Project Planning - How to Deal with Projects - Assignment Example

Introduction This report is designed for the construction project upon which it is based upon a school which is located in central Scotland. This school project therefore is designed to take a period of 18 months and the client’s budget aimed at completing the project is almost 8 million. The project will include about 60 distinct activities taking into consideration the functionalities of PERMASTER software that is aimed to include such areas as Construction Materials and Methods, Steel Frame Building, Ground bearing, Concrete Slabs and Concrete Holorib, suspended slabs, External Concrete Facing Block work, Metal faced Composite Cladding, Aluminum Curtain Walling, Insulated Framed Render Systems, Insulated Membrane / Stand and Seam Roofs, Inner Leaf Structural Framing System and Internal Metal Stud Plasterboard partitions. All this will be achieved by the use of sub-resource costs, calendars, sub-projects and relation between every activity taking effect. The report indicates that all these activities were carried out for the purpose of conforming to the required standard. Initially, it was possible to consider the construction of this project to look like applicable in real life. More so, the sequence of building activities is as presented in the appendix. Method of construction The method of construction that this project undertook was that of steel framing and fast track foundation system aimed at accomplishing the school project perfectly. It was necessary to use a fast track foundation system mainly because it provided a series of structural corrugate steel wall panels that are positioned along an existing in place structure. After that, it was necessary to cast in into place since this aided in creating foundation wall. The panel material used was commercially corrugated steel, galvanized G-90 “B-deck” (1.5”thick)”and 18 pages. The bottom panel edges were cast into the concrete footing, which provided anchorage and bearing. Together with vertical flutes, the panels served as bearing foundation walls. The panels were then joined together with a caulked joined along which the contiguous-edge was then treated with a protective coating. It was decided that, since the school project required concrete materials it was necessary preserving it since it helped in fulfilling the remaining different parts. The major reason why concrete was used was because, concrete in many years had proven to record for strength, durability and cost effective for variety of applications for instance construction of pathways, patios, floors and driveways. In addition, concrete flows since they are found in variety of residential settings, to the basement remodeled from the extra living space, from high rise condominiums and to the slab on grade construction, therefore for the interior surfaces the materials for example granite, bricks and slate are thus preferred to a standard concrete when the budget allows. Furthermore, an increasing alternative for covering concrete in order to make the surface look attractive and functional was considered. It was noted that concrete could be treated both with stains or colorant since this creates a rich variety of hues and textures or later stamped with patterns in the result to mimic a natural surface from marble to wood planks. The finalized floor finishes combined attractiveness and originality with toughness, market and practicality seen from concrete. It was noted that the life expectancy of using concrete slabs while building was far better and exceeded that which was used for flooring materials since often was used to cover them. However, vinyl and carpeting were seen to be subject to staining, tear, damage from flooding and for general wear. Persons thus with allergies were seen to be subject to duct which could be harbored in carpet fibers. More so, majority floor covering required replacement after every few years. Project specifications Construction materials and methods Steel Frame Building Ground bearing Concrete Slabs and Concrete Holo rib suspended slabs External Concrete Facing Block work Metal faced Composite Cladding Aluminum Curtain Walling Insulated Framed Render Systems Insulated Membrane / Stand and Seam Roofs Inner Leaf Structural Framing System Internal Metal Stud Plasterboard partitions Project task: The task that was used in the program was selected based upon the relationship of work to be done. This is well illustrated in the appendix A at the end of the section. In this project it was noted that some activities have to be given first priority while others could wait and a few would start and finish together. In this case, various tasks that were involved in the project were through the help of a