AXUM TECHNIC

COLLEGE
ON SITE BUILDING
CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
Level IV

Unit of Competence: Planning and Organizing Work Activities

Module Title: Planning and Organizing Work Activities

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 LO1: Set Objectives

Information Sheet 1 Set Objectives

Project Management- refers to the series of methods and tools that are used to plan and
implement the change or the project from its inception to its completion. Project management
allows you to take highly complex task and break them down into manageable process,. To
manage a project successfully you can employ a variety of project management methods tools,
all of which assist in a project’s planning, assessing of options, risk management, and
organization resources and actions.

What do you mean by Projects?

A project can be a small as moving your desk from one floor to another or as complicated as
moving your entire company from one location to another. It can involve five people or five
hundred people- it all depends on the type of organization you have and what it is that you are
trying to accomplish. There are, however, certain characteristics that most projects have in
common. They are usually:
 One-time events or pieces of works
 Finite(SET) in the length of time they will take
 Required to be completed by a certain deadline
 Operating on the fixed budget
 Requiring coordination of different people, resources, processes, etc.
 Comprised of multiple phases or stage
 Involving some level of risk or consequences should the project fail

Basic Project Management System and Tools

Project management is such a common need that there are professional certifications and degrees
for you to learn how to do well. However, you don’t have to have formal qualification to be a
good project manager. Through these are the main two systems that use their own procedure for
organizing the work that has to be done. Some are specific to a certain type of industry or a
certain type of process. Yet most of them have some common basic elements.
 Project Definition
 Planning
 Working
 Monitoring
 Completing

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  A project Definition which describes the scope of the project as well as
objectives, key evaluation criteria, deliverables, and any identified risks or
constraints.
 A planning phase that evolves from the project definition and breaks the project
down into stages or phases establishes a timeframe, a project team, the budget and
financial reporting process, as well as contingency plan. A number of project
management tools such as Gantt charts and Critical Path Analysis charts are
useful.
 A working phase role and responsibilities are assigned, communication is the
key, and delegation can be very important to your success.
 A monitoring phase where you remain in communication with the project team
and respond to and prevent any unforeseen issues.
 A closing phase where you complete all the phases of the project and then
evaluate the success of the project. You may also supporting employees through
training or other assistance if it is needed.

Project Definition
The first and vital step of project management is to accurately define the project and what it will
entail(require)..
The project definitions sometimes called project charter, include multiple sections of
information. It serves more than one purpose for you. First, it clearly shows the need for the
project and the benefit that you will receive in return. It sets the parameters of what can be
expected – and just a important, what is outside of the scope. Second, once it is approved, it also
confirms agreement what will have the stated resources you need to complete the plan. And
finally, it serves a master plan while you are working with your team. As you move through the
phases of the project, the definition document is your road map, helping to keep your track, on
schedule, and on budget.

One format for the project definition document can be remembered the acronym BOSCARDET,
which stands for:
 Background
 Objective
 Scope
 constraint(limitation)
 assumption
 Reporting
 dependency
 Estimates
 Timescales
In this format, there is not a specific section on the budget of the project, but the information can
be included within the Constraints section or the Estimates section. You can adopt this format to
the need of your project leader and project team.

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BACKGROUND
In this section, you are setting the stage for the need of the project. What has happened in the
organization or in your field that has encouraged the need for you to take action? Think about the
information that the supervisor or management above need in order to approve the project and
give the green light to move forward.

OBJECTIVES
In order to define objectives, start by asking yourself the question below regarding your overall
goals;
 What are we trying to achieve?
 By when are we aiming to achieve it?
 What, specifically, are the goals, and why are they important to the project?
 What will success look like?

You need to have a specific set of criteria by which you will measure your success in meeting
your objectives. How will you determine how well the project was implemented? How will you
know if it was not successful? In order to answer those questions, you need to determine exactly
what will it is that the organization will gain from the project. How will you demonstrate to the
management team that is worth their investment of time and money to complete the project?
KEY SUCCESS CRITERIA
In any project, there are objectives that must be met in order for a project to be successful. If you
don’t meet them the project will be considered a failure even if you meet certain other objectives.
These essentials objective are the Key Success Criteria (KSC)
Identifying your KSC’s is important because they serve as the focus for your effort to the project.
Since things can change quickly in an organization your project could be changed while you’re
on it budgets could get cut, structures could be reorganized, or the market on which you operate
could shift in an unforeseen way.
DELIVERABLES
In some cases, it may be difficult to differentiate between deliverables and objective. Sometimes
they are tangible items like new products and their item numbers. Sometimes it may not be
tangible item such as having people understand a new process or procedure. But need to find
ways to measure the outcomes of your project in order to determine success. For example, in the
case of the example of new rate schedule above, deliverables would include:

 Updated rate sheets

 Updated billing system
 Updated website and marketing material
 Advertizing campaign created and rolled out
 Information flyers, bill inserts, posters, and email developed and sent
 Agreement with all resellers regarding updated rate structure

SCOPE
In some project definition documents the scope is define as part of the objectives. It simply
depends on the project you have on your plate and what works best for your project definition.
There is no right or wrong to do it- just the way that works best for your existing communication
process, your management team, and your project.

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 The scope of the project is a description of the range of activities that will undertake
during the project.

CONSTRAINTS
If the scope is one form of boundary on a project, constraints are another. Every project will have
some form of constraints, simply because of the fact that our resources are finite and our
willingness to expose our project to risk is limited as well.. So another way to look at constraints
is to consider the realties around your resources and your level of willingness to be exposed to
risk. You then may have to make a difficult decision regarding what to sacrifice and what to
preserve.

