Project Management Function

Project closure report

1) Introduction

The Project Management function (PM) is a critical unit within the Construction Education and Training
Authority (CETA) that assist with fulfilling the mandate and objectives of the CETA. The efficient
management of the PM therefore should be one of the main focus areas where management and the
committee should exercise proper oversight and provide quality leadership.

This report is focused on the organisational assessments (OA) as previously defined by the Chief
Financial Officer (CFO). The OA is defined as the process of obtaining systematic information about the
performance in order to diagnose areas of possible investments for change and/or to demonstrate
competence. The OAs are evidence based inquiries that employ appropriate methods and techniques
while demonstrating the highest technical standards and provide credible findings based on valid
information.

The approach that was adopted was to review the current responsibilities of the PM function, challenges
that impede performance and to suggest or make recommendations on best practices that could
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the PM function. This approach also indirectly addresses the
four focus areas of OAs, namely;

a) external environment,

b) organizational (functional) performance,

c) organizational motivation, and

d) organizational capacity.

The recommendations are therefore aimed at addressing the performance impediments and highlight
areas that require improvement within the PM and to ensure that it is an enabler in the delivery of
services to the CETA stakeholders.

2) The role of PM

The role of PM is centered around the efficient and effective utilization of the discretionary grants and
other grants that may be received for special projects. The unit should assist the organization with the
creation of strategy, managing the funding window, proposal selection process, contracting,
Implementation of allocated projects, monitoring and evaluation and closing out completed projects
developing the planning of National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) target allocation, funds
allocation process, monitoring and reporting of funds allocated.

The PM should also manage the risks relating to financial loss, funding nonexistence learners, funding
sub minimal quality of training and funding projects that are not aligned to NSDS targets and do not
contribute to the achievement of SLA targets.
In order for the PM to function efficiently, co-operation and coordination with all the other business
units within the CETA is imperative, mainly on reporting to the department (Research unit), ensuring
quality training (ETQA unit), learner registration and sector skills plan development (Skills unit) and
implementation and monitoring of projects (Regional offices).

a) Strategy creation

The strategy creation refers to the planning process that is developed to ensure that

i) targets agreed to with the DHET are feasible,

ii) within the expected levy income and discretionary grant reserves, and
iii) the discretionary grants are allocated to the employers who can implement projects that
contributes to the achievement of targets

The strategy creation is based on the criteria that has been approved by the Council and that is in line
with the regulations.

Current responsibilities and challenges

i) The PM has minimal role in the development of sector skills plans, setting targets with the
DHET and communicating the information to the organization.
ii) The information relevant for the development of plans to address the NSDS targets is not
effectively communicated throughout the organization, e.g. the annexure to the SLA with
specific targets for 2.8 and 4.1 was not distributed to all relevant staff members
iii) The current discretionary grant criteria on the policy in not in line with the regulations 7(1)
and (4) of the Skills Development Act.
iv) The historical performance and capacity of the CETA is not considered to ensure that the
targets set are realistic and achievable
v) This results in the PM role as a critical driver of achievements of target being compromised
as it is not privy to the relevant information.

Recommendations

i) The PMU should play an integral part in the strategy creation during the development of the
sector skills plan and the SLA with Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET)
ii) The budget allocation should take into account the available funds and expected income.
iii) The targets should be realistic, reasonable and should be discussed with DHET and
considerate of the CETA’s capacity to deliver.
iv) All the information that is relevant for the effective and efficient functioning of the
organisation should be communicated
v) The discretionary grant policy should be updated

b) Funding window
Challenges

i) The grant disbursement schedule as set out in regulations 9 was not adhered to during the
funding window opened in September/October
ii) The planning for the consideration of responses from the employers was not adequately
managed.
iii) The procurement unit was not involved during the funding window
iv) The request for proposals was not aligned with annexure to the SLA
v) The criteria on which to evaluate the project proposal submission form was not updated and
also differs to the hand out of discretionary grant process
vi) The evaluation criteria was not clearly defined which results in the evaluation process not
being done in a constructive manner.

