Chase Retail Complex

NOTE: You will need to download a free 60 day trial of Microsoft Project 2013 for the Stand-Alone Project. You can access the download by going to the textbook website at: Microsoft Project 2013 Trial Go to the “Microsoft Project Trial” tab.

Required Background Reading: The following readings will prepare you for this project:

Gido, J., & Clements, J. P. (2015). Successful project management. (6th ed.). Cengage Learning. Appendix C.

This project is comprised of seven (7) parts. Please read each part carefully to ensure that you submit all of the work. Your Stand-Alone Project responses should be both grammatically and mechanically correct and formatted in the same fashion as the project itself. If there is a Part A, your response should identify a Part A, etc. In addition, you must appropriately cite all resources used in your response and document in a bibliography using APA style. Always include in text citations and references (A 8-page response plus associated Gantt chart and Excel spreadsheet is required.)

ANSWER

Chase Retail Complex Project

Part A

The project life cycle consists of four phases; initiation, planning, execution, and closeout of the project. The initiation stage entails the first stage in the project where the management and the project team identifies the existing need and the business requisites then comes up with a solution and idea (Cooper et al., 2008). The goals and aims of the project are identified at this stage, as well as the solution to address the issue. For the Chase Retail Complex project, the first stage entails identification of an area that has a business opportunity for the construction of the four-unit retail complex. The main idea is to have a retail complex that will generate sufficient revenue from the area identified. At this stage, the project manager will also be identified and recruited to facilitate the progress of the project.

The second stage of the project is the planning phase. At this stage, the proposal will be offered to the project owner for an agreement. After the acceptance of the project proposal, the details of the project will be offered with various tasks, dependencies, actions, and timeframes required for the completion of the project. The resources required for the completion of the project will be identified where the project manager and selected team will come up with the budget that will be used in the assessing the required materials, staff as well as finance. For Chase Retail complex, this will include the purchase of land for construction, identification of contractors, the resources and materials required, amount of human labor, and funds required to complete the project.

The third stage will include the implementation phase. This is the doing part where the project plan will be put into action, which means the work starts at this stage. At this stage, the task will be completed with regards to the client’s requirements and quality levels as well as a reference to the budgets and timelines agreed upon to achieve the client’s satisfaction. The project management team will monitor and control the project in terms of allocation of resources as well as how well the tasks will be completed by offering corrective action. This phase will include the preparation and grading of the construction site, construction of the foundation, external structure and internal structure, plumbing and electrical, landscaping, installation of the roof, ventilating, and air conditioning.

The termination of the project will happen in the closeout phase. At this stage, the documentation will be completed, and the project signed off. Relatively, the project manager will collect feedback from the client to ensure that the requirements are met and that they are satisfied with the project. The billing and accounting tasks will be examined before the termination of the contract occurs. The project manager will also acquire essential information for quality control for future project improvement.

Project B

The responsibility matrix and the work breakdown structure relate to the project organization and program structure to breakdown the project tasks. This will ensure that each element of the project scope has been assigned to a responsible individual. Ideally, a high-level work breakdown structure will state the group unit that is responsible for each work as well as specific activities (Burghate, 2018). The responsibility matrix will indicate the first level activity and responsible individual, and below each row, there will be two sub-activities. The columns will consist of the project members who will be responsible and assigned their activities. The matrix will effectively indicate individuals that are responsible for specific tasks as well as the support team to facilitate the success of the tasks.

• Primary Support
• Activity Responsibility Responsibility
• Roof Jack Steve, Wally
• HVAC Bill Scott, Trevor
• Landscaping John Lynn, Beth
• Paving Greg Jeff, Pat
• Plumbing Max Tyler, Damian
• Grading and Site Prep Sal Jim, Joe
• Interior Structure Don Keith, Andrea
• Foundation Construction Randy Mark, Mike
• Exterior Structure Bob Dan, Ken
• Electrical Seth Neil, Roy

Part C

Gantt View

Excel Work Breakdown Structure

The Gant chart created above illustrates the ten-level one primary activities to be completed with each activity taking 30 days. Level two activities are not entered in the Gant view. The project starts on 2^nd January 2007 and ends on 1^st September 2010.  The time to complete the overall project and details for the projected time per activity have been detailed in the Gant chart view and work breakdown structure. The total project time for the project is 984 days.

Part D

The project manager will be paid $30 per hour; the primary workers will be paid $25 per hour while the support workers will be paid $15 per hour. Therefore, for the total project, the manager will be paid $236,160, the primary workers will be paid $196,800 while the support workers will be paid $118,080. The total labor costs for the project will be $551,040 for the 984 days. The total labor costs have been determined by calculating the total number of days that the project team will be working on completing the tasks. The amount of money to be paid every day has been used to calculate the total labor cost.

