Key Strategic Project Management Processes for Different Project Delivery Systems: A Case Study of Construction Projects in Thailand

In Thailand, the numbers of construction project are increased by the investment from both government and private sector. The government invested in infrastructure construction projects such as metropolitan rapid transit projects, roads, government agency buildings, etc. for the purpose of stimulating economics in country. Private sector invested in condominium, house, hotel, department store, factory and etc. for responding the demand of the consumer. During execution and closing these projects, there are many problems happen repetitiously, irrespective of small projects or large projects, for example rework, lack of quality assurance, change scope of work, lack of inspection, a lot of defect work, project delay, cost overrun and etc. The causes of problem are the improper selection and implement project management process in each project which has different characteristic and different project delivery system. Therefore, the study of project management process in construction project of Thailand will benefit the owner, designer, contractor and subcontractor to comprehend the risks of each process and to improve the execution of project more efficiency. Chen et al.     (2009) state that the good project management processes  give the resultant value and benefits such as better project control, better organization reputation, increased efficiency/profitability, greater project transparency, more stakeholder/client satisfaction, and etc.

Mr. Praneet  Prasongnitjakit made a research focused on the project management processes in different project delivery system from design phase to handover the project. The research also aimed to:

1. 

1.1. 

1.2. 

1.3. 

1. identify project organization structure for different project delivery system.

2. identify project management process and control for different project delivery system for controlling time, cost, and quality.

3. identify contract administration practices of each project management process for different project delivery system.

4. Analysis benefits and risks of each different project delivery system.

5. Developing model to select properly project delivery system.

Conclusion

1. Project organization structure for different project delivery system

The organization structure directly involves in project management process by providing the eligible personnel to implement process. The organization structure also demonstrates the authority, responsibility of the owner, consultant firm, and the contractor including the relationship between the parties in project. The researcher summarizes the relationship, responsibility and communication the organization structure of each project delivery systems as follow:

A. The organization structure of EPC project delivery system

The research finding reveals the relationship, responsibility and communication of project organization structure of EPC project delivery system that the owner contracts with contractor to respond design and engineering work, procurement work, and construction work. The owner contracts the consultant firm to review design drawing and construction documents and inspection during construction. The organization chart is shown in Figure 1.

The communication between the owner and contractor is through the consultant. The responsibility of each party in this organization as follows:

i) The owner approves the effective quality management system, project master schedule, vendor list, payment and change order.

ii) The consultant responds to review design drawing, construction documents, inspection and test.

iii) The contractor responds to management project, develop design drawing and engineering document, procurement all materials, equipment and machinery for construction in accordance with scope of work in contract.

B. The organization structure of PMC project delivery system

The research finding reveals the relationship, responsibility and communication of project organization structure of PMC project delivery system that the owner hires PMC for management project from design until project handover to the owner and hires the design consultant company to design and develop design drawing until finish. The owner hires multiple prime contractors for construction project.

The communication between owner and multiple prime contractors is through PMC. The responsibility of each party in this organization as follows:

i) The owner responds to approve payment and change order.

ii) PMC responds to management project from design until the completed project handover to the owner, coordinate with local district officer to request construction permit and building certificate.

iii) The contractor responds to execute construction and purchase all construction material in accordance with scope of work in contract. 

C. The organization structure of DBB project delivery system

The research finding reveals the relationship, responsibility and communication of project organization structure of DBB project delivery system that the owner contracts with the consultant firms to design until complete, review the construction document and inspection during construction. The owner contracts qualified bidder with the lowest bid price. The general organization chart is shown in Figure 3.

There is a direct communication between the owner and the contractor. The responsibility of each party in this organization as follows:

i) The owner responds to management project, approve design, arranging bidding process and award contractor, construction management, approve payment, and change order.

ii) The consultant responds to design and engineering documents, preparing bid document, review construction document and inspection.

iii) The contractor responds to execute construction and purchase all construction material in accordance with scope of work in contract.

D. The organization structure of DM project delivery system

The research finding reveals the relationship, responsibility and communication of project organization structure of DM project delivery system that the owner contracts with the consultant firm to design, construction management and construction supervision. The owner contracts with qualified bidders with the highest score from evaluation in bidding. The general contract organization chart is shown in Figure 4.

The communication between the owner and all prime contractors is through the consultant. The responsibility of each party in this organization chart as follows:

i) The owner responds to make payment for the contractor, approve the change order for contract time and/or contract price. He also takes responsibility to procure the specific equipment and machinery and provide specification to the consultant for design.

ii) The consultant responds to design, arranging bidding process, construction management, construction supervision, contract administration and coordination with vendors for installation.

iii) The contractor responds to execute all constructions in accordance with scope of work in contract.  

