The Role of the Architect in the Warehouse Project

1.2 Core quality management concept that would form part of the quality control for the project 8

Question two: risk management plan for a project of your choice. 10

Definition of objectives. 10

Risk facing the project 11

Human-related risks. 11

Financial risk. 12

Operational risks. 13

Organizational risks. 13

External risk. 13

Risk quantification. 14

Response plan. 15

Risk elimination. 15

Mitigating measures. 16

Risk deflection. 16

Risk control 17

Question three. 18

3. 1.1 calculate the scheduled variance for project A.. 18

3.1.2 Calculate the cost of variance for project A.. 18

3.1.3 Calculate the scheduled performance index (SPI) of project A.. 18

3.1.4 Calculate the cost performance index for project A.. 18

3. 1.5 Calculate the estimate to completion (ETC) for project A.. 18

3. 2 Assess how effective risk management can be implemented. 19

References. 21

Question one:

1.1 project management charter

Scope

The warehouse project requires the construction of an entirely new warehouse in a new site, about 15 miles away from the current location. The project includes the designing the warehouse and building it to completion. The deliverables of this undertaking include a contemporarily designed warehouse and the surrounding environment that will be able to withstand the natural weather elements for at least three decades. The project will also deliver a warehouse compound that is well designed to protect the warehouse from frequent flooding, be well ventilated and allows flexible floor rearrangement. The warehouse includes the warehouse offices as well as the large open room for storage of the merchandise. The warehouse project is constrained to 400 days and a $600,000 budget.

Responsibility matrix

The responsibility matrix shows where the responsibility for project tasks lie. This diagram show the person responsible for the execution of the task as well as the person has the authority to make decisions pertaining to the tasks as well as take the actions concerning the activities. Additionally, the diagram shows who is to be consulted concerning some of the issues relating to the project activities and the person who requires an update about the decision and the progress of the activity or be give direction on what to do concerning the activity

client

Project manager

Architect

project engineer

HR.

supervisors

quality and risk officer

Staff

client meeting

C

A/I

I

R

site visiting

C

C

R

A

development of the design

C

I

A

R

client approval

A

I

R

C

design approval (Govt.)

I

A

R

supplier identification

A

R/A

C/I

supplier contracting

R

A

C/I

staff hiring

I

C

A/R

C

site preparation

I

A

R

C

R

base layout

I/C

A/R

A/R

R

walls

I/C

A/R/C

A/R

R

roof structure preparation

I/C

A

A/R

R

manager inspection

A/R

R

I

C

roof assembly

I

A/C

R

I

R

roofing

I

A/C

A/R

I

R

client inspection

A/R

R

R

I

C

Finishes

I

C/I

A/R

R

government inspection

A

A/R

I

C

final touches and installations

I

C/I

A/R

R

final inspection

A/R

A

A/R

I

C

closure

C/I

A/R

I

A/R

I

I

C

I

Handover

C/A

A/R

A/R

I

I

A = accountable (the person making the decision and takes actions on the tasks)

R = responsible (the person to complete the task)

C = consult (the person to be communicated with about the tasks and the important decisions)

I = informed (the person will receive an update about the progress of the project and the tasks.

Work breakdown schedule

The Work breakdown schedule provides the decomposition of the project tasks in a hierarchical manner

The main task in the WBS is mainly administrative, construction, inspection, and management of the client relations. The administrative activities include the visit to the site, preparation, and approval of the warehouse design as well as the hiring of staff and suppliers. The construction works are the core activities of the project and entails the site preparation, build the warehouse base, wall, roofing as well as the essential installations and finishes. The inspection will includes the government, client, and the project inspection. Maintaining a conducive client relationship is essential to the project and will include client visits, approvals, and the handing over the project

