Team Assignment #2 Project Controls – Progress Reporting:
This is a team assignment in which your team is required to produce and present a project progress report and forecast for a warehouse/office being built by your company, Choudhury Constructions.
The progress report is to be presented to senior company management and is an internal company project report which will be kept strictly confidential (especially from the client, Storage Services Pty Ltd).
Project Events and Background:
Project: Warehouse & Office at 26 Mary St Burbury 3429 for Storage Services Pty Ltd. Project start date is Monday 25th March 2024 and contract completion date is 8am Monday 4 November 2024.
You are currently at the end of week 23 of a 32-week contract schedule with completion date 8am Monday 4 November 2024.
The following events have occurred which have impacted the project.
The tender was negotiated for a lump sum price including the prime cost (PC) sums listed below and start date of 25 March 2024.
The client has listed the following PC sums in the contract and has nominated the contractors to be used.
Excavate & install stormwater drains, including trenching, bedding and backfilling to specification (Digger Drainage) $15,000.
Supply and install 100 & 150 dia. sewer, fire service & water supply to FFL, (Digger Plumbing) including excavation and backfilling: $16,000.
Supply and install roof sheeting flashing and downpipes to Warehouse and Office (Roofers Pty Ltd); Office $16,000, Warehouse $235,000.
Sanitary Plumbing to toilets and wash basins including all necessary, piping, valves taps and fittings (Digger Plumbing); Office $5,000
Electrical 415V supply, telecom and data cabling to distribution boxes in warehouse, (Spark Electrics); $28,000.
Supply & install power and lighting to warehouse, office and amenities from distribution box in warehouse. (Spark Electrics); Office $3,300, Warehouse $7,000.
You have Client approved changes to the cost of the completed prime cost (PC) sums in the variations schedule. The contract has been negotiated to allow a 10% margin for overheads and profit on all PC sum cost increases or reductions. The contract clearly states that all Client paid variances to PC sums are to be treated as approved variations by the Client unless otherwise agreed by the contractor.
Digger Plumbing was delayed by rain for three weeks and its subcontract (negotiated by the client) allows for a time extension with costs in the advent of rain delaying the works. Digger has submitted a claim for a time extension of three weeks and costs of $35,000. The cost increase has been accepted by the client, but the time extension has been rejected.
The precast manufacturer closed its factory for three weeks due to a fire and material delivery delays, with the result that the precast delivery was extended to occur over five weeks, and the company has recently increased its precast prices due to significant material (steel and cement) increases.
The client disagrees with your variations for a time extension and site establishment costs for the delay on the basis that you are managing the subcontractors and based on the clients observation that the delay had been recovered in subsequent weeks. However, you plan to negotiate a settlement before the end of the project.
So far, your superior and agile site management has resulted in a net delay due to precast supply and construction efficiencies of about one week.
You have incurred extra costs to put in sheet piling where the adjacent foundations required it and this was at an additional cost of $43,000. This detail was overlooked in the Clients design and drawings, and your bid team missed this (now obvious) omission. You have heard (unofficially through industry contacts) that the owner of the building next door is a lawyer who is keen to sue your client due to disruption and damage during construction and the lack of notice before digging deep adjacent foundations.
The client has signed a lease for rental of the property and will suffer a loss of rent and potentially might lose the lease if the building is not completed on time. With the current rental market, firm commitments for rentals have become scarce.
The work sequence for the buildings as constructed so far, is broadly as detailed in the progress bar chart. Note that the floor slab cannot be started till after the roof finishes due to overhead work safety issues.
The site establishment will initially be in the landscaped area and then moved to the office building following lockup. Landscaping will consist of 500mm of lightly consolidated clean fill retained (if possible) from the 100mm topsoil excavation.
Liquidated Damages:
As part of final contract negotiations your company accepted the inclusion of liquidated damages of $20,000 /week payable for every working week late, or part thereof, after the Contract completion date. A further clause insisted on by your legal department, excluded delays due to supply chain issues or any other pandemic related delay and your company negotiated an agreed additional cost of $15,000 per week of delay due to any mandated shutdowns, payable by the client.
