Project Management: The Bungalow Project-Cost and Quality Management Plan
INTRODUCTION/EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Bungalow Project is investigated for its project management plan in terms of its cost management approach, project planning, project quality management plan, Cost estimations, organization of roles, and responsibilities, project scope, stakeholder and communication plan. The project costing and its estimation and its planning are explained in the cost management plan. Quality planning and the measures for the project quality are explained in the report. The cause-and-effect measure, the fishbone measure, the use of check sheets, Pareto charts and other quality measures are explained. Quality assurance is also explained in terms of this construction project. The Cost Management Plan and the Cost Estimation Worksheet are shown to evaluate the plans further and identify the cost measures. The report also shows the detail on the design and construction of the project. The Site Preparation and the building are also explained in terms of their relevant activities. The building head over is also shown in detail in terms of its activities. All activities are shown in terms of the order in which it is to be completed.
The Bungalow Project is the construction of a bungalow of six rooms on the strip footings. The specifications and general information on the bungalow project show that the construction is done by direct labor who are all specifically hired for this purpose. The specialist’s traders including the plumbers and electricians are also included. The project is financed through the bank loan. The bank loan is paid for four weekly periods until the project is completed. The regular site inspection and monitoring are done to look after the progress of the project. The labor rates are also shown for the tradesmen and the laborers. The total hours in one week are 50. The project management plan includes the costing for all scenarios including the three-point estimating, best case and worst-case scenario.
QUALITY MANAGEMENT PLAN
PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Project quality management is crucial to any project. As Heldman (2013) mentioned, is a relevant output of a process a vital aspect of any project and is concerned with defining quality standards that are crucial to the project. The bungalow project can be considered as a long-term project, as per Duggan (2015) definition can take months or years to finish. In this case, as the project consists in the design and build a bungalow, considering all the specifications required for this project, in a most likely scenario could take 43 weeks and in the pessimistic scenario could exceed 50% of the schedule (64.5 weeks). This construction must have accurate methods, in order to measure quality. Therefore, the quality management plan for this project should define roles and responsibilities in the project, set up standards and regulations to be followed, define the quality that the project manager expects, as well as tools that can be used to measure and control the quality.
ORGANIZATION, RESPONSIBILITIES
The roles and responsibilities for the project should be shared with the construction team and individuals who are involved in the process.
QUALITY PLANNING
As Wysocki (2013) mentioned, quality planning is a key process performed during the planning process and it aims to define standards that are crucial to the project and devising a plan to meet and satisfy those standards. To meet standards, it is important to set up metrics that might be used in the project. Standards might vary depending on strategies, goals and objectives defined by the company.
DEFINE PROJECT QUALITY
It is crucial to follow the procedures defined by the project manager during the project, from the design of the structure, foundations, installations until mortgage holder inspection. The project was developed to build a bungalow; therefore, is important to follow the defined standards and procedures in order to achieve the result expected. Project quality, in this case, means build the bungalow with the specifications, such as six rooms, tongue & groove pine floorboards, tiled roof etc.
According to Heldman (2013), eight tools and techniques can be used to help construct the quality management plan: Cost-benefit analysis; the cost of quality; seven basic quality tools, benchmarking; design of experiments; statistical sampling; additional quality planning tools and meetings. Nevertheless, the standards will be implemented by ISO 9001. Therefore, the quality assurance will be defined. Nolan (2016) sustained that improvement of supply chain management and purchasing processes through ISO 9001-approved methods can reduce costs and increase profit margins.
MEASURE PROJECT QUALITY
The tools and techniques that the project management team will use to measure project quality are the following:
1-Cause-and-effect diagram – aims to identify causes for problem or effect.
Image of cause-and-effect (Fishbone) diagram
2-Check sheet: are using to gather data from quality problems. Are very common when inspecting quality results Heldman (2013).
Image of a check sheet.
3-Pareto chart: identifies the defects and problems, prioritizing them.
Image of a Pareto Chart
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Quality assurance is crucial to any construction project. It can be defined as an activity to ensure that an organization is providing the best possible product or service. As the project will meet the ISO 9001 requirements, it is essential to define some quality assurance activities, such as quality audit, defining a process, tool identification and selection and training of quality standards and process, Haas (2017).
The Cost Management Plan shows how the costs for the project are going to be managed during the lifecycle of the project. The standards, reporting formats and cost estimations, measures, and people responsible for these costing are identified. The plan shows the level of accuracy of the project budgeting and costs. The measures used for the Costing and its performance measurement are Schedule Variance, the cost variance, the cost performance index, and the schedule performance index. These measures are shown in terms of the control thresholds for this project. The interpretation for the results of the performance measurement is also shown. The cost reporting and its decided format are also identified.
