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Chương trình Thạc sĩ Quản lý dự án Xây dựng AIT: 5 năm một chặng đường
Khai giảng chương trình Thạc sĩ Quản dự án Xây dựng (MPM)
AIT tuyển sinh chương trình Thạc sĩ Quản lý dự án Xây dựng
Học Thạc sĩ cùng các nhà Quản lý dự án xây dựng hàng đầu khu vực
This is a blog managed by Construction, Engineering and Infrastructure Management (CEIM) at Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. In this blog, CEIM shares our activities in providing excellent professional project management education at Master and Doctoral levels in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. http://www.set.ait.ac.th/ceim/
Wednesday, 25 December 2013
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
A Critical Appraisal of Briefing Client in Construction Process
Vietnam is a one of
emerging markets following the UK Trade and Investment (2010) report.
Accordingly, Vietnam is a country which is a market-leading selection by
international investors especially the construction industry which attracting impressively
by the possibility of its profitability. Therefore, the development of
strategies for international construction demands in Vietnam is very essential
to meet the client’s objectives in terms of function, quality, value, time, and
cost and certainly.
The lacking of skilled person
to meet the requirement of construction project in Vietnam is a big problem and
lead to late delivery and over budget. Whilst briefing always has been a key
element of any project. Often, requirements and demands from client are not
collected adequately to provide solutions and result is inappropriate. Briefing
is a communication process combined with record system to publish a set of
documents to the design team; it is a process of developing a deep
understanding about the client needs. It is a continuous interaction and
involvement of the client and professional teams are important in this process.
Through good briefing and grasping what the real needs are, client and
professional consultants can work more effective and productive on project and
make decisions confidently.
NGUYEN
CHAU DIEU AN made a case study which objectives were to:
1. review the concepts,
definitions of client and client briefing in construction in order to
understand the client’s expectation through the client’s briefing process.
2. review the methods
for strategic client briefing and other relevant literature on client briefing.
3. present the problems
of briefing in a specific project in Vietnam and its solutions.
4. propose a framework
of briefing for next project.
Conclusions
Briefing has long been recognized as an important and
essential part in the international construction process. It has a substantial
contribution to the success of a project. However, briefing has not been
acknowledged in the formal way by client and consultant in Vietnam construction
industry. Client and consultants are not aware of the importance of the
briefing process and most of them have not been trained in factors related to
the client’s brief.
The literature study shows the essential activities and
interactive relationships involving the client organization and the design team
as they progress through each phase of the project. It provides the value
information to achieve assessments and objectives of the project.
The aim of this study was to explore a construction client’s
process for project briefing and to improve understanding of strategic briefing
and briefing methods for both client and consultant in meeting the client’s
expectation. The study showed the problems that architect is stuck by not
admitting what a paramount briefing and clarifies elements which play important
roles in a success of project.
1. To know the client’s objective through the briefing
process
In
order to achieve this objective, the literature has been reviewed on the
concepts of the briefing process, the definitions of a client, client’s
expectations and the client briefing process within the construction. The
investigation tried to understand the expectation of clients through the
client’s briefing process.
2. To apply techniques of briefing process for architect
To
explore different methodologies and tools that can be used to establish
client’s demand and expectation on construction project such as questionnaire
development, need analysis, briefing content, communication.
3. To understand the administrative and official process impacting
on the briefing process
In
order to achieve this objective, involvement of client, stockholders, end user,
and consultant during the process is very essential. Managing changes of
requirement, recording verbal communication, and making decision are factors in
briefing administration which impacts success or failure of the project.
Besides
the objectives above, this research also provided the methods to the briefing
process to get requirements from client such as empowering client, managing
project, parties’ involvement, team building and using computer system,
communication skill, and record system.
Although there are still problems in Vietnam construction
industry, this study has been achieved by the conclusion that the construction
industry in Vietnam will be focused on a briefing process especially in
application methods of briefing, training and acknowledgement a brief properly
to get efficiency, profitability of a project.
Recommendation to improve briefing process in Vietnam
construction industry
1. Perceive role of briefing
Need
to train all parties involved in a project aware of how important the briefing
is, the role of briefing in a project and contribution of briefing to the
success of a project. Through a better briefing, an architect can get what the
real client wants and client’s expectation. Even client, they will be able to
make decisions related to investment with great confidence.
