SCHOOL OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES,

ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE

(SATES)

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

(CVE 404)

SEMESTER ASSIGNMENTS

BY

BATOKA M. BILL MIGUEL

ENG 18A 000 02Y
([email protected])

DATE SUBMITTED: FEBRUARY, 2022.

Summary Of Content:
Assignment 1: Introduction.
Assignment 2: Construction Site Safety.
Assignment 3: Project Management.
Assignment 4: Quality Systems.
Assignment 5: E-Commerce.
Assignment 6: Procurement.
Assignment 7: Land Tenure Systems

Assignment 1
1. Who is the founder of Engineering/ the first Engineer?
The first engineer known by name and achievement is Imohtep, builder of the Step
Pyramid at Saqqarah, Egypt at about 2550 BCE.

2. What is critical path in Engineering?

Critical path is an algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities. Also, it is a chain of
linked tasks that directly affects the project finish date.

Assignment 2: Construction Site Safety

1. Explain construction site safety.
Construction site safety are measures put in place on a construction project site to ensure
the safety of workers on site.
2. What is Health and safety management?
Health and safety management are measures put in place to ensure that health and safety
of workers complied with health and safety requirement.
3. What is Occupational Health and safety?
It is a branch of public health aimed at improving workplace health and safety standards.
It studies injury and illness trends in the worker population and offers suggestions for
mitigating the risks and hazards they encounter on the job.

4. What is the difference between Safety Officer and Health and Safety Officer?
 A health and safety officer (HSO) is a qualified officer responsible for the monitoring and
controlling of health and safety compliance and related rules and regulations in his or her
organization. This individual promotes safety awareness among employees in a
workplace, advises the management on associated laws and regulations, prepares safety
policies and trains the employees on safety and health related issues. He or she also
maintains the health and safety records of the organization and analyze data for decision
making process by the management.
The safety officer is an internal employee who is assigned to prevent accidents, respond
to emergencies and evaluate the effectiveness of the company's safety programs. A safety
officer identifies safety hazards, investigates them thoroughly, and controls them before
someone gets hurt.

5. Elaborate on the duties, and tools of Health and safety officer on typical construction site.

The Health and Safety Officer is responsible for tasks such as:

 Developing, implementing, and improving the health and safety plans, programmes and
procedures in the workplace.
 Ensuring compliance with relevant health and safety legislation.
 Identifying OHS-related training needs in the workplace.
 Conducting safety inspections and risk assessments.
 Investigating workplace accidents.
 Reporting on OHS-related activities.
 Supervising junior health and safety employees.
 They must create and implement policies and procedures in accordance with current
legislation. It is also their responsibility to ensure that the policies and procedures are
followed by all employees.

6. What does the law say about Health and safety pertaining to construction works?
In Ghana, employers are required by Labour Act 2003, Act 651(sections 118, 119 and
120) to ensure their employees are not exposed to conditions that would lead them to
work-related injuries or illnesses.

7. List and explain four types of accidents common on construction site.

 Falls from heights. 56% of the accidents on construction site occurs as a result of people
falling from heights.
 Trapped by something collapsing or overturning. 21% of the accidents on construction
site occurs as a result of people trapped by overturning or from falling objects.
 Struck by a moving vehicle. 10% of the accidents on construction site occurs as a result
of people hit by a moving vehicle.
  Contact with electricity or electrical discharge. 5% of the accidents on construction site
occurs as a result electric shock.
8. List and explain four types of PPE’S use by site personnel.

Eye and Face Protection

Eye protection is achieved by wearing eyewear specifically designed to reduce the risk of
exposure to chemical splashes, laser radiation, and/or flying debris.

Hand Protection

Appropriate selection of gloves is essential to protecting hands. Chemically protective

gloves are one of the most important tools to minimize dermal exposures to chemicals in
research laboratories. Gloves should only be used under the specific conditions for which
they are designed, as no glove is impervious to all chemicals.