COST MANAGEMENT PLAN
| Project Title: | The Bungalow Project | Date: | 5 May 2019 |
| Level of Accuracy: | Units of Measure: | Control Thresholds: | |||
| High | Schedule Variance
Schedule Performance Index Cost Variance Cost Performance Index |
Schedule Performance Index: Between 0.9 and 0.8 or Between 1.1 and 1.2
Cost Performance Index: Between 0.9 and 0.8 or Between 1.1 and 1.2 |
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| Rules for Performance Measurement: | |||||
| Schedule Variance is used to measure the schedule performance of the project. It is calculated by subtracting the Planned Value from the Earned Value. SV should be greater than 0 to show the project is earning more than planned.
Schedule Performance Index shows the progress of the project in terms of planned value. The value of SPI is 1 when EV is equal to PV. Cost Variance is calculated by using the Earned Value and subtracting the Actual Costs from it. A zero CV shows that the project is on budget. Cost Variance Index is 1 if the EV/AC is 1 or the EV is equal to AC. |
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| Cost Reporting and Format: | |||||
| The reporting of the cost management would be done via the monthly project status report in which a section labeled Cost Management would be reported. The section of the Cost Management would include the Units Measures mentioned above. Any of the cost variances identified outside the control thresholds will be reported in the report along with any corrective actions planned for its correction. The change requests that arise from the project costs overrun would also be identified in this report along with its detail | |||||
| Process Management: | |||||
| Estimating costs | For the estimation of the costs, the Accounts Manager and the Project Manager together would be responsible | ||||
| Developing the budget | For the development of the budget, the Accounts Manager and the Project Manager together would be responsible. The other members of the project would also be included in the process. | ||||
| Updating, monitoring and controlling | The budget and costing would be updated, monitored and controlled all by the Project head and by the Accounts Head. | ||||
Cost Estimating Worksheet:
Cost Estimating Worksheet shows the cost estimations by the three methods for the project. The cost estimation by the parametric estimates, Analogous estimates, and the three-point estimates are calculated. The data on the labor hours used for the laborers and the traders are used for these computations. The results for the three estimation methods allow for the decision on the best method for calculation of the costing and also give room to see the pessimistic and optimistic scenarios as well.
COST ESTIMATING WORKSHEET
| Project Title: | The Bungalow Project | Date Prepared: | 5 May 2019 |
| Parametric Estimates | ||||
| WBS ID | Cost Variable | Cost per Unit | Number of Units | Cost Estimate |
| 1.1.– 1.11 | Labor Costs | $45 | 7.25 Trd | 337.5 |
| 2.1 – 2.11 | Labor Costs | $30 & $45 | 1.4 Labs & 1.4 Trd | 105
|
| 3.1 – 3.13 | Labor Costs | $30 & $45 | 4.5 Labs & 7 Trd | 450 |
| 4.1 – 4.18 | Labor Costs | $30 & $45 | 2.25 Labs & 3 Trd | 202.5 |
| 50 hours x 4 weeks = 200 hours | 1095
|
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| Analogous Estimates | |||||
| WBS ID | Previous Activity | Previous Cost | Current Activity | Multiplier | Cost Estimate |
| 1.2.– 1.11 | Labor Costs | $45 | Labor Costs | 7.25 Trd | 337.5 |
| 2.1 – 2.11 | Labor Costs | $30 & $45 | Labor Costs | 1.4 Labs & 1.4 Trd | 105
|
| 3.1 – 3.13 | Labor Costs | $30 & $45 | Labor Costs | 4.5 Labs & 7 Trd | 450 |
| 4.1 – 4.18 | Labor Costs | $30 & $45 | Labor Costs | 2.25 Labs & 3 Trd | 202.5 |
| 50 hours x 4 weeks = 200 hours | 1095
|
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| Three Point Estimates | |||||
| WBS ID | Optimistic Cost | Most Likely Cost | Pessimistic Cost | Weighting Equation | Expected Cost Estimate |
| 1.3.– 1.11 | $45 | $45 | $45 | 7.25 Trd | 337.5 |
| 2.1 – 2.11 | $30 & $45 | $30 & $45 | $30 & $45 | 1.4 Labs & 1.4 Trd | 105
|
| 3.1 – 3.13 | $30 & $45 | $30 & $45 | $30 & $45 | 4.5 Labs & 7 Trd | 450 |
| 4.1 – 4.18 | $30 & $45 | $30 & $45 | $30 & $45 | 2.25 Labs & 3 Trd | 202.5 |
| 50 hours x 4 weeks = 200 hours | 1095
|
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REFERENCES
Duggan, T. (2015) Differences between short term and log term project. Retrieved from https://work.chron.com/differences-between-shortterm-longterm-projects-11637.html
Haas, J. (2017). What is quality assurance, process methods, examples? Retrieved from https://www.guru99.com/all-about-quality-assurance.html
Heldman, K. (2013). PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide (7th ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Wiley.
Image of cause-and-effect diagram Retrieved from https://goleansixsigma.com/cause-and-effect-diagram/
Image of check sheet Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_sheet
Nolan, J. (2016) Would construction companies benefit from iso 9001. Retrieved from https://advisera.com/9001academy/blog/2016/06/07/would-construction-companies-benefit-from-iso-9001/