2. Understand briefing process
Briefing
process is an interactive process between the client and professional teams and
briefing happens continuously during the construction process. Briefing process
needs many techniques, tools to get requirements and demands from client such
as team building, getting information, analyzing, managing changes of
requirement, recording, and communicating.
3. Apply different techniques in construction
Find
out various techniques to apply in a briefing process such as using computer
system to improve communication between client and professional team (Science
& Engineering Research Council) includes general approach, questionnaire
development, data analysis, system contents.
Abstract
Client briefing plays a
crucial role in success of a construction project. A successful briefing can
achieve the target time, cost and quality for a project and make decision on
project confidently. Although there are many attempts to approach client’s
requirement and needs for a project, it is still not collected adequately to
make appropriate solutions in design. In Vietnam, client briefing is not
considered an important process and architects usually focus on design without
paying any attention what their client really wants.
The objective of this
research are to provide a basic knowledge of briefing process which is not
consider as a integral process in construction process in Vietnam, present
research, analysis of problems of briefing in a project and recommend a
briefing framework in order to avoid client’s frequent changes and control
information collected systematically.
This Project Report has
taken a general view of Briefing Process in theory and analyzing a case study
that applied in Vienam to find out reasons of failure, lack of briefing techniques.
The report points out that a framework of briefing need to be established for
identification what a client really wand and clarification of client’s
demands.
MPM Gathering Day 2013
MPM Gathering Day 2013
08 Dec 2013
Lan Anh club, Ho Chi Minh city
MPM Gathering Day 2013 in HCMC on 08 December 2013 successfully organized by MPM Alumni club with over 80 participants who are MPM/CEIM alumni, MPM students, AITAA-VN representatives from Ho Chi Minh ciy, Can Tho and Vung Tau.
They had chance to gather together and review the unforgettable
memories of the studying time at AIT during activities of Gathering day such as tennis cup and gala party.
The tennis cup for men's doubles only were interested in over 30 registered players and its result is as following:
- Champion:
- Dr. Hadikusumo, MPM/CEIM Coordinator
- Mr. Le Quang Dung, MPM3 Can Tho student
- 1st runner up:
- Mr. Nguyen Phan Hoa Binh, MPM3A HCMC Alumnus
- Mr. Dau Hong Quan, MPM7 HCMC student
- 2nd runner up: for 2 men's double
- Mr. Luu Hoang Nam, MPM7 HCMC student
- Mr. Engwan, MPM faculty
and
- Mr. Nguyen Duc Trong, MPM3A HCMC Alumnus
- Mr. Phan Tuong Liem, MPM2 Vung Tau Alumnus
Everybody felt very excited with karaoke songs from single or group alumni and student "singer". Ten lucky persons won 10 lucky prizes during Gala party. Lucky prizes came from MPM program and sponsors.
We highly appreciate our sponsors for this event and their contributions for MPM activities for a long time.
- Mr. Do Huu Phuoc, MPM3B HCMC
- Mr. Hoang Thanh Ha, MPM6 HCMC and QTC company
- MPM6 HCMC class
- Ms. Mai Do Thuy Dung, MPM1 HCMC
- Ms. Lu Ngoc Anh, MPM6 HCMC
- Mr. Nguyen Van Nhan, MPM3A HCMC
- Mr. Nguyen Chanh Phuong, MPM3A HCMC
- Mr. Chau Anh Tuan and Mr. Vo Thanh Phong, MPM4B HCMC
- Mr. Thuyet, AITAA-VN, SOM 01-03
- MPM Program
- Dr. Hadikusumo and Mr. Engwan
On behalf of MPM Alumni club, we would like to say thank you to all MPM faculty, alumni, current students who made the success of MPM Gathering Day 2013. We would hope all of members of MPM family will connect closely, maintain our network and meet together again in Gathering Day next year.