2. Project management process and control for different project delivery system for controlling time, cost and quality

The project management process relates with product and process interaction in order to accomplish the product. This research studied the project management process of EPC, PMC, DBB and DM in order to define to feature of project management process for controlling time, cost and quality for different project delivery system in order to select the suitable project delivery system for different type of project.

A. EPC Project delivery system

In this study, EPC project delivery system is selected for power plant which comprise of specific equipment and machinery. The EPC project conducts the phases in parallel rather one series for completed project within COD. EPC contractor arranges project management processes into nine main processes. These processes are used to manage the activities in design and engineering, procurement and construction in order to control time, cost and quality and also, link related activities between Engineering-Procurement, Engineering-Construction and Procurement-Construction to work collaboration.

Time management

EPC project use project master schedule to manage overlapping time between Engineering, Procurement and Construction in order to speed up project. The process of Engineering and Procurement need to work parallel for integration specification of specific material into detailed design. The completed detailed design and specification are transferred to Procurement to issue requisition in purchasing material, and to transfer construction drawing to Construction unit for execution in each stage. The delay in design or procurement has effect on construction schedule directly. Thus, progress of work was monitored by measurement, earned completion percentage of every activities in project against with project master schedule. The activity delay status was monitored every day until it met the schedule.

Quality management

The Quality of works in EPC project are controlled in every phase such as the quality of design drawings are checked by relevant designer of other design group and review by the consultant again. The quality of equipment and machinery are checked by the inspector at the manufacturing and upon its arrival on the construction field by the contractor and consultant. Packaging and transportation also use for product quality control during delivery to construction field. The quality of construction works are inspected and tested, and test plan the quality procedure by quality control unit of the contractor and verified by consultant.

All documents which involve with execution and control quality of work are kept for audit. The process of construction was again inspected to ensure that the quality system is followed up the project quality management system.

Cost management

The EPC project has controlled cost from review concept of design and cost estimate must within the construction budget. The 60% of budget is for procurement work. The project manager together with procurement controller controls the price of every material while the subcontractors compared price between three vendors and recorded the price for the company. Materials are requested by construction department. The Construction manager control waste of material in construction field to control construction cost.

B. PMC project delivery system

PMC project delivery system in this case study is applied to residential condominium which had been specified delivery date to customer. PMC takes responsibility to manage project as project manager of the owner in order to control all process in the project until the completion of project. In order to accomplish the project, the owner developed standard pattern of design and specification standard, hires same multiple prime contractor in every project. The fixed schedule and construction method used controlling time, cost and quality in project. 

Time management

The project master schedule is fixed duration for construction structural, architectural in each floor, thus productivity rate and construction method of main activities in project are monitored and controlled. The coordination between prime contractors to interface activities is control by PMC together with structural and architectural contractor.

Quality management

In PMC project, the process to check quality of design is not established because the project uses standard pattern of design and specification standard. Quality of contractor is evaluated when project was completed by using data from customer recommendation for evaluation. In construction stage, QC is using internal check by the contractors. The contractor has to recheck the quality of predecessor for ensure that it will not effect to his work. PMC takes responsibility as auditor to check quality at random.

Cost management

The costs of construction in previous projects are recorded. Cost estimate of new project is compared with this record to define cost variation. The construction budget is fixed. PMC takes responsibility to control this construction budget. Hence, change order is controlled for balance cost within budget.   

C. DBB project delivery system

The DBB project delivery system is applied for transmission rehabilitation project of state enterprise. The owner decides to use DBB project delivery system because all contractors in Thailand do not have experience for rehabilitation tunnel. Hence, the design drawings need to complete before construction for reduce risk during construction. The owner manage project by himself. He hires the consultant to design follow his concept. Bidding process can be started after the owner ensures that the details design drawings are completed. Also, the construction process can be started after all other organizations agree to the owner for using their area during construction. The project can be delivered to the owner after the owner can use the tunnel for transmit water supply.

Time management

The project master schedule is developed from the recorded document of similar project in the previous. The contractor has to develop construction master schedule and details schedule for using to control project during construction. The project is monitored by measurement productivity rate of main activity compare with required productivity rate in schedule every day. The weekly meeting is arranged to monitoring project status, problem and solution to correct such problem.  

Quality Management

In DBB project, the quality of design is checked by internal process of designer as explanation in design process. Due to the owner has a lot of knowledge in his construction area, thus, the owner review in details design and gives comments to designer.

In construction stage, the quality of work follows up the quality standard which has been specified in specification during design phase. The quality control process is established to control quality standard document which specify in contract. Test and Inspection process are used to control during construction and the quality of readiness work. The owner also hires the consultant to check the step of construction as explanation in construction method statement and quality of work in each step during the contractor execution until completion of such work. The owner randomly checks some activities again as auditor.