RESOURCES
In this sense, the term “resource” refers to people equipment, and money. As we know, we have
limited supply of all our resources. But it’s important to understand what these constraints on our
resources are because they impact the amount of work that we are able to do, the amount of time

the time you have to use them, and the work output that you can produce. You could also say
that the amount of work that is required is dependent on the number of resources that are needed
and the time that is needed to complete the objectives. This could be a literal calculation, such as;

Number of resources x Time worked = Work Output

This equation can actually help you think through your resource needs constraints in several
different ways. You know that if you have more people, either the work output will increase or
you can keep the work output the same and decrease the amount of time required to complete the
project. If we decrease the work output, we can also decrease either the time or the number of
people we need, or both.

Since each resource has an associated cost, your cost equation for the project would look like
this:

Cost of resources x Work = Total Cost

So to reduce our costs without reducing the work (and, we assume, work quality), you would
need to reduce the cost of the resources used either by the number of people, the level of people,
or the time that they work.
What is the point of discussion? Its shows that keeping your resources focused on the work at
hand, primarily the key criteria, will reduce the time you need people to work and will, in turn,
reduce the cost of your project. It also shows how important it is to properly estimate the time it
will take to complete your project. If you don’t take these resource constraints into account when
developing your project definition, you will either end up over deadline, or you risk failing to
complete the project at all.

When it comes to people, for everyone involved, you may have other constraints to think about
that comes from their position in the organization and their existing role.

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  Availability to work in the project
 Agreement on the goals and objectives as well as agreement from their supervisor
 Reporting relationship and any challenge in multiple directives for their time.
 Conflicts of interest or internal politics
 Knowledge levels and capabilities

For equipment resources, you could also face additional constraints such as:
 Cost
 Technical ability to operate it
 Repair and maintenance
 Availability
And, for money, there are certain to be constraints as well since it is definitely s finite resource
for most projects. You may have to consider things such as:
 Budget cycles
 Budget request processes
 Contingency plans/funds
 Foreseen and unforeseen costs
This is another reason why your plan definition document is so important; it explain clearly what
you believe your resource needs are. If it is approved, then you have the commitment that the
requested resources will be provided. It also offers management the opportunity to deny the
resources you’ve requested and ask that you scale back the project. By knowing what your
constraints are, you can describe the trade-offs it would require in time or quality of outcome to
do so.

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
The performance criteria affect the resources that you need. The higher the criteria that you
expected to meet, the higher the cost will be to complete the project. When you are developing
your project definition, you might want to consider proposing different levels of performance
outcome and their associated potential costs.

TIME
Time affects the costs of the project, and time constraints may also impact the availability of
necessary resources. Estimating time is a difficult process for some people, but we will look at
some tools that you can use to do so.
There is one point to make about time that we haven’t made yet. It is that the quality of the
resource, or people, that you have for your project may affect your time needs as well. If you
have two well-qualified people on your team, they may be able to do the same work as four
unqualified people. So consider being willing to pay a higher price for support if it will save time
in the long run. On the other hand, if you aren’t concerned about the amount of time it takes to
get the project done, you could hire cheaper, unqualified help. Of course this poses a risk to the
quality outcome as well.

RISK
One final constraint is your willingness to expose the probability of achieving the project’s
outcomes to risk. A risk is defined as anything that would have a negative impact on your
project, particularly its other primary constraints. For example, a risk could be any delay that

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would make you miss deadlines. A risk could be that you are expecting a certain amount of
revenue from the project in order to continue operations, and something could impact your
ability to earn the revenue. Or, someone else in the organization could decide they need your
technical support person more than you do and attempt to pull them from your project.
No project is entirely without risk. However, you can greatly minimize your exposure to risk if
you address certain risk factors as part of your project definition. Probability – The likelihood of
a specific damaging event (risk) actually happening expressed as a percentage. You can have
probability range of greater than zero and less than 100 percent probability. It cannot be zero
because then you would be taking about something that isn’t actually risk. And it cannot be 100
percent because that would no longer be a risk- it would be a guaranteed certain event.

ASSUMPTIONS
As you write your project definition document or plan, you will also need to indentify your
assumptions. These are the ideas and concept that have taken the granted when you have been
developing the plan. You can include this information in its own section, or it may be something
that you address in the Background or Objectives section.
To determine some of your assumptions, you might need to ask yourself questions such as:
 What have I assume will change?
 What have I assume will stay the same?
 What suppliers, vendors, constraints, or other outside support have I assumed will be
available and affordable?
 What time have I assumed would be available from the staff that I need?
 What exceptions to existing process, rules, or procedures have I assumed would be made
for this projection or the process of implementing it?

This is actually another form of risk assessment because if your assumption were not correct
there could be some negative impact on your project that need to be able to adjust your plan
defend against.

REPORTING
This is the section where you describe how you will remain in communication with the
management staff that the plan is being written (at least in part) for. You might have status
meetings, weekly emails, monthly written status reports-whatever works best for your exiting
channels of communication. This is not necessarily how you will communicate with your project
team which we will discuss more in a later chapter.

DEPENDENCIES
Dependencies are critical points in your project plan. They are the things that must happen in
order for further actions to happen. If two things are dependent upon each other, there is a
potential risk involved. So identify this points as another way to manage risk as well. But
dependencies also require that you plan your time work task around them.

ESTIMATES
You might or might not have an estimate section- It depends on what kind of project are
planning. If you have them in this section, you would describe your methodology for any

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estimates that you have made. Think of this as supporting documentation for the resource request
you have discussed earlier in the project definition document.

TIMESCALES
This is the final resource that you need to account for when you are planning the project. You
will need to make estimates regarding the amount of time that different phase of the project will
take depending on the number of people that will have available to work with you.

