UNIT/SUBJECT FOR CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT STUDIES Engineering Project Control Information Package for Semester One 2005 Swinburne University of Technology Subject Code: HES6690 Developed by: SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Date of development August 2003 Minor revision February 2004 WELCOME Introduction On behalf of Swinburne University of Technology we welcome you to this unit/subject and hope you enjoy studying the contents. In this Information Package we provide you with details of the Unit/Subject Profile & Structure, the associated Course Structure making up the Construction Management Program, the academic support that is to be provided, as well as a Work Schedule and the Assignments requirements associated with this unit/subject. In addition we provide you with some Distance Education General Guidelines, which will help you to meet the requirements for studying this unit/subject, submitting assignments, and understanding how assessments of your progress are made. The unit/subject is tutored by a Unit/Subject Coordinator and administered by the Distance Education Centre of Swinburne University of Technology, which is located at the Hawthorne Campus viz: Faculty of Engineering & Industrial Sciences John Street, Hawthorn VIC 3122 AUSTRALIA This unit/subject is academically managed as part of the Swinburne University of Technology Construction Management Program. The Construction Management Program Coordinator is: Dr Alexander Babanin Faculty of Engineering & Industrial Sciences Tel: 03 9214 8033 Email: [email protected] Email should be the normal mode of contact. INFORMATION MATERIAL Unit/Subject Material All students enrolled in this unit/subject are provided with the following material in either Hard Copy and/or on Computer Disk. • Information package • Distance Education General Guidelines • Subject Outline & Study Guide • Selection of Readings Selection of Readings The Information Package identifies courses for which the unit/subject of 'Engineering Project Control' is a key element and provides data on the administration of the unit/subject and the key contacts for academic and administration matters related to the unit/subject. The Distance Education General Guidelines provides information on how to studies should be conducted and how to write assignments and acknowledge material references. The Subject Outline & Study Guide provides the study material, which all students should read thoroughly. The Selection of Readings provides supplementary readings and should be read in order to obtain a better understanding of modern day risk management issues related to the unit/subject.. Entry Requirement The entry requirement for taking this unit/subject as part of a postgraduate qualification is a relevant Advanced Diploma or Undergraduate Degree, or five years relevant industry experience. Other relevant qualifications and experience will be individually evaluated for taking this subject for gaining admission to related postgraduate courses. Aims The aims of this subject are to: • To introduce the techniques for establishing and maintaining control of a project Objectives On completion of this subject the participant should be able to: 1. Understand the particular phases that constitute an engineering project and how each of these phases can be controlled with respect to time (schedule), cost, quality and safety. 2. Understand the various forms of contract and advantages/disadvantages of the various mechanisms of delivery of projects. 3. Understand project administration requirements for prime contractors and sub-contractors – project meetings, progress payments, project cost forecasting, contract variations, extensions of time. Assessment Requirements Students are required to complete a number of assignments and, if specified in the work schedule, an examination for this unit/subject. Refer to your “Work Schedule” and to the Distance Education General Guidelines for details. Prescribed Texts It is very important that the student reads widely into the area of Project Management. There are many good Texts available in the library and on the World Wide Web. These should be consulted during the preparation of Assignments. Other References Please refer to the study material on how to access resource material and gain maximum value from accessing it throughout the learning period. Electronic Sources With the advent of facilities such as the World Wide Web, access to a vast array of information has become readily available. Students are strongly advised to activate their student accounts to avail themselves of the opportunities to derive information. It is important that the student reads widely into the area of logistics data and the tools and techniques developed for its analysis. There are many good Texts available in libraries and on the World Wide Web. These should be consulted during the preparation of assignments. Additional Readings There are numerous texts, journals, magazine articles and web sites dealing with various aspects of construction management and related processes. Many of these are either held by, or are accessible through, the Swinburne Library Copyright Material Additional readings enclosed in this package are copied in accordance with the Swinburne University of Technology licensing agreement with the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL). Readings are reproduced for the private study purposes of students only. PROGRAM CONTEXT This subject is part of a nested suite of courses making up the Swinburne Construction Management Program. The nested suite is: • Graduate Certificate of Technology in Construction Management, • Graduate Diploma of Technology in Construction