Project Schedule

The table below provides the schedules activity, the duration for each activity as well as the starting and the ending dates. The project is scheduled to start on the last day of April and end in the last day of July 2019 when the project will be handed over

activity

days

start date

end date

1

client meeting

1

4/30/2018

4/30/2018

2

site visiting

1

5/1/2018

4/1/2019

3

development of the design

7

5/2/2018

5/10/2018

4

client approval

5

5/9/2018

5/15/2018

5

design approval

10

5/17/2018

5/30/2018

6

supplier identification

20

5/30/2018

6/26/2018

7

supplier contracting

20

6/11/2018

7/6/2018

8

staff hiring

30

5/21/2018

6/29/2018

9

site preparation

30

7/2/2018

8/10/2018

10

base layout

50

8/13/2018

10/19/2018

11

walls

60

10/29/2018

1/18/2019

12

roof structure preparation

30

12/31/2018

2/8/2019

13

manager inspection

1

11/30/2018

11/30/2018

14

roof assembly

30

1/28/2019

3/8/2019

15

roofing

10

3/18/2019

3/29/2019

16

client inspection

2

1/21/2019

1/22/2019

17

Finishes

20

3/30/2019

4/26/2019

18

government inspection

3

5/13/2019

5/15/2019

19

final touches and installations

20

5/20/2019

6/28/2019

20

final inspection

10

7/1/2019

7/12/2019

21

closure

5

7/15/2019

7/19/2019

22

Handover

2

7/29/2019

7/30/2019

The schedules activities are illustrated in the Gantt chart below to provide a visual view of the activities and keep track of the project progress.

Risks response

Risks in the project are inevitable and pose significant challenges to the project’s ability to achieve the desired outcomes. The project, therefore, has to design an ingenious way of responding to these risks as they arise. Although the risk response is broad and depends on the prevailing circumstances, the overarching response to this risk is limited to a few options. The project will be guided by a comprehensive approach to the risk issues.

The first response will be having a risk control officer who will have the full dedication to the project risk management. The officer will monitor the risks processes and have the responsibility for designing strategies to address the risks as they arise.

A deflecting strategy will be crucial to assist the project pass the risk to another entity and allow the project to focus on the main activities. The deflecting strategies will include the use of insurance and hedging. The project will take mitigating measures for the risks that are impossible to eliminate but can reduce their impact. Such measures will be on the risks emanating from sources not under the control of the project. However for the risk where the project has control, elimination of the risks will be the most viable solutions. The project will attempt to remove the trigger factors and therefore eliminate the entire risks.

1.2 Core quality management concept that would form part of the quality control for the project

The three-core quality control for the projects includes the use of total quality management, the ISO 9001:2008 and the six sigma. Each concept has several key areas, which a project must focus on. The implementation of this concept is crucial in making the project more successful.

The total quality management (TQM) is a customer focused quality management concepts, which makes it easier for the project to maintain a focus on the customer’s definition of quality. The TQM allows the projects to include the customer’s perceptions and views of the project quality in all the project activities(Bryde & Robinson, 2007, p. 51). Through focusing on the total quality in every aspect of the project, the people working in the project are able to focus on delivering high quality their area of undertaking for the project.

Through the four main improvement process, the TQM is essential in guiding the project achieve higher quality. The managers have to plan through the identification of the customer quality and identify the factor that may hinder the achievement of the quality. Once the issues are identified, the next step requires doing the necessary actions to eliminate the hindrances before regularly checking the progress of the quality improvement(Bryde & Robinson, 2007, p. 55). The successes noted need be institutionalized and be committed to the achievement of quality.

However, the major problem in the use of the TQM in managing quality is the inability of the customer to clearly define what they perceive as quality. Such lack of clarity hinders the implementation process. The customer’s view of quality may also be unrealistic given the budgetary limits the project has to work within. In some instances, the customer quality measures may also be unattainable within the timelines and the resources available.

ISO 9001:2008, which will be replaced by the ISO 9001:2015 in 2018, identifies quality as the processes and procedures that must be undertaken by a project in the execution and planning of quality in projects(International Organization for Standardization, 2015). This ISO quality management requires the project to identify the parties who have an interest in the project including the customer requirements and ensure that the entire quality requirement is met on time. The standard requires the staff undertaking the activities to receive training on the quality requirements.

The project has to make a clear determination of the quality processes, the inputs, outputs and the interactions requirements for the quality system. Accurate recording keeping is essential to ensure that all the quality measures and the quality aspects are well documented to identify any sources of failures(Hoonakker, et al., 2010, p. 955). The noted changes requires a commitment from the project managers and the project team to undertake planning to address the identified risk as well as take the necessary action to take advantage of the opportunities.

An important aspect of the ISO 9001 is to undertake an internal and regular audit with the aim of identifying the areas of nonconformance and undertake to improve the quality systems continually(International Organization for Standardization, 2015). However, the audit may pose a challenge in the project implementation when the focus is to sustain the ISO certification and not the project implementation. In the end, the project timelines may suffer as the project implementers focus on the processes and the ISO certification more than the project itself.