Information Sheet 2 Plan and Schedule Work Activities

PLANNING
Planning is an art, and the art of planning exist only among human beings. This power to be able
to plan distinguishes man from the other members of animal kingdom.
The environmental development through planning is the natural field for Architects as
they are a better position because of their training and experiences. However, for a good
planning, intelligence and experience are necessary. And for plan to be successful, it must be
prepared by those were trained and qualified.
The pre-planning stage establishes and determine the direction and success of any
construction project. Unfortunately, it seems that some engineers and contractors have not given
the pre-planning special emphasis despite their one direction of going there.
Past experience have proven that there is no short cuts to sound construction pre-
planning. There is no new procedure to replace the following four basic rules for any job.
1. The construction superintendent should be included in the consultation at the very start of
the planning stage. Do not just present him later the finished plan and say: “here is the
plan for you to implement.
2. Make a job breakdown into components. This will simplify the program.
3. Prepare a construction plan that will be consulted constantly. Do not just file it in a
drawer only to accumulate dust.
4. The advantage of new tools, which have demonstrated in saving time, money or
confusion. For, instance a computer can be used to layout on one sheet a detailed
schedule according to number of days, crafts, man-hours, costs, procurement and
completion of a process.
For Whom and What is We Planning

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 1. We are planning for the owners of the company when we plan to achieve a profit by
operating at the minimum capacity, utilizing the available resources.
2. We are planning for the employees when we plan to create or maintain jobs.
Planning functions has Four Different Dimensions, Namely:
1. Planning is a philosophy
2. Planning is integration
3. Planning is a process
4. Planning is a collection of procedures
Planning is a philosophy- Looking ahead is a way of thinking, a concern about the future
effects of today’s action. Planning involves a state of the mind that recognizes the need for
orderliness and the value of direction.
Individual planners may sway between optimism and pessimism, but they dare not stray
too far from reality.

Planning is integration – Both long and short range plans provides a unified structure to give
purpose to the organizational units involved. Broader plans consider the client, the supplier and
other peripheral contact of the company.

Planning is a process- Goals and objectives are the most obvious consequence of the planning
process. A loose objective of survival or of making profit is poor guidelines for steering an
enterprise. A winning plan includes;
1. The strategy that defines how much has to be done to achieve the objectives.
2. The sequence of events that satisfies those strategies;
3. The assignment that lead to the accomplishment of the events.
Planning is the collection of procedures- All companies makes plans ahead to some extent and
apply their own methods of doing so. In small company, one person may do it all, but larger
companies have standard procedures for formulating and carrying plans.

THE PROJECT MANAGER

The central figure of the project is the project manager. He bears the ultimate responsibility for
the success or failure of the project. His role in the construction is one of an organizer’s a person
who is capable of working through others to accomplish the objectives of the project.
The job of the project manager can be both difficult and rewarding. However, the reward
of the job of project manager comes from:
1. The benefits of being associated with successful project.
2. The personal satisfaction of seeing it through to its conclusion
3. The challenge of the job, and working with other people.
Project construction management differs much from management of more traditional activities. It
is a unique one-time operation with one major objective-to accomplish specified tasks in limited
time framework.
Project manager must often functions in an environment that is best. He has to coordinate
and motivate people who sometimes owe their allegiance to other managers in their functional
areas.

Generally, construction project have some elements in common. The problems of

planning and coordinating project activities can be quietly formidable for large project, which

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typically have hundreds or even thousands of activities that must be carefully planned and
monitored if the project is to proceed according to the following schedule at a reasonable cost.
1. Project goals must be established and prioritize are set.
2. Different works must be identified and time estimate must be determined.
3. Resource requirement must be projected, and budget must be prepared.
4. Once underway, progress must be monitored to assure achievement of the goal.
The project manager’s mission is to plan, coordinate, control and accomplish. His achievement
can probably be traced to his success in managing people. Similarly, people at every tier of
corporate hierarchy, exercise essentially the same management principles to lead other people
towards the accomplishment of the organizational objectives.

THE WORKSHEET
The initial move to get the project underway is for the Project Manager to convene a beginning
discussion on the documents, and to gather more information as may be available at the early
stage. There should be additional and pre-planning information available such as, the client’s
required operational date.

What the Project Manager needs to now be:

1. The logical construction sequence that must be followed.
2. The quantity and the delivery date’s of various materials to be used.
3. How much and what kind of manpower will be needed
4. When to start and complete the job on time.
The first step in construction pre-planning is to prepare a graph and plotting the anticipated date
of delivery of all major equipment at the site. The optimum time for each construction activities
could be analyze. Severe craft peaks and uneconomical use of equipment will appear on the
projected graph, which could then be adjusted to prevent future conflicts in the field.

PROJECT ENGINEER’S REVIEW

The project Engineer’s must:
1. Review the time table thoroughly
2. Raise question on its overall logic and workability
3. Offer constructive criticism on detailed work functions and interrelated activities.
Invariably, this review will result in a minor revision of the schedule. After gathering most of the
detailed information and made part of the timetable, the entire program is broken down into
several components parts.
After the projects have been delineated on the timetable as a separate job with minor
qualifications, it can be considered as a project itself. As a project becomes an active
construction program in the field, its progress, man-hour utilization, field labor expenditures,
quality and quantity of suspension, and material status are all monitored and recorded at the field
and home office.

The main objectives in the preliminaries of organizing a construction job are;

1. To secure the necessary licenses and building permits

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 2. Prepare a time and progress chart
3. Have an access to the site or a temporary roadway
4. Construction of boarding fences, and temporary shed.
5. Construction of temporary field offices for the staff.
6. Arrangement of canteen facilities
7. Cleaning and leveling the site.
8. Demolition of existing structures
9. Disposal of materials obtain from the demolition
10. Shoring to adjoining structures
11. Arrangement for temporary water and electricity supply
12. Allotment and preparation of storage space for use of contractor and sub-contractor
13. Allotment of space for borrows pits or other sources of fill to be brought in.
14. Provision for drains and soak-ways
15. General site problems including any special features.
Organization of Works
Organization of work, consist of making proper assignments and sequence of the works in a
systematic order aimed at making the best use of labor, materials and time. The organization of
work is the responsibility of the contractor under the direction of the supervising architect or
engineer.

