP within 6 months of standby time.
EPC contracts are often used in medium and large scale oil and gas projects in Viet Nam since 1990s. According to international practices, in case of any disputes or problems happened in the execution of EPC contracts, those problems and disputes shall be referred to clauses of EPC contracts and settled by arbitration in accordance with the signed contractual clauses and conditions. In Vietnam, some projects are usually built to meet the socio-economic issues and often guided by the Government. So it has a bit difference between the Vietnamese and international practice. The aim of Mr. Cam’s study focused on the following issues with regard to GDC Project’s EPC contract:
1. Delay in commissioning activity.
2. Consequences of the delay.
a) Extension of Time for Completion to EPC Contractor.
b) Compensation for EPC Contractor.
c) Compensation for Certifying Agent.
d) Compensation for BP.
Conclusion
The successful factors of the Project
There were two factors resulted in success of the GDC project. The most important factor was tendering process and selecting the right EPC Contractor for the right works. The EPC Contractor, DWE, has much experience in engineering, procurement and construction. Besides, the Sub-contractor, Petrovietnam Engineering & Construction Company (PVECC) is one of the leading contractors in oil and gas industry of Vietnam.
Another factor was that the project management was very good during construction period. The EPC Contractor applied the latest project management knowledge for the project at that time and the Project Company was very satisfactory to this matter. Through this project, with the purpose of “on-job-training” both Subcontractor’s and the Project Company personnel obtained much experience and project management knowledge from EPC Contractor.
Adversely Impacted Factors on GDC Project
The first thing PVGC faced with was that it had less authority to control the relationships between the project’s stakeholders as well as responsibilities between them. This happened because a substantial part was mechanism in economic and business activities in Vietnam. Over 20 years of “Doi Moi” process, Vietnam has pursued a Socialist Oriented Market Economy which is a model that has no existence in the world so far. Vietnam has been seeking its own way on the road of development and protection of the country. Hence Vietnam has a lot of things to do in the process of global economy integration. Vietnam also became a member of World Trade Organization in 2006 and it needs time to change its existing legal system and business environment. These changes will create an equal and fair business environment for every enterprise including all businesses in all economic sectors.
Recommendations
Today although EPC Contracts are popularly used for medium and large projects in infrastructure and in oil and gas sector, but the success of applying the form of EPC Contracts are still dependent on both jurisdictions and practices where they are used for. In countries where jurisdictions are very stable and stringent, the application of EPC Contracts is easier and more advantageous than that in countries where jurisdictions and legal systems are less stable and tight.
Recommendations based on the case study and analysis
For the project company, PVGC:
- PVGC must have a program summarizing all projects that have been done and analyzing its adverse factors in order to prevent similar situations occurred in future projects.
- PVGC should make a proposal submitted to PVN and EVN to ask them to speed up their gas customers to catch up with the construction schedules planned during GDC construction period.
- PVGC should set up a risk management program for each project from the beginning up to the completion of the project.
- In order to minimizing any loss which may be incurred in the future projects when having a participation of any foreign company as stakeholder, PVGC should have a closer relationship with its customers and have some agreement like off-take agreement.
For the EPC Contractor, DWE:
Because the DWE was the foreign EPC Contractor, therefore the EPC Contractor had to scrutinize the local legal system, practices and the economic mechanism in order to evaluate and foresee any situation it may face within the construction period. The following issues needed to be taken before signing the EPC contract, these are sometimes called contract signing checklist.
1. Review your Bid: DWE should review its Bid carefully before starting the signing of EPC contract.
2. Review complete plan: Before signing EPC contract; DWE should review all plans including sub-contractor’s plan, and the plans of other parties involved in the project.
3. Another aspect the EPC Contractor should study laws, regulations and other statutory documents that may affect the EPC Contractor during its execution of EPC Contract.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contract is widely used today in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. Especially in oil and gas industry EPC contract is getting more and more popular and is often involved in medium and large scale oil & gas projects. According to an EPC Contract a contractor has obligation to hand over a complete facility or complex to a Owner (or client) who needs 'turn a key' to begin operating the facility, therefore EPC Contract is now and then called “turnkey contract. Besides delivering a complete facility or complex, the contractor shall deliver that facility or the complex at a guaranteed price until a guaranteed date and he has to undertake the construction work to satisfy designated specifications, requirements or to the specified level. Any failure of his obligations to comply with any specifications or requirements will often bring the contractor to bear monetary loss and liability.