Ready for FINAL ROUND |
Semi-final round - men's doubles |
Semi-final round - men's doubles |
2nd runner-up for tennis cup |
1st runner-up for tennis cup |
Champion - Dr. Hadikusumo and Mr. Le Quang Dung |
Group photo of MPM Gathering Day |
2nd prize of lucky draw |
"Group singer" of MPM7 current students |
Monday, 16 December 2013
Effectiveness of Feasibility Study Analysis in Apartment Building Project
In the context of declining global economy, Vietnam’s real estate/market
and construction potential is one the reasons why foreign investors remain attracted
in the country. The
construction projects present a unique situation where each project is
different with different situation and parties. One of
the important stages
involve in a construction project
is the preparation
of the feasibility
study. Feasibility Study is being conducted during the formulation phase
of Project Cycle. It verifies whether the proposed project is well founded, and
is likely to meet the needs of its intended target groups/ beneficiaries. The
study should design the project in full operational detail, taking account of
all policy, and technical, economic, financial, institutional, management,
environmental, socio-cultural, and gender-related aspects.
According
to the characteristics of construction industry, it has high uncertainty, so many
risks will occur during Project Feasibility Study. This problem might influence
to the decision making of the project and to its profit. To those assumption, the
main construction factors should have been anticipated and calculate it into
the feasibility analysis so that avoiding risks will become additional advantage
for the investor.
TRUONG
NGOC DUNG made a case study which objectives were to:
1.
conduct an exploratory study on the factors and process used in financial
feasibility study
2.
develop a framework for an effective financial feasibility for Apartment
Building Project
3.
conduct a case study to validate the effectiveness of the framework
This
issue is more significant to some of the construction investors facing serious
problems with budget control, as an effective budget control is critical for
investing in large projects.
The case in this report described a
practical implementation in the Feasibility Study stages of Apartment Building
Project of Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular which
obviously revealed the factors which can seriously affect the success of the
project. Actually, Vietnam at present has enormous efforts to overcome policy
and reduce the cumbersome procedures in investment, but investors still face a lot of problems (Financial Feasibility Study) which
occurs in term of project implementation.
So based on this study, how to implement the effective
feasibility study such as the factors and processes used in this stage were
understood. There are expenses, sources of fund and revenues; and methods of
estimation. Moreover NPV method, B/C ratio method and IRR method were the
methods of evaluation used, in addition, to establish a useful framework for
Apartment Building Project.
In conclusion, the report may not only
offer the effective method to make Feasibility Study in the first stages of
project implementation, but also clear description of the major factors that may
affect the efficiency budget that most projects in Vietnam are all experiencing.
The problem of cost overrun, bankrupt and project costs incurred were up
compared to initial estimates.
Recommendations for further study
This
research has concentrated on finance in estimated cost, revenue and how to
analyze the project financial. However, other influence factors such as local politics,
public relationship and strategy of the owners did not mention.
Feasibility
Study should be done not only once, but it must always check at different stages
such as design stage, construction stage and after operation and transfer stage
for the main purpose of improving the later project.
In
addition, Sensitivity Analysis to recognize the priority factors after calculating
the financial factors for the Apartment Building project should also be
considered, so that these factors can be managed.
Abstract
The
Real Estate investment is one of the most dynamic, risky and challenging
businesses because of their implementing time is very long with huge investment
capital and various participating components. Furthermore, this field has poor
skills for making Feasibility Study, with many major projects failing to finish
on time and cost targets.
Feasibility
Study of construction project used to get the alternatives of optimal land use
that give the highest profits. Feasibility study analysis also gives information
about value of investment and the benefits that investors will get. Define
return of investment can be seen from feasibility study. Commonly, Net Present
Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Benefit/Cost (B/C) are the
values that used by investor to consider this project is feasible or not.
The
purpose of this study to identify effectiveness methods, main major estimated
factors that will be occurs in this stage. To effectively making the financial
feasibility study in construction project, it is necessary for oriented path to
identify important factors, then provide a suitable tool to measure their
effects in each stage of Financial Feasibility Study life cycle and suggest the
effective solution methods as minimized/maximized, shared, or accepted.
Friday, 13 December 2013
AIT Seminar: Strategic Infrastructure Development of South East Asia
Seminar
STRATEGIC INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH EAST ASIA
STRATEGIC INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH EAST ASIA
On 11 Dec 2013, MPM program organized the seminar " Strategic Infrastructure Development of South East Asia", presented by Dr. Chotchai Charoenngam, Associate Professor,
Construction Engineering and Infrastructure
Management, School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.
