Project Delivery & Controls

by the WBDG Project Management Committee

Last updated: 10-02-2008

Overview

Effective project management includes strategies, tactics, and tools for managing the design and construction delivery process and for controlling key factors to ensure the client receives a facility that matches scope and quality expectations, delivered on time and within budget. Successful project delivery requires implementation of management systems that will enable project delivery teams to control changes in the key factors of scope, costs, schedule, and quality.

Scope Management

Project scope is defined as the work that must be done to meet a client's program goals for space, function, features, and level of quality. In many ways, scope management is the foundation on which the other project elements are built. From project inception, project scope defines the boundaries within which the delivery team and the external stakeholders work. Effective scope management requires accurate definition of a client's requirements in the Planning and Development stage and a systematic process for monitoring and managing all the factors that may impact or change the client's program requirements throughout the project delivery process.

Cost Management

Project costs are measured and analyzed in many ways throughout a project, from planning and design to bidding, construction, turnover, and beyond. First costs, cost-benefit, and life-cycle cost are a few examples of how a project's cost-effectiveness can be evaluated. However, the control of costs requires continual systematic cost management. These cost management processes start with the establishment of budgets that align with scope and quality requirements and continue with milestone estimates, value engineering, procurement strategies, and change order management through to claims avoidance and negotiation.

Schedule Management

A project schedule defines the process and establishes a timeline to be followed in delivering the project. Avoiding schedule slippage is a key objective of schedule management. Comprehensive project schedules will identify all of the project's stages, phases, and activities assigned to each team member mapping them to a timeline that measures key milestones (dates) that are used to keep track of work progress. Schedule management interfaces directly with scope, cost, and quality management when team member roles and activities are defined, coordinated, and continually monitored.

Quality Control

Quality control starts with matching expectations about quality levels with budget and scope during planning and design reviews and continues through construction delivery with a program of inspections, tests, and certifications. It requires a coordinated performance among the entire project team in order for a completed building program to fully satisfy a client's expectations.

Building Commissioning

Building commissioning is a quality assurance process that coordinates and integrates planning development and design decisions and verifies that the delivered facility operates efficiently and actually meets a client's project requirements.

Major Resources

WBDG

Design Objectives
Project Management
- Building Commissioning

Organizations

Publications

AIA Handbook of Practice
Construction Extension to a Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Third Edition. Project Management Institute, 2007.
GSA LEED® Applications Guide
GSA LEED® Cost Study
ISO 9000 Standard
ISO 9000 in Construction by Paul A. Nee. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996.
Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structure. Project Management Institute, 2006. Format: CD-ROM.
Quality Management Guidelines. McLean, VA: Construction Management Association of America, 2000.

Scheduling Software

Sample Construction Related Forms

Construction Phase Forms
Construction Documents Checklists