Body Protection

Lab coats are required for all wet labs. Cotton or cotton/poly blends are sufficient for labs
without risk of fire. Nomex coats are required for work with pyrophoric, flammable
liquids in quantities of more than 4 litres, or when work involves flammable liquids and
an ignition source such as a burner. Barrier coats must be worn when working with
infectious materials. Barrier coats can be autoclaved by placing the coats in a pan and
placing an additional pan of water in the autoclave.

Respiratory Protection

Respiratory protective equipment is only used as a "last line of defence," and as a result,
requires individual assessment and training by EH&S personnel. Proper fitting and use is
key to respirator efficacy, so EH&S requires all individuals who believe one or more of
their job tasks require respiratory protective equipment to contact EH&S.

Assignment 3: Project Management

1. Explain the following terms pertaining to project management;
a. Scope management.
Involves Project Management Plans, Project Management Software.
b. Time management.
Involves Gantt Charts, Project Network Diagrams.
c. Human resource management.
 Involves Motivation techniques, Empathic Listening.
d. Communication management.
Involves Communications Management Plans, Conflict Management.
e. Risk management.
Involves Risk Management Plans, Risk Registers.
f. Procurement management.
Involves Make or Buy Analysis, Contracts.
g. Quality management.
Involves, Pareto diagrams, Fishbone Diagrams.
h. Cost Management.
Involves Cost Estimates, Cost Management Plans.
i. Integration Management.
Involves Project Management Software, Project Review Meetings.
2. Discuss the relevance of project management and narrow down to six importance of it as
a profession.
Project management is relevant because it promotes the following;
 Accountability
 Improved project organization and tracking.
 Better control of financial, physical and human resources
 Improved customer relations.
 Reduced duration and cost.
 Higher worker morale.
 Reduced complexity of inter-related tasks.
 Allows measurement of outcome versus plans.
 Early identification of problems and quick correction.
Six importance of project management are;
 Project management is now being recognized as a valuable “career path” in many
organizations, as well as a way to gain valuable experience within the organization.
  Project Management, initiated by the military, provides managers with powerful
planning and control tools.
 The three primary forces behind project management are (1) the growing demand for
complex, customized goods and services; (2) the exponential expansion of human
knowledge; and (3) the global production consumption environment.
 Project management is important because it ensures there’s rigor in architecting projects
properly so that they fit well within the broader context of our client’s strategic
frameworks
 Good project management ensures that the goals of projects closely align with the
strategic goals of the business.
 By using project management methods, organizations can gain control over the running
of a projects.

3. Discuss the relevance of the following and how they were developed to be used by
Project Managers.
i. Gant chart.
Gantt chart is a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing projects
activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format. Henry Gantt
developed the famous Gantt chart as a tool for scheduling work in factories, in 1917.
ii. Network diagrams
Members of the US navy Polaris missile/submarine project first used network diagrams in 1958.
These diagrams helped model the relationships among project tasks, which allowed them to
create schedules that were more realistic.
iii. Critical path analysis.
Determining the relationships among tasks helps in finding the critical path of the network. This
tells the manager the earliest completion date of the project. In the 1990s, many companies
created project management offices (PMO) to help them handle the increasing number and
complexity of projects throughout an organization.

4. What are the constraints of a project?

 Increased Scope = increased time + increased cost
 Tight Time = increased costs + reduced scope
  Tight Budget = increased time + reduced scope

5. Why do companies use project management?

 To handle projects effectively in an organization.
 To define the project and agree with the customer.
 To plan and assess resource needs for the project.
 To estimate project cost and make proposals.
 To plan and schedule activities in a project.
 To allocate the right resource at the right time.
 To assess risk and failure points and make backup plans
 To lead a project team effectively and communicate well.

6. Who is project stakeholder?

A project stakeholder is a person involved in or affected by project activities which
include the project sponsor, project manager, project team, support staff, customers, users,
suppliers and opponents to the project.
7. Catalogue the various phases of a project.
The start-up phase.
The building phase.
The maturing phase
The termination phase.
8. Briefly produce the historical perspective of project management.

