planning - CMGuide

Implementing Strategic Management in Construction

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By Samer H Skaik

Introduction
Strategic thinking has engaged the brains of business leaders for centuries. Many books and researches have been developed to cover the strategy subject because of its importance. Organizations always seek to adopt dynamic and effective strategic management to secure proper growth and remain competitive.

Strategic management is necessary to any organisation particularly those working in construction where there is a rapidly changing environment with adverse competition and surprises which may act as serious threats to organisation stability. …

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Contract Administration

Write Project Charter

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The Project Charter holds the information that you uncovered in the project definition process. The Project Charter is written by the project manager and approved by the project sponsor to show that there is an agreement on the work to be completed. …

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Contract Administration

Determine How Many Projects One Project Manager Can Manage

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You hear of project managers that manage multiple large projects and small projects. The question arises as to how many projects can be effectively managed at one time. …

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Project Management

Time for technology

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by Peter Hedlund

With squeezed margins and tighter control required on projects, technologies that can reduce costs, enhance productivity and manage risk are more valuable than ever. Collaboration technology – web-based systems for managing documents and correspondence on construction projects – are an example of this and there is a strong demand for these solutions in the current climate. …

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Project Management

3-D models cut construction disputes

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In most construction projects, an architect builds a three-dimensional model and then creates two-dimensional drawings for the general contractor and the dozens of subcontractors who are typically involved in a big commercial job. …

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Contract Administration

Create Detail and Summary Activities

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If you look at a WBS activity and determine that it needs to be broken down to another level, the original activity becomes known as a “summary” level. A summary activity does not have any work or hours specifically associated with it. It represents a logical roll-up of the activities that are under it. …

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Contract Administration

Collecting Metrics Using Surveys

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One way to supplement quantifiable metrics is with client satisfaction surveys. For instance, instead of trying to measure the exact response time of an application against some service-level standard, you could simply ask your main users how satisfied they were with the application response time. …

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Contract Administration

Manage the Work at a High-Level or Low-Level Based on the Situation

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One of the common responsibilities of all managers is the management of people and the management of work (if you don’t do either, you are not really a manager). All managers need to have timely, relevant and accurate information so that they can manage their people and work effectively. The trick, of course, is to know how much information you need, and at what level. …

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Contract Administration

Project Organization Types

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The way projects are structured is directly related to the way the entire organization is structured. There are three major organization structures to manage work and people. …

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Project Management

Management theories: History and Practice

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By Samer H Skaik

Organizations have realized that deep understanding of management theory and practice is a must to ensure continuous improvement to their operations. Management theories were solely or primarily adopted in organizations to help get the job done and find ways to efficiently manage the organization and enhance financial rewards (Grey, 2005). …

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Contract Administration

Create a Short-Term Schedule to Guide the Definition and Planning Processes

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The process of creating the Project Charter, schedule and budget may take a long time and may be very complicated. Therefore, the work should not be left unorganized, for the same reasons that you are building the schedule for the project to begin with. Immediately after being assigned, the project manager should create a short-term schedule to plan and guide the initial activities. …

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Contract Administration

Team Resistance to Managing the Workplan

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It’s one thing to build a project definition and the workplan. It’s another thing to effectively manage the project. If the project manager could just could create the plan and the work assignments and have everyone complete their activities on-time, your life would be much easier. However, the process of managing the team and the workplan is more complex than that. …

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