Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Open University System

Master of Science in Construction Management

CM 654
Construction Quality Management
First Semester 2019 – 2020

Assignment #1

Prepared By:
Melvin John J. Mandigma
Civil Engineer

Dr. Manuel M. Muhi

Subject Specialist
 Assignment 1 (Submission Date: July 14, 2019)
a) Discuss the difference between the three major planning
b) In construction, is the project team involve in strategic planning? Explain your
answer.
c) What is the role of the construction project manager in the design of master
plan for construction project?
d) Determine the appropriate tools and techniques in the development of a
quality construction plan.
e) Planning for a quality in a project encompasses both internal and external
actions, or activities, performed by individuals not under the direct control of
the project manager. Cite some important and significant impacts on the
quality in a project, begin during the conceptual phase.
f) Make an evaluation of the overall time you feel it will take to execute your
selected project by using the three different execute plans. Make a comparison
chart showing the key milestone dates for the three cases. Were you able to
maintain the strategic planning completion in all cases?

MANDIGMA, MELVIN JOHN J.

CM 654
CONSTRUCTION QUALITY MANAGEMENT

a) Strategic Planning: This determines, sets, and articulates project objectives. It answers the
big questions concerning a project’s mission, how it will achieve this mission, and how these
objectives align with the project sponsor’s or owner’s larger strategy. In short, strategic
planning is the big-picture analysis that the project sponsor carries out.

Tactical planning is short range planning emphasizing the current operations of various parts
of the organization. Short Range is generally defined as a period of time extending about one
year or less in the future. Managers use tactical planning to outline what the various parts of
the organization must do for the organization to be successful at some point one year or less
into the future. Tactical plans are usually developed in the areas of production, marketing,
personnel, finance and plant facilities. Because of the time horizon and the nature of the
questions dealt, mishaps potentially occurring during the execution of a tactical plan should
be covered by moderate uncertainties and may lie closer to the control of management (next
year shipping prices, energy consumption, but not a catastrophic black-out, etc.) than strategic
ones. Those mishaps, in conjunction to their potential consequences are called “tactical risks”.

Operational Planning: is the process of linking strategic goals and objectives to tactical goals and
objectives. It describes milestones, conditions for success and explains how, or what portion of, a
strategic plan will be put into operation during a given operational period. This delves into the details
of how the project will meet its strategic objectives — if it can meet them at all. Construction teams
evaluate whether they have the resources they need to meet the strategic objectives, identify any
shortfalls, and seek the sponsor’s approval to cover those shortfalls.
b) No, the project team is not involved in strategic planning. Strategic planning starts at the top.
The strategic planning process should involve the senior managers of an organization, and
any key employees, who can actively contribute to the long-term planning of the organization.
Each management team must decide who should participate in the planning process.
Employees should not embark themselves on a strategic planning process unless they have the
support of the CEO and the senior management team

c) Being a construction project manager is one of the most critical roles in completing a
successful project and a role that requires a sophisticated level of knowledge, coordination
and organization. From pre-design and master planning through construction completion and
building occupancy, the project manager’s responsibilities include:
 Understanding the decisions that need to be made;
 Organizing the decision-making process;
 Coordinating the involvement of key stakeholders, including students, staff,
administration and members of the local community;
 Managing the master planning process;
 Ensuring that the project remains on schedule and within the established budget; and
 Managing “scope creep,” which involves adding additional programs/space without
proper attention given to the project’s defined budget and schedule.

d) The appropriate tools and techniques in the development of a quality construction

plan are:
 Benefit/cost analysis. The quality planning must consider benefit/cost trade offs. The
primary benefit of meeting quality requirements is less work, which means higher
productivity, lower costs and increased stakeholder satisfaction. The primary cost of
meeting quality requirements is the expense associated with project quality management
activities. It is axiomatic of the quality management discipline that the benefits outweigh
the costs.
 Benchmarking. Benchmarking involves comparing actual or planned project practices
to those of other projects to generate ideas for improvement and to provide a standard by
which to measure performance. The other projects may be within the performing
organization or outside of it and may be within the same application area or in another.
 Flowcharting. A flowchart is any diagram that shows how various elements of a system
relate. Flowcharting can help the project team anticipate what and where quality
problems might occur, and thus can help develop approached for dealing with them.
Flowcharting techniques commonly used in quality management include:
 Cause-and-effect diagrams, also called Ishikawa diagrams or fishbone diagrams,
which illustrate how various factors might be linked to potential problems or effects.
 System or process flow charts, which show how various elements of a system
interrelate.
 Design of experiments. Design of experiments is a statistical method that helps identify
which factors might influence specific variables. The technique is applied most
frequently to the product of the project. However, it can also be applied to project
management issues, such as cost and schedule tradeoffs. For example, senior engineers
will cost more then junior engineers, but can also be expected to complete the assigned
work in less time. An appropriately designed “experiment” (in this case, computing
 project costs and durations for various combinations of senior and junior engineers) will
often allow determination of an optimal solution from relatively limited number of cases.
 Cost of quality. Cost of quality refers to the total cost of all efforts to achieve
product/service quality, and includes all work to ensure conformance to requirements, as
well as all work resulting from nonconformance to requirements. There are three types of
costs that are incurred: prevention costs, appraisal costs, and failure costs, where the
latter is broken down into internal and external costs.

e) The most significant impacts on the quality in a project occur during the conceptual phase.
This is the time when specifications, statement of work, contractual agreements, and initial
design are developed. Initial planning has the greatest impact on a project because it requires
the commitment of processes, resources schedules, and budgets. Here are some of the most
significant impacts on the quality in a project:
 The project budget is fixed and, therefore, the quality of the building system, materials,
and completion of the project needs to be balanced with the budget.
 The owner’s selection and of project team has a significant impact to the quality of the
project. The qualifications of each member of the project team directly affect the
quality of performance of the team whether they can deliver what the owner desired
quality to achieve in his project.
 The Construction firm engaged by the owner to complete the specified facility by
providing the necessary staff, workforce, materials, equipment, tools, and other
accessories to complete the project to the satisfaction of the owner/end user in
compliance with the contract documents.
 The duration of a construction project is finite and has a definite beginning and a
definite end, therefore during the conceptual phase the expected time schedule for the
completion of the project/facility is worked out. The expected time schedule is
important from both financial and acquisition of the facility by the owner/end user. It is
the owner’s goal and objective that the facility is completed in time.
 f)

• Develop culture of excellence within the university.

StrategicPlan

• To improve the efficiency and quality of planning, design and

implementation of university infrastructure projects by increasing
Tactical Plan productivity of office deliverables

• Procurement of Licensed Design Software (bundle with training):

• Procurement of Electrical Design Software (ETAP)
Operational • Procurement of Building Information Modelling (BIM - REVIT)
Plan • Procurement of Planning Software (Primavera 6)
https://www.smartsheet.com/construction-project-planning

https://www.riskope.com/2014/04/03/lets-define-strategic-tactical-and-operational-
planning/

https://www.obalearn.com/q-and-a/involved-strategic-planning-process/

https://webspm.com/Articles/2014/07/01/Design-Decisions.aspx