S. No Phases Use Methods

1960-1970 Traditional Project Construction, Technology and schedule

Management Aerospace, Defence driven

1970-1985 Focused Project High tech businesses, Software engineering,

Management multi-discipline matrix Management
developments

1985-1993 Renaissance of Project All organizations, Total quality Management,

Management developing formal
 methods concurrent engineering

1993-present Modern Project Accept by top System engineering, change

Management Management, and risk Management
Recognize as a
discipline

9. Coin a comprehensive definition for project management.

Project Management is the practice of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and
closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet specific success criteria at
the specified time.

10. What are the primary forces behind project management?

The three primary forces behind project management are (1) the growing demand for
complex, customized goods and services; (2) the exponential expansion of human
knowledge; and (3) the global production consumption environment.

Assignment 4: Quality Systems.

1. What is quality systems?
Quality systems are standards used to describe a prestigious product.

2. State and explain types of quality systems.

Brain Storming
Is a technique for encouraging creative thinking and the generation of ideas from small
groups of people using their collective energies.
Pareto Analysis
It is a useful tool in identifying major causes of problems and solving them, thereby
solving majority of the problem in the industry.
Random Variation
It is a variation that occurs as a result of natural causes. Assignable variation occurs
where there are special reasons for the occurrence of the variation.
3. Distinguish between QC and QA.
QC QA
Focuses on defect detection Focuses on defect prevention
There is no standardization There is standardization
Focuses at the end product Focuses at the process

4. Determine the various areas in building project where quality is applied.

 Quality of design,
 Quality of materials
 Components specified
 Quality of workmanship.

5. Explicitly explain Quality management and Total Quality management.

Quality management refers to managerial tool that ensures both work and products
conform to predetermined performers specifications or a set of activities or techniques
undertaken to ensure that all quality requirements are being met.
Total Quality management is a process led by top management to involve everyone in an
effort to achieve a continuous improvement of the performance of all activities in an
industry. So that the needs of clients are met.

Assignment 5: E-Commerce.
1. Define electronic commerce applied in construction project management.
Electronics Commerce can be defined as the process of buying or selling of goods or
services using an electronic medium such as the Internet.

2. Explain eight features of e-commerce

 Non-Cash Payment: E-Commerce enables the use of credit cards, debit cards, smart
cards, electronic fund transfer via bank's website, and other modes of electronics payment
  24x7 Service availability: E-commerce automates the business of enterprises and the way
they provide services to their customers. It is available anytime, anywhere.
 Advertising/Marketing: E-commerce increases the reach of advertising of products and
services of businesses. It helps in better marketing management of products/services.
 Improved Sales: Using e-commerce, orders for the products can be generated anytime,
anywhere without any human intervention. It gives a big boost to existing sales volumes.
 Support: E-commerce provides various ways to provide pre-sales and post-sales
assistance to provide better services to customers.
 Inventory Management: E-commerce automates inventory management. Reports get
generated instantly when required. Product inventory management becomes very efficient
and easy to maintain.
 Communication improvement: E-commerce provides ways for faster, efficient, reliable
communication with customers and partners.
 Information sharing is made easy via electronic communication channels making a little
dependency on person-to-person information exchange.

