A comprehensive Guide to Effective Project Management

 

 

With the establishment of USA's socialist market economic system and the deepening of reform and opening-up policy, the reform of USA's construction project management system and design system is also ongoing. 

Taking project management as the center and implementing project manager responsibility system is the key to the success or failure of project management. In the course of project management. 

The project manager must focus on the initial and intermediate implementation and end phases of the project. 

 

1. The focus of the initial phase of the project. The initial phase of the project refers to the stage from the effective date of the contract to the formal start of the design.
2. The main task of this phase is to complete the organization, plan, and create the conditions for the project to proceed. The initial phase of the project is organized by the project manager and completed with the participation of key project team members. The work in the initial stage of the project has macro-control over the implementation of the whole project, and successful planning is half the success of the project, and its scope, quality, depth and rationality are essential to the success of the project implementation in the future. Therefore, the project manager must invest considerable effort and time in the initial phase of the project. The main work of the project manager during the initial phase of the project is as follows: 1.
3. Study familiar with the contract documents Project manager organization has been clear project team members carefully review the contract documents, agreements, supplementary agreements and other relevant contract documents, in-depth digestion and understanding, according to which to carry out project work. Mainly include: understanding the background of contract negotiations, winning the contract conditions and the main terms of the contract, research, familiar with the main contents of the contract, research and development of the implementation of the contract strategy, focus and considerations.
4. Determine the work decomposition structure and code of the project. According to the specific content of the contract project to determine the project's work decomposition structure and coding, the project's work tasks into detailed work units, to each unit to define their own account code, which is the basis for comprehensive cost/progress control.
5. Determine the organizational decomposition structure and coding of the project. According to the work decomposition structure and coding of the project, and further determine the organizational decomposition structure and coding of the project. So that each work of the project is implemented to a company's department, room of a professional organization, can not miss, can not be a work repeatedly assigned to more than one professional group. The project team is dynamically managed and decides to take a centralized or decentralized form of organization based on the size, complexity and professional collaboration conditions of the project.
6. Organize owners (users) start-up meetings Generally within 3-4 weeks after the contract takes effect, the project manager shall organize a meeting of owners (users) to start work. This is the first official and important meeting with the owners since the project was established. At the meeting, we should further clarify the responsibilities and scope of both parties, the content and basic conditions of the work of the engineering company, further confirm the standards and related matters adopted in the contract project, identify the channels of communication and coordination between the two parties, and discuss the relevant work of the project plan.
7. Preparing a project plan A project plan is the project manager's overall idea and arrangement of the project. The project plan should clarify the project objectives, work principles, priorities, work procedures and methods. The project manager first compiles a plan to advise on the contract, technical and commercial reliability and risks, and master the principles and methods of project progress, cost, quality and material control, etc., and is reviewed and agreed by the relevant departments of the company. TThe detailed implementation plan is then prepared and released at the project start-up meeting. This is an important guiding document for project work.
8. 6． Organize the project start meeting Generally within 4-5 weeks after the contract comes into effect, the project manager will organize the start meeting of the project team. This is a meeting chaired by the project manager after the project organization has been established, the task of the project has been basically clear, the project plan has been drawn up and approved, and it marks the formal start of the project implementation. At the meeting, the sales representative will introduce the contract content and situation, and the project manager will make a project start report, explain the project's tasks, contents, objectives, implementation principles and planning, the project's near-term work plan, etc., and carry out work mobilization.
9. Organize the preparation of project design data Based on the project basic information provided by the owner, the project manager or design manager organizes the preparation of project design data, which is confirmed by the owner and becomes the basis of the engineering design. Project design data mainly include: design basic data, technical requirements, design standards, procedures, specifications, and then carry out process design.
10. Carrying out process design Process design is the basis of the whole engineering design and procurement work. The progress of process design is an important factor in determining the overall progress of the project. Generally, after the contract is signed, it is carried out in parallel with other initial work and must be carried out as early as possible.
11. Review. Approve control valuation Review and determine the initial control estimate of the project or the approved control estimate.
12. Publish and review. The relevant plans Publish preliminary project schedule, review and determine design plan, procurement plan, construction plan, driving plan, quality plan, financial plan, etc. Second, the key work of the project implementation phase The project implementation phase refers to the stage from the end of the initial phase to the completion of the construction machinery.

The main work includes engineering design, equipment materials procurement and supply, construction installation and construction. This stage invests the most manpower, the longest duration, the largest consumption of funds and materials, to complete the workload is very large, to manage and control the face is very wide, is the main stage of project construction.

