Design Management in Design-Build Project Base on Design Team of Contractor Perspective

The Design – Build method has many advantages, contractors have to manage some new factors that are not their responsibilities based on the traditional project approach such as design duty, quality of design, design management issues and even authorities approval.

After the contract is awarded, main contractor or design-builder have to established design team promptly and set some roles for each design member as well as define obviously the project scope. Therefore communication, coordination and collaboration between the design teams are significant key leads to project success.

On the other hand, design team also take care authorities submission – a sensitive point which affect project schedule – concurrent with design development progress. Design management had to deal with both tasks in tight schedule, construction permission deadline pressure and balance between main contractor requirements and the owner needs.

Experience was also an issue that design management had to deal with. In order to save design fee, main contractor normally tended to hire design teams whose competence was just enough to develop the preliminary design that provided by the owner. Meanwhile experience of design team who could find out mistakes from the owner concept as well as control changes at initial project phase was underestimated.

These above factors may be due to some inherent problems that contractors and owners have to deal with in Design-Build process. Therefore, Mr. Nguyen Cao Bao Luat made a study to investigate the following issues:

- Coordination and communication between parties
- Lack of time and inexperience design team
- Level of concept and preliminary design which conducted by owner
- Change order and extra work orders
- Design error

The objectives of his study were to: (1) identify design management problem in D-B projects base on architectural design perspective; (2) investigate the nature of problems in order to find causes and solution; and (3) propose a system how to manage design: coordination, interaction for design-build project.

Conclusions

Lessons Learned from JCV Project case study

According to project final report document which done by both contactor and the owner at JCV project, the essential lessons that they learned are as follows:

1. Design-Build team should be carefully chosen in term of experience by the owner;
2. Involved parties should be prepared carefully to deliver the project;
3. Preliminary design which done by the owner should be enough information and specification of performance should be priority;
4. The owner should leave design guidelines "loose," because design-build team will work creatively under performance criteria; and
5. Communications among the involved parties should be opened and maintained particular between design team and the owner.

Summary of lessons learned form case study based on design team perspective


Some keys to success for design – build project in particular for design management

1. The owner and design-build team should create a collaborative environment for working at the beginning of the project. Good communication among key team members and understanding between designer and builder are keys leading to project success.

2. The owner should select and work with the pre-qualified design-build team who has previous experience with similar project types is the essential core. The design-build team experience helps the owner study geographic location and commit that design-build team have ability to deliver a good design and quality of construction are key factors.

3. The owner should make sure that the level of designer team and construction team are meeting the requirement organization of the project, because at equal level, communication will be effective in term of team performance.

4. Take the contractor/construction team into the project as soon as possible to review the concept as well as technical drawing. The contractor should be expected to participate in the preliminary design.

5. The owner should use a concept design to work with the design-builder team to develop a preliminary design. Make design decisions early starting with the Customer Concept Document, Request for Proposal and Concept Design.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

Design and build is a method of project delivery in which the design and construction phases of a project are combined into the contract, usually awards on either a low bid or best-value basic.

In design-build, the A/E firm and construction contractor have an incentive to become and integrated team that works concurrently on the design and construction phase of different segments of a project, with the potential to expedite delivery and better control product quality and cost.

However, design-build has a few drawbacks, as well.

• The system's short-cut design process. Some steps are reduced
• Owner has their own conceptual planning and schematic design which may not be done by professional A/E firm. The level of preliminary design will impact cost and quality in design development stage and construction stage also.
• The builder is also the designer, it is only natural to expect that the designs will gravitate to technologies most preferable (read profitable) to the builder.
• Inherent checks and balances between design and construction teams no longer independent.

Even though Design–Build (DB) arrangements have several advantages, project contractors are still studying and improving it. This may be due to some inherent problems that both contractors and owners have to face in their D-B projects. This study investigates the problems and difficulties that design team of contractor deal with and how can help the contractor overcome these problems though design management.

Owner’s Involvement in Preliminary Stage of Real Estate Development Project Case Study in Vietnam

What is the main involvement of owner in managing real estate projects while hiring outside consultants during the preliminary stage and how they can manage and monitor these design consultants effectively to achieve the best quality for their projects. It is important to explore the roles and the responsibilities of owner involving decision making in every stage of project development with outsourcing strategy.

Mr. Truong Thai Binh made a case study to design a guideline for owners who do not have enough experience and in-house resource to develop property. His study was carried out to increase a better understanding of owners’ roles and responsibility in developing construction projects.