Vietnam Oil & Gas Group had an early stage to get an application of EPC Contract forms in 1990s when Vietnam had suffered the United States of America’s economic trade embargo against all of its social and economic aspects. All EPC contracts that were used in oil and gas projects in Vietnam at that time always had foreign participations or involvement on those projects and most EPC contractors who undertook the projects were foreigners. After United States of America lifting its economic and trade embargo against Vietnam to date, the use of EPC contracts has been spreading to various industries and sectors, especially for ODA (Official Development Assistance) projects such as infrastructure projects where capital had been funded by foreign countries, regional and international financial institutions. The uses of EPC contracts are very common in energy projects like power generation plants in recent years in Vietnam.
However, there is still debate on the use of EPC contracts in Vietnam, because of Vietnam’s legal system, practices in construction industry and other matters.
This study will only be focusing on the use of one of EPC Contracts in the oil and gas sector in Vietnam – Phu My Gas Distribution Center (hereinafter referred to as GDC) and state the advantages, disadvantages and problems of EPC contracts applicable in oil & gas projects in Vietnam. How to resolve the problems in exercising EPC contracts and measures to be taken to prevent the problems will also be raised in this study.
Today oil and gas companies prefer to sign the EPC contracts than other forms of contracts so that they will be able to avoid and reduce any conflicts in execution of contracts due to interfaces and risks between project companies and contractors and easy to control the projects in every aspects.
Mr. Hoang Huu Cam made a study which focused on the delay for commissioning of GDC project that had occurred during the execution of EPC contract of Phu My GDC project in Ba Ria Vung Tau province, Viet Nam. His study also focused in the following topics:
1. An agreement signed by and between Petrovietnam (PVN) and Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) had been executed instead of off-take agreement signed between PVGC (the Owner) and Phu My Fertilizers Plant, Phu My Power Plant 1 and Phu My Power Plant 2.2 (the customers of the Owner).
2. When the construction of GDC project was completed on time as planned schedule and ready for commissioning, but three above projects had been under construction. As a result of this, GDC project had no customers to supply gas to do the commissioning activity at that time and had to wait for six months.
3. The owner had to give an extension of time to the EPC contractor who suffered from the delay to take standby time of 6 months for commissioning.
4. The Owner had to compensate a standby charge as a Change Order to EPC contractor.
5. The Owner had to make compensation as a standby charge to Certifying Agent, Germanischer Lloyd.
6. A Gas Supply Agreement signed between PVGC and BP was on the take or pay basis, therefore PVGC had to pay an amount of money for BP within 6 months of standby time.
EPC contracts are often used in medium and large scale oil and gas projects in Viet Nam since 1990s. According to international practices, in case of any disputes or problems happened in the execution of EPC contracts, those problems and disputes shall be referred to clauses of EPC contracts and settled by arbitration in accordance with the signed contractual clauses and conditions. In Vietnam, some projects are usually built to meet the socio-economic issues and often guided by the Government. So it has a bit difference between the Vietnamese and international practice. The aim of Mr. Cam’s study focused on the following issues with regard to GDC Project’s EPC contract:
1. Delay in commissioning activity.
2. Consequences of the delay.
a) Extension of Time for Completion to EPC Contractor.
b) Compensation for EPC Contractor.
c) Compensation for Certifying Agent.
d) Compensation for BP.
Conclusion
The successful factors of the Project
There were two factors resulted in success of the GDC project. The most important factor was tendering process and selecting the right EPC Contractor for the right works. The EPC Contractor, DWE, has much experience in engineering, procurement and construction. Besides, the Sub-contractor, Petrovietnam Engineering & Construction Company (PVECC) is one of the leading contractors in oil and gas industry of Vietnam.
Another factor was that the project management was very good during construction period. The EPC Contractor applied the latest project management knowledge for the project at that time and the Project Company was very satisfactory to this matter. Through this project, with the purpose of “on-job-training” both Subcontractor’s and the Project Company personnel obtained much experience and project management knowledge from EPC Contractor.
Adversely Impacted Factors on GDC Project
The first thing PVGC faced with was that it had less authority to control the relationships between the project’s stakeholders as well as responsibilities between them. This happened because a substantial part was mechanism in economic and business activities in Vietnam. Over 20 years of “Doi Moi” process, Vietnam has pursued a Socialist Oriented Market Economy which is a model that has no existence in the world so far. Vietnam has been seeking its own way on the road of development and protection of the country. Hence Vietnam has a lot of things to do in the process of global economy integration. Vietnam also became a member of World Trade Organization in 2006 and it needs time to change its existing legal system and business environment. These changes will create an equal and fair business environment for every enterprise including all businesses in all economic sectors.