Project Progress Report & Review Meeting requirements:
The company has a well-defined procedure for reporting progress and reviewing it with senior management. This project review is a significant opportunity for the Controls group to demonstrate their competence and professionalism to senior management.
The team will select one or more members to present the main points in the executive summary to the Project progress meeting in the tutorial. There will be strictly 4 minutes for the presentation and there will be no audio-visual aids allowed, just the printed two-page executive summary.
Project Cost Model:
Actual costs and progress % complete have been included in the project progress model (supplied). Use the costs to date and % complete to calculate the Earned Value (budgeted work done: EV) and cost Performance Index (CPI) in the Project Progress Model. Then provide a forecast of the number of days work and costs still to be spent and cash flow the costs through to completion.
(Hint: make sure you consider in your forecast the productivity and durations to date and what has been achieved on like items).
Assume in your forecast cash flow that the same scheduling logic will be followed as in the budget or recommend a change to this logic if required to achieve the original completion date or minimise delays.
Project reporting:
The Project Progress report will include the following:
Note: Refer to the section Project Report Formats for the layout of all reports.
The Executive Summary will be two pages (double sided) containing the critical issues and progress summaries as follows:Page 1 is an Executive Summary explaining the critical issues including:
A copy of the Project Summary Table
Summary analysis and explanations for:
current job schedule progress to date,
Cost variance & performance to date,
Client approved variations,
Forecast outstanding project allowances and contingency for risk,
Forecast completion date and suggested strategies to make up for any lost time,
Project forecast profit and reasons for variances to budget
Proposed strategies (especially negotiation strategies with the client) to minimise risk and maximise company profit.
Page 2 has a copy of the critical Project summaries containing:
Project Cost Report
Project Progress Graph of cumulative budgeted direct cost for the contract and actual cost to date plus forecast cost to completion. (Note, an earned value graph by week is not required.)
The Project Progress Summary Table will provide the cost and schedule performance total to date for the project i.e., the Earned Value. See the following for format and content. This report also appears on page one of the Executive Summary.
The Project Cost Report (included in page two of the executive summary) must have values shown in columns for budget, spent cost, forecast to complete, total forecast and cost variance to budget.These will be summarised by direct cost, client approved variations and followed by allowances, contingency, margin on PC sums, and allocation to overheads and profit. All of these will total to the total contract price plus approved variations.
The Project Client Variations Register will indicate all approved additional costs, also changes (variations) that have been notified but are not yet approved and possible future changes of which the project team are aware, and which are not yet submitted. Note: Cost variances to PC sums are accepted by the client as approved variations in the month after the work is completed.
The Project Allowances and Trends Register of possible additional costs will show forecasts of the following:
Allowances approved by management (included in the forecast of direct costs).
Allowances and trends not yet approved by management (included in the project forecast of remaining allowances).
The remaining contingency (included in the Project Cost Report) is to be estimated based on the remaining risks to the project, in excess of the Allowances.
A Project Progress Graph of cumulative weekly budgeted direct cost for the contract (this is the budget or Planned Value), and Actual Cost to date plus forecast cost to completion, (called estimate at completion [EAC] in Earned Value measurement). (Note, an earned value graph by week is not required.) This report is also included in page two of the executive summary.
You are also to submit a pdf file printout of the Excel Project Progress Gantt chart and any alternate schedules with all calculations for review of the backup, and with student IDs in file names etc.
Project report formats:
The company uses the following report formats:See the excel Progress model under ‘Project Reports’ for a Company excel format for all reports,
Reports Include: Progress Summary; Project Cost Report; Variations Register; Allowances & trends Register; and Contingency Register.
The Project Cost report is repeated here with special instructions at the foot.