The objectives of his study were: (1) identify project life cycle and real estate project development procedure, particularly for real estate projects in Vietnam; (2) based on project life cycle, investigating the involvement of owner in every stage of project development, especially in Design phase; and propose recommendation for improvement of project management guideline for managing, controlling and monitoring.

Conclusion

Role and Responsibilities of Owners

A successful project begins with the owner. In general, the broad responsibilities of the owner on construction projects include two major factors that contribute to a quality project. The first is the development of complete and realistic requirement and objectives for the project. By communication and coordination, the second factor is to provide a thorough understanding to other team members of the role and responsibilities of the owner. Besides that, the owner is also responsible for providing adequate financing for the entire project and making prompt payment to team members.

Owner also plays an important role of making a decision in every step of the projects development, particularly in preliminary phase. The key indicators for the owner to consider before making any decision in every step of preliminary phase are given in the table below:

Recommendation

Recommendations are suggested based on the case study and the literature review.

a) The most common causes of the construction problems were the lack of coordination and insufficient drawings. Solution for these problems is the involvement of the Owner and Design Professional at the design and development phase. Their participation will reduce the risks as they help all parties to understand the actual requirements and minimize conflicts between parties to achieve better designs.
In order to reduce the conflicts in the construction project, it is recommended to have a good communication channels among the Owner and other parties to establish a good coordination.

b) To assure the quality management in the design phase of construction projects, the Owner should have a good training program for his/her employees. Training on the job is a good method to help employees become more professional.

Reasonable investment in the design staff will have good effects on the creativity in the Owner project management. The most appropriate skilled, experienced staff should be selected for each project.

c) The Owner should ask for the help of Architect or Designer in formulating the final brief. By working closely with them, the Owners should also help to establish a valuable dialogue and ensure that the Owners have a clear understanding about creative references, functional needs, roles and responsibilities.

The Owners should never be afraid to change their minds at this formative stage of the project. Design briefs often evolve so that the final brief is quite different to the original brief. The important thing is to get it right at this stage because design changes later in the project have the potential to undermine the integrity of the overall design, delay the project and add to the cost.

The Owners empower the Architect or Designer to do what they do best with the potential to deliver a project quite literally beyond the Owners’ comprehension. This can be considered as the pre design phase.

d) It is important to integrate design quality in the overall quality of the project – procurement process, leadership, project team and continuous improvement. Good design will:

- Make a positive addition to the location, the environment and the community;
- Add value and reduce whole-life costs;
- Create built environments that are safe to construct and safe to use;
- Create flexible, durable, sustainable and ecologically sound environments for the community;
- Minimize waste of materials, energy and pollution both in construction and in use;
- Be attractive and healthy for users and the public;
- Contribute to construction that is quick, safe and efficient;
- Produce facilities that are easy and cost effective to manage, clean and maintain.
[Source: Better Public Buildings]

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

ABSTRACT

Today, with more than 86 million people, Vietnam is one of the potential real estate markets in Southeast Asia. For such reason, there is a great need for professional project management skill, particularly for owners and investors in Vietnam. Therefore the subject of this study is to identify the owner’s roles in managing his projects. This owner organization is established in 2002 and has been working as property investor for almost 7 years. The organization is located in Ho Chi Minh City. The managers are those who do not have enough experience and acknowledgment in real estate and, particularly in construction industry. Important part of this study is to develop a brief guideline to identify the roles and responsibilities of the owner in project investment and management.

Owner’s Project Life Cycle Approach: A Case Study of Rubber Plantation Projects of Vietnam Rubber Company

In recent years, Vietnam Rubber Company (VRC) has invested big capital for expanding rubber plantations and upgrading rubber processing facilities both domestic and outside the country. For VRC, the concept and practice of owner’s project life cycle have been used in rubber plantation projects. Nevertheless, VRC has not built a type of project life cycle appropriating with its specific characteristics; therefore, some projects meet with serious difficulties during performance.

According to internal audit and situation report, VRC’s oversea rubber projects show many problems especially in cost and schedule on the project management in construction during 2007-2010 such as:
- Cost overrunning or over budget;
- Projects are prone to delay;
- Project quality uncontrolled;
- Project scope creep.