These are two independent but related spheres of control and responsibility that exist in the
project construction namely;
1. The owner is represented by his architect or Engineer.
2. The contractor

The contractor is generally responsible to the owner for the following duties:
1. Providing and making access roads with regards to the convenience of construction.
2. Erection of the site office in a central position to facilitate checking of all sites activities.
3. Erection of store shed of adequate capacity to ensure;
a. Protection of materials against damage
b. Protection of materials against deterioration
c. Prevent materials from wastage and pilfering
4. Construction of temporary quarters and ancillaries for labor with due regard to site works,
amenities and hygienic conditions.
5. Appointment of supervisory staff possessing technical knowledge and capable of
controlling the works and labor.
6. Early arrangement for construction equipment. i. e.
a. Scaffolding
b. Formwork
c. Instrument and machinery with necessary screw, fuel and parts etc.
d. Ladders
e. Tools
The engineer or Architect on behalf of the owner is also responsible for the following duties;
1. As representative of the owner
a. Act as interpreter of the plan
b. As guardian and arbiter between the owner and contractor

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 2. Maintain site records and documents like;
a. Layout plans
b. Contract documents
c. Time and progress chart
d. Work diary
e. Contractor’s order book
f. Record of tests
g. Progress report
h. Measurement books

PLANNING PROGRAM and PROGRESS CHART

The most important part of the works organization is;
1. The preparation of the comprehensive time and progress chart for the execution of the
work.
2. The periodic revision of the chart as circumstances demand, and the regular comparison
of progress chart made with the program.

The project manager is required to prepare an approved time and progress chart, which generally
part of the main contract documents.
1. The time and progress chart must show an analysis of the chief elements and types of
construction involved in the project.
2. The scheduled dates of commencement and completion of every stage of the main
contract and sub-contract.

Without proper program, the construction work can be disorderly managed. The time progress
charts serves as the coordination and control of all the work under the different subdivision of the
contract. With this time and progress chart it easy to pinpoint where the delay has occurred, and
who is responsible for the delay.

MAINAINING TIME and PROGRESS CHART

The making of time and progress chart is a matter of trial and error. It requires consideration of
alternative methods and the effect of each event, resulting in an orderly arrangement of event and
an ultimate savings of time and cost.
The chart should be flexible so as to permit modifications to meet unknown
contingencies that may arise. It will enable that in-charge of the work to see the effect of the
contingency. It will be on subsequent operations and to make the necessary adjustments to bring
the program back into line.

The chart is divided into many horizontal spaces as are required for the major operations of the
job. The vertical columns provide spaces for:
1. A description of the items
2. The target date for letting the sub-contract or purchase order.
3. Anticipated starting date, the expected completion date sufficient number of monthly
columns to cover the total time for completion.

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 4. One or two extra columns for the possible over-run.

Planning and Scheduling with Gantt chart

The Gantt chart is a tool used for planning and scheduling simple projects. With the chart, the
project engineer can initially schedule project activities, and to monitor progress over time by
comparing planned progress to actual progress.
To prepare the chart, the project manager has to identify the major activities that would
be required. Estimates for each activity are made the sequence was determined. Once completed,
the chart indicates which activities were to occur including their planned duration, and when they
were occurring.

.
A Gantt chart does not directly reveal this information. Gantt charts are useful for simple
projects where activities are simultaneous or where the string of sequential activities is involved.
On a more complex projects, Gantt chart can be useful for initial project planning, which they
gives way to use the networks called PERT and CPM.

Information Sheet 3 Implement Work Plans

Implement Work Plans

The stage between clarifying the construction tasks and actual planning idea is of
enormous significance for quality level of a project. Decisions made have far-reaching
consequences for architecture and urban planning as well as economical and ecological quality
of the buildings.
For the client, a given project begins with the definition stage, where the construction
tasks are outlined and the project goals specified. Generally, at this stage, there are no services
yet according to FSAE.
Subsequently, there is the search for a suitable plot and analysis of the corresponding fringe
conditions.
Afterwards, the desired project volume can be determined in a more concrete manner and
depicted in a space and function program.
Via a plan metric model, the gross areas to be expected and cubic content are determined and
expected costs deduced. If the return on investment ratio is acceptable and cubic capacities in

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accordance with the plot and the expectations of the community, it is now possible to either
involve an architect for the creation of a planning idea or to launch an architect competition.

Construction Task Clarification and Definition of Project Targets

At the start of this stage, there is a question: “What, exactly, are we trying to achieve?” The more
you look at this question in-depth, the more difficult it becomes to answer it. All this despite the
fact that the question
“What do we wish to avoid?” is just as important and, moreover, easier to answer. These are
some examples for the usual problems encountered in office and administration building
construction:
– Lack of space due to growth
– Problems on the organization side
– Lack of communication
– Problematic work areas
– Insufficient productivity
– Insufficient presentation of the company to the outside
At first, there must be the basic distinction of whether one wishes to build for oneself and/or
one’s own company or whether the project at hand is a pure investment project that is to be
marketed.

Search for a suitable Plot

One of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks, certainly, is the search for suitable plot in a
location as good as possible.

Lay-out &
Building Law Price

Location
In this, the price of the plot plays a decisive role when calculating return on investment. It
depends primarily on location (Center or fringe location, traffic c connection, shopping
possibilities, public institutions), plot layout and available construction rights (Development
options).

STAGES OF CONSTRUCTION
Various stages of construction are
a. Pre-tender stage
1. Initiation of proposals and preparation of schemes
2. Technical sanction
3. Acceptance of proposal in accordance to its feasibility and acquisition of land.