Management, • Master of Technology Management in Construction Management Program structure Subjects Discipline specific subjects HES6793 Construction Law HES6690 Engineering Project Control HES6176 Environmental Sustainability in Construction HES6191 Infrastructure Management HES6791 Project Management HES6175 Project Costing HES6177 International Construction HES6795 Construction Site Operations Subjects from other disciplines HES7605 Research Design and Methodology HES6723 Financial Risk Management HBSG500 New Venture Development and Management HES6720 Risk Perception and Analysis HES6721 Risk Management Principles HES6722 Quantitative Risk and Modelling Graduate Certificate Course The Graduate Certificate of Technology in Construction Management is awarded on completion of 4 units/subjects equivalent to 50 Swinburne University of Technology Credit Points. A Minimum of 2 discipline specific subjects is required. Graduate Diploma Course For the Graduate Diploma of Technology in Construction Management, 8 approved units/subjects equivalent to 100 Credit Points are required. A minimum of 5 discipline specific subjects is required. Masters Course For the Master of Technology Management, a study program equivalent to 150 Credit Points is required. The units/subjects include the 8 subjects in the Graduate Diploma of Technology in Construction Management [listed previously] with a credit average (>65%), PLUS By Research HES7605 Research Design & Methodology HES7608 Advanced Research Project OR by Coursework Four additional subjects (a total of 7 discipline specific subjects is required) Students can select any appropriate complementary electives from the wider suite of subjects offered by Swinburne University, subject to availability and acceptance by the Course Coordinator. These subjects can be distance learning, on-line or face-to-face lecture subjects. For information on subjects’ availability and delivery modes, please contact the Distance Education Centre. UNIT/SUBJECT SUPPORT General Swinburne University of Technology provides support and assistance to students in this subject. This takes three basic forms, namely: • Unit/subject support, • Program support, and • Administrative support Unit/Subject Matters When you have questions regarding the educational content of the subject/unit (including concepts, learning issues, readings and assignments), your Unit/Subject Coordinator is the person to contact. Your Unit/Subject Coordinator is Mr. Barry Cargill Telephone: (03) 8872 7888(BH) or 0419660499 Email: [email protected] Email should be the normal mode of contact, only urgent matters be pursued by telephone. Program Matters When you have questions about general academic issues, not specifically addressable or resolvable with a specific Unit/Subject Coordinator, your overall study program and/or your elective subject selection, your Program Coordinator is the person to contact. Your Program Coordinator is: Dr Alexander Babanin Faculty of Engineering & Industrial Sciences Tel: 03 9214 8033 Email: [email protected] Email should be the normal mode of contact and only urgent matters pursued by telephone. Administrative Matters When you have questions about your course application, enrolment, amendments to enrolment, breaks from your study program, withdrawal procedures, fee payments, results and/or progress in the course, please contact one of your Administration Officers. Your Administration Officer is: Mr. Jeffery Huze Telephone: (03) 9214 5918 Email: [email protected] The address is: Faculty of Engineering & Industrial Sciences Swinburne University of Technology PO Box 218 HAWTHORN VIC 3122 Australia If you change your address, e-mail or contact numbers please advise the: Unit/Subject Coordinator, Program Coordinator, and Administration Officer, This should be donee as soon as possible clearly indicating your new contact details. First contact should be by email direct to the above. You will be advised if any further, or more formal, notification is required. Library Matters For information regarding library access, please contact: Ms. Fiona O’Donnell Liaison Librarian to School of Engineering and Science Swinburne University of Technology Telephone: (03) 9214-8407 Email: [email protected] All Swinburne enrolled students have access to the full range of services offered by, and through, the Swinburne library if required. WORK SCHEDULE To seek assistance or answer queries please refer to the section on Academic Support. Calendar Of Dates 2005 Semester 1: Topic Schedule Week Topic Title Module 1 Introduction to Civil Engineering Project Control 1 2 The Nature of the Construction Industry 2 3 Project Identification Phase, Planning/Feasibility Phase 3 4 Conceptual Engineering Phase 4 5 Detailed Design Phase 4 6 Contracts & Procurement Phase 5 7 Materials & Equipment Procurement 6 8 Control of Project Costs 7 9 Project Scheduling 8 10 Quality Management Systems 9 Subject Review 11 Safety Control Procedures 10 12 Construction & Commissioning Phase 11 Assignment Due Dates Assignment 1- Overview of Projects End of week 12 Assignment 2- Contracts and Schedules End of week 12 Examination During Week 14/15 Minimum Requirements (EIS) To pass a EIS subject, you must achieve at least 35% of the possible final marks for each Major Assessment Component plus an aggregate mark for the subject of 50% or more. If you do not achieve at least 35% of the possible final marks for each Major Assessment Component you will receive a maximum of 44% as your mark for the subject concerned. Major Assessment Components are those that carry a weighting of at least 15% of the total mark available. Letter & Assignments from the Unit/Subject Coordinator Unit/Subject Coordinator's