Also according to this report, VRC recognize the bad results in Cambodia are created by many reasons; however, poor management of the project life cycle is one of the reasons bring about serious consequences including the followings:

- No establishing a framework of project life cycle;

- Project proposals and business cases and project selecting process in the first phase were carried out incautiously have impacted to all remain phases of the project life cycle;

- Some projects do not have a strong project management team;

- Inadequate delegation from VRC’s head quarter and the project organization is not properly;

- Lack of managerial skills and competencies as well as the internal capacities of the owner

VRC considered that poor management of the project life cycle caused negative impact to the projects. They are the critical problems which VRC and other related parties to Cambodia projects need to consider cautiously.

Mr. Do Huu Phuoc made a research to study Vietnam Rubber Company’s project life cycle approach, analyze situation and develop a framework of project life cycle of a rubber plantation project and guideline to possibly ensure the projects deliver on time, on budget and to the level of quality expected.

Conclusion

All projects have certain characteristics in common which only last for some time.

Projects can be managed using a common set of project management processes. In fact, a similar set of project management processes can be utilized regardless of the type of project. All projects should be well-defined and well-planned, and all projects should manage the scope, risk, quality, status, etc. Although every project is unique, the lifecycle model typically is not. The general lifecycle model that an organization use will probably be similar to one that has been used dozens or hundreds of times in other organizations. There is no reason to reinvent everything for a project. It just takes longer and contains more inherent risk. The better approach is to utilize a standard set of lifecycle processes, techniques and templates.

The project life cycle of VRC’s projects may progress through four phases:

- The first phase of a project is the initiation phase.

- The second phase, the project enters the detailed planning phase.

- The third phase involves implementing the plans created during the project planning phase.

- The final phase involves completing the work, closing out the project.

Conclusion for VRC’s project life cycle approach

There is no single best approach in organizing project management throughout a project's life cycle. All organizational approaches have advantages and disadvantages, depending on the knowledge of the owner in project management as well as the type, size and location of the project. It is important for VRC to be aware of the approach which is most appropriate and beneficial for a particular project. In making choices, VRC should be concerned with the life cycle costs of planted rubber trees, constructed facilities rather than simply the initial costs.

Saving small amounts of money during construction may not be worthwhile if the result is much larger than the operating costs; or not meeting satisfactorily the functional requirements for the new facility or the objective is not align with the scope. Thus, generally a project or particularly a rubber plantation project wants to finish successfully it must be very concerned all the phase of the project life cycle.

Recommendations

With so many ongoing projects like situation at present, VRC may encounter difficulty for all projects to get adequate support, or even the attention of top managements. The particular common problems when trying to manage multiple projects concurrently may be:

a.There is no time for summary experience, so the mistakes from a project can repeat to all projects.

b. Delays in one project may drag other projects because of common resource needs or technological dependencies;

c. The inefficient use of corporate resources results in hills and valleys of resource utilization;

d. There are unwholesome competitions between project teams to get support, or the attention of top managements.

VRC should consider a temporary stopping with the current projects to review all the problems happening. The lessons learn from projects should be analyzed, reviewed and documented for future projects and any other projects will be performed by VRC in Cambodia or other countries in the future.

This study had concentrated on owner’s approach in managing project life cycle to an agriculture project. However, there are many aspects relating to the project management. Further studies should be carried out to find out the approach of owner for agriculture project management.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

Project life cycle is an approach that links the phases, which can lead to significant results required for completing a project. As the owner has the most authority in enforcing the implementation of constructability, the owners' awareness of the benefit of the project life cycle is the most important. Project owners must be aware that the decisions that are made in the stages of projects are difficult and costly to change once construction begins.

Owners should recognize that there is no single best approach in organizing project management throughout a project's life cycle. All organizational approaches have advantages and disadvantages, depending on the knowledge of the owner in project management as well as the type, size and location of the project. It is important for the owner to be aware of the approach which is most appropriate and beneficial for a particular project. In making choices, owners should be concerned with the life cycle costs of constructed facilities rather than simply the initial construction costs. Saving small amounts of money during construction may not be worthwhile if the result is much larger operating costs or not meeting the functional requirements for the new facility satisfactorily.

However, the traditional approach to project life cycle limits their option for involving in the phases of the project. The general lifecycle model that an organization use will probably be similar to one that has been used dozens or hundreds of times at other organizations. There is no reason to reinvent everything for your own project. It just takes longer and contains more inherent risk. The better approach is to utilize a standard set of lifecycle processes, techniques and templates which to be used in the same industry.