Recommendations
Today although EPC Contracts are popularly used for medium and large projects in infrastructure and in oil and gas sector, but the success of applying the form of EPC Contracts are still dependent on both jurisdictions and practices where they are used for. In countries where jurisdictions are very stable and stringent, the application of EPC Contracts is easier and more advantageous than that in countries where jurisdictions and legal systems are less stable and tight.
Recommendations based on the case study and analysis
For the project company, PVGC:
- PVGC must have a program summarizing all projects that have been done and analyzing its adverse factors in order to prevent similar situations occurred in future projects.
- PVGC should make a proposal submitted to PVN and EVN to ask them to speed up their gas customers to catch up with the construction schedules planned during GDC construction period.
- PVGC should set up a risk management program for each project from the beginning up to the completion of the project.
- In order to minimizing any loss which may be incurred in the future projects when having a participation of any foreign company as stakeholder, PVGC should have a closer relationship with its customers and have some agreement like off-take agreement.
For the EPC Contractor, DWE:
Because the DWE was the foreign EPC Contractor, therefore the EPC Contractor had to scrutinize the local legal system, practices and the economic mechanism in order to evaluate and foresee any situation it may face within the construction period. The following issues needed to be taken before signing the EPC contract, these are sometimes called contract signing checklist.
1. Review your Bid: DWE should review its Bid carefully before starting the signing of EPC contract.
2. Review complete plan: Before signing EPC contract; DWE should review all plans including sub-contractor’s plan, and the plans of other parties involved in the project.
3. Another aspect the EPC Contractor should study laws, regulations and other statutory documents that may affect the EPC Contractor during its execution of EPC Contract.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contract is widely used today in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. Especially in oil and gas industry EPC contract is getting more and more popular and is often involved in medium and large scale oil & gas projects. According to an EPC Contract a contractor has obligation to hand over a complete facility or complex to a Owner (or client) who needs 'turn a key' to begin operating the facility, therefore EPC Contract is now and then called “turnkey contract. Besides delivering a complete facility or complex, the contractor shall deliver that facility or the complex at a guaranteed price until a guaranteed date and he has to undertake the construction work to satisfy designated specifications, requirements or to the specified level. Any failure of his obligations to comply with any specifications or requirements will often bring the contractor to bear monetary loss and liability.
Vietnam Oil & Gas Group had an early stage to get an application of EPC Contract forms in 1990s when Vietnam had suffered the United States of America’s economic trade embargo against all of its social and economic aspects. All EPC contracts that were used in oil and gas projects in Vietnam at that time always had foreign participations or involvement on those projects and most EPC contractors who undertook the projects were foreigners. After United States of America lifting its economic and trade embargo against Vietnam to date, the use of EPC contracts has been spreading to various industries and sectors, especially for ODA (Official Development Assistance) projects such as infrastructure projects where capital had been funded by foreign countries, regional and international financial institutions. The uses of EPC contracts are very common in energy projects like power generation plants in recent years in Vietnam.
However, there is still debate on the use of EPC contracts in Vietnam, because of Vietnam’s legal system, practices in construction industry and other matters.
This study will only be focusing on the use of one of EPC Contracts in the oil and gas sector in Vietnam – Phu My Gas Distribution Center (hereinafter referred to as GDC) and state the advantages, disadvantages and problems of EPC contracts applicable in oil & gas projects in Vietnam. How to resolve the problems in exercising EPC contracts and measures to be taken to prevent the problems will also be raised in this study.
Monday, 16 August 2010
Quality Management in Construction Projects: A Case Study of Quality Management in Construction Projects of an Oil and Gas Company
In recent years, Vietnam faces some big problems on the quality of performance during construction, causing damage to people and property. The reason was the lack of strict management on quality design and design verification in some works. The quality management in on site construction does not comply with state regulations and technical supervision.
Quality in construction may be better understood by its characterization: “meeting the requirements of the contractor as to provision of contract plans, specifications and other documents prepared in sufficient detail to permit the constructor, to prepare price proposals or competitive bids, timely decisions by the owner and design professional on authorization and processing of change orders, fair and timely interpretation of contract requirements from field design and inspection staff, and contract for performance of work on reasonable schedule which permits a reasonable.”
Quality in the construction project is also characterized by complete and open communication among all project parties, selection of qualified organizations and personnel by owner for all phases of the project, change orders in publicly bid projects within a predetermined budget, rapid resolution of conflicts and disagreement, and absence of litigation (ASCE 1988).
Providing quality in the construction of a project costs less, is safer to the public and site personnel and minimizes disagreements and subsequent litigation. Quality in construction results in significant benefits for the constructor (ASCE 1988).