Cost management

Cost of project is controlled during develop details design drawing. The consultant estimate cost of work compare details design submit to the owner for consideration. The owner order the consultant corrects drawings when cost estimate higher than his expected cost. The final cost estimate is submitted to JICA for consideration approve loan to the owner as he request. The contract price is controlled within budget during bidding by negotiate with bidder who propose lowest price. Cost of project during construction is controlled within contract price. The owner control cash flow of project against cash flow plan by control progress payment and change order in project.

D. DM project delivery system

DM project delivery system in this case study is applied to construction food factory. The consultant takes responsibility to design, bidding and construction management in project. Design drawings and other engineering documents are developed parallel with the construction until completion. The designers still takes responsibility to provide additional information or additional drawing or both to the project until the construction finish. In bidding process, the consultant provide service to prepare list of prospective contractor to be a bidders, evaluate prequalification proposal to select qualified bidders, prepare bid instruction documents, bid documents, arrange bidding processes, evaluate bid proposal and recommendation and assist the owner during negotiation. During construction phase, the consultant provides service construction management, construction supervision and contract administration in project. The coordination between multiple contractors to interface work is key to control overall schedule of project finish on time as specifying in construction master schedule. The delay of schedule also causes from the change order that effect to the related work to be suspended.

Time management

There are two main schedules that use to control project. Project master schedule uses to control all activities in project from design until handover to the owner. The Construction master schedule use to control all activities during construction. In order to achieve schedule during design and biding, the consultant develop operation plan for design and bidding, designer keeps closely collaboration with the owner, establishing design procedure and bidding procedure and using stock of knowledge in similar project to reduce time for preparation documents.

Combine schedule of each prime contractor for using to coordinate and interface works is key success to complete project with in time frame. The consultant takes responsibility to coordinate all prime contractor including vendors to start working in each area. Percent complete of work in each activities are calculated for monitoring status of project against construction master schedule.

 

Quality management

The Quality Characteristic and Quality of design are concept to control the quality of design. In order to achieve this concept the process to control quality of design consists of selecting qualified designer, established design procedure, communication within team work, recorded comments in design for review, arranging design review meeting, control of drawing and specification before submit to the owner.

The quality of work during construction requires three processes to control are field construction method, supervision and control and inspection to assure the quality of work. The process to control quality of work in construction field consists of control sequence of work in construction schedule, control construction method statement, develop check list for inspection, and control revision of drawing and specification, control instrument for measurement, supervision and inspection and documentation for review the quality control of project.

Cost management

The application of value management technique to find out the project objective and using value engineering method to eliminate unnecessary costs of project from design. In bidding process, bid price of the bidders are evaluate by compare with cost estimate to find out the differentiation of cost for negotiation. The construction budget is used to control cost during construction, especially control cost of change order and progress payment of contractor. The consultant makes cost report to submit to the owner time by time until the project complete.

3. Contract administration practices of each project management process for different project delivery system

The contract administration in project directly involves with project management process from project commencement until project close out. The activities, which are mention in contract, are administered by the owner or the consultant. The purposes of contract administration of four cases study that reveal in this study are as follows:

i) To inform the contract start working in project.

ii) To control the quality of work, contract price and contract period.

iii) To control and monitoring progress and status of project.

iv) To reduce effect to the owner if the contractor cannot complete project.

v) To specify the condition and process to request the progress payment and final payment of the contractor.

vi) To specify the condition to change in scope of work and claim from such variation order.

vii) To certify the final construction that it conforms to contractual requirement.

The Contract administrations for different project delivery system are similarly in above purposes. However, the process to administer of each project delivery are difference because it is implement simultaneously with project management process which has difference in each project delivery system.

4.  Benefits and risks of each different project delivery system.

Different project delivery systems have difference benefits and risks because of each system are suitable for different condition. In study, the researcher finds the benefits and risks of project delivery system which applied in case study project as follows;

A. EPC Project Delivery System

Benefits

a) Price and time of project have a great degree of certainty.

b) Suitable for project which needs specific technology and time constraint.

c) Single point of responsibility and single point of contact

d) The design is integrated with specification of specific equipment and machineries at outset for constructability more effectively.

e) The owner reduced resources that used to control quality of work.

f) Risk of time constraint and cost constraint are allocated to the contractor.

Risks

a) Risk of less competition of EPC contractor in market that increasing price of construction.

b) Risk of less control of owner has possibility to get non-conformity product.

c) Risk from the contractor may neglect to control quality of work.

d) Risk from tasks across engineering, procurement and construction lack of management.

B. PMC Project Delivery System

Benefits

a) Project is coordinated continually from project start until delivery to the owner by single unit.

b) PMC provides properly cost management method in order to control cost more effectively.

c) PMC provides properly time management method to ensure that project is delivered on time.

d) Mitigation risk of project which may lead to be risk of business.

e) PMC Provide One Stop Service during Executing Project.