Delay in Planning, Design and Construction: A Case Study of Residential Development Project in Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam’s construction industry is now suffering from many problems regarding design to operation especially in residential and complex building. These problems include:

1. Coordination between Architect and Structural designer
2. Communication difference between architect and owner regarding the structure
3. Lack of government permit
4. The contractor’s method of construction did not comply with local building standard therefore accident happened
5. Project delay due to owner’s return payment to contractor which is not stipulated in the contract
6. Dispute between project construction management group and main contractor or between main-contractor and sub-contractor about claim, variation order, quality, delay of schedule, and coordination with other contractor
7. Difficulty of taking over from contractor to project management group because the standard is not clear or was not met general standard
8. When PCMG handed over the project to client but the client has financial difficulty
9. Rework
10. Resolving complains from client about service quality and the method of managing the project

Mr. Nguyen Hung Cuong made a case study which objectives were to: (1) study delay in planning, design, construction; (2) find out to solve and prevent problems in each stage; and (3) propose project life cycle strategy in how to develop residential complex.

Conclusions

The project life cycle would be successful if in each phase of the construction phase project, the management had clear plan and had coordinated with all contractors to resolve the problems at an early stage.

The project will be completed on time if clients are pleased and satisfied with the quality and safety. In case of project delay, propositions based on theoretical and recommended practices including guidance from the PMI’s PMBOK guide can be presented in order to solve the problem. Besides, some useful tools were considered and suggested to use as the aids for the project managers to improve control management in the project.

However, this case has limited information because some companies in Vietnam can not provide full information to students.

Recommendations

In order to avoid problems on project delay from concept design to operation which was actually happened in The Manor phase II project, the following steps are recommended:

• PCMG have to get Government permit first together with concept design before construction and have to control the plan well. The plan monitoring is very crucial for project management.

• Owner should estimate the project expenditure and should have a board in order to double check the project phase by phase.

• Project Construction Management Group has to undergo an organizational training in order for them to know the use of the process to accomplish the project and to learn the contract condition.

• Documents control for project is very important. All the site instruction should make the process for resolving and return it to contractor soonest, with the process that all the scope of work will be completed on time.

• In case of ISO certified company, Project Manager should give feedback to the company Quality Manager to add in personality test forms together with Job Application Assessment Procedures forms. That will save Project Manager’s time whenever there is new job applicant coming to job site for an interview.

• PCMG have to request contractors to submit the schedule of material delivery in order to double check it. PCMG can also check and give the project schedule to contractor for site instruction.

• The contractors should make a report of human resource to PCMG in order to inform if that manpower is enough to finish the scope of work and if the project can be completed on time.

• Relation division and contractors should always have the plan to solve the method problems.

• The weekly meeting is very important for PCMG and contractor. All problems will be resolved during that meeting and since relation division have limited time to return the request to contractors for information.

• All contractors must provide safety policy to PCMG to reduce accidents on site.

• Delays caused by taking over and claim of payment during construction which is the bigger problem between contractors and the Owner.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

The planning process in project lifecycle is one case study in the Project Management Institute’s A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. In the case study of Project management is established planning process in project lifecycle is very importance therefore this is really a tough challenge and time-consuming task to any project manager.

The drawing up the plan from concept design to operation project that it suggested management must have large line of vision also experience .The planning process will be evaluated clear that must link everything from the owner, design, contractor. This final project report focuses on construction project as lifecycle project needs who’s have responsibility to design planning process to be clear within knowledge. Though a case study of residential and complex project in Ho Chi Minh City, many problems that we can saw which cause project interruption will be investigate and analyzed. A lot of solutions be proposed which base on the knowledge will be discussed to help project management in order to improve skill in the project.

Owner’s Organization Project Management Maturity: A Case Study of Petrolimex Saigon

Construction owners nowadays are facing two general problems which are the lack of the modern project management knowledge and the lack of a system of procedures and instructions for continuously measuring, evaluating the performance of project and project staff; collecting, storing lesson learned and making convenient access for project staff; and planning and implementing the improvements.

Mr. Le Quang Khanh made a case study which objectives were to: (1) assess the organization project management maturity of an stated owned enterprise on the role of project owner, analyze what it has and what it has not in comparison with the modern project management theory; and (2) propose recommendations for project management improvement.

Conclusion

This study has demonstrated an intensive exploration into the current status of an owner construction project management system. Each management process has been described, assessed, analyzed basing on the definitions, requirements of modern project management processes established by PMI in PMBOK Guide (2008) and OPM3(2003).