Project Cost Report:
Project Cost Report:
Contract including approved changes
(Budget) Spent to date
(Spent) Forecast to complete (F/C) Total Forecast
(Spent + F/C) Cost Variance (Total F/C Budget)
Direct Cost $ $ $ $ $
Preliminaries, site establishment: Site preparation: Warehouse & Driveway: Office & Parking: Subtotal Direct Cost Client approved variations Inc. above Inc. above Inc. above Inc. above s/t Direct Cost Allowances incl. above Contingency incl. above Margin on PC sums NA Overhead & Profit (COP) NA Total Note:
On the Total line at the bottom, the:
Total Contract including approved changes (Budget) = Total Forecast (Spent + F/C)
As a result the Overhead & Profit (COP) in the Forecast to complete (F/C) column is equal to the:Total (Budget) minus (Spent + F/C) excluding (COP)
Assignment Deadlines & Requirements:
This is a team assignment. All documents (excepting the project report & executive summary), and backup produced for this assignment must have the student ID (s) of the main contributors to the document in the file name. The project report & executive summary must have the team name and team number in the file name.
Closing Date/Time for Written Submission:
See Canvas for submission deadlines.
The assignment is to be submitted by the Canvas assignment deadline in both PDF print, word and excel file format.
A PDF print of all reports is required. As well as
Electronic copy of all files including supporting documents to be uploaded by the team coordinator via the assignment section of Canvas.
Your nominated team member will give an oral presentation of the Executive Summary to your tutorial in week 11 commencing Monday 14 October.
Note: Team members who do not contribute to the team effort and/or fail to attend the tutorials for assigning tasks in week 6, stage reviews in week 7 & 8, and then the presentation in week 11, will not be awarded a team mark. So, if you are unable to attend any of these tutorials you should immediately advise the tutor by email with valid reasons for your absence and be prepared to prove with documents submitted to the team, that you have made a significant contribution to the team result. A survey of team member contributions completed by team members after the presentations in week 11, will also be considered.
Team Organisation:
This is a team assignment, and the best results will be achieved in the shortest time if you allocate tasks to team members and then review the individual results as a team. It is in your best interest to present a well thought out project progress executive summary and reports.
This assignment will be issued by week 6 starting Monday 2nd September so that teams can allocate tasks to team members in week 6 tutorial.
You should plan to complete individual work at least by the start of week 8 beginning Monday 23 September to review and assemble your team submission by the deadline.
The following are suggestions as to how the assignment tasks could be divided up amongst team members. The division of roles is up to the team and will depend upon their skills and the number of team members (larger teams can assign two people to some tasks):
Team Coordinator: assembles the final progress report and drafts the executive summary for team review, including the Progress Summary Table. The coordinator might also present or introduce the executive summary to the tutorial group in week 11.
Cost analyst: review the costs to date and calculate a forecast of direct costs and durations to go. Prepare a graph of cumulative budgeted, actual and forecast cost to completion. Review the initial cost analysis and findings with the team and the Tutor in a stage review in the lab in week 8. The stage review is not marked but will provide valuable feedback to use in your Project Review.
Cost Controller: Review cost analysis of progress to date and forecast of direct cost to go and estimate a forecast of the costs, variations, allowances and contingency required to complete the project. Prepare the Client Variations and Project Allowances registers and the Project Cost Report. Review the variations registers and findings with the team and the Tutor in a stage review in the lab in week 7. The stage review is not marked but will provide valuable feedback to use in your Project Review.
Scheduler: update the progress model with durations and forecast costs to go and determine a likely completion date. (Note this schedule forecast follows the budget logic unless noted otherwise and uses the excel model. An MS Project schedule is NOT required). Prepare the Project Summary table with cost and schedule performance to date. Review the schedule and prepare recommendations on what actions to take and the relative costs to achieve the schedule. Also advise the way the project should approach negotiation with the client for time extensions. Advise the team coordinator (in writing), what significant scheduling recommendations should go in the executive summary.
Assessment of Team Assignment #2:
Marks for this assignment will be allocated 17% to the written submission and 8% to the presentation, consisting of 4% peer review and 4% tutor review. See the canvas rubric for detailed marking.
Although the assignment will be generally marked in accordance with this scheme, discretion to depart from this in certain circumstances, may be exercised