Risks

a) Risk from less capability of PMC lead to make a mess in project.

b) Risk from less control of PMC has possibility to get non-conformity product and schedule delay.

c) Risk from the owner interfere project management process.

d) Risk from PMC select project management process is not proper to project characteristic and external environment factor that effect on project delay, low quality and cost overrun.

C. DBB Project Delivery System

Benefits

a) The owner able to have direct influence, in design process in order to control quality in the design.

b) The completion of the design in advance of the bidding process allows for greater certainty for the owner in budgeting the project.

c) Suitable for the public expenditure or audit demands are rigid as it is transparent and based upon competition

d) Change are reasonably easy to arrange and value where the design needs vary due to changes in the owner demand, or technology.

e) The quality standard is specified completely in design for control contract price during bidding and control required quality of work during project implementation.

Risks

a) The owner takes risk from design error after design complete.

b) The overall project duration maybe longer than project master plan due to construction cannot commence prior to the completion of design.

c) Risk of conflict to take responsibility of non-conformity work between design company and contractor.

d) Risk from disruption in bidding process of unqualified bidder.

e) The owner want to speed up the process by producing bidding documents from an incomplete design, this can result in less cost and time certainty.

D. DM Project Delivery System

Benefits

a) Suitable for the project that want to speed up the process by producing bidding documents from an incomplete design.

b) The cost benefits from controlling the development of the design at the outset until design complete for the best practice and innovation in construction.

c) Management cost collaboration from concept of design until control cost during construction.

d) The owner benefit from single point contact.

e) Better coordination and delivery of design information from design teams to main contractor.

Risks

a) The owner’s requirements cannot be settled in design development effect on project completion delay and cost incur.

b) Unqualified consultant makes risk on project disruption, or delay, or cost overrun.

c) Risk from designer may hide design error.

d) Risk from designer intend to make high criteria to select contractor.

e) Uncertainty about the cost of the complete works at the start of construction.

5. Selection Project Delivery System of Construction

The indicators from four categories, namely project characteristic, project objective, characteristic of the owner & contractor and external environment are used to identified the properly project delivery system. The benefits and risks are help the owner and engineer to decide the properly project delivery system which provide maximum benefits and minimize risks to the owner. However, it does not fix to select single project delivery system for the project. The project can be divided into many phases and select different project delivery system for suitable to each phase.

His thesis abstract is copied below. 

Abstract

The construction industry environment is becoming highly complex because of both internal and external factors. Internally, construction project are more integrated and complicated. Moreover, technology-driven projects with limited resource availability have become common. For the external perspective, the business climate is highly competitive and involves numerous project stakeholders with single project. The project management process considerably increased importance to implement the objective under uncertainty of this environment. The root cause are usually due to improper selection and implementing project management process in each project, which has different characteristic and different project delivery system. Qualitative Approach and Case Study method is selected in this research. Using mixed data collection approach, case studies were developed utilizing a combination of observation, surveys and interviews. The data from the documents and data from the collected from the key actors of the interview are interpreted into the information by mapping. The research finding reveals that the authority, responsibility and role of each party in project are difference for each project delivery system. Project management process in order to control time, cost and quality of each project depending on project characteristic, internal factors, the constraints of external environment and project delivery system. The contract administration is implemented simultaneously with the project management process to ensure that the contractual requirement is responded completely. The features of the project management process provides the value and benefits such as better control, increased efficiency/profitability, greater project transparency, more client satisfaction.

Keywords : Project Management Process, Project delivery system, Engineering Procurement and Construction, Design Bid and Build, Project Management Consulting, Design and Manage

Key Factors of Effective Fast-Track Projects

Many large scale building projects in Vietnam have common issues relating to budget overrun, lost revenues or other benefits and quality non-achievement. Delays bring negative effects to the Owners in terms of lost time lead to lost money, lost business chances and even lost company reputation.

Delays are often caused by slow decisions, miscommunication, unanticipated reviews before and approval, or rework to correct planning and implementation errors. Delay may be at least partly due to underestimated durations or poorly conceived schedule logic.

Other causes of problems are:

- project size and complexity;

- unforeseen technical difficulties;

- schedule changes;

- poor contract administration and policies

- poor project definition;

- labor problems and equipment/materials resources;

- government policies changes, etc..

Aside from these, there are pressures from the market to the Owners to shorten their project duration to catch the demands.

Mr. Le Viet Hoai made a study to figure out some key factors to complete building projects successfully without a major effect on the budget and without sacrificing quality. The objectives of his study were to:

1. identify key factors of effective fast-track projects applying for high rise building projects;

2. identify problems and also advantages during project delivery with fast-tracking.