PERTMASTER program. Milestones: This marked the very important dates of the project. Milestone that aided in stating both the start and the end were established. In this case, the start milestone represented the commencement of the project while the end milestone represented the final end of the project. Summary tasks: For this case, different schedules and their remaining time frame were thus grouped in accordance to sub summary and summary tasks. This could be learnt from PREMASTER program where the summary tasks were indicated in subheadings for the tasks. In the school project, the summary task were labeled Site Work, Concrete Slabs/Columns, Foundation, Structural Steelwork, Roofing, Joiner work, Walls Work, Install Doors& Windows, Electrical Rough-in, Car park, Clearing and Cover Drop off. The Summary tasks were identified as pink colors so as the reader could understand properly. The standard calendar: During the allocation of work, the five working days of the pert master program were changed into six and seven working days so as to suit the purpose and in order to enable the use of available resources on the ground. Logical linking of Activities: Majority of the activities that were conducted followed a certain scheme known as FS which is termed as the finish to start procedure meaning that an action could only start if a particular task had ended. The other linking procedure was SS (start to start) which indicated that two or majority of the tasks can thus begin during the same time or either way the tasks can begin after other projects have begun. Finally there is the FF (Finish finishing) which meant two or majority of tasks finishing at the same time. In this case, it also means that a task could begin only after a particular project has finished. Brief Explanation of some Tasks Chosen Foundation work: It was noted that apart from the given 65 activities, there were more than that which required to be handled also. But, the major aim of the report was to work more on the program rather and this is the reason why there were only 65 chosen activities to replace and finish the whole project and tries to choose the major activities which were very essential for schooling building. For the project to be accomplished it was necessary to start with the substructure part where the excavation was tackled first and materials for the purpose of accomplishing the underground part purchased. The exaction part was meant for the sewer system, underground, pipe works and all the underground tasks that were connected while footing and compaction of the soil as it take effect. DESCRIPTION DURATION START FINISH STRART PROJECT 0 12/03/2012 SITE WORK 44 12/03/2012 12/04/2012 CLEAR LOT 4 12/03/2012 15/02/2012 STRIP TOP SOIL & STOCKPILE 5 16/03/2012 22/02/2012 EXCAVATION 10 23/03/2012 08/03/2012 DRAINAGE 7 06/03/2012 14/03/2012 POUR FOOTING 21 15/03/2012 12/04/2012 FOUNDATION 42 13/04/2012 11/06/2012 REINFORCEMENT 21 13/04/2012 11/05/2012 FRAMEWORK 14 24/04/2012 11/05/2012 CONCRETING 21 03/05/2012 31/05/2012 WATERPROOFING AND DRAIN TILE 14 23/05/2012 11/06/2012 CONCRETE SLABS/COLUMNS 56 12/06/2012 28/08/2012 REINFORCEMENT 21 02/07/2012 30/07/2012 FRAMEWORK 10 11/07/2012 02/08/2012 CONCRETING 28 20/07/2012 28/08/2012 BASE PLATE INSTALLATION 5 12/06/2012 18/06/2012 DECK INSTALLATION 12 21/06/2012 06/07/2012 STRUCTURAL STEELWORK 90 29/08/2012 01/01/2013 SET STEEL 5 29/08/2012 04/09/2012 ERECTION STEEL 46 05/09/2012 07/11/2012 WELDING STEEL 68 19/09/2012 21/12/2012 RUST PROOFING 28 23/11/2012 01/01/2013 ROOFING 29 24/12/2012 31/01/2013 ROOFING PAPER INSTALLED 10 24/12/2012 04/01/2013 INSTALL ROOF 14 07/01/2013 24/01/2013 WELD ROOF 14 10/01/2013 29/01/2013 RUST PROOFING 7 23/01/2013 31/01/2013 WALLS WORK 142 24/12/2012 08/07/2013 ALUMINIUM CURTAIN WALL 40 24/12/2012 15/02/2013 EXTERNAL WALLS 40 24/12/2012 15/02/2013 INTERNAL WALLS 35 18/02/2013 04/04/2013 FLOORING 35 07/03/2013 24/04/2013 TILING 14 04/04/2013 23/04/2013 CERAMIC 15 25/04/2013 15/05/2013 PLASTERING 74 27/03/2013 08/07/2013 JOINER WORK 157 30/01/2013 04/09/2013 CORRIDOR/PATH 56 30/01/2013 16/04/2013 INTERIOR DECORATION 42 09/07/2013 04/09/2013 INSTALL DOORS & WINDOWS 155 02/01/2013 05/08/2013 FRAME INSTALLATION 90 02/01/2013 06/05/2013 GLASS INSTALLATION 70 19/02/2013 26/05/2013 PAINT & VINYL 20 09/07/2013 05/08/2013 ELECTRICAL & MECHANICAL ROUGH-IN 102 07/04/2013 26/08/2013 WIRING 35 07/04/2013 23/05/2013 SET ELECTRIC BOXES 28 25/04/2013 03/06/2013 LIGHTING 40 26/05/2013 18/07/2013 PLUMBING ROUGH-IN 14 25/04/2013 14/05/2013 HVAC 50 07/04/2013 13/06/2013 ALARM SYSTEM ROGH-IN 24 26/05/2013 26/06/2013 TELEPHON SYSTEM ROUGH-IN 10 26/05/2013 06/06/2013 METER INSTALLATION BY THE UTILITY 50 07/04/2013 13/06/2013 CONNECT MAIN CABLES TO METER 7 16/06/2013 24/06/2013 