Road maintenance management reporting system

Reporting and Monitoring Reporting the progress of works is the final activity in relation to time management planning. A well-designed and functioning reporting system also provides the basis for a transparent and sound management system. The main purpose of a planning and reporting system is to provide the project with the means by which to compare progress of work against an improved plan. Therefore, there are two parts to the system - planning and reporting. Plans are prepared for all work to be completed during a certain period, usually covering the duration of the contract and each financial year. The planning work is carried out by the contractor's technical staff, normally including both staff from the head office as well as the site supervisory staff. The work plans of the contractors need to be approved by the supervising engineer to ensure that they conform to the overall project programme. Detailed planning data needs to be prepared for each works contract and broken down into each work unit (i.e. work-site, operation, team of workers, etc.). Equally, the plan needs to be broken down into monthly, weekly and daily plans. The purposes of a reporting system are to: o o o o o o o Measure efficiency of ongoing works, Provide a uniform method of collecting production data, Ensure and control the correct use of funds, machines, materials and labour, Enable the management to effectively re-plan and reschedule remaining works, Identify weak components of the production chain, Provide reliable information to others about the programme, and Collect experience data which will form the basis for the planning of future projects.

Before commencing construction works, it is therefore important to establish: Targets on productivity, Targets on resource inputs (labour, materials and equipment), Technical work details, and Estimated unit costs for all inputs

With this information as a reference, combined with a good reporting system and procedures, the project management is in the possession of an effective management information system. Basically, a reporting system consists of a set of printed report forms for each type of work, which are filled out at various levels from site level to headquarters levels. Forms for reporting cover the following information: Construction progress, Stores control, Vehicle and equipment use, and

Cost and expenditure control, Personnel. Most reporting systems consist of three levels. Production data, labour attendance, consumption of materials and use of equipment are recorded at site, collated into weekly summaries and further summarized into quarterly, bi-annual and annual reports. At site level, the data is recorded every day by site supervisory staff of the contractor. Information as regards to construction progress forms the basis for payment claims. Data collected in terms of use of equipment, materials and personnel is for the internal use of the contractor to control costs. An important factor in a reporting system is that all parties are thoroughly instructed in how report forms are used and that information is recorded in a uniform manner, thereby enabling project management to compare and evaluate the results from the various work sites and contracts. (i) Daily Work Progress The reporting of physical works starts at site where the foremen record daily work progress and inputs of labour, materials and equipment for each work activity. This information should then be verified by the site manager. When weekly summaries are prepared, the physical work progress reports are reconciled with the information from the muster rolls. Payments of works carried out by contractors are based on physical work progress reports and visual inspection to verify that the reported progress is in good order and the quantities recorded are correct. (ii) Labour Attendance The reporting of labour attendance starts on site through the daily recording of workers attendance in the muster roll. Every week or at the end of each month, depending on how frequent the programme wishes to carry out wage payments, the muster roll is reconciled to calculate the wages for the workers. This exercise determines the exact amount of payments required at each site and for each worker.

(iii) Use of Tools, Equipment and Materials All usage and consumption of tools, equipment and materials needs to be carefully controlled to ensure its proper usage. All issue of tools to the workers should be recorded in a tools issue form. The workers should be informed that they are held personally responsible for the items received until they are returned to the store keeper. Defect or worn-out tools should be returned to the stores immediately for repairs or replacement. Each piece of construction equipment, including project vehicles should have a logbook in which all usage is recorded together with consumption of fuel, lubricants and spare parts. Materials are recorded in stores record forms when released from the site store.

Monitoring and cost control

Monitoring norms Once norms are established, it is normal practice to build these into the daily site reporting procedures and to rely on the supervisor to set and check the tasks daily. It has to be appreciated however that, over time, supervisors can become blas about making detailed measurements, and often fail to check the finished quantity and quality against the assigned task. The pegged distances are invariably achieved, but the physical quantities thereby assumed by the supervisor may not equal the theoretical norm. It is therefore essential that more senior management staff periodically check these productivity settings. This means physically checking the site measurements, not just the data sheets. In addition, it is often the practice of managers to take the reported daily tasks set for the various activities, and to assume that these represent the actual output of the project. This habit has grown with force account operations where payment is not linked to production, but to worker muster rolls. In fact, quantities are seldom equal to the sum of the set productivities. Site obstacles, diversion of workers to other activities, sickness, broken tools, wrong task setting, all contribute to a false total. It is not being suggested that all finished work should be re-measured. This would probably put too great a burden on the typically small supervision team of a labour-based project. At the end of the day, what is required is a usable piece of infrastructure at a cost-effective price. It is therefore suggested that work progress should be tracked in terms of certain key outputs. In the case of roads this is usually kilometres of formation completed, kilometres of gravel placed, and linear metres of culverts placed. As long as these figures are accurately recorded on site together with the number of worker days expended to achieve this, a good measure of site progress and cost will be obtained. Some typical inputs from various projects are listed in Table 22. These are based on recent evaluations and are calculated from total worker inputs to complete specified roads. As such they capture all activities including those not specified or set as tasks. Monthly reporting of such totals from site gives management an excellent tool for monitoring progress and problems. Each project and programme should establish its average input for key operations as a first priority, and check this against site Monitoring Progress In order to effectively evaluate the data recorded, the engineers and supervisors must be aware of the productivity and performance targets. These targets are set during the planning process. Apart from regular field inspections, the most important monitoring activity is the desk review. Once a month, the site manager needs to carefully analyze the information provided from the work site. The monitoring process Collect field data Summarize and analyze data Identify problems Decide on corrective action Implement corrective action Monitor the results of corrective action

