1) Apply project management techniques to simple projects, including the use of appropriate software, in the context of wider business operations, sustainability and ethics.

Module Learning Outcomes

The following module learning outcomes and professional body learning outcomes are tested in this assessment:

1) Apply project management techniques to simple projects, including the use of appropriate software, in the context of wider business operations, sustainability and ethics.

2)     Use quality management techniques, including the application of statistical techniques.

3)     Describe basic legal and risk management principles applicable to engineering projects including health and safety.

4)    Undertake independent investigations and communicate their findings in written reports

This Assignment is made up of two parts

1. PART A: Group Project:                  – 35%
2. PART B: Project Management       – 20%

Assignment Brief and assessment criteria (these will be discussed during the 1st lecture and 1st tutorial when the teams will be formally activated)

Part A – Group Project  - 35%.

Heathwick Airport is single runway airport in the South East of the UK. In the latest regulatory review by the CAA the degradation of the runway has been highlighted as a concern. As part of the airport’s response to the review a project for runway refurbishment must be undertaken within 5 months or the airport may run the risk of the runway being closed.

It has been decided that to minimise mobilisation and demobilisation time a facility should be provided at the site for the Civil Engineering (CE) and Construction Management (CM) teams undertaking the runway refurbishment works. This facility will consist of office and maintenance buildings that comply with CDM (Construction Design and Management) 2015 and the legal requirements for storage of materials and equipment required for the refurbishment of the runway.

Main deliverables

• Design of Building
• Schedule programme of work using MS Project or Primavera
• Risk Assessment
• Stakeholders Analysis
• Materials
• COSHH and CDM.
• Executive Summary Report

Scope

To design the building to meet the requirements of the above scenario and schedule the work using MS Project or Primavera.

For the avoidance of doubt, although cost is important, no cost estimate for the full value of the works is required as part of this assignment. However rough estimates of the cost of individual risks, as part of the risk register, is required. Risk estimates will not be marked for realistic accuracy, but should be completed as part of the process. No resourcing estimate is required.

If any additional assumption(s) is needed you should clearly state the assumption(s) made at the beginning of each task and justify your assumption(s).

Design of Building

Students must design an ‘economical and sustainable temporary/permanent office building’ which will be used during the runway refurbishment and the maintenance building should be designed as a permeant three-storey building. The size and area is based on the students’ professional opinion.

The sustainability issues/technologies should be reflected in your set of drawings for the design. Your report must include the following:

• Structural form/type and structural elements
• Justification that the structural system is economical

Use diagrams and sketches as much as possible. They should be placed in appropriate place. A diagram or sketch says a thousand words. So use them. Computer/hand drawings relevant to your design to be cut A4 size and placed in appropriate place and not at the back of your report. If width bigger than A4, then fold them longitudinally. The important thing is that they must be inspected with least inconvenience. All figures/illustrations need to be numbered and must have appropriate captions and their source must be cited.

Programme

Draw up a list of activities for this project covering the period from receiving the contract to handover to the client and estimate the duration for each activity. The number of activities is your choice, but should be not less than 40, including at least 3 activities relating to the period prior to the start of the implementation/demolition/construction stage and at least 3 activities related to the period between completion of construction and handover of the buildings.   Your group should determine a logical sequence of activities and follow the normal network conventions.  Use a software tool, e.g. MS Project or Primavera Risk, to produce the programme (Gantt / bar chart programme) showing a minimum of:

• The earliest start and finish times
• Total float for each activity,
• The critical path,
• Dependency links; and
• The total project time.

The programme when printed must not exceed the width of a landscape A3 sheet of paper, it can be as many pages long as required, but must not exceed this width.

Risk Assessment

A risk register with pre and post mitigation project risks needs to be identified, as well as the minimum, likely and maximum costs and time. This should include a minimum 15 risks and maximum 20 risks.