 Conclusion

1. Key factors of effective fast-track building projects

Based on the literature review, a successful project from the perspective of the Owner is to meet intended purpose, within financial, time and regulatory constraints. There some factors to be concerned during delivery of fast-track building project effectively:

(i) Selecting of project delivery method to achieve the required result is important to project. Selected delivery method determines the contracts between the various parties, and the practices needed to form and administer the contracts as well as risks are assigned. Selection needs to be carefully made on each project which based on specific conditions, and primary constraints of the project. Mixing of more than one of the theory delivery methods to be our own appropriate hybrid method as in this project report is encouraged.

(ii) Fast-tracking not only refers to overlapping activities between design and construction work. The extent of fast-track can be extended to the early stage of project. Fast-tracking can apply between development stage and detail design by stating detail design after finalizing preliminary design while feasibility is in progress. Hence, construction work can earlier start accordingly.

(iii) Fast-tracking can also make inside each package of construction work where typically follows the traditional process design – bid – build. Invitation to Bidders can be earlier issued to Contractors without waiting for the whole detail design and estimates are complete. Construction of the package can start earlier or even when contract award is in progress (if you had a general agreement to cover whole project before).

Total process in fast-tracking using strategy is illustrated in figure below. If well managed, overall process can reduce 2-3 months of project duration.

By step by step contracting to Contractor combined with carefully monitoring package estimates and regularly updating to project budget can be useful to the Owner to avoid budget overrun.

2. Problems and also advantages during project delivery using fast track

By using fast track project, the project owner can take a main chance by catching up market demand. Gain benefit from earlier project completion equivalent with earlier revenue, and financial return. Besides that, some beneficial changes in designs can be feasible made during delivery. In other hand, less debt financing due to early completion. Furthermore, risk on construction can be earlier transferred and company reputation can be following proven on real estate market.

Although that fast track delivery is popular used as a strategy, there are many problems that can occur when fast track delivery due to lack of knowledge and inexperienced consultants as well as project management teams. Therefore, the negative effectiveness of unsuccessful fast track projects is significant and can lead to more delay and cost.

The challenge for most fast-track projects is construction contract negotiation. Pricing disputes often occur in each trade on which price is reasonable or comparative. The Owner doesn’t have much advantages in this case and process may last for long time.

In addition, fast-tracking is likely to face with that coordination is more complex, being compressed into a short time, and requiring especially capable coordinators to maintain priorities.

On the other hand, drawing control is more difficult because there are more revisions, even if only to add the detail not available at first issue. These adjustment revisions may be considered as design changes justifying additional money and time by contractor. When there are too many of these differences to resolve in compressed time frame, accumulating conflicts may damage the cooperation.

A fast track project method is not a must for all projects, as it depends on each project type and business strategy. The project owners should carry out a benefit analysis and have a business target to decide which strategy is suitable for their case.

Therefore, experienced consultants and project managers should provide a suitable plan for project owners based on analyzed and feasibility studies.

His thesis abstract is copied below.

Abstract

The frequent market imperative for minimized project durations to catch the demand has brought the Owner to better facilities for project to be delivered in less time, at less cost, and with fewer risks. Fast-track is certainly selected to meet these demands and become popular. With fast track project delivery system, a stage can start before the prior one is complete, especially the overlap between design and construction works, which allow project earlier completion than with traditional method. There no doubt that fast-tracking offers many advantages and benefits, such as an earlier project completion, earlier operation, earlier financial return and earlier transfer risk to construction. Therefore, fast track project delivery in building projects becomes applicable strategy. In order to understand how fast-track is implemented and key factors of effective fast-track project together with problems and advantages, a case study is explored by approaching its documentations, interviewing involved persons. The results show that fast-tracking not only refer to overlapping activities between design and construction but also can extend to development stage or even inside each construction package effectively. Their application is widely during project stages. However, fast tracking can become a threat to quality, cost and even schedule if not done carefully. Therefore, in order to apply fast track project successful, owners should have proper plan.

Keywords: fast-track, fast-tracking, strategy, building project, delivery method, key factors, effective project.

Building Maintenance Management using Analytic Hierarchy Process

Due to the nature of the risk involved in building maintenance, maintenance of a building cannot be avoided during the lifetime of any construction project. Depending on the nature of the forthcoming circumstances which can be unavoidable at times, decisions have to be taken by the people in charge of the project with respect to maintenance. The factors influencing these decisions can be arranged in a model and can come out with the best possible solution to access the decision making process. The AHP is one of the solutions which will provide the necessary information and logical sequence to best access this situation.

This technique will aid the maintenance/facility manager involved in the project to identify, analyze and arrange the various variables involved during the service lifetime of the building.