When actual performance is different from the plans, it is important to investigate the possible implications of targets not being achieved, especially cost and time over-runs. Findings should be discussed with subordinate staff in order to decide on the corrective action to be applied. The corrective measures decided upon will only be effective if they are understood and agreed upon, with those involved in carrying them out. Management staff must learn to concentrate on the failings in performance that will have a significant impact on overall targets and objectives, and not waste time on minor differences that will have little effect on work progress. Controlling We control the work in order to: See whether we can reach the target; Improve our basis for better planning and understanding of the work; Ensure that the required standard and quality are reached. If it is clear that our targets are not reached, we must find out why and improve our performance where necessary. Poor results may be due to wrong assumptions made at the planning stage, bad organization or poor execution of the work. It is important to note that the more often controls are made, the less likely the work can go wrong and the easier it is to make corrections. Work is controlled at all levels in MRP, from site to headquarters. Different types of controls exist: quality control, production control, cost control. At the site level, the production and quality controls are most important. Production control mainly involves two things: Input (the number of workers, number of days, amount of building materials etc.); Output (the quantities of work done, e.g. metres of bush clearing or cubic metres of excavation). The tools for control are inspections, records and reports.

COSTS Definition of cost Cost is the value of economic resources used as a result of production of any commodity or performing any service. Cost is always expressed in financial terms. The main elements of cost are: Raw material. Labour. Overheads. a) Raw Material. Material goods are converted to finished goods by manufacturing enterprises. Material control system include:i) Right quantity. ii) Purchasing at reasonable prices. iii) Safe- keeping of materials.

iv) b) Labour

Entering correctly in stores record.

Labour is normally between 15% - 30% of total production cost. Payment made to factory workers for their services are called labour cost. Labour cost consists of:i) Basic pay- daily, weekly or monthly wages. ii) Labour related costs holiday pay, overtime premium. Labour costs must be analyzed against the various jobs completed by labourers based on quantity and quality. It must be ensured that the labourers have really worked for hours paid to them. Incentives must be given to motivate them. c) Overheads. These are costs which do result solely from a particular activity. All those costs which are incurred by organization as a whole and not for specific activities. These are the expresses of a business enterprise which are incurred to run the business smoothly. These include rent for premises, power and electricity, telephone charges, insurance, depreciation, salaries of the office staff etc.

Classification of costs: Cost may be classified as follows:Fixed and variable cost. Direct and indirect cost. Cost classification by function.

a) Fixed and variable costs. i) Fixed cost: is the cost which remains the same at various levels of output. This does not change with change in output. This is incurred in periodic basis. Examples: Fixed cost on rent of premises. Salaries of permanent employees. Variable: Vary with production. Examples: Wages of factory workers. Cost of raw materials. Lighting heating charges. Production costs: Consist of raw material cost, Labour cost, Factory rent. Administration: office rent, postage, telephone, salaries of office staff, depreciation of office machines.

ii)

iii) iv)

v)

Selling of Distribution costs cost of promoting goods.

b) Direct and indirect cost Direct cost: is which can be identified for the production of some specific goods. Raw material and labour cost are direct cost because these can be charged and identified to the production of some specific output of goods. Indirect cost: is that cost which cannot be identified to the production of some specific goods. These costs are incurred for the activities as a whole in case of any department or organization. Examples: Indirect materials. Indirect wages. Electricity. Water charges. Rent and rate etc. Company cost: These consist of: Production cost. Administration cost. Selling and Distribution cost. Cost Controls Cost control should aim at ensuring that the final cost of the project does not exceed the tender sum. All Employers are concerned about how project funds are utilized and would like to see Projects completed within the approved budget. They are therefore entitled to a full account of how and why project funds are being spent. Engineers can be judged as failures for over spending on contractual disputes or respected by Contractors and Employers for satisfactorily overseeing the completion of a project without unnecessary cost. Poor Cost Control may be as a result of:Poor planning and assessment of the scope of works necessitating changes during the execution of the work; Delayed completion of works; Poor record keeping on site e.g. Not having agreed measurement records; Laxity during measurements; Delay in dealing with Contractual issues expeditiously. The following suggestions may be useful in minimizing cost overruns:a) Keeping proper records; In assessing payments, determining liability and settling disputes, there are only two essential requirements i.e. records and more records. These records must be contemporary (i.e. records kept at the time of the event to which they must relate, and verifiable. Some of the records include:-

Correspondence; Tools, equipment and labour returns; Minutes of meetings; Measurements records; Weather records;

b) Insisting on Jointly agreed measurement Measurements are required before certification, because the quantity in the bill of quantity is only an estimate. Agreed records should be sought even in case where the Engineer has rejected the principle of extra payment as the matter may not be closed and agreement on the fact, if not the liability, is of great help in speeding up the resolution of the dispute. c) Dealing with contractual issues expeditiously: o o Ensure that there is minimum delay in certifying of payment certificates; Prompt and honest evaluation of claims. The first consideration in a claim is whether the Employer has any contractual liability. If no basis for payment can be identified, the Contractor/Employer should be advised accordingly and promptly.