Currently, although businesses involved in construction activities will apply quality management systems, but in practice there are lots of poor works that worries people and society. Consequences of poor quality can be damage to property and waste of money on business and community. It may also cause danger to people.
To ensure the effective application of quality management for construction projects, it requires strong commitment of business leaders and implementation of multiple solutions. Effective quality management can bring many potential benefits for businesses.
Mr. Le Van Thong made a study which main objectives were as follows: (1) Determination of quality management activities in the construction in the Oil and Gas Company; and (2) to discuss and review the effectiveness of quality management in construction of the Oil and Gas Company
Conclusions
Quality management system has been applied by PTSC companies in their projects. It brings success to the company for many years now, and became a famous company in the international market in oil and gas technical services industry in Vietnam. They have useful tools to avoid and mitigate problems and to improve quality performances with their projects. They have principles that, management is used to achieve effective cost control, quality control, schedule control etc. Many civil and industrial construction companies in developed countries have been applied successful Quality Management and got more profits, reduced time overrun and cost for reworks. They recognized the importance of the Quality Management, to identify, assess, prevent and manage all breakdowns and risks to projects, damage to property and working environment.
The quality improvement programs establish actions for achieving the objectives and targets, in line with the policy commitment of continuous improvement. When establishing targets, the following will be taken into consideration:
- Who do? How? Who supervise the provision of information; as executive / coordination / control is assigned in advance and all agents involved must comply.
- The system clearly and closely flexibility have created a positive consequence of works completed on schedule, ensure quality and safety.
Effectiveness of the quality management implementation:
After quality management implementation, there are some achieved results as listed below:
- Quality Assurance is to obtain completed construction that meets all contract requirements. Assurance is defined as a degree of certainty. Quality assurance personnel continually assure that the contractor's works comply with contract requirements.
- Quality Control is the successful execution of a realistic plan to ensure that the required standards of quality construction will be met. In QC, the contractor defines procedures to manage and control his own, designer of record, consultant, architect-engineer, all subcontractor and all supplier activities so that the completed project complies with contract requirements. For design-build contracts, this includes providing and maintaining a Design Quality Control plan as a part of the overall contract QC plan. This plan, as a minimum, must assure that all documents are reviewed by a technically competent, independent reviewer specifically named in the plan. This review cannot be performed by the same designers that produced the product. The design QC plan must be managed by a Design QC Manager who has verifiable engineering or architectural design experience or is a registered engineer or architect. The Design QC Manager is under the supervision of the QC Manager.
Recommendations
- The performance of Quality Management must be carried out permanently in the company to prevent all budget overrun, slow progress, reworks that might be happening from the existing projects and future projects.
- The performance of Quality Management must be a concerned from the top management to each one in the company.
- Examine the quality control methods being used to determine if the contractor is properly controlling design activities in design-build contracts.
- Examine the quality control methods being used to determine if the contractor is properly controlling construction activities.
- Make certain that the necessary changes are made in the contractor's QC system, if excessive construction deficiencies occur.
- Assist the contractor in understanding and implementing the contract requirements.
- Examine ongoing and completed work.
- Produce the quality specified in the plans and specifications and for design-build contracts in the Request for Proposal, as well as the contractor's accepted proposal.
- Develop and maintain an effective QC system.
- Perform all control activities and tests.
- Prepare acceptable documentation of QC activities.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
In an organization or business will have a lot of construction projects, any project also is importance. Ensure the quality of the project is very important for each organization. Aware of that, the quality management has been applied widely in their construction projects. But how apply the successful model of quality management for a construction project that is still a big question.
Organizations in Vietnam as some other countries, in face, the signers disclaim the possibility of anticipating and detailing everything in the construction documents. Second, it is unstable for the construction environment. The complexity and size of project vary. Working conditions can not be somewhat control. The employee is variable; its composition, motivation and size change. Cooperation between contractor and subcontractors is problematic. Those will affect the quality management of construction projects and it makes the project to delay, re-work and increase cost.
So, how to manage the quality of the construction project effectively? This thesis will research about quality management in construction project through theory and real case that is applied in PTSC Production Services Company.
Quality in construction may be better understood by its characterization: “meeting the requirements of the contractor as to provision of contract plans, specifications and other documents prepared in sufficient detail to permit the constructor, to prepare price proposals or competitive bids, timely decisions by the owner and design professional on authorization and processing of change orders, fair and timely interpretation of contract requirements from field design and inspection staff, and contract for performance of work on reasonable schedule which permits a reasonable.”