3. List and explain four methods of e-commerce applied in construction projects

management.
 It is used to order material on site
 Receiving/sending specimen results and samples to site/laboratory
 Site Engineers’ on-site conference meetings
 Making a variation or correction of an error in another town, city or country.
4. With an overview deduce a basic definition for E-commerce
E-Commerce can be defined as a business which uses the internet to sell goods or services,
especially one which does not have shops or offices that people can visit
5. Differentiate between traditional commerce and E-commerce.
Traditional Commerce E-commerce
Heavy dependency on information exchange Information sharing is made easy via
from person to person electronic communication channels making a
little dependency on person-to-person
information exchange
Communication/transactions are done in Communication or transactions can be done
synchronous way. Manual intervention is in asynchronous way. The whole process is
required for each communication or completely automated.
transaction
It is difficult to establish and maintain A uniform strategy can be easily established
standard practices in traditional commerce and maintained in e-commerce
Communications of business depends upon In e-commerce, there is no human
individual skills intervention
Unavailability of a uniform platform, as E-commerce websites provide the user a
 traditional commerce depends heavily on platform where all the information is
personal communication available at one place
No uniform platform for information sharing, E-commerce provides a universal platform to
as it depends heavily on personal support commercial/business activities across
communication the globe

6. What is the advantage of E-commerce to a society?

To Society
 Customers need not travel to shop a product, thus less traffic on road and low air
pollution.
 E-commerce helps in reducing the cost of products, so less affluent people can also afford
the products.
 E-commerce has enabled rural areas to access services and products, which are otherwise
not available to them.
 E-commerce helps the government to deliver public services such as healthcare,
education, social services at a reduced cost and in an improved manner.

7. What is the advantage of E-commerce to an organization?

To Organizations
 Using e-commerce, organizations can expand their market to national and international
markets with minimum capital investment. An organization can easily locate more
customers, best suppliers, and suitable business partners across the globe.
 E-commerce helps organizations to reduce the cost to create process, distribute, retrieve
and manage the paper-based information by digitizing the information.
 E-commerce improves the brand image of the company.
 E-commerce helps organizations to provide better customer service.
 E-commerce helps to simplify the business processes and makes them faster and
efficient.
 E-commerce reduces the paper work.
 E-commerce increases the productivity of organizations. It supports "pull" type supply
management. In "pull" type supply management, a business process starts when a request
comes from a customer and it uses just-in-time manufacturing way.
8. What is the advantage of E-commerce to a customer?
To Costumers
 It provides 24x7 support. Customers can enquire about a product or service and place
orders anytime, anywhere from any location.
 E-commerce application provides users with more options and quicker delivery of
products.
 E-commerce application provides users with more options to compare and select the
cheaper and better options.
 A customer can put review comments about a product and can see what others are
buying, or see the review comments of other customers before making a final purchase.
 E-commerce provides options of virtual auctions.
 It provides readily available information. A customer can see the relevant detailed
information within seconds, rather than waiting for days or weeks.
 E-Commerce increases the competition among organizations and as a result,
organizations provide substantial discounts to customers.

9. What are the disadvantages of E-commerce?

Technical Disadvantages
 There can be lack of system security, reliability or standards owing to poor
implementation of e-commerce.
 The software development industry is still evolving and keeps changing rapidly.
 In many countries, network bandwidth might cause an issue.
 Special types of web servers or other software might be required by the vendor, setting
the e-commerce environment apart from network servers.
 Sometimes, it becomes difficult to integrate an e-commerce software or website with
existing applications or databases.
 There could be software/hardware compatibility issues, as some e-commerce software
may be incompatible with some operating system or any other component.
Non-Technical Disadvantages
  Initial cost: The cost of creating/building an e-commerce application in-house may be
very high. There could be delays in launching an e-Commerce application due to
mistakes, and lack of experience.
 User resistance: Users may not trust the site being an unknown faceless seller. Such
mistrust makes it difficult to convince traditional users to switch from physical stores to
online/virtual stores.
 Security/ Privacy: It is difficult to ensure the security or privacy on online transactions.
 Lack of touch or feel of products during online shopping is a drawback.
 E-commerce applications are still evolving and changing rapidly.
 Internet access is still not cheaper and is inconvenient to use for many potential
customers, for example, those living in remote villages.

10. Which E-commerce business model is fit to describe an agreement between Government
and a society/community?
Government - to - Citizen
11. List and explain the appropriate business model between a contractor and government.
Business to Government: This is e-commerce where a contractor provides a service to the
government.
Government - to – Business: This is e-commerce where the government provides a
service to a contractor.