If the principle is accepted, the value of the claim should be assessed. Additional costs due to variations or extras must be closely monitored and kept to the minimum necessary for the completion of the work and proper discharge of the contract. d) Proper examination of Contractors request for Payments: Certificate details to be examined and compared with site records; Necessary modifications to be made before certification; Where a penalty clause exists the Engineer to be reminded to take this into account in the production of the final certificate; Material delivered to the site but not yet incorporated in the works to be included in the certificate only after confirmation that; It is paid for, The value thereby is justified, is of approved quality, e) Being a tactful and successful negotiator Monitoring costs Monitoring costs is necessary to avoid cost over-runs and to prevent unauthorized expenditure. Wasteful and unplanned over-expenditure reduces the amount of productive work possible. Special attention must be paid to overhead costs (supervision, administration, transportation, etc.). In many cases, the percentages of funds spent on overheads

are too high. When production is running at a low level, savings in overhead costs should be looked for (such as reduction of administrative staff, rationalization of vehicle use and sharing of offices). Vehicle operation is expensive and should therefore be carefully monitored and controlled. High fuel consumption, frequent repair costs and vehicle misuse are the main causes of over-expenditure on vehicles. As with performance monitoring, all relevant information must be carefully scrutinized when costs are monitored. For example, the proper utilization of laterite hauling equipment cannot be found from the vehicle cost reports alone. It is necessary to cross check laterite excavation outputs, haulage distances and equipment availability for the same period in order to get a clear picture. Monitoring costs is necessary to avoid cost overruns and to prevent unauthorized expenditure. Contractors have to Control Cost of the various inputs in the works with a view to: Establishing the cause of losses and thus decide on how to either reduce these or seek compensation from the Employer; To obtain historical data for use on future projects; Improving the efficiency in the site operation. A contractor can avoid cost overruns by paying special attention to how various activities are carried out on site. This may involve the following considerations during the various stages of the project:a) Planning Stage The most important stage. This is when desired maintenance to be very expensive and effective Cost Control is that exercised at the tendering the assessment of resources to be used in carrying out the works are estimated. Mistakes made at this time may turn out for the contractor. This may be avoided by:-

Allocating adequate resources for: Assessing the required resources for the proposed works; Pretender investigations. Ensuring that: A thorough site inspection is carried out before tendering; The required resources for carrying out and completing the contract are available. b) During construction:Avoid inefficient working methods and repetition of completed activities. It is to be remembered that keeping proper records is very important as without records, no claim is possible to justify. These records must be updated and verifiable. The

following records are recommended for the management of routine maintenance contracts: Correspondence; Equipment and labour returns; Minutes of meetings; Site instructions; Variation orders; Payment vouchers; Invoices and delivery notes in respect to construction material; Measurement records; Weather records; Muster roll; unforeseen extras Other important control activities of the Contractor include: providing adequate supervision; motivating the employees appropriately; identifying efficient operations such as; More people allocated to a task than needed; Idle gangs awaiting instructions; Placing of excavated material on the upstream, which is later washed into the drain and thus leading to the repetition of the activity; Use of tools in poor condition leading to low worker productivity.

Monitoring costs is necessary to avoid cost over-runs and to prevent unauthorized expenditure. Wasteful and unplanned over-expenditure reduces the amount of productive work possible. Special attention must be paid to overhead costs (supervision, administration, transportation, etc.). In many cases, the percentages of funds spent on overheads are too high. When production is running at a low level, savings in overhead costs should be looked for (such as reduction of administrative staff, rationalization of vehicle use and sharing of offices). Vehicle operation is expensive and should therefore be carefully monitored and controlled. High fuel consumption, frequent repair costs and vehicle misuse are the main causes of over-expenditure on vehicles. As with performance monitoring, all relevant information must be carefully scrutinized when costs are monitored. For example, the proper utilization of laterite hauling equipment cannot be found from the vehicle cost reports alone. It is

necessary to cross check laterite excavation outputs, haulage distances and equipment availability for the same period in order to get a clear picture. The purpose of the Contract Register is to assist the project accountant and the management to monitor progress of contracts. This register is normally organized through two forms. One form is used for recording payments carried out under a specific contract, and another form is used to log all the contracts active under a specific project or programme. The Contract Register is based on information obtained from the Interim Payment Certificates, the Certificate of Practical Completion and the Final Completion Certificate, depending on the progress of the contract. The register will maintain information on: contract reference, date of commencement and completion, name of contractor, advance payments, submitted invoices (from the contractor), date and amount of interim payments and Retention monies. With this information it is possible for the project management to obtain a clear overview of progress of payments and forecasting cash flow requirements.