Recommendations

i) A schedule setting out the criteria and dates by which the applicants for discretionary grants
should be prepared
ii) The request for proposals should be aligned to the annexure to the SLA and should take in
to account the difference between target, approved project and work(projects) in progress
iii) The process of receiving proposals should be clearly defined and should address

(1) Recording proposals received and issue acknowledgement of receipt if practical

(2) Maintaining a locked tender box at each region and where proposals should be deposited

(3) The procurement unit should provide guidance to the relevant regional managers

(4) The allocations are not aligned to the sector skills plan that identified the critical and scarce skills
according the OFO codes. This resulted in projects allocation for the skills programme being
oversubscribed whereas most of the other NSDS targets were undersubscribed.

The underlying effect is that the SLA targets with the DHET are not met for both entering and
completions.

Refer to the figure below.

Th Table comes here

Proposed evaluation criteria

 i) Do the learners meet the minimum entry requirements for the learning programme applied
for?
ii) Is the learning programme applied for in line with the CETA approved learning programmes?
iii) Is the continuity of training of learners applied for in order to achieve a qualification?
iv) Does the employer have the capacity to provide workplace training?
v) Is the ratio of supervisor to learners 1:6
vi) When will the projects on which the learners receive workplace training commence?
vii) Does the training provider have the capacity to provide institutional training?
viii) Is the training provider accredited for all the unit standards on the learning programmes?
ix) Does the training provider have accredited facilitators, assessors and moderators on all the
unit standards/modules on the learning programme?
x) How has the historical performance of projects allocated to the applicant been?
xi) Are the skills programme applied for registered with SAQA/QCTO?

b) Selection process

Challenges

i) The Regional Managers did not have information about their regional targets
ii) The projects recommended by regional managers were not evaluated using the criteria
which resulted in conditional approvals
iii) There was no criteria to deal with the oversubscriptions
iv) Regional Managers were requested to randomly reduce proposals to total amount
recommended by CEO

Recommendations

i) The funds allocation should be guided by the sector skills plans that are aligned to the NSDS
targets, availability of funds and the impact the allocations will have on the achievement of
targets
ii) The evaluation criteria should be implemented at regional level
iii) The criteria for dealing with oversubscriptions should be documented and approved
iv) The projects recommended by the regions should be in line with SSP and the regional
allocations

b) Contracting

Challenges

i) Most employers did not provide implementation plan

 ii) The SLA or funding agreements does address risk of drop-offs, clear basis that renders SLA
null and void Recommendations
iii) The implementation plan should address the start and end date of the project, identify
milestones as well as timeframes for both the institutional and workplace training
iv) Legal advice should be sort to update the SLA or funding agreement as well as to address all
the legal risks

c) Monitor and evaluation

Challenges

i) There was unacceptable level of loss of documentation

ii) The file for tranche payments did not always include all the required documentation which
esulted in delay of payments
iii) The learner achievements on the system were only updated when learners had finished
training
iv) The registration of learners on the system at times was done when request for payment had
been received.

Recommendations

i) A document management system should be acquired to minimise negative impact to the

stakeholders
ii) The regional managers should review and thoroughly check all the required information
iii) The learner achievement should be updated in line with summative assessment principle as
defined by ETQA
iv) The activities related to learner registration, training and payments and exit/completion
should be separated, as follows

(1) At entry point

(a) Load learner details,

(b) enter into learner agreement,

(c) enter into employment contract, if required

(d) allocate agreement numbers

(2) Submit request for payment on all milestones with all relevant information

(3) Submit close out report with all relevant information

v) It is imperative that the project files are thoroughly checked at all levels
Please refer to the annexure 1 for detailed invoice review process

2) CETA management system

Users of the system

a) The users of the system should be provided with relevant training and capacitated to conduct their
work activities efficiently.

b) The PM should be resourced with people with technical expertise

SMS

a) The reports generated on SMS are not user friendly to non-technical users. Custom reports
should be generated that expedite the process of checking learner achievement, learners that
are linked to the employer to a specific learning programme

Accountability

a) There was a lack of accountability and enforcing discipline. The senior management should
provide direction and exercise the authority to ensure that the processes are adhered to

3)Appreciation

We like to thank the CETA for the opportunity to contribute to the improvement of the Project
Management function.