Economy and Management Project Life Cycle PDF

# Economy and Management ## Project Life Cycle ### Fall Semester 2024-2025 ### **Civil Engineering Dep.** | Goran A. Haidar | ## **Project Stages** The development of construction projects, irrespective of their type and size, pass through a number of discrete and largely sequential stages commo...

# Economy and Management ## Project Life Cycle ### Fall Semester 2024-2025 ### **Civil Engineering Dep.** | Goran A. Haidar | ## **Project Stages** The development of construction projects, irrespective of their type and size, pass through a number of discrete and largely sequential stages commonly known as a project lifecycle. The effective management of each of these stages is vital for project success. Equally important is the overall co-ordination and integration of the work across the entire lifecycle of the project. This function is the domain of project management. ## **Project Stages** These may broadly be defined as: 1. Concept 2. Design 3. Tendering 4. Preconstruction 5. Construction 6. Commissioning ## **Approximate Project Lifecycle Time-Scale** The project lifecycle time-scale is presented in a bar chart format, with the following stages from left to right: - Concept - Design - Tendering - Pre-Construction - Construction - Commissioning The x-axis represents the time-scale, with -100% on the left and +100% on the right. The y-axis represents the different stages of the project lifecycle. ## **1. Conceptual Stage** - It is the first and by far the most important stage in the lifecycle since the effectiveness of its execution will influence the ultimate outcome. - It provides a basis for the development of a project brief from which the designer can develop a functional, aesthetically pleasing and economically viable design. - The conceptual stage provides an opportunity to maximize the project’s successes since decisions taken in this stage have the greatest influence over its objectives. Conversely, failure to interpret the principal’s needs and objectives accurately will commonly lead to an incomplete design with probable cost and time overruns arising from rework in the construction stage ## **Cost Opportunity/Impact** The relationship between the project stages and cost opportunity/impact is presented in a line graph format. - The x-axis represents the project stages, with the following stages from left to right: - Concept - Design - Tendering - Pre-Construction - Construction - Commissioning - The y-axis represents the cost opportunity/impact. - There are two lines on the graph: - One line represents the cost opportunity, which starts high at the concept stage and decreases as the project progresses. It is marked with an arrow pointing upwards and labelled "Possible cost reduction". - Another line represents the cost of change, which starts low at the concept stage and increases as the project progresses. It is marked with an arrow pointing upwards and labelled "Cost of Change". ## **1. Conceptual Stage** The development of a project concept is a complex and difficult task. Its execution consists of providing clear and concise answers to a series of questions such as: - What does the principal need and want? - What resources are required? - What resources are available? ­ - What standard of performance is required? - What external factors need to be considered? - Who will make the key decisions? ## **Important Issues Relevant to the Project's Conceptual Stage** Important issues relevant to the project's conceptual stage will now be briefly discussed: - 1.1 Statement of principal's needs. - 1.2 Scope statement. - 1.3 Feasibility study. - 1.4 Strategic plan. - 1.5 Project organization. - 1.6 Project brief. ## **Conceptual Stage** This section shows a flowchart of the conceptual stage. The flowchart goes from left to right, with the following steps: - **Statement of Principal's Needs:** The first step is to understand the needs of the principal. - **Scope Statement:** The next step is to define the scope of the project based on the principal's needs. - **Feasibility Study:** Next, a feasibility study is conducted to determine whether the project is viable. This involves technical and economic analyses of alternative schemes. - **Strategic Plan:** Based on the feasibility study, a strategic plan is developed, outlining the project's goals, objectives, timeline, budget, and resources. - **Project Organization:** The plan details how the project will be organized, including staffing, roles and responsibilities. - **Project Brief:** The final step is to create a project brief outlining the key findings of the conceptual stage, summarizing the project's scope, budget, and timeline. ## **1.1 Statement of Principal's Needs** The construction principal is the person who initiates a project. Principals may be individuals, corporations or governments. Their desire to initiate a project is commonly driven by the need for: - A capital investment in a new construction facility (this could be a housing, commercial, industrial, public) - A capital improvement of the existing facility - The provision of infrastructure services. ## **1.2 A Scope Statement** A scope statement defines in detail what work is to be accomplished. In doing so it formulates key objectives such as cost, time, quality and functional requirements. It also defines important design parameters such as: - Physical scale, shape and aesthetics of the proposed structure - Technical, operational and environmental requirements - Performance requirements. ## **1.3 Feasibility Study** It commonly involves technical and economic analyses of alternative schemes. It is a very important decision-making process that determines whether or not the project will proceed to the next design stage or be abandoned. The feasibility study assesses available alternatives on technical and economic grounds. Technical feasibility considers a range of issues such as technical performance, construction methods, safety issues, availability of resources, lifecycle performance, environmental issues, and schedules. # **1.4 Strategic Plan** It defines the extent of the work to be undertaken (the project scope), why it is being developed, who is going to do it, when it is to be done and what it will cost, and how it is to be done. It integrates the principal's needs and objectives with technical, operational and management requirements to create an overall strategy for the preferred development scheme. A strategic plan will address a range of important issues such as the following: - Communication links - Project organization staffing - Project control plan - Total cost and time budgets - Environmental impact ## **1.5 A Project Brief** Brief states the principal's needs and project objectives, defines the project's scope, and includes budgets and schedules. A brief must be complete, accurate and unambiguous to enable the design team to translate the principal's needs and objectives accurately into a project design. An incomplete, inaccurate, vague or contradictory brief will lead to an erroneous design which is likely to become a major source of variation claims. Who is responsible for the preparation of a project brief? In short, it should be a team effort involving the principal, project manager, design consultant and any other relevant consultants. The principal’s acceptance of a brief signifies the major commitment on the part of the principal to proceed to the design stage. Modifications of the brief beyond this point should be avoided at all cost since they would adversely affect the project’s schedule and the cost budget. ## **1.6 Consultant Agreements** Various consultants involved in the conceptual stage are contracted to the principal. These are basic contracts for services and almost always cover the conceptual stage only. Consultants are commonly paid a lump-sum fee. ## **2. Design Stage** The concept of the project, defined in a brief, will be translated into a physical design of the facility and documented in the form of drawings and specifications. These will be supplied to the local planning authority to secure development and building approvals, and will also form the basis of tender documentation. It should now become clear that the quality of design documentation is vitally important for the various post-design processes. The key objectives of project time, cost and quality will be seriously affected by a poorly managed design stage. ## **2. Design Stage** The key elements of effective design stage management are: ## **A Design Management Plan** The overall design and each aspect of the design must be suitable for the principal's intended purpose. The design management plan should identify who is responsible for ensuring that each aspect of the design is suitable and satisfies all other requirements. ## **2. Design Stage** ## **A Cost Budget** The total project cost budget is formulated in the pre-design stage. Because no design documentation is available at that time, the budget contains a contingency for ‘unknowns’. Effective management of a design contingency is equally important. This contingency has been set aside for ‘unknowns’ and should not be used to pay for design mistakes. ## **2. Design Stage** ## **Design Evaluation** Value management is a disciplined and systematic approach to appraising the design of a project in order to ensure that it meets the objectives and functions in the most economical way. It also helps to improve the design’s ‘buildability'.