Quality in the construction project is also characterized by complete and open communication among all project parties, selection of qualified organizations and personnel by owner for all phases of the project, change orders in publicly bid projects within a predetermined budget, rapid resolution of conflicts and disagreement, and absence of litigation (ASCE 1988).
Providing quality in the construction of a project costs less, is safer to the public and site personnel and minimizes disagreements and subsequent litigation. Quality in construction results in significant benefits for the constructor (ASCE 1988).
Currently, although businesses involved in construction activities will apply quality management systems, but in practice there are lots of poor works that worries people and society. Consequences of poor quality can be damage to property and waste of money on business and community. It may also cause danger to people.
To ensure the effective application of quality management for construction projects, it requires strong commitment of business leaders and implementation of multiple solutions. Effective quality management can bring many potential benefits for businesses.
Mr. Le Van Thong made a study which main objectives were as follows: (1) Determination of quality management activities in the construction in the Oil and Gas Company; and (2) to discuss and review the effectiveness of quality management in construction of the Oil and Gas Company
Conclusions
Quality management system has been applied by PTSC companies in their projects. It brings success to the company for many years now, and became a famous company in the international market in oil and gas technical services industry in Vietnam. They have useful tools to avoid and mitigate problems and to improve quality performances with their projects. They have principles that, management is used to achieve effective cost control, quality control, schedule control etc. Many civil and industrial construction companies in developed countries have been applied successful Quality Management and got more profits, reduced time overrun and cost for reworks. They recognized the importance of the Quality Management, to identify, assess, prevent and manage all breakdowns and risks to projects, damage to property and working environment.
The quality improvement programs establish actions for achieving the objectives and targets, in line with the policy commitment of continuous improvement. When establishing targets, the following will be taken into consideration:
- Who do? How? Who supervise the provision of information; as executive / coordination / control is assigned in advance and all agents involved must comply.
- The system clearly and closely flexibility have created a positive consequence of works completed on schedule, ensure quality and safety.
Effectiveness of the quality management implementation:
After quality management implementation, there are some achieved results as listed below:
- Quality Assurance is to obtain completed construction that meets all contract requirements. Assurance is defined as a degree of certainty. Quality assurance personnel continually assure that the contractor's works comply with contract requirements.
- Quality Control is the successful execution of a realistic plan to ensure that the required standards of quality construction will be met. In QC, the contractor defines procedures to manage and control his own, designer of record, consultant, architect-engineer, all subcontractor and all supplier activities so that the completed project complies with contract requirements. For design-build contracts, this includes providing and maintaining a Design Quality Control plan as a part of the overall contract QC plan. This plan, as a minimum, must assure that all documents are reviewed by a technically competent, independent reviewer specifically named in the plan. This review cannot be performed by the same designers that produced the product. The design QC plan must be managed by a Design QC Manager who has verifiable engineering or architectural design experience or is a registered engineer or architect. The Design QC Manager is under the supervision of the QC Manager.
Recommendations
- The performance of Quality Management must be carried out permanently in the company to prevent all budget overrun, slow progress, reworks that might be happening from the existing projects and future projects.
- The performance of Quality Management must be a concerned from the top management to each one in the company.
- Examine the quality control methods being used to determine if the contractor is properly controlling design activities in design-build contracts.
- Examine the quality control methods being used to determine if the contractor is properly controlling construction activities.
- Make certain that the necessary changes are made in the contractor's QC system, if excessive construction deficiencies occur.
- Assist the contractor in understanding and implementing the contract requirements.
- Examine ongoing and completed work.
- Produce the quality specified in the plans and specifications and for design-build contracts in the Request for Proposal, as well as the contractor's accepted proposal.
- Develop and maintain an effective QC system.
- Perform all control activities and tests.
- Prepare acceptable documentation of QC activities.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
In an organization or business will have a lot of construction projects, any project also is importance. Ensure the quality of the project is very important for each organization. Aware of that, the quality management has been applied widely in their construction projects. But how apply the successful model of quality management for a construction project that is still a big question.
Organizations in Vietnam as some other countries, in face, the signers disclaim the possibility of anticipating and detailing everything in the construction documents. Second, it is unstable for the construction environment. The complexity and size of project vary. Working conditions can not be somewhat control. The employee is variable; its composition, motivation and size change. Cooperation between contractor and subcontractors is problematic. Those will affect the quality management of construction projects and it makes the project to delay, re-work and increase cost.
So, how to manage the quality of the construction project effectively? This thesis will research about quality management in construction project through theory and real case that is applied in PTSC Production Services Company.
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 9 August 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
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.
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.
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