Letter Dear Colleague, Welcome to the unit/subject ‘Civil Engineering Project Control’. Please consult your notes for information on how to study this unit/subject and contact me as soon as you can by e-mail. The unit/subject has been developed to provide an understanding of the particular phases that constitute an engineering project and how each of these phases can be controlled with respect to time, cost, quality and safety. You will learn of the various forms of contract and advantages/disadvantages of the various mechanisms of delivery of projects and gain an understanding of project administration requirements for prime contractors and sub-contractors. I hope this learning experience will be a valuable one for you and will equip you with the knowledge for application to your industry. Barry Cargill Instructions for Using Blackboard Interactively Logging on to your group Using blackboard to communicate with your group and the lecturer is essential. These notes cover the interactive elements of blackboard. 1. You should log on to blackboard through the web using the address http://www.mysubjects.swin.edu.au. Instructions for password and login name are available from How do I log in? 2. When you do this you select the subject (HES---) and then a screen will appear as shown below. After you log on to the subject web page on blackboard, you should choose the communication button on the left hand side of this screen. This will then take you through to the next screen which, is shown on the next page. 3. On this screen you will find the buttons allowing access to a number of blackboard features. These include collaboration facilities where you will interact with other students and the lecturer in a public forum. Also an email sending facility and finally access to group pages. These Group pages allow you to work on-line with your group. This is all private with no access apart from group members. Group Pages You should now be looking at the screen shown below. Your lecturer will have allocated you a group and this now allows you to enter this group area. If you have trouble entering your area you should contact your subject convener The next page shows a number of specific services that are available to group members. The services offered here allow each group to have a conversation with each other. And to transfer files easily. If you now select the collaboration button you will review an area where you can have a public discussion with each other. Discussion Board Overview The Discussion Board is a communication medium for posting and responding to messages. This feature is similar to the Collaboration Tool, but is designed for asynchronous use; meaning users are not present at the same time to converse on-line. Email, for example, is asynchronous. An advantage of the Discussion Board is that conversations are logged and organized. Conversations are grouped in threads that contain a main posting and all related replies. Discussion Board Forum Overview Forums are used to organize discussions on related topics. Students and Instructors click discussion links (for example General Discussion forum shown in the above figure) to access a forum from the main Discussion Board page. When a discussion is started within a forum it is called a thread. Add New Thread Overview When a discussion is created within a forum it is called a thread. The Create New Message page (screen on next page) is used to start a thread. The new thread will appear in the discussion forum. To . . . click . . . start a new discussion thread Add New Thread. The Add Thread page will appear. On the Add Thread page a new subject title and new discussion description may be added. view all messages the View all Messages up arrow. All messages will be shown. view unread messages the View Unread Messages down arrow. All unread messages will be shown. see all the threads and responses EXPAND ALL (+). All threads and responses will appear. see only the threads COLLAPSE ALL (-). The topic threads will appear. read a message a link to a message. The message will appear along with any available options for modifying the message, removing the message, or responding to the message. Send an email to the author of a thread the name of the person. The email program associated with the local machine is activated and an email will appear with their name in the To: field. view tool bar Options tab. The options tool bar will appear. The options include: • select all • unselect all • invert action • mark as read • mark as unread • collect selected messages in one place for reading • lock marked threads • unlock marked threads • remove the selected messages. These options are described in the next table. archive a Discussion Board thread Click Here for Archives. Discussion Board forums can be archived from the page that appears. resort the list of messages the drop-down arrow and select one of the following options to Sort By: • Default: to have the messages sort by the earliest date. • Author: to have the messages sort by the author of the message. • Date: to have the messages sort by the earliest date. Note this is the default. • Subject: to have the messages sort by the subject. Message View Overview This topic describes the Message View page, which appears when a message in a thread is selected. Collaboration Sessions Collaboration sessions in the “lecture hall” allow the lecturer to talk to the group together on blackboard. Times for these sessions will be notified to you by announcement. You should constantly look at this section of blackboard to ensure you do not miss important announcements. In addition to the “lecture hall” you can set up lightweight chat rooms where the group can interact with each o