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 4. Survey of site
5. Accord of administrative approval and allotment of funds.
b. Post-tender stage
1. Preparation to tender documents and its invitation.
2. Opening of tender, preparation of comparative statement and acceptance
3. Allotment of work, and issue work order
4. Execution of work supervision and its completion.
5. To submit completion report
6. Handling over of work owner.
 Planning stage- it consists of
a. Preparation of project report
b. Administrative approval and Technical sanction
c. Provision in Budget
 Execution Stage
a. Preparation of detailed drawing, design, estimate and working drawings.
b. Preparation of tender documents.
c. Publication of tender notice and inviting tender
d. Security tender
e. Acceptance of tender
f. Award of contract and issue of work order
g. Supervision – quality control and execution
h. completion report
i. Use of structure
RESOURCES OF CONSTRUCTION
Any construction work major or minor, large or small, industrial or else needs following
resources for efficient and smooth execution of construction work.
1. Men – skilled or unskilled, supervising staff, specialist personnel’s.
2. Materials – Such as cement, steel, bricks, timber, aluminum, aggregate, fittings and
fixtures, scaffolding, pile driving machines, earth moving machineries etc.
3. Money – For almost all above items need financial resources without which nothing can
be executed.

JOB-LAYOUT
Proper job lay-out improves communication and unnecessary movement, increasing
efficiency. It is one of the most important and essential job before starting any construction is to
prepare a job lay-out indicating clearly the areas and site available for office; warehouse, storage
of materials, equipments, excavated earth, formwork, reinforcing materials, fabrication etc.
These are required to be arranged in such a manner that working should be easy and minimum
time be consumed in carrying materials from storage areas to project site or construction site.

REQUIREMENT OF SITE LAY –OUT

The basic requirement of any construction site is men, material, machineries and equipment. As
such while preparing layout, these should be placed and controlled in such a manner that;
1. Machines are placed in most advantageous position from security and use of view.
2. Material should be stored on the basic analysis and must be easy to handle without
creating problems to workers and circulation.

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 3. Working persons should have ample space for free working hours. It makes them free to
work and creates a feeling of safety against any accidents.
4. Adequate space must be available for storage of materials. Further materials like cement,
lime, fixtures, and fastening should be stored in close area and locked always.
5. The requirement of materials; their quantity go on changing as per the progress of the
work, such as layout should have sufficient flexibility of planning.

FACTORS AFFECTING JOB-LAYOUT

There are mainly three factors affect the job-layout for almost all civil engineering works
and must be considered before any layout for any construction work is prepared. These are;
1. Nature and type of work
2. Site condition
3. Method used for execution of work.

METHODS OF EXECUTION OF WORKS

Almost all the civil engineering works are executed by either of the following systems;
1. Employing daily labor
2. Contract system
In.

DAY WORKS
In civil engineering works; there are certain items and works; those are not included in the
schedule of rates; further these works can not be measured. Such works are executed by
employing daily labor generally skilled or semi-skilled on daily wages and payment is made on
the basis of number of days worked.

DAY WORK SHEET

1. Name of Work …………………………….
2. Name of owner/Department ……………………..
3. Name of Engineer/Architect/department engineer (designation) ……………………
4. Particular of item for which day work is sanctioned ……………………………
5. Date of sanction ……………………………….
6. Date of beginning of work ……………………………
Material Consumed Labor Employed Out-turn of work
Materials Quantity Class Number

Date …………………………
Work time …………………… Signature of contractor
……………….
Person (competent) of work

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DAILY LABOR REPORT
When large work or group of work are done through daily labor, a consolidated daily labor
report showing the number of laborers employed is prepared by Junior Engineer/Section Officer
for the M.R. in the following prescribe form, and is submitted daily for control & check
Daily Labor Report

Daily report of the day …………………………………..

Of…………………………………………
Name of Work Class of labour No. of each Rate Approx. Remarks
quantity of
work done

Date ………………………………………………………… Signature

……………………………

DAILY DIARY
The engineer in-charge on site is required to maintain the record of work progress and its
analysis in standard form. Two types of forms are used. This form consists of two parts. First
part clearly shows the work progress; the second part shows the up-to-date expenditures incurred
sub head wise. From this also records the details of construction balance.

Daily Report
Name of Work ……………………………. Residential building at ………….. Date
………………..
Name of Supervisor …………………………….
Labor Employed
Sr. No. Work Done Quantity Unit rate Supervisor Mason
1. Laying of 14.5 Cubic Meter 1 3
Roof

Labor Employed
Carpenter Welder Steelman Operator Helper Cost Allocation
1 16 6 1 1 264 RCC Roof

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Materials and Equipment used Report

Materials Used
Sr. No. Item Quantity Unit Rate Cost
1. Cement 100 Bags 127 12,700
2. Sand 6 Cubic meter 60 360
3. Aggregate 2 Cubic meter 80 160
4. 20mm 12

Plot Analysis
With the increasing amount our crowded urban areas are built up, anyone looking to build is
going to encounter great difficulties finding a suitable commercial design, whether already built
on or vacant. Sufficient size, excellent location and a developed terrain as well as a functional
infrastructure are all required. If one has finally succeeded, such a plot can still come with a
number of unpleasant surprises. Especially in the case of congested urban areas, many dangers
lurk, so that professional location analysis is important as part of the plot search process.
.
Building law: At the very least, a land development plan should be available in the case of
congested urban areas, which allows for building on the plot concerned.
This, however, still does not provide any type of certainty for development potential, which can
be provided only by a valid zoning map.
Town planning: While the urban planning authority’s desires may not necessarily be binding for
later planning, it is nonetheless important to know for the later process just along what lines
those in charge of this area do actually think. This, primarily, is about incorporating a new
project into its environment.
Infrastructure: For large projects, it is urgently recommended to have a traffic report done by a
qualified firm prior to the actual beginning of planning. Adequate access to energy and water for
the building area, as well as to availability of disposal options, is a further important component
of the infrastructure.
Mortgage on land: Only when the development potential of the plot has been clarified, in both
size and extent, can the specified plot price be properly assessed. In the end, it needs to be looked
at per m2 of productive land/ effective surface and/or work place.
.