The six-sigma approach in projects is an essential troubleshooting tool in the management of quality in projects. The focus of the six sigma is to maintain a focus on the customer perception of the quality and elimination of wastes by relying statistical measures. When the project incorporates the six sigma the benefits accruing includes a better understanding and monitoring of the changing customer preferences and an improvement quality for the projects. There will also be a lower waste levels leading to lower costs(Anbari, 2002, p. 5). The project implementers will also have a higher competitive advantage resulting from the continuous improvement of its programs.

However, like in the TQM, the use of six sigma may lead to major challenges for the project where the customer’s definition of quality is inconsistent with the resources and the project timelines. The project may suffer the issues of control and management of the project when the project relies on the six sigma only(Farooq, et al., 2017, p. 160). The reliance on the statistics only without the combination of the resources and the management’s support to the use of statistics may pose major challenge.

Question two: risk management plan for a project of your choice

The project for this question is the moving a warehouse from its current location to a new location, about 15 miles away. This project requires the development of an entirely new warehouse with new features ranging from the warehouse floor plan to new offices with new office furniture. The warehouses to be developed from scratch and will run for 400 days, every day of the week. Given the immense nature of the project, there is need to undertake a risk management plan that will assist the project to achieve its overall and specific goals. A risk management plan allows the project to identify the risk that has the potentials to derail the project from achieving its goals. The risk management plan has five main steps that guide the planning process. These steps start with the definition of objectives, identification of the risks. The quantification of risk is essential and gives way to the development of responses (Clements & Gido, 2011, p. 134). The last step requires risk control to ascertain that the plan is in line with the desirable objectives

Definition of objectives

The risks management plan aims to identify the risks that are likely to face the project and act as an impediment for the projects to achieve its goals. Therefore, the risk plan is anchored on the objectives of the project as it aims at ensuring that the project remains focused on the objectives. Prudent risk management plan must therefore clearly identify these objectives in a clear and precise way(Gray & Larson, 2006, p. 215). The identification allows for the development of a program that is not only relevant to the project but also addresses all the risk likely to hinder an efficient project implementation.

The overarching goal of this project is to move the current warehouse to the new proposed location within 400 days as per the management’s requirements. The client intends to have more space for their warehouse as well as improve their operational services in a more efficient and faster way through the enhanced merchandise holding capacity. The management of the client organization wants the project undertaken in the most professional way that will generate value for their investment. The project, therefore, seeks to abide by the client’s requirements on several fronts ranging from the designing of the warehouse, the construction of the warehouse, maintain higher quality standard as well as deliver a high-quality warehouse based on the client’s financial budget. The objectives guiding the achievement of the project addresses each of the project’s thematic deliverable area and tries to focus attention on each specific area of the projects. The objectives guide in the development of the project milestones and provide a clear picture of the entire project.

The first objective is to design a warehouse that will have higher capacity, ensures safety, and creates convenience to those who will be working within the facility. Convenience in the warehouse focuses on the ease of accommodating merchandise of different sizes, ease of moving merchandise handling equipment, as well as the ease of rearranging the warehouse orientation to suit the different client needs. The warehouse should also adhere to the government’s health and safety measures, especially in terms of fire, water an air safety in cases of emergency. The resident architect handles the warehouse design as well as ensures compliance of the structural design with the local government’s building codes

The second objectives are to build a warehouse that meets warehouse construction standards by using durable and cost-effective building materials. The warehouse requires the use of safe and sustainable materials that will ensure total safety of those working in the warehouse as well as the merchandise and the equipment held within its walls. The material used should be able to withstand the harsh weather condition such as extreme high and low temperatures, high-speed winds as well as torrential rainfall without showing any signs of weaknesses for the first 30 years of operations. The sourcing of materials is under the responsibility of the project team engineer, who is also in charge of the construction and building examination. The examination of the building is to be handled by the local government’s building directorate.

The third objective of the project is recruitment of project staff who is competent, skilled, and experienced in working in large building projects. The human resource is a significant component in ensuring the success of the project. Having experienced and experienced staff will be advantageous to the project, as they will make the construction work easier, faster, and more reliable. A skilled team will also offer assistance to the project management in running the projects as they have proper knowledge of the construction work. The project manager will work closely with the organization’s human resource and the project engineers to identify, assess, select, and train the staff for the project. The project manager will also collaborate with the project finance officer to address the remuneration issues. The project engineer will supervise the staff and coordinate their working process. The project manager also has the power to terminate the services of any recruited team on the advice of the section supervisors.