With the use of AHP in maintenance management of a building, it will serve as a bridge to close the gap between knowledge and experience. Judgment skill of a person is developed with knowledge and experience hand in hand; the use of this analytic tool will provide a systematic and confident solution while taking decisions. The use of AHP in building maintenance management will provide a competitive edge over forecasting the various unpredictable aspects of the building maintenance.

Mr. Rohan Bataju made a research to provide a methodological analyzing process which separate out all the factors affecting the decision making criteria regarding the various components of maintenance management of a building, and arrange them in accordance to level of risk involved in each component and finally provide a priority order of the component which should be taken care of in a hierarchal order. The aim of his research is to use an already developed tool to analyze and categorize the factors related to maintenance regarding a constructed building and enable the people to make decisions depending on the situation which seem to overshadow the facility management process.

Comparison of Facility Management between two universities was done using AHP in order to better understand the trends in the style of facility managers and the importance they each provide regarding various components of FM. The comparison between the rankings of the priorities of the building components between the two educational institutions was also carried out in the end. The end goal is to see which type of facility management the managers adopt.

Even though various tools are available to access maintenance management in building construction, this research specifically used a probability tool called Analytic Hierarchy Tool which uses matrix attributes to organize, analyze and rank various components involved in maintenance management during the construction of a building. By using AHP, this research aimed to see what the overall perception of the facility manager is with respect to preventive maintenance, condition-based maintenance and corrective maintenance. 

Conclusion

The analytic hierarchy process is an assessment tool which converts the various decisions taken by the people involved in a systematic hierarchal structure in order to structure complex decisions. It was developed by T.L. Saaty and is based on mathematics and psychology. Keeping this in mind, when multiple and complex decisions have to be taken inside an environment where the criteria are interrelated, it depends on the person who provides the judgment which is based on the scale provided by the analytic hierarchy process. The sole purpose of the analytic hierarchy process is to access in the process of decision making when various alternatives are available as a solution and only one final solution is required.

Two independent universities were chosen in order to find out which type of maintenance strategy is followed by them. After having a conversation with the two facility managers representing the two universities, a comparison was carried out with the results which were obtained from survey. This result is published with various headings and is explained with facts and details why it is so. Among all the various components of a building these seven criteria i.e. roof, walls, floors, column and beams, sanitary and plumbing, electrical utilities and HVAC were chosen to assess this research finding as they were found out to be the most basic and essential components of any building system.

After using the analytic hierarchy process in order to analyze which maintenance management approach best suits the two universities, it was found out in unison that both university facility managers prefer preventive maintenance over condition based maintenance and corrective maintenance. When ranking was made after the analysis it was found that after preventive maintenance, condition based maintenance was preferred and then finally in the end corrective maintenance was the last resort.

In the selection of the critical components among the seven criterions which have been used in the analysis of this research, from the interviews and discussions it was found out that Sanitary and Plumbing, Electric Utilities and HVAC can be considered as the critical components since they are associated with the comfort zone of the people utilizing the building of the universities.

His thesis abstract is copied below.

Abstract

Maintenance is forever associated with the construction industry. This research sheds light on the three basic types of maintenance strategy i.e. corrective, condition-based and preventive maintenance and the seven basic criteria of a building, namely roof, wall, floor, columns and beams, sanitary and plumbing, electrical utilities and HVAC systems. The above mentioned three maintenance approach and the seven criteria of a building have been taken in order to analyze on this research. The Analytic Hierarchy Process being a powerful tool is used for the analysis purpose where multiple decisions have to be taken regarding the maintenance strategies and the seven building criterions. The main objective of this research is to find the priority order of the maintenance strategies based on the decisions collected from the facility/maintenance manager which can fulfill the basic maintenance approach for the mentioned seven criteria of the building.

Developing Project Governance Framework for Industrial Estate Developers

Since 1994, Amata (Vietnam) decided that its main mission is to develop industrial estate going along with living community in Vietnam. In order to gain the mission, many projects have been invested by Amata (Vietnam). Those projects are office building, factory for lease, traffic road, water supply system, drainage system, wastewater treatment system, electricity, telecom system, etc. Based on the record of these developing projects, Amata (Vietnam) has experienced common project failures such as project delay, cost variation, useless and ineffective facilities of project investment, etc. These problems initiate a research study to find out the root causes as well as remedy methods of the project failures.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nhan made a research to learn about the project governance framework which has been applying by Amata (Vietnam) for developing projects in comparison with models of effective project governance developed by Gross Garland, 2009. Learning from the comparison, the research study found root causes of project delay, cost variation and useless and ineffective facilities of project investment. Resulting from the study, an applicable project governance framework is proposed for developing industrial estates.