South East Asian is considered of one of the fastest
growing region in the world. The demand of infrastructure development has been
rising much faster than the supply, especially entering AEC in 2015. Strategic
infrastructure needs to be developed to capture economic growth. Types of strategic infrastructure and its contribution to
national socio-economic development were presented during the seminar.
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Environmental Impacts Assessment in Nam Ly Bridge – Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
The people’s demands have been increasing rapidly
while the resources are limited. To satisfy the increasing demands, people
search for every opportunity to develop the economy. Because of that, investing
in infrastructure construction is a need to develop economic regions, which is
a progress in the development of the society.
When human brings in financial to change the
patterns of use of land, water and other natural resources, they will receive
back profit from economic development, but will also change the other elements
of the environment. The question is how to reduce these changes, but still
aiming for economic growth.
TRINH THI THU HA made a research which
objectives were to:
1. study environmental impacts assessment
methods
2. compare of the Vietnam’s policies and ADB’s policies in EIA
3. study environmental impacts assessment of construction
project in Vietnam
Conclusion
EIA is one of a number of policy tools that are used
to evaluate project proposals. It is also a relatively recent development when
compared to use of economic appraisal methods in Vietnam.
For most construction
projects in Vietnam that will invest funds from many different capitals, they are
required to comply with laws and regulations to implement the project. EIA must
be researched in Preparation stage and presented in the Appraisal stage.
The contents of the EIA
is usually consists of nine parts: Introduction;
Description of the Project; Description of the Environment; Alternatives;
Anticipated Environmental Impacts and Mitigation Measures; Economic Assessment;
Environmental Management Plan; Public Involvement and Disclosure; and Conclusions.
The
EMP described how the mitigation and other measures enhance the benefits of
environmental protection that will be implemented. It explains how the measures
will be managed, who will implement them, and when and where they will be
implemented. During
project implementation, the clients must implement properly the approved
content of the EIA, to ensure that negative impacts on have been mitigated and
environment, community has been protected for the sustainable development
objectives.
There
are differences between Vietnamese policies and the sponsors’ policies for EIA in Vietnam such as ODA
projects, World Bank and Asian Development Bank which also have regulations and
guidelines that established EIA applies to projects funded. Possible policies
and activities required of them in different way, but the process is relatively
the same for the building and approving the EIA. In Vietnam, in addition to the
applicable policies of the sponsors for the project, the EIA also have to
establish compliance with current policies of the government of Vietnam.
However, if there are differences between the
policies of Vietnam and the donor's policies, they must apply the policies of the
donors, which is required in the loan terms.
Recommendation
- Adjustment or harmonization of policies and
laws in the implementation of EIA, without gaps to the policies of the
donors (ADB, World Bank, etc.).
- The Government should establish training
programs for students of the EIA and raise awareness and capacity about
the protection and management for environmental leaders, department
managers and community.
- Establish public databases and share the
parameters of environmental quality for other projects in Vietnam.
- There should be public participation during
the implementation of EIA. The project must be publicly reviewed and
evaluated by the public.
- Full finance for the EIA study.
Abstract
The demand of people increase rapidly while the
resources are limited. To satisfy the increasing demands, people search for
every opportunity to develop the economy. Because of that, investing for
construction of infrastructure is a need to develop economic regions, is a
progress in the development of the society.
When human bring in financial to change the
patterns of use of land, water and other natural resources, they will receive
back profit from economy development, but will also change the other elements
of the environment like natural condition and social.
Reducing the burden of environmental impacts is
necessary if development is to become sustainable. Environment Impact
Assessment (EIA) has become of ever increasing importance as a tool for
development decision-making.
Environmental impact assessment, as a national
instrument, shall be undertaken for proposed activities that are likely to have
a significant adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision
of a competent national authority.