Building site: An essential influence, especially on basements and the foundation of planned
buildings, is the position of the ground water, traffic routes and piping routes.
Old burdens: If, during the research, there is suspicion of contaminated soil, a chemical analysis
is urgently recommended. If it turns out that there is a need for rehabilitation, the perpetrator
concept generally applies.
Ground water level, catchment area:
Nowadays, ground water level is a decisive factor for the development potential of a plot in the
basement areas, for instance underground garage, and control room and storage area.
Environmental stipulations: Environmental protection agencies, in essence, contribute the
following factors to the development process:
– Preservation of air exchange corridors
– Reduction of emissions

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– Protection of water bodies
– Tree protection
– Avoiding final covers.

Monitor Work Activities and Review and

Information Sheet 4 and 5 Evaluate Work Plans and Activities

In a particular construction industries monitoring work activities is the important factors

especially when you are already start the construction process so that you will monitor the flow
of the budget, manpower and work quality in this idea, some of the engineers /
architects/construction managers create specific function to proceed construction process
especially high rise or multi-storey building structures.

SITE MANAGEMENT OF WORKS

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Safety in the project construction must be given primarily considered from the mechanical side
to the legal angles of workmen’s compensation or even as a matter of training and motivation
toward work practices for workers.

. A safety minded project engineer will make adequate provisions for safety measures to:
1. Minimize manual handling hazard materials
2. Will locate control and fuse panels where they can be reached safely.
3. Will install strong and rigid forms and scaffolding
4. Will insulate all live wires and screen high pressure areas
5. Will adequately guard belting and line shafting even if it is normally accessible.

PLANNED MAINTENANCE
Effective maintenance of the plant and construction equipment is a preventive to efficient
operation and uninterrupted construction activities. While deterioration of building cannot be
stopped, it can be retarded by maintenance.

Planned maintenance is an organized attempt to prevent sudden breakdown in equipment and

periodic shut down for repairs. It is accomplished under the program of preventive maintenance,
a definite program of periodic cleaning, servicing, inspection and replacement of worn parts.
Continuity of operation demands that the following general procedures should be
carried out:
1. Down time of each equipment for servicing is planned in advance.
2. Important items of equipment that requires regular cleaning and maintenance or liable to
sudden failure should be ready at hand for substitution at any time of failure or signs of
approaching failure.
3. Records should be maintained and analysis made of repetitive failure.
4. Regular and prescribed inspections should be made for signs of impending failure.

Operation Strategy

What is strategy – Strategic decision can be classified as those decision which make major long
term changes to the resources base of the organization in responsible to external factors such as
markets, customers and competitors. These strategic decisions occur as a result of an evaluation
of the external and internal environments. The external evaluation may be reveal market
opportunities or threats from competitors. Strategy is seen complex in nature due to high degree
of uncertainly in future consequences arriving from decisions, integration is required of all
aspects and functionality area of business and major change may have to be implemented as
consequences of strategic choices made. Operations strategy is concerned with both what the
operation has to do in order to meet current and future challenges also is concerned with the
long- term development of the operations resources so that they can provide the basis for
sustainable advantage.

Levels of Strategy
Strategy can be seen to exist at three main levels within the organization. At the highest or
corporate levels that strategy provides very general long-range guidance for the whole

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organization, often expressed as a statement of its mission. The mission statement describes in
general terms what key decision-makers want the company to accomplish and what kind of
company they want it to become. Thus the mission focuses the organization on specific market
areas and the basis on which it must compete.

The second level of strategy terms is termed a business strategy and may be for the
organization or at the strategic business unit level in larger diversified companies. There the
concerns in with the products and services that should be offered in the market defined at the
corporate level. The third level of strategy is termed the operational or functional strategy. Since
the operation function is responsible in the large part for the delivery of the product/service it has
major responsibility for business strategy formulation and implementation
The Role of Operations in Strategy Development
The operations functions play an important role in the formulation and delivery of the
organization’s strategy. Market conditions have changed from a mass production era with an
emphasis on high volume, low cost production to an environment demanding performance on
measures such as quality and speed of delivery as well as cost. In addition the rapid pace of
change in markets means the basis of how the organization will compete may change quickly
over time.
Operations Competitive Priorities

Operations should focuses on special capabilities that given it a competitive edge which may be
termed competitive priorities. Four operations priorities or measures of these capabilities can be
termed cost, time, quality and flexibility.
Cost
In an organization in competing on price then it is essential that it keeps it cost base lower than
the competition. Then it will either make more profit than rivals, if price is equal, or gain market
share if price is lower. Cost is also important for a strategy of providing a product to a market,
which competition cannot provide. Thus, cost proximity is important to maximize profits and
deter competitors from entering the market. to direct labor.

Time
The time delay or speed of operation can be measured as the time between a customer request for
a product/ service and then receiving that product/ service. Speed is an important factor to the
customer in making a choice about which organization to use.
Quality
Quality offers both the quality of the product/service itself and the quality of the process that
delivers the product/service. Quality can be measured by the cost of the quality model were costs
are categorized as either the cost of achieving good quality. The advantage of good quality on
competitiveness includes increasing dependability, reduced costs and improved customer
service.

Flexibility
There are a number of areas in which flexibility can be demonstrated. For example it can mean
the ability to offer a wide variety of products/services to the customer and to be able to change
these product/services quickly. Flexibility is needed so that organization can adapt to changing

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customer needs in terms of product ranged and varying demand and to cope with capacity
shortfalls due to equipment breakdown or component shortage.
Management System
In most construction contracts, the contractor is given only one opportunity to set its price
(the bid).
From that point on, profits are determined by the project managerial ability to save money
through better planning of daily operations and the skill to make good decisions. If a project is to
be constructed within its established budget and time schedule, close management control of
field operations is a necessity.
Project Management Characteristics
In its most common context, the term management relates to the planning, organizing, directing,
and controlling of a business enterprise. Business management is essentially a continuing and
internal activity involving that company’s own personnel, finances, property, and other
resources.
Construction project management, however, applies to a given project, the various phases of
which usually are accomplished by different organizations. Therefore, the management of a
construction project is not so much a process of managing the internal affairs of a single
company as it is one of coordinating and regulating all of the elements needed to accomplish the
job at hand. Thus, the typical project manager must work extensively with organizations other
than his own. In such circumstances, much of his authority is conferred by contractual terms or
power of agency and is therefore less direct than that of the usual business manager. Project
management is accomplished largely through the personnel of different employers working
closely together.