To complete the project successfully and within the set time frames, it is essential to develop the cost plans before beginning the project. Cost management is useful in every project since it estimates, allocates as well as controls the costs in a project. During the project plan, the costs are used to predict the expenses and costs to reduce the chances of the budget going over the budget. Chase Retail complex has only identified the labor costs, but there is a need to consider the project costs in every element. The cost plan is essential in managing the costs and development of reasonable cost estimates. For instance, it is essential to consider the cost of elements such as construction materials, federal and state fees, accessories, subcontractors, and labor to determine the total project cost. The budgeted and total costs should be considered and need to be kept as close as possible. The project manager should approach different suppliers, subcontractors, and vendors to evaluate the different costs. Therefore, they can choose the suppliers, vendors, and subcontractors from the most cost-efficient, taking into consideration the quality of materials and services being offered.

Part E

Changes in the Work breakdown structure are aimed at reducing costs and project duration to reduce the project duration. Related activities will be group together since the same group can complete them. For instance, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical work are all technical works that can be completed together, even though they will be assigned to different groups. Once the exterior structure has been completed, various tasks can be carried out together. Siding and roofing will be installed while at the same time, the plumbing and electrical contractors will begin running wires and pipes through the interior walls, floors, and ceilings. The water supply lines, vents, and sewer lines for each fixture will also be installed. The technical activities will be done at the same time to reduce the amount of time and resources spent on the project. Having professional contractors working simultaneously can increase the costs of resources due to damages and confusion. Therefore, allowing them to work at the same time but separately helping each other, they can work efficiently save time and resources for the project. For instance, plumbing and electrical contractors will begin running wires and pipes through the floor ceilings as well as floors. To ensure that this is possible, the individuals responsible for the primary activity will be in different areas to ensure that there are no conflicts. However, the total project completion time will reduce and simplify the tasks as show below in the new Resource sheet.

New Resource Sheet

Part F

The three major conflicts that might affect the construction project are poor management, coordination and control, design and specification errors, and failure to implement the change of work effectively. Gido and Clement’s nine-step approach can be utilized in solving the conflicts. These include establishing the problem statement, realizing the potential problems and the causes, collecting and verifying data, realizing potential solutions, evaluating various solutions, determining the most optimal solution, revising the project to incorporate the solution, implementing the solution as well as monitoring to ensure the problem is effectively solved (Gido and Clements, 2015). Poor management, coordination, and control will be solved by first identifying poor management and coordination as a problem, then identify the causes of poor management, which might be inaccurate cost estimations or insufficient schedule. Information on the management practices will be collected to understand the problem, and a potential solution is offered. Corrective actions such as changing the schedule for activities and proper cost plans will be utilized for proper documentation. The solution will be monitored to ensure that the management has improved within the project.

The second conflict is design and specification errors, which are a result of a conflict of interest between the project owner and the project manager. There were problems with the quality and color difference of paint on the walls. The project manager and owner need to consult one another and exchange ideas to prevent future conflicts. This will facilitate a better understanding of the requirements for successful project completion.

Due to the demand for reduced time and resources for the project completion, the project manager failed to communicate effectively to the subcontractors about how they will work together. This leads to confusion and conflict during the completion of individual tasks. To facilitate the success of the subcontractors, as the project manager to communicate to the subcontractors and ensure coordination in the project. Communicating and meeting the subcontractors together will improve their understanding as well as allow them to exchange ideas on how to work together efficiently.

Part G

Successful projects are those that have been delivered on schedule, meet the construction requirements, maintained within the budget, and delivered the expected value to the business. Many factors influence the project success, but effective governance and management practices are critical for the successful completion of a project. Therefore, the success of the construction project will be determined by the ability of the project to meet the goals and objectives set with no complaints about the design or quality of the project. All the parties linked to the implementation are satisfied with the project. The project is per the designs and specifications of the document and agreements of the contract.

Project Management Metrics

Construction Cost management

The collective aim for the construction project is to deliver to budget and reduce the total cost of the project. As the project manager, a detailed evaluation of the cost of the project will be essential to facilitate the cost-effectiveness of the project. This will enable corrective actions in case of cost deviation. The cost measurement will be essential in indicating how far the project is from completion and how the project is doing in terms of schedule and budget (Kerzner, 2017). Therefore, this is a standard way of measuring the progress as well as the cost variance during implementation.

Productivity assessment

Productivity assessment is essential in determining the team productivity and productivity of resources to facilitate the success of the project. Considerably, productivity is used to look for overutilization and offer guidance on the improvements required to boost the input-output rations. Observing the level of activities and utilization of resources plays an essential role in the success of the project. For instance, as the project manager, this is an essential component since managing productivity will enable changes and improvements to facilitate better performance.

Client Satisfaction

Client satisfaction entails describing, understanding, evaluating, and managing the client requirements to ensure that their satisfaction has been achieved. Setting clear deliverables and having regular communication with the client is one of the ways through which satisfaction can be achieved. Every successful project has delighted clients and therefore, it’s essential to focus on customer satisfaction. Ensuring that the project has been fully linked to technical specifications of the agreements and contract documents will prompt customer satisfaction.

References

Burghate, M. (2018). Work breakdown structure: Simplifying project management. International Journal of Commerce and Management, 3(2).

Cooper, R., Aouad, G., Lee, A., Wu, S., Fleming, A., & Kagioglou, M. (2008). Process management in design and construction. John Wiley & Sons.

Gido, J., & Clements, J. P. (2015). Successful project management. (6^th ed.). Cengage Learning

Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to measuring and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.