FURNISHING & INTERIOR TRIM 35 09/07/2013 26/08/2013 COVER DROP OFF & CAR PARK 47 13/04/2012 18/06/2012 EXCAVATION 7 13/04/2012 23/04/2012 COMPACTING 5 24/04/2012 30/04/2012 FOOTING 7 01/05/2012 09/05/2012 LAY PATHS AND PARKING 28 10/05/2012 18/06/2012 FINAL CLEARING & WALK 23 27/08/2013 26/09/2013 WINDOWS 5 27/08/2013 02/09/2013 ROUGH CLEAN 15 03/09/2013 23/09/2013 FINAL CLEAN 2 24/09/2013 25/09/2013 FINAL WALK-THROUGH 1 26/09/2008 26/09/2013 FINISH PROJECT 0 09/07/2013 RESOURCES TO TASKS In the school project, the tasks required only 5 types of the available resources i.e. The materials: which comprised the following Aluminum, concrete, plaster and ceramic, they were to be spread within 7 working days. Non-labor: which comprised of mixer, crane, dumper and tracked excavator that was normal and within the period of 7 working days? Then there was labor which comprised of labor, installer and electrician this was designed to be normal with 6 working days with his team also there were expenses resources. The allocation of the resources for use was well distributed and effected. This helped in identification of particular types of resources which would be used for every task and also enabled the PERTMASTER software to thus calculate the total costs for the whole project in which 8 million pound in the budget. This case enabled easy identification and calculation off all costs spends after the allocation of resources. The PERTMASTER thus related the costs to the number of the items thereafter releasing the summation. RESOURCES THE QUANTITY RESOURCES THE QUANTITY ALUMINIUM MATERIALS JCB NON-LABOR CERAMIC MATERIALS JOINER LABOR CONCRETE MATERIALS LABOUR LABOR CRANE NON-LABOR MIXER NON-LABOR DUMPER NON-LABOR PAINTER LABOR EL-MA(PLUGS,SOCKETS) MATERIALS PAINT MATERIALS EL-MA1(CABLE,WIRE) MATERIALS PIPING MATERIALS ELECTRICIAN LABOR PLASTER MATERIALS TRACKED EXCAVATOR NON-LABOR PLUMBER LABOR H.V.A.C-MA NON-LABOR REINFORCEMENT MATERIALS HOIST NON-LABOR SAND MATERIALS INSTALLER LABOR SLABS MATERIALS STEEL ERECTOR LABOR TILER LABOR STEEL MATERIALS TILE MATERIALS STEEL FIXER LABOR VINYL MATERIALS The experience of working with PERTMASTER Allocation of total cost of the tasks through costing various resources Identification of various tasks where they can be easily identified and accessed Identification and the allocation of resources to the given tasks Logical linking of tasks in order to understand the order of precedence of every task Adjustment of various costs with the required budget The identification and leveling off over demanded resources in order to ensure that the figures reflect with the available numbers. Filtering of the resources in order to determine their ways of distribution within the project, their initial total costs and the preferred start and finish dates in the project program Conclusion This project proved any aspects first it helped in educating on how to deal with projects and also work with the program that is very vital in project management fields. It also gave an absolute outcome where the individual involved learned how of managing one school building in real life experience with the existence of enough resources provided for each activity. After this stage it was possible to understand ways of allocating resources to each activity and find out the total resources and managed it within 18 months. The final aspect was the fact that, it was possible to come up with figures which showed the total cost of the project and the time and cost of every material needed. All this were achieved by the various features of pert master software which was applied to the plan and in this case the importance of pert master cannot be underrated off its functions. It was also understood that, the calculation of the costs was easy with the use of pert master software and finally the identification of over demanded resources, leveling and adjustments was noted using the software. It was also clearly understood that, the software enabled achievement of the project target within the scheduled frame and the budget thereby preventing late completion and achievement of the project. To sum all ideas the total cost of the project was 6,783, 434.00 and the steel frame together with concrete slabs were mainly used in the construction of the school building. Charts Finish date Cost chart Cost, resourses Pert network: CRITICAL PATH NETWROK: FILTER REFERENCES: Primavare Risk Analysis Software http://www.designshare.com/index.php/projects/saint-thomas-aquins-high/images@3628 Tutorials of GCU official Website: http://blackboard.gcal.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_32347_1%26url%3d Construction methods: http://www.toolbase.org/Construction-Methods/Concrete-Construction/concrete-waterproofing-systems Read More