The assessment has found that, although the assessed company applied nearly all processes of project management, the maturity level of these processes in the company are still rather low. Company is at the first steps of project management maturity ladders. Reference to OPM3 (PMI, 2003), the Company project management maturity level is at about the standardization stage as shown in the figure below. There are many process need to be standardized, many procedures, guidelines need to be established in order to help the company improve its project management maturity, develop the company competence.
Following are some main problems of the company in project management system:

1. Many processes are not standardized: performed basing only on the experience, practice; there are no standard documented procedures, instructions/guidelines to conduct. Many useful tools and techniques are not applied during project management processes because of the lack of the modern project management knowledge in project staff.

2. The planning processes are not well implemented. There is no specific project management plan, project scope, or project quality plan for each project. The project control and execution activities of project team members are almost unplanned, basing on experience.

3. There are no standards, procedures, no formal performance system to measure, evaluate the degree of success and failure of each process, phase or project, the performance of project team members. Therefore there is no steady foundation to plan for project management performance improvements.

4. There is a formal process for assessing, auditing the existing procedures, instructions and suggesting, implementing improvements (included in ISO9001 quality system). However, because of the limit of the staff knowledge and skill about the modern project management, there are not many effective improvements as expected.

5. There are no procedures or instructions about collecting information of the contractors/suppliers, the project issues, lessons learned…to keep in a convenient place (like project management office) for analyzing and using in future project management. Therefore, there is also no formal historical information and lessons learned knowledge databases system. All the project records, after the project completion, are kept in the store.

Recommendations

1. For the assessed company and other state owned companies in general on the role of owner:

- There should be more training on modern construction project management for the company staff. The training content include (but are not limited to) the knowledge/skills of project management for individual, for organization; the experience in organizing and managing a project management organization, the existing effective systems of construction management procedures and instruction of international project management groups. The staff need to be trained are: the top management for having far more vision, more correct evaluation about the importance and effectiveness of building a standard project management system; the middle management and the project team member to be more effective in managing projects and composing the necessary procedures and instructions;

- Company should pay more attention on the planning processes; make all the management plans before carry out management activities.

- Company should improve the formal system of procedures and instructions to standardize all the project management processes in the company. The guidelines about the applied range of each process are also needed. This help to keep the consistency of quality and increase the effectiveness of management processes.

- Company should improve and increase the effectiveness of ISO9001 assessing and auditing processes by using the competent auditors who are professional in construction project management, training the project staff to be good and innovative self-auditors.

- Company should establish and apply the formal standards, tools, guidelines for measuring, evaluating the success, failure of project goals in order to collect experience and lessons learned for future investments.

- Company should build a small project management office/center where the project management staff can easily access to the historical information and lessons learned of all past projects; refer to the modern project management tools and techniques. And besides, Company should build the procedure, instruction for collecting, storing those data. These works will be very useful for the future project management of the project staff, especially the new comers.

2. For further study

Further study needs to be carried out to have more comprehensive assessment of state owned project management organizations and give more detailed recommendations for competency development of this type of project management organization.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

Nowadays, the increase of world population, the development of technology and the globalization of competition are day by day giving construction industry the increasingly requirements both for the quantity and the quality of construction projects. Hence, many organizations and the individuals involved in construction industry are paying more concern in studying and applying the modern project management knowledge/skill into project management process.

To be successful in managing projects, not only contractors but also the owners need to be competent in project management.

This case study will assess the degree to which an owner-a state owned company, apply the project management processes and give the recommendations for improvements.

Method & Effectiveness of Feasibility Study in Apartment Project: A Case Study of Carina Plaza Building

In the real estate investment business, decision making is important to influence the success or failure of the project. One of the significant stages is the Feasibility Study (FS) stage.

Based on the characteristics of construction industry having high uncertainty, many risks occur during Project Feasibility Study. Correct decision and assumption will help to make the project a successful one. To those assumption, main construction factors should have been anticipated and calculate it into the feasibility analysis so that risks will not be happened and will be of advantage for the investor.

Mr. Le Mien Thuy made a case study on the method and effectiveness of FS. His research objectives were: (1) Framework of FS in Apartment Project, (2) study the application of the framework in project case; (3) find the problem in FS for Apartment Project; and (4) proposal the solution base on theory.

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. Construction project management, which includes project Cost Estimation, is an area of weakness for those investors who want to expand or invest more in the international construction market.

Conclusions

A successful project is determined by Feasibility Study. This is one of the most important stages of project life cycle. There are some problems occurred in Feasibility Study and how to prevent those in future project are really important. Below are some tips such as:

1. Incorrect assumption: The people conduct with good experience in construction industry.

2. Misunderstand the Demand of Market: To study carefully the market situation base on survey data of professional company.