In this stage, the project manager in addition to their own attention and strengthen management and control, more important is to guide the responsible person at all levels to organize the project team all personnel to do their part and coordinate and cooperate to complete the contract project tasks. The project manager should fully grasp the progress of the project, guide, inspect and coordinate the work, deal with and solve major problems, so that the project construction coordination goes smoothly.

1． Grasp the five major management 

(1) Contract management. 

Project contract is the contract used by both parties to clarify the content and scope of the project contract, project progress, quality, cost, rights, obligations and norms of the two sides' code of conduct, is the two sides consensus has the legal effect of the important document, is the basis for the completion of the project construction, but also the main basis for the work of the project manager. 

Anything that goes beyond the terms of the contract shall be renegotiated and executed after the signing of a supplementary agreement. 

Therefore, the project manager must strengthen the project contract management, leading the project team personnel to fulfill the contract terms. 

Contract management includes general contract management and subcontract management. General contract management runs through the whole process of project construction. 

First of all, the project manager should organize to study the contract documents, familiar with the contract content, in order to fully grasp the contract situation, conscientiously implement; For the handling of disputes and breach of contract, the two sides should first negotiate to resolve, if the negotiation is not possible, submit to the contract provisions of the institutional arbitration, to timely make additional modifications and changes to the contract. 

Subcontracts to ensure the completion of the total contract, the management of subcontracting contracts, the project manager first urges to do a good job of the sub-contract preparation, and then organize research and validation of major sub-contracts, and do a good job of disputes and breach of contract treatment, timely sub-contract supplement, modification and change.

(2) Project coordination procedure management. 

Project coordination procedure refers to the procedures and contents that need to be negotiated and confirmed by the two sides in order to complete the construction task on the basis of the contract.

In order to do a good job in the construction of engineering projects, project managers often have to coordinate and cooperate with owners and subcontractors to establish good cooperative relations on the basis of correct handling of the interests of all parties. 

Therefore, grasping the project coordination procedure management can improve work efficiency, reduce contradictions, and lay a foundation for creating a good atmosphere of cooperation.

(3) Project major change management in the construction cycle. 

The owner's changes and internal changes are inevitable, the key is how to deal with, not only for the owner to serve, let it be satisfied, but also to make the implementation of the contract not greatly affected to ensure the company's economic interests. 

First, the procedure for dealing with changes should be clearly defined in the contract or coordination procedure so that it can be followed in a rule-based manner, reducing or avoiding contradictions and disputes. 

At the same time, the project manager should control to minimize major changes, carefully calculate the situation that must be changed on the project progress, cost, quality and other comprehensive impact, and in accordance with the prescribed procedures to control, try to avoid disrupting the normal working order of the project.

In addition, compensation for the cost of reasonable extension of the duration required due to the change of the owner shall be calculated in a timely manner and reported in writing to the owner's representative for approval. To make the owner aware, the change will take time and cost.

(4) The construction cycle of the planned management project. 

It is one of the main objectives of the project contract, for which the project manager should strive to achieve and eliminate the risk of late compensation. 

The project's schedule is generally divided into five levels, the first level is the total project schedule, the second level is the total progress plan of the installation, the overall construction schedule of the project, the third level is the group code schedule, the fourth level is the bookkeeping code schedule, and the fifth level is the work package plan.

Planning management is one of the important management objectives, pay attention to the layer constraints of the plan, the subordinate plan should generally absolutely ensure the realization of the superior plan and leave a little room. To make all kinds of plans closely cooperate, connect with each other, reasonable cross-cutting to form a complete planning system.

(5) Information management in the project management. 

It has a large number of information and data generation, need to collect, transmit and process. The basic materials of the project, design data, design input and output, file drawings, and various records statistics are all information. 

If the information is not accurate in project management, it will inevitably bring about losses to the implementation effect of the project, and the accuracy, timeliness and unity of information is very important for control and decision-making. 

 

Therefore, information management is one of the five managements that project managers should grasp. 

 

The use of computers for comprehensive information processing, the establishment of project information database, all kinds of information input to the processing center, the computer on the system high-speed output processed information, and make a variety of reports for project managers to make timely and accurate decisions and orders, so that the project construction to achieve modern management.

2． Grasp the four control 

(1) Progress control project manager in the management of the project plan at the same time. 

The key objectives on the key lines in the plan should be strictly controlled. In order to ensure the timely completion of the master plan, we should adjust the allocation of resources reasonably and arrange the input of funds, working hours and materials. In addition to meeting the purpose of completing the plan, progress control should also be used to find comprehensive benefits.