The project’s fourth objective is to deliver the warehouse with the resource constraints, both financial and time constraints. The client has provided an economical, budgetary ceiling under which the project has to work. The time limit allowed for the project will have to be adhered to through a balance between the other resources and the client's schedule. For achievement the project deliverables, the project manager is in charge of ensuring that work schedules are developed and adhered to all the time. The project manager will collaborate with the supervisors to establish the schedules, undertake the necessary revisions, as well as ensure adherence to the plans. The finance manager and the project manager will work together to ensure that the project remains within the financial constraints.

Risk facing the project

The risks are anything with the likelihood of affecting the normal and the expected progress of the project. Given the complex nature of the project and the specific timelines under which the project has to work within, several risks are facing the project. Proper identification of these risks is crucial as it will allow for the development of better and informed response plan. The sources of the risk are diverse and have therefore to be assessed from all the organizational perspective with the aim of ensuring that all possible risks are identified and addressed accordingly (Schwalbe, 2009, p. 215). The risks facing the project differ in their severity as some of the risks have a significant impact on the financial situation of the project while some of the risks may have minor financial implications. The frequency, probability and the vulnerability of the project to the risk also vary across the risk.

Human-related risks

The human resources involved in the project are a significant source of internal risk. The risks arising from the human resources have a substantial impact on the project, as they may be frequent, severe and have a high probability of occurrence(Kerzner, 2013, p. 156). Since most of the vital activities of the project will be handled by the human efforts and are directed by human expertise, there is the risk of low skill endowment on the part of human resources that may result into poor quality and significant flaws in the construction process. The warehouse construction requires considerable skill and dedication from the sourcing of materials, the movement of the construction materials as well the use of the material in the building process. Low skills and coordination of these activities will result in the delayed delivery of supplies, delay in the construction works and low-quality product. Poor coordination of the material with the available human resource will also result in many errors in the project activities. The errors are an unacceptable occurrence in this project where precision is paramount in the construction of the warehouse (Thevendran & Mawdesley, 2004, p. 134). Additionally, the poor coordination of activities may also result in significant accidents at the place of work. The warehouse construction involves the movement and lifting of heavy materials that have potential to cause fatal accidents and loss of life when mishandled.

The human resource also poses the risk of material loss through theft or misappropriation. The personnel with the responsibility of handling and accounting for the materials may collude with others to misappropriate the materials trough unethical accounting procedures (Murray-Webster & Hillson, 2005, p. 201). There is a possibility of material loss while they are within the construction site as some of the staff may walk out with the materials. Additionally, non-project staff may steal the supplies that are within the site of construction. The risk of the project stalling due to the human activity is present in a situation where the staff hired to assist in the project declines offering their services. The team may stage a strike as agitation for some of the issues they feel disgruntled. Such actions may cause significant delays in the project schedules, affecting the achievement of the set milestones and when prolonged, the strike may cause abandonment of the project where the specialized staffs are hard to find and recruit.

Financial risk

The warehouse project is a capital-intensive project where financial liquidity and cash flows play a critical role. The financial risk is the risks with the potential of derailing the plan due to the unavailability of finances(Burke & Barron, 2007, p. 278). The financial risks facing the project emanates from the availability of funds to meet the constructor needs as well as the financial situations of the client.

The project is sourcing the equipment and material from third-party suppliers. The financial arrangement on the terms of payment for the equipment and the materials supplied has a short payment period that requires higher cash flow. The short repayment period poses a significant threat arising from late payments for the goods and services provided by the third parties since the client has not provided the lump sum payment for the project. The project implementers have to seek funds from their sources awaiting reimbursement by the client. A disconnect between the client’s payment for the project and the supplier payment need poses a major threat to the project (Antón, et al., 2011, p. 12326). Late payment for the equipment and the material supplied to the project affects the supply and the availability of the construction equipment and materials. Having disgruntled suppliers may derail the project as the project manager may be forced to seek alternative suppliers of the materials.