Conclusions

1. Weaknesses found from the current project governance framework

Applicable project governance framework is required for developing projects successfully. Therefore, the industrial estate developers need to study project governance frameworks which are suitable to their organizations. Analysis of the five case studies found weaknesses of the current project governance framework with regard to the four principles of effective project governance. Besides, the validation interviews also contributed more points on weaknesses of the project governance framework that the researcher did not get from the case study analysis. Those mentioned weaknesses can be summarized as the following:

The project owner - One of the first weaknesses related to the project owner found from the research study is unclear accountability for project’s success. Accountability of the project owner was not clearly defined for the success of project delivery. The project owner should be the single one person who chairs the project board, however, this role was sometimes held by the key stakeholder. Besides, the project owner shared their decision making role to the senior user of the project board, therefore, confusion and ineffectiveness happened during the project decision making process.

Another weakness related to the project owner which the research study found is the project owner could not have adequate arrangement to both chair the project board and hold the president of the organization. Both roles are key important roles with very heavy workloads. Moreover, the project owner was appointed to hold the role of project owner for many projects under parallel executions. The project is unavoidable to be in the situation that slow and ineffective decision making activities of the project owner.

The project director - Similarly to the project owner, the research study also found weakness of the current project governance framework relevant to the project director. The project director joined the project board to keep the role of coordination between the project board and the project manager, however, the project director at the same time held other position of department manager of the organization. Moreover, the project director was assigned to hold the role of project director for many projects under parallel executions. The project is unavoidable to be in the situation of slow and ineffective decision making activities of the project director.

The senior user - The presence of the senior user was not available from the early stage of project execution. Project investment was aimed to deliver services to customers who were not defined since the beginning of the project. Therefore, the project board did not have adequate information of the user’s demand in order to deliver the project appropriately.

The strategic advisor’s group - The strategic advisor’s group is necessary to support the project board in delivering projects of new business investment. Without support of the group, the project board did not make appropriate study on service delivery of project

2. Conclusion on the proposed applicable project governance framework in compliance with the four principles of effective project governance

The research study proposed an applicable project governance framework to the organization. It basically kept structure of the current framework and proposed some additions. The below discussion concludes on the proposed applicable project governance framework in compliance with the four principles of effective project governance framework.

The project owner - The position of project owner is held by the president of the organization. Following the principle 1 of effective project governance, the project owner is accountable for the success of the project delivery. They keep the role of preparation for project plan such as budget, schedule, etc. and appointing other members of the project board including the project director, the senior user and the senior supplier. The project owner prepares for the guidance of project’s target from the early stage of the project. The project owner chairs the project board to find solution of any conflicts within the project board. The project owner reports directly to the investment decision group (the board of directors). In order to fulfill the principle 4 of effective project governance, the project owner empowers the project director to act as the coordinator of daily project activities. This way helps the project owner to avoid heavy workload influenced by both the organizational governance and the project governance.

The senior user - Following requirements of the principle 1, sales, after sales or operation and maintenance divisions may hold the position of the senior user. These divisions make surveys on user’s demand to provide information to the project board and prepare user’s manual of the project. The senior may consult the strategic advisor’s group to update and complete information of user’s demand. The present of the senior user is one of the additions to the current project governance framework of the organization. It is necessarily required for delivering project successfully.

The senior supplier - It is kept the old process of selection for the senior suppliers through bidding or nomination. Project owner or the project board must award qualified senior suppliers professionally in delivering the projects. In some special cases which the project is new business investment of the organization, the project owner needs to consult the strategic advisor’s group in selection the senior supplier.

The project director -The project director is still recommended from manager of the engineering department. It is recommended that the project director should be appointed from internal organization to gain more effective cooperation with other members who were also selected within the organization. The project director should be expertise in construction management to assist the project owner. The project director sits in the project board to report directly to the project owner as well as the coordination between the project board and the project manager. As the project director is empowered by the project owner, the project director checked and approval for project partly execution and completion and report directly to the project owner. The project director and the mentioned project engineers are responsible for daily activities of the project execution. In order to fulfill the principle 4, it is required that the project director must assign suitable project engineers to support him in detailed project activities so that the project director can balance the requirements between the project activities and the organizational activities.

The project board - The project board is structured from the project owner, the project director, the senior user and the senior supplier. In compliance with the principle 1, the project board is chaired by the project owner. Within the project board, the project owner takes priority in decision making. As the project board has periodic meeting for project decision making, size of the project board should not exceed 6 members. It is to comply to requirement of the principle 3. This compliance will avoid the project board to suffer from stakeholder meeting.

The investment decision group - The investment decision group is maintained with its structure of a chairman, a vice chairman and six directors. Main role and responsibility of the investment decision group is to consider and approve for project plan such as budget plan, project delivery plan, etc. as well as changes on the original plan.