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Organizational Project Management Structure in a Real Estate Developing Company
Project management structure is
a new issue in Vietnam. There are more and more real estate development companies
in Vietnam in which many of them process great potential for the project
management team. But the concept of project management structure is one thing
that not all companies are aware off. In fact, there are still confusions in
choosing the model for organizational project management structure such as:
1. Unclear tasks
2. Communication,
teamwork, leadership…
3. Objectives
not properly defined or agreed
4. Insufficient
planning and coordination of resources
Nguyen Duc Trong made a case study to identify and find out
the ideal project management structure for a developing company. In order to
accomplish this, the objectives of his research were to:
2. analyze a Case Study in application of Organization
Project Management Structure in Viet Nam
Conclusion
Organizational structure can get in the way of, or help
support, the overall success of projects. To a certain extent, we can change
the organizational structure. In fact, we can change the organization chart
frequently, and some companies do just like that. Culture, on the other hand, cannot
easily change. It can take years for a large organization to develop a culture
of excellence (although it doesn't take nearly as long to fall back into
mediocrity).
Some organizational structures can definitely impair the ability to deliver projects. First are those organizations whose project teams are doing support work. If the project organization does support as well, it usually means that support issues will pop up and take the focus away from the project. A lot of multitasking and thrashing takes place as we move from support work to project work to support work. It is usually very difficult to prepare good estimates and meet the scheduling commitments. We may be forced into this structure if our staff is small. Sometimes, we have 15 people who work on support, projects, and enhancements. However, we do not have enough people to specialize in either support or project work. This makes it difficult to meet all of our project commitments. Instead, we have to do a good job of managing expectations.
Some organizational structures can definitely impair the ability to deliver projects. First are those organizations whose project teams are doing support work. If the project organization does support as well, it usually means that support issues will pop up and take the focus away from the project. A lot of multitasking and thrashing takes place as we move from support work to project work to support work. It is usually very difficult to prepare good estimates and meet the scheduling commitments. We may be forced into this structure if our staff is small. Sometimes, we have 15 people who work on support, projects, and enhancements. However, we do not have enough people to specialize in either support or project work. This makes it difficult to meet all of our project commitments. Instead, we have to do a good job of managing expectations.
The organizational structure may
also impede the ability to share resources. For instance, if our project team
needs a resource with a specific expertise, we may not be able to easily share
that person with another functional area. Some of this is also related to our
culture. We have to consider whether a different organizational structure would
help. If it would, we may have an organization problem. If it wouldn't help,
our culture is probably not supportive of resource sharing.
The organizational structure can also help or hinder the success rate. The structure can determine how well we focus on projects and how easy it is to share resources between organizations.
Recommendation
1. Consider the system of Project Management structure.
Develop individual assessment form for functional manager, project manager. By
involving functional management in project initiation activities-recognizing
that functional managers often have the best insight into the skills and
limitations of staff members-we made the process of assigning resources to
roles more collaboratively. We also instituted a formal requisition process for
internal resources. Project managers were added to the performance development
process training classes and required to provide periodic performance-related
information to functional managers. At the same time, functional managers now
shared individual goals and objectives with project managers, seeking to align
project assignments with objectives.
2. Build up the enterprise culture and create the transparent
competition among departments. Have good authority system and empowerment so
that all the department leaders can have the conditions to give out the right
decisions.
3. Have clear annual plan and
transfer this plan to every department, and every individual. Check, monitor
and access this plan monthly or quarterly to create fair in bonus sharing.
4. Re-define Roles and
Responsibilities: establish a policy statement and matrix document that clearly
identified the project manager and functional manager roles and
responsibilities.
5. Establish a Communications
Plan: developed a comprehensive program communications plan identifying who
reports what to whom, and when. Acknowledge the information needs of the
functional management team by including them in the communications plan.
Project websites could be established to facilitate communications.
Abstract
A project organization is a structure that
facilitates the coordination and implementation of project activities. Its main
reason is to create an environment that fosters interactions among the team
members with a minimum amount of disruptions, overlaps and conflict. One of the
important decisions of project management is the form of organizational
structure that will be used for the project. Each project has its unique
characteristics and the design of an organizational structure should consider
the organizational environment, the project characteristics in which it will
operate, and the level of authority the project manager is given. A project
structure can take on various forms with each form having its own advantages
and disadvantages. One of the main objectives of the structure is to reduce
uncertainty and confusion that typically occurs at the project initiation phase.
The structure defines the relationships among members of the project management
and the relationships with the external environment. The structure defines the
authority by means of a graphical illustration called an organization chart.
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