The risk register should include assessed risks for this project for the same period as given in programme.   Any form of risk register meeting the principles discussed in the lectures/tutorials may be used. You must include comment on the responses/actions you recommend for each of these risks.  Any assumptions you make should also be clearly stated.

Stakeholders Analysis

A stakeholder analysis comprising: a list of at least 10 stakeholders, an influence/interest (power/interest) matrix for those, and a brief explanation (<300words) of your evaluation on the power/interest. Assume this stakeholder analysis is for the situation prior to construction phase.

Materials

Students should explain material choice for different elements (structural and non structural) including claddings (these should be shown/reflected in your drawings) including but not limited to:

• Source of the material; what happens at the end of the life of the material, etc.
• Does the chosen material contribute to your other design goals (e.g. thermal mass, sustainability, economy, etc.)
• Explain the impact of choosing materials on sustainability

COSHH, CDM

Students should include a Risk Assessment for the process and a COSHH/CDM assessment for respective elements (please see Risk Assessment) and provide practical advice on applying COSHH assessment and appreciate the basic regulations of CDM:

• Prior to the project,
• During and post construction, and
• During the operational life cycle of the building.

Executive Summary Report

A concise Executive Summary report for your Client. This report must not exceed 1,500 words or 3 sides of A4. The report should be an independent piece of work that must not refer to the appendices to this report.

You should cover all the topics appropriate for such a report. This should include, but is not limited to:

• Key information on the current state of the programme
• Your main concerns relating to project risk overall and in next 6 months
• Advice and explanation on where to focus stakeholder management
• In your view the highest Health and Safety risks (maximum 3).

Remember that you do not need to give background to the project as the client knows what it is.  Your report must be a concise summary of the key project issues.

The report should be maximum 16 pages (including drawings)

Expected Working Hours

Based on the University’s guideline, each 30-credit module is worth 300 hours for every individual student. This part of this assignment is worth 35% of the marks for this module and 75 hours of effort for each group member.

Marking Scheme

The project has been allocated 35% of the total module marks.

The Detailed marking scheme is as follows:

Structure, Grammar, Neatness, Figures, References, etc.

Design of Building

Programme and using MS Project or Primavera

Risk Assessment

Stakeholders Analysis

Materials

Application of COSHH and CDM

Part B – Project Management – 20%.

The group will meet each week during Teaching Block 2 and roles will be allocated to students for each two week work package such that each student gains experience of the following functions:

• Group Leader
• Group Secretary
• Group Member. 

Every two weeks the group will present a 10 minute report of the project status and progress. The group should video this presentation and upload it to the Group Leader`s page on CANVAS on or before the date identified on their project schedule. This presentation will be led by the Group Leader and each of the members of the group will contribute and be assessed based on the following:

Group Leader

Understanding of the following in relation to their two week work stage:

1. How the overall project is progressing based on previous progress
2. Their work package in relation to the overall project.
3. The objectives/ milestones to be achieved, including quality management
4. The resources available
5. The scope of work to achieve their work stage objectives
6. The  risks associated with their work package
7. The associated network diagram and resulting critical path
8. The baseline ‘S’ Curve; and. 
9. That that Prince 2 methodology is being demonstrably applied.

Group Member (including the Group Secretary)

Understanding of the following in relation to the two week work stage:

1. Their specific task for the two week work stage
2. Understanding of what successfully completing the two week task(s) is – Milestone to be achieved, including quality management
3. What they plan to do before the next meeting – personal Gantt Chart/ ‘S’ Curve.

Group Secretary

Following the presentation at the end of their work stage the Group Secretary will post a report detailing the following:

1. An up to date version of the overall project Gantt chart showing overall project progress during their term.
2. Activities conducted since the last progress report and by whom
3. Milestone achieved/ missed, including quality management
4. Any differences between the initial work package schedule/ ‘S’ curve presented during the progress meeting and the actual activities/ Baseline.
5. If so, how does the project intend to manage these differences in terms of activities and change control?
6. Intended activities during the next two week term.
7. Risk Register management – risks closed out, new risks/ issues identified, etc.