3. Cost & revenue estimate is not match reality: To study some similar successful project and collect good information from contractor.

4. Time schedule planning is not practice: To get the advice of contractor and expert

5. Forecasting of cash flow is wrong: To break down detail a task base on general schedule and the selling program

6. Mistake in term of FS calculation technical: Competent people should be in charge with the professional software.

7. Lack of information in term of information of land: Good connection to authority.

Based on above study we can understand deeply a significant element which impacts the consequence of the project. Based on the literature review, typical Feasibility study Framework for apartment project comprised of 6 phases: identify conceptual, input data, estimate method application, method of evaluation, identify requirement, and identify benefit. In the initial step of FS framework, the preparation work is the most important. This section conducts entire of data for FS processing to ensure that the result is true .In the processing step of FS framework, the method of estimate and evaluation demonstrate that the project is feasible. There are many tools to measure the benefit of the project and specify the good decision –making in apartment investment.

The important point in theory of FS is the cost estimation method and cost estimation element. These methods are functional unit method, superficial method, element cost plan, approximate quantities techniques, all of them can be implemented in real apartment project efficiently. The cost estimation element describes the detail of some important figure such as: cost of land, cost of legal and professional fee in acquiring the land, construction cost, cost associated with facilities management, and cost of finance. Because cost is the input data for FS processing, thus knowledge to understand it is critical study in this report.

Recommendations

Based on the case study analysis, some problem occurring in feasibility study for apartment project was identified. In other hand, the cause was also revealed based on the comparison between actual and theory.

In order to improve the Feasibility Study of Apartment Project, the existing problems such as increasing cost of land, high inflation, revenue changing, fluctuation of material should be avoided.

The method of cost estimation should be implemented properly and appropriately to ensure it is accurate as much as possible. The knowledge of construction industry is most important factor to implement project result. Cash flow control is should be under-taken by people who have enough experience in construction work.

To get the information is highly important to eliminate the risk in future stage. The revenue of the project to be executed should follow the real market. Beside, the input data and output data for the calculation technique should be carried out carefully and should be checked by many people involved, to make-sure that the decision making is good.

The leader should support the team to carry out the FS by the information from other party side such as: Marketing research, contactor, consultant, designing company and some experts especially that in Viet Nam, the Policy of Government is not stable that is why the good relationship with government is the most important point in feasibility study.

Conclusion, in order to achieve the feasibility study in apartment project, the people who will conduct should have an integrated knowledge competence in terms of construction industry, financing, marketing, politic, and selling.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

Viet Nam is the developing country which is booming economic and the new medium classification increasing rapidly. The movement of people from rural region to urban region is growing up every year. The population growing is 2% a year that is compressing of Housing Supply for social need. The entire above figure is good reason for real estate business in Viet Nam. However in order to success in property business the Feasibility study stage is most important factor should be consideration.

The subject of this study is analysis the method & effectiveness of feasibility study in Apartment Project. Base on theory and actual project the problem statement occurring in FS will be identified such as: Incorrect assumption , misunderstand the Demand of Market, cost & revenue estimate is not match reality, time schedule planning is not practice, forecasting of cash flow is wrong, mistake in term of FS calculation technical, lack of in formation in term of information of land. According the literature review the object study is summarized as Framework of FS in Apartment Project. To study the application of the framework in project case. To find the problem in FS for Apartment Project .To proposal the solution base on theory.

With the real project Carina Plaza the analyze of the comparison between theory and the actual activity is show up the different and causing of it . The method of cost estimate is concentrate to study according the theory and project case. The revenue estimate is also access careful to ensure the catch flow management always is positive and project is archive.

The final report specify the most important factor to impact the FS and a successful of project in medium apartment. The FS should be conducted by the people who is integrate knowledge such as: construction knowledge, financing , marketing, communication.

Organizational Project Management Structure in a Real Estate Developing Company: A Case Study of Namlong Corporation

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 the companies are aware off. In fact, there is still confusion in choosing the model for organizational project management structure.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Trong made a case study which primary objective was to identify and find out the ideal project management structure for a developing company. In order to achieve this main objective, sub-objectives were needed to accomplish such as: (1) study the literature of Organization Project Management Structure in construction project; and (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 just did that. Culture, on the other hand, is not easily changed. 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’s 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 collaborative. 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, every individual. Check, monitor and access this plan monthly, 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.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted

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.