The cost of the project may fluctuate during the time of implementation owing to the fluctuation in the prices of materials and services beyond the project budget estimates. Delays in payment for the services increases the costs of the project as the delayed payments accrue interests payable to the suppliers. Since the project is to be implemented over a year, the fluctuation of prices and other costs will have a significant impact on the final project costs. The sources of the funds used in the project may also be interest-bearing sources, which accrue additional costs for the project. The interest amounts fluctuate with the changes in the interest rates attached to the sources of funds. The project can accumulate a short-term debt for the project. These short-term notes attract a higher interest rate than the long-term loans.

The project faces financial risks arising from the inability of the clients to raise the needed funds for the project. The client’s sources of finances may face unanticipated risk, which affects the client’s financial position to meet their financial obligation to the project. Such a situation forces the abandonment of the project before completion. The already incurred costs will not generate the desired value to the client. An unfavorable client’s financial position may also force the projected to be rescheduled and take more days than was initially planned.

Operational risks

The complex nature of the project poses major challenges to effective project implementation. The operational risks are the risk associated with the daily operation of the project that has potential to derail the project from its planned activities. Decision-making and conflict resolution is operational requirements that project manager have to make. Delayed decision-making affects the project activities as the parties depending on the decision will have to halt their activities awaiting the decisions. (Serpella, et al., 2014, p. 658) Delays in the decision-making may arise from several distinct areas. There may be a communication breakdown between the project implementers and the clients regarding some of the challenges facing the project implementation. The delays in communicating the issues through the hierarchy elongate the time needed for decision making as the information may reach the target person when it is already late. The late delivery of information affects the already scheduled activities or may be financially costly when the wrong decision was already under implementation.

Organizational risks

The organizational risk is the risks arising from the factors within the client’s corporate issues with the likelihood of affecting the project activities. A change in the corporate structure such as a merger, or change in shareholder ownership may cause a change in the organizational structure and decision making the client is a closely held family organization, which increases the risk associated with the change in the organizational structure and leadership. A change in top leadership in the client’s organization may have an impact on the communication process as well as the decision about the project. The project managers have to start establishing new communication lines with the new leadership, which causes a delay in the project schedule. Additionally, the new leadership in the organization may not be in favor of the project. The change in the attitude and perception may hamper the client’s support to the project to the extent of abandoning the project.

External risk

These are the risks not within the project but have a destructive potential to the project. Projects are carried out within a context where external forces have an impact on the project management activities. Failure to address these external forces is detrimental as it may cause the project to derail from its course. There are varied sources of external threats to the project.

The natural occurrences may have an impact on the project in diverse ways. The physical phenomena have a chance of occurring at any time, as they are not under the project’s control and may not have been included in the project scope. The new warehouse site is situated near an international water body and in a substantial rainfall area. The open sea may be a source of flooding due to natural activities that may cause the water in the ocean to rise above the sea barriers. Other natural calamities in the sea may include tsunamis that may have a devastating effect on the construction sites.

Heavy downpour may have a significant impact on the construction works. It is impossible for some of the construction works to be carried out under a torrential rain forcing delays in the project schedule. The heavy rainfall may also cause flooding that may destroy the construction site, sweep away some of the construction equipment as well as some of the construction materials. Torrential downpour may also be a safety risk to the project staff when proper protection structures are not available. Additionally, flooding from the ocean or heavy rainfall may affect the construction site as it may damage the terrain. Other risks from the natural occurrences include the occurrence of an earthquake that may trigger mudslide and earth movements. Besides the open sea, the construction site is also surrounded by high hills with steep slopes, which increase the risks of rockslides in case of an earthquake.

Risk quantification

The quantification of the risk allows for prioritization and ranking of the risks. The impact of the risk assesses the level to which the risk will derail the project from its objectives. The likelihood of the risk occurring indicates the probability of the risk occurring. The index of the risks indicates the result of the risk’s impact and its likelihood of occurring

Code

Risk

Impact

1=minor, 2=moderate, 3=major

Likelihood (%)

1

low skill

3

60

180

2

material loss through theft

3

60

180

3

material loss through misappropriation

3

30

90

4

Design approval

3

50

150

5

Strikes

2

30

60

6

late payments

2

50

100

7

Cost inflation

2

80

160

8

Interests rate fluctuation

1

40

40

9

clients unable to raise the needed funds

3

30

90

10

Decision-making and conflict resolution

3

50

150

11

Communicating

2

30

60

12

change in top leader