All team members should post an individual two weekly diary.

Summary of main Project Management Deliverables and deadlines:

Within one week of formally commencing the project:

• Start a group conference page and provide access to the Group Supervisor:
• Submit a Quality Plan for the project indicating:

• The quality management approach about how quality will be managed and includes specific processes, procedures, techniques, standards and responsibilities.
• The quality register of quality management related activities.
• Submit an electronic schedule of your group project indicating:
  • Who will take the role of GL and GS for each of the 6 work stages.
  • When each of the project progress presentations will be conducted
  • The main milestones for the project, including deliverables, such as quality management
  • The critical path

These activities to be complete by: mid-night, Thursday 9th January 2020 on Canvas.

Throughout TB2:

• Conduct weekly meetings
• Make two weekly progress report presentations to the Group Supervisor.
• Group Secretaries draft and upload overall project progress report to the group conference page.
• All group members maintain a diary of activity relating to the group project and upload two weekly to the group conference page at the end of each work package.

Diary:

A properly kept diary (containing details of work undertaken, results, conclusions and other relevant information) is vital to a successful professional engineer since it provides a definitive record of work.  You are required to keep a diary throughout the project which should be posted for each individual work package.  This should be a contemporaneous day-to-day working record of your individual work on the project.  Ideally, it should be written up daily or as soon as possible thereafter.  It is unacceptable to write it up retrospectively.  This diary will form the basis of the Reflection exercise in Assignment 3.

Group Project presentations:

Being able to manage and take a meaningful role in presentations is also a necessary skill for the professional engineer.  As part of the project, therefore, the group is required to conduct a number of video presentations during TB2, which should be uploaded to the Group Leaders page on CANVAS.  These videos will be assessed and feedback will be provided. Several books covering presentation techniques can be found in the library. 

A Powerpoint template that you may wish to consider for these presentations is available.

Expected Working Hours

Based on the University’s guideline, each 30-credit module is worth 300 hours for every individual student. This part of this assignment is worth 20% of the marks for this module and 45 hours of effort for each group member.

Marking Scheme

The project management part of this Assignment has been allocated 20% of the total module marks. The Detailed marking scheme is as follows for each Group Presentation:

Assessment task and specific terms

• Specific details of the assessment task –

• Specific submission requirements and the format of the submission –

Group reports are to be submitted through Canvas/Turnitin.

Naming your Report File (word format) as module code first followed by project code and then the group number, for example, EG5014_Civil Group Design Project Report, Group 1.

Reports are supposed to be completed by all the group members working together. You are asked to list all contributors’ names on the cover page of the reports and include a table to specify which work was done by which member. If any group member does not contribute to the report, other group members have the right to reject his/her name printed on the report.

• Page limit – 16 pages including drawings

• Referencing and citation requirements –

You must undertake your own appropriate further reading and research in relation to the matters addressed in this coursework brief. Evidence of independent reading and research will be rewarded. A list of References must be presented at the end of the report and all of the references have to be cited.

Assessment Criteria

Assessment of your submission will be based on the following weighted assessment criteria as described above and given below, which relate to the specified module and PSRB learning outcomes. Assessment criteria are reproduced in Canvas in a rubric.

Specific Criteria (marking scheme)

Marks available

Structure, Grammar, Neatness, Figures, References, etc.

10%

Design of building

15%

Programme and using MS Project or Primavera

15%

Risk Assessment

15%

Stakeholders Analysis

15%

Materials

15%

Application of COSHH and CDM

15%

Total

100%

Academic skills support

For help and advice on this assessment please contact the assessment setter/s or the module leader. For advice on academic writing and referencing please contact the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing (SEC) Academic Success Centre (SASC). Trained staff and students will give you guidance and feedback on assessments. SASC can be contacted by email: [email protected] and is open every day in PRSB1019 and on Wednesdays at RV Library.

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