12. List and explain the appropriate business model between government and community.
Government to Citizen (G2C): This is e-commerce where the government provides a
service to citzens.

Assignment 6: Procurement.
1. Establishing a procurement strategy, outline eight 8 points that might not be overlooked
and explain each of them.
 Speed
 Cost
 Quality
  Specific project constraints
 Risk
 Asset’s ownership
 Financing
 Program

2. What is procurement in the construction industry?

In the construction industry, the term ‘procurement’ is often used to refer to the selection of the
main contractor for the construction of the works. The procurement routes most commonly
followed in the Ghana for the selection of the main contractor are:
a) Open tendering
b) Selective tendering; and
c) Nomination
Procurement can also refer to any supply contract, such as the selection of consultants, sub-
contractors, manufacturers, and so on.

3. If the supply chain can be said to be procuring, explain supply chain in procurement.
Supply chain refers to refer to any supply contract except the main client, such as
consultants, sub-contractors, manufacturers, and so on.

Assignment 7: Land Tenure Systems

1. Analyze the Relevance of the following to Construction Industry
i. Land acquisition:
 It avoids double registration of lands
 It prevents land litigation
 It enhances progress of work
 It assures early completion of work

ii. Land development

  Recognition of the genuineness of land documents by the land institutes: In land
development, all the legal documents backing the acquisition of the land and the
drawings are inspected before its subsequent approval. This makes it clear to the district
land institute and the appropriate commission how authentic the documents are.
 Ensures rightful use of land: Land development ensures that a particular piece of land is
used for the right purpose and properly developed following the laid down regulations
 Provide easy cross checking of land from the land commission:
 Upon submission of documents the land commission crosscheck with the laid down plan
for the said area to ascertain the location of the piece of land.
 It ensures proper layout (site layout)
 Facilitates the valuation procedure and the due compensation to be paid. These enable
easy valuation of buildings and other properties on the land for compensations. During
some government projects such as road construction etc., affected buildings are valuated
and compensation paid to owners, lf proper documentation were obtained during the
development of the land.
 Provide easy cross checking of land from the land commission

iii. Work scheduling

 It is used to report the performance of the project.
 The project schedule also aids in assigning work and work packages to the various human
resources on the project.
 It regulates material inflows on site and reduce waste on site as well.
 It indicates duration for all activities on site.

2. Explain the process of land development.

 The client will think of what to use the land for (Purpose of land acquisition and
development)
 Consultation of experts such as the Architects, structural engineers, Project Managers,
etc.
 Permission or approval from the Local Authority (Town and Country Planning)
 Proposal’s presentation.
 Generating of funds
 Commencement of work
3. List and explain six types of contracts
 Lump sum/ fixed price
 Unit price/ measure and value
 Cost plus
 Variations of basic cost plus
 Time and materials.

4. State and explain the types of land ownership or tenure in Ghana.

 State land
 Stool / clans land
 Family land (nuclear and extended)
 Individual land
 Private own land (Real Estate Developers)

5. Elaborately explain the stages of land acquisition.

Development of interest and land identification.
Falling on the owners or land custodian for the necessary agreement.
Constructive search from land and survey department of the region and the district to
ensure the land legitimacy.
Price negotiation between the parties involve.
Land documentation.

6. Explain the negative effects of land acquisition in the Construction Industry.

 Land litigation
 Retardation of work progress
 Delaying of project.

7. Write about two most important decisions taken by the project owner.
  Selection of the project delivery system
 Selection of the type of contract.

8. List and explain ten types of project delivery systems.

 Design-tender-build
 Design-build
 Construction manager
 Project manager
 Document and construct
 Separate prime contracts
 Turnkey
 Build-own-operate-transfer
 Joint venture
 Force account

9. What is a project life cycle?

According to Patel and Morris(2004) project life cycle is the sequence of phases through which
the project will evolve.