Management Procedures
Field construction has little in common with the assembly-line production of standardized
products.
Standard costs, time-and-motion studies, process flowcharts, and line-of-balance techniques all
traditional management devices used by the manufacturing industries have not lent themselves
well to general construction applications.
Time and Cost Management
Project time and cost management are based on time and cost schedules developed for the
project and an information system that will provide data for comparing expected with actual
performance. The information or monitor system measures, evaluates, and reports job progress,
comparing it with the planned performance, which keeps the project manager apprised of the
nature and extent of any deviation. When deviations do occur, the manager takes whatever action
is considered feasible and effective to correct the situation. Costs and time can quickly get out of
hand on construction projects where production conditions are volatile. Job monitoring must
detect such aberrations quickly. Cost and time control information must be timely with little
delay between field work and management review of performance. This timely information gives
the project manager a chance to evaluate alternatives and take corrective action while an
opportunity still exists to rectify problem areas.
CPM Procedure
The planning and scheduling of construction projects normally uses a network-based
management procedure referred to as the Critical Path Method (CPM). CPM was developed
especially to provide an effective and workable procedure for planning and scheduling

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construction operations. Widely used by the construction industry, and frequently a contract
requirement, CPM involves a definite body of management procedures and is the basis for the
planning and scheduling methods discussed in this book.
of plans, processes, and goals for the entire project team
Time Monitoring and Control
When field operations begin, the order in which the project proceeds is in accordance with an
approved job plan. During the construction period, advancement of the work is monitored by
measuring and reporting field progress at regular intervals. These data are analyzed and time-
control measures are taken as appropriate to keep the work progressing on schedule.
Progress measurement for time-control purposes is an approximate process and is based on
determining the time status of each individual job activity. 9.
Project Cost System
The project cost system is concerned with the control of expenses on current projects and the
gathering of production information for use in estimating the cost of future work. The application
of cost controls to a construction project actually begins when the costs are estimated initially. It
is then that the project budget is established. This is the budget used by the project manager for
cost-control purposes during field construction.

WHAT IS A BAR CHART

A bar chart is a simple, visual scheduling tool that is easy to use.
It displays planning information graphically in a compact format to a time-scale. It is a diagram
divided into columns and rows.
Columns represent a given time-scale, which could be expressed as months, weeks, days or even
hours. Activities are scheduled as bars within horizontal rows.
The first column lists activities that are to be scheduled in a more or less logical order of
production. The production process is then represented by horizontal bars which are drawn for
each activity within the time-frame of the bar chart. The length of an activity bar gives activity
duration. Figure 2.1 is an example of a simple bar chart.
The start and end points of an activity bar are significant in determining the position of that
activity within a logical production sequence. In other words, the start point of an activity bar is
closely related to the end point of a preceding activity bar.

27

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Bar charts
However, it is unclear whether the start of the activity ‘Concrete footings’ is only related to the
finish of the preceding activity, ‘Footings excavation’, or to ‘Concrete slab’ as well. It is also
difficult to determine if the activity ‘Concrete footings’ is in any way related to the activities
‘Electrical’ and ‘Plumbing’.
LINKED BAR CHART
When the end of a preceding activity is connected to the start of a following activity by a link
line, the traditional bar chart format is converted into a linked format
A linked bar chart provides a clear picture of relationships among scheduled activities. It even
defines relationships between those activities that are scheduled concurrently. For example, the
completion of ‘Walls’ affects the completion of ‘Plumbing’; similarly, the completion of ‘Roof’
affects the completion of ‘Electrical’.
Without these links, the relationship between the activities ‘Wall’ and ‘Plumbing’, and ‘Roof’
and ‘Electrical’ would be extremely difficult to define.
Linking of activities has overcome the main shortcoming of bar charts. Positive features of a bar
chart scheduling technique include:
• Speed and ease of development
• ease of understanding
• The ability to schedule complex relationships among activities
• The ability to communicate information
• The ability to monitor and control the production process.
PROCESS OF DEVELOPING A BAR CHART
It provides a framework on which a process of developing a bar chart or any other technique
used in scheduling is based. Logical steps in developing a bar chart include:
1. Identifying the work to be done and setting an objective
2. Determining the extent of planning detail for a particular level of WBS
3. Breaking the work down into activities
4. Developing alternative planning strategies:
5. Selecting the preferred planning strategy
6. Reviewing the preferred planning strategy illustrated on a bar chart schedule.
Does it all make sense? Will the user be able to understand it? Does the bar chart schedule
include enough information to be workable? Has anything been left out? Is there a better
alternative? Does the bar chart schedule meet the planning objectives?
7. Committing to the bar chart schedule
8. Monitoring the progress regularly.