The strategic advisor’s group - The establishment of the strategic advisor group is required for cases of new business investment. The group is responsible for consulting on the tendering preparation, technology selection as well as selection of the senior supplier. It also helps the senior user to complete information of user’s demand as required in the principle 2 of effective project governance. The project owner is still recommended to chair the strategic advisor’s group. Other members of the strategic advisor’s group are from the organization and the superior organization and external experts from professional consultant.

The project manager - The project manager is appointed by the senior supplier. This position is changed respectively to the project stages change. The project manager is responsible to deliver project within limitations of time, cost and quality stated in contract signed between the project owner and the senior supplier. The project manager works closely with the project director to make sure that the project delivery meets the project’s owner’s needs. It is important to have qualified project manager for well coordinating and supporting with the project director.

The project team - The project team is normally from the senior supplier’s side. It includes engineers in the fields appropriate to the requirement of the project. The members of the project team work and report directly with the project manager.

3. Conclusion on the validation interview

From the validation of interviews of both internal and external organizations, the research study concludes on important points regarding to the proposed applicable project governance framework. Research study on the five project cases was endorsed and the proposed applicable project governance framework was recommended as a useful framework and supported to apply for the organization in developing project.

- The project owner was suggested to be accountable for the project’s success. However, it is required for the organization to choose the right project owner for driving the project successfully. In order words, the project owner must be capable in coordinating the project board for project decision making process.

- The project director should be appointed by the project owner to the person from internal organization rather than from external organization. The project director is recommended to be the center of the project board. The recommendation replaced the role of the project owner by the project director. Hence, the research study may consider this recommendation as the project owner should provide more empowerment to the project director for detailed project activities. There was one question about number of projects which a project director can handle effectively. The question may initiate more study on the project director.

- The senior user must be correctly appointed from the sales, after sales or operation and maintenance division. Those divisions shall need to make survey on user’s demand.

- The strategic advisor’s group is chaired by the project owner to help the senior user fulfilling information of user’s demand. Other members of the group are from internal experts, experts from superior organization or external experts to contribute better innovative expertise.

- Others: the research study should consider on other causes of project failures. Besides, the four principles are probably not enough for developing project effectively. Option of seven enablers was recommended to apply for the proposed project governance framework. They are gate process, clear deliverable, clear governance, holistic organization, competence team, adequate resource, feedback to the next project. The recommendation raised more study on the effective project governance framework and the four principles.

His thesis abstract is copied below.

Abstract

Infrastructure such as traffic roads, electricity, water, drainage, wastewater treatment plants, office buildings and factories are necessarily required in developing industrial estate. As per the requirement, this research study has developed an applicable project governance framework for industrial estate developers. An industrial estate developer named Amata (Vietnam) Joint Stock Company was selected to study on its developed projects in Amata Industrial Estate and Amata Commercial Complex in Long Binh ward, Bien Hoa city, Dong Nai province, Vietnam. The research study analyzed data of five project case studies taken from record of project executions to find root causes of project failures. Data analysis was based on theory of effective project governance and its four principles. Cross analysis was done for the five case studies to find common causes of project failures. Through the common causes of project failures, the research study proposed an applicable project governance framework in which contributed remedy methods to the current project governance framework of the organization. The proposed applicable project governance framework for industrial estate developers is probably only suitable for Amata (Vietnam) Joint Stock Company. The researcher suggests more case studies from other industrial estate developers to complete the value of the proposed applicable project governance framework for widen use. Moreover, further study is recommended as project failure can be from other causes which were not studied in this research.

Keywords: Project decision making, accountability, service delivery ownership, project ownership, stakeholder management, project governance and organizational governance.

OPENING CEREMONY

OPENING CEREMONY
Professional Master Program in Project Management in Construction (MPM)
CAN THO, 3rd batch, intake June 2013

Last 29 June 2013, MPM program organized Opening Ceremony for new batch, intake 2013 in Can Tho city.  Besides AITVN representative, Dr. Amrit Bart, AITVN Director, AIT representative, Dr. Hadikusumo, we are honor to receive the attendance of Mr. Nguyen Minh Toai, Director of Can Tho Department of Industry and Trade; Mr. Ta Chi Nhan, Deputy Director of Can Tho Department of Construction; Mr. Nguyen Hoang Vinh Vuong, Director of Learning Resources Center, Can Tho University and Mr. Huynh Thanh Su, Deputy Director of Can Tho Urban Upgrading and Management Board. MPM alumni, current students, new students and staffs also contributed to the successful of this ceremony.

This intake called MPM3 started the first class on Saturday 29 June 2013 with Organizational Management in Construction course, instructed by Dr. Hadikusumo.

A valuable moment with all participants

New students with Dr. Amrit Bart (5th from left) and Dr. Hadikusumo (6th from left)