(2) The quality of quality control project. 

It is one of the contract objectives that the owners attach great importance to which is directly related to the progress of the project, the cost and the safety of people's lives and property, at the same time, it not only affects the owner's benefits and social benefits, but also determines the credibility and development of the engineering company. Therefore, the project manager must strictly implement the company's quality policy, quality manual, project quality management and quality control, urge the project department personnel to attach importance to quality and strict control, especially to the subcontracting construction installation quality strictly controlled and managed. If a part of the project once reworked or a quality and safety accident, not only on the duration, capital impact and loss, but also in the company's credibility, construction personnel sentiment in many aspects will also have a negative impact.

(3) Cost control project construction is a complex system engineering. 

All aspects are interrelated and infiltration, the project of various management and control of the advantages and disadvantages will be fully integrated into the cost, cost control throughout the project. 

Therefore, cost control is an important part of the four major controls, the project manager must arrange considerable energy and time to pay attention to cost control, as far as possible to obtain reasonable and optimal economic benefits. 

To do a good job in cost control, first of all, verify and publish the basic information of project estimation, grasp the cost estimation and cost decomposition index at all stages, and constantly check the implementation of the plan cost in the construction, and constantly check and analyze the relationship between the three curves of BCWS, BCWP and ACWP. 

In the implementation of engineering projects, we should try to avoid nest work, downtime, rework, reduce waste, reduce risk.

(4) Material control project materials are the material basis of project construction. 

Accounting for 50%-60% of the project construction costs. It directly affects the construction cycle and quality of the project, and is one of the main contents of project control. 

The project manager mainly reviews the approval control procedures and control plan, inspects the implementation of the supervision material control, and reviews and determines the treatment plan of the remaining materials of the project, must organize the material supply in a timely manner according to the requirements of the construction schedule, organize the purchase quantity accurately according to the actual needs, strengthen the comprehensive management and monitoring of the materials, improve efficiency, reduce losses, reduce risk, and ensure that the project obtains the best economic benefits at the lowest cost of resources.


The four controls are interrelated and affect each other, one of the changes will inevitably affect the other, so the project manager can not be isolated individual management and control, must use cost / progress comprehensive control, in order to pursue the comprehensive economic benefits of the project. In the cost/progress integrated control work. 

The project manager is the most important is to establish and approve the implementation of the performance measurement benchmark, and then review the implementation of the cost/progress plan, the implementation of the cost/progress comprehensive control, when necessary, adjust the development of new performance measurement benchmark, effective control. 

 

Third, the main work of the project end phase.

The project end stage refers to the stage from the completion of the construction machinery to the project appraisal and acceptance and the completion of the closing work.


It is an important stage to comprehensively inspect and evaluate the results of the implementation of the contract project. In addition to guiding and organizing the project delivery, test vehicle assessment and owner acceptance, the project manager should also do a good job of project summary and documentation and filing work, for the company to accumulate useful experience.

1． Organization of acceptance, for the transfer

of the project construction to complete the project, should be timely processing of the project transfer, which marks the transfer of project management rights and risks. 

Although the test drive and assessment of the leadership, organization work is mainly the owner, but in order to test the smooth progress of the project and as soon as possible for the acceptance of the owner of the contract project. 

The project manager should establish and improve the on-site driving service organization, supervision and inspection and do a good job in all stages of driving work, and finally organize the owner acceptance of the contract project.

2． Project

 

Summary Project summary is an important work in the end phase of the project, the project manager should organize the key members of the project team to carefully summarize the performance of the contract work, including the successful experience in the work, existing problems and future attention, and on the basis of the collective summary to put forward the project completion report, for the company to accumulate experience, improve management, improve efficiency.

3． Documents, data

Finishing and archiving The project manager organizes the relevant personnel to do a good job in the finishing and archiving of all important documents and materials of the project within three months after the end of the project work, and provides reference data and information for future project quotations, project management and design, procurement, construction and driving business. Fourth, strengthen the management of safety, health and environmental protection

The policy of project safety management is "safety first, prevention first", the project manager is the project safety, health (health) and environmental protection management responsible person, he can entrust the project safety manager, safety engineer to assist in the work, but can not entrust responsibility to others. 

The work by the project manager to organize the implementation of the project safety, health (health) and environmental protection management system and also serve as the project safety management director to coordinate the relationship with other aspects of management, receive various reports, take corrective measures.