ACTIVITY DURATION
An activity is a task that needs to be accomplished. It describes a particular type of work, for
example bulk excavation or plumbing.
But ‘work’ May not always involve human activity, for example the curing of concrete occurs by
natural means. Nevertheless, it must be included in a schedule since it adds time to the project.
One of the most difficult tasks in planning is establishing the duration of activities. To do that,
the planner needs to know:
• The quantity of the work
• The resources needed for its execution
• Productivity rates of the required resources

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• The specific contractual requirements imposed on the project
• The presence of risk.
Determining time duration of activities from labour productivity rates
The quantity of work is commonly measured and compiled by a quantity surveyor in a document
called a ‘bill of quantities’. In some countries, such as the USA and Japan, clients don’t
commission consulting quantity surveyors to prepare a bill of quantities as a bidding document;
rather, bidding contractors are required to prepare their own quantities.
When a bill of quantities for a particular project is available to the contractor, the contractor’s
planner can easily determine the volume of work for each activity in the project. For example,
the bill of quantities specifies the quantity of ‘trench excavation’ as 60 m3. Let’s assume that the
trench is 15 metres long, 2 metres wide and 2 metres deep, and the soil is clay.
If this excavation activity is to be performed by labourers, the planner needs to know a
productivity rate or units of work for
labour excavating the trench. The planner may deduce this productivity rate from experience or
extract it from readily available published databases. The task of calculating duration of this
activity is fairly simple once the planner has determined the total volume of labour hours and the
size of the labour crew.
Total labour hours = quantity of work × productivity rate
Activity duration = total labour hours/number of persons
Assume that 1.5 labour hours is required to excavate 1 m3 of soil.
Therefore,
Total labour hours = 60 m3 × 1.5 labour hours = 90 labour hours or
12 labour days (at 8 hrs per day).
With, say, three persons assigned to this activity, duration will be:
Activity duration = 12/3 = 4 days
The planner may vary the activity duration by either increasing or decreasing the labour crew
size, provided this is possible or practicable. For example, with two and four people assigned to
the above activity, its duration would be six and three days respectively. The planner may then
optimize alternative activity durations in terms of cost and time to determine the optimum
outcome.

Determining time duration of activities from daily output rates of resources

Duration of activities can also be calculated from the volume of work and the daily output rates
of resources. In most countries, output rates per day for plant/equipment and labour may be
obtained from published cost data catalogues. The calculation process to determine activity
duration in days is:
Activity duration in days = quantity of work/resource output rate per day
For the previous example, assume that a backhoe will be used to excavate the trench. The output
rate of the selected backhoe is say 80 m3 per day. To excavate the required 60 m3 will be
calculated as follows:
Activity duration = 60/80 = 0.75 day
Although it takes less than one day to excavate the trench, the planner will probably round the
duration to the nearest day, in this case one day. More complex tasks performed by plant or
equipment may require the allocation of additional labour to assist with and supervise such tasks.
Determining duration of activities from the target dates

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Sometimes a bidding contractor is required to prepare a construction schedule that meets a tight
completion date. The contractor’s planner would need to schedule the project by working from its
completion date to the start date by fitting all the work within the given time-frame. This often results in
some activities having unrealistically short durations. In such cases, the planner is required to allocate
whatever resources are needed to meet the required activity duration.
Single-value estimates of activity duration
Before leaving this topic, it is useful to note that productivity and output rates of resources from which
activity durations are calculated are commonly expressed as single-value estimates. They are extracted
from databases in the form of mean or average rates. For example, an average output rate for laying
bricks extracted from a database may be 300 per bricklayer per day. This rate has been compiled from
virtually thousands of past bricklaying output rates stored in the database. An average estimate of the
output rate is in fact a mean of a distribution of individual output rates. The range of the output rate
distribution is defined by its standard deviation. When the standard deviation is high, the range is
correspondingly wide. For example, with the standard deviation of 50 bricks per day, the range
of the output rate distribution would be approximately between 150 and 450 bricks per bricklayer
per day.
By definition, the mean or average is 50 per cent. It means that the output rate of 300 bricks per
bricklayer per day has around 50 per cent probability of being achieved. Since the range of the
distribution is wide, the actual output rate that will be achieved could in fact be anywhere within
the defined range. Scheduling a project on the basis of average time estimates is obviously risky.
Scheduling that relies on using average productivity and output rates of resources are referred to
as single-value (deterministic) scheduling. An alternative approach known as probability
(stochastic) scheduling expresses estimates of productivity and output rates in the form of
probability distributions. Using an appropriate probability analysis method such as the Monte
Carlo simulation, the combined effect of individual probability distributions on the schedule can
be assessed statistically.

RISK CONTINGENCY
Schedules built up from ‘average’ estimates of activity durations do not reflect the presence of
risk. Risk that may cause delays in execution of the work is commonly assessed separately by the
planner. Most frequent risks responsible for delays include inclement weather, latent site
conditions, variations orders, and unavailability of resources, re-work accidents and the like.
From the contractor’s perspective, delays caused by the client are not risk events if the contractor
is able to claim time extension under the contract, for example delays caused by variations orders
or latent site conditions. For such risk events, the contractor will add no time contingency to the
schedule. However, the other risks for which the contractor is responsible would need to be
carefully assessed and added to the schedule in the form of a time contingency.
The contractor may deal with a time contingency in one of the following ways:
• add time contingencies to ‘risky activities’ only, or
• add a time contingency to the whole project as a lump-sum allowance (to the end date of the
schedule), or
• break up the lump-sum time contingency into a number of smaller contingencies that are then
added to the schedule at regular intervals, for example each month.

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 Operation Sheet/Job Sheet On Site Observation of the
Project Operations

Operation Title: On Site Observation Of the Project Operations

Purpose: This activity enables the student’s /trainee’s to observed the On Site Project
Operations on how the project works activities performed as per the proper setting of the
manpower equipment flow of constructions as to the familiarizations of the constructions works
activities.
Equipment Tools and Materials:
1. Data sheet
2. Ballpen
3. Calculator if needed

Condition or Situation for the Operation:

The following exercise is given to the student in enhancing the knowledge and
skills in observing project operations how to be performed by project engineer/ project manager
in accordance with the proper standard and flow of the projects operations.

Procedure:
1. List down the number of manpower involve in the constructions sites
2. List down the number of equipment used in the sites
3. Gather a set of data in the construction site and make a report regarding the project
flow
4. Submit your report to your teacher/ instructor after the data is complete
Precautions:
Proper use of tools is being observe, and use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Quality Criteria:
Use Proper Format in acquiring data Sheet
Observe cleanliness or 5’s

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