ESTIVEN M.

GIER Construction Cost Engineering

BSCE – 4A 09/28/2021
CE 456 – CONSTRUCTION COST ENGINEERING
I. PRE-TEST
Questions:
1. Explain the importance of cost estimate.
A cost estimate is an estimate of the job's cost based on the service provider's best
guess. Cost estimation is to anticipate the quantity, cost, and price of resources needed
to complete a task within the project's scope. Estimated costs are used to bid on new
business and to guide the job and budget planning processes. To arrive at a total
estimated cost, the project scope is broken down into manageable portions and all
available information (prior experience, similar jobs, and industry expertise) is used.
2. What do you think is the major problem why PMIS fails?
Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) commonly fail as a result of a
lack of focus and effort on seven project performance factors: Instead than focusing on
technical details, consider the business benefit. Making a clear link between the project
and the organization's main strategic practices is required. Trying to implement a “one-
size-fits-all” PMIS across these diverse populations frequently results in resistance and
low uptake. Who can blame them, though? Deploying a new software solution that does
not interact with other departments' existing platforms increases rather than decreases
the amount of work they have to complete.
3. In your own opinion, explain the importance of PMIS in construction cost engineering?
The PMIS defines the cost, time, scope, and quality of the program and projects in
Construction Cost Engineering. It specifies the team's members, organizations, and roles.
Contracts, permits, permissions, and commitments are all easier to manage with it. The
PMIS keeps track of a project's progress from start to conclusion.
II. Self-Evaluation
Answer the following questions comprehensively:
1. Aside from the challenges to implementation to PMIS mentioned in the module, what
do you think are other challenges to implementation to PMIS?
Aside from what is mentioned in the module, here are some of the challenges to
implementation of PMIS.
Lack of Strategy - Many of the most common MIS issues can be traced back to a lack of
a solid strategy. Information systems leaders are well aware of the many tools available
to gather data on their network. But putting that information to use is often a challenge.
Meeting Organizational Needs - MIS plays an ever-increasing role in organizations, with
professionals relying on technology for every aspect of operations. Sales and marketing
rely heavily on customer relationship software to track client interactions, for instance,
while accounting needs its own software for billing, invoicing and financial tracking.
Attracting and Retaining Top Talent - For at least the past couple decades, the growth in
technology has outpaced the number of people entering the field. Over the past seven
out of 10 years, IT positions have been in the top 10 of jobs with the most hiring
challenges, as documented by Manpower Group.
Keeping Up with Change - If one thing is for certain in information technology, it’s that
nothing will remain the same for long. From one year to the next, innovations mean that
software needs to be upgraded and even replaced. In order to remain competitive,
businesses have to keep up with this, investing in software that will give them an edge.
Integrating New Technologies - Although there are plenty of comprehensive solutions,
businesses will inevitably find that they have multiple types of software operating at once.
2. Cite common examples of PMIS, briefly explain?
There are several PMIS software readily available on the internet through purchasing
MeisterTask - MeisterTask’s simple, yet powerful Kanban structure facilitates the smooth
management of projects. With its wide range of collaborative capabilities, this smart,
intuitive online task management tool is a popular choice for teams that value clean visual
design and user experience.
Basecamp - Basecamp is a popular project management software that is widely used by
many project management teams. This software offers several different collaboration
features such as a designated discussion area where users can leave behind comments.
Nifty - Nifty is a new-wave project management tool that reduces project development
cycles and improves team productivity by combining all of the important features of project
management into one software.
III. POST-TEST
Identify whether the statement is true or false. Write T if true, and F if it is a false.
F 1. Engineering Design does not impacts whole-life cost of products produced.
T 2. One key objective of cost engineering is to arrive at accurate cost estimates and
schedules and to avoid cost overruns and schedule slips
T 3. An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system
designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information.
T 4. At the center of any modern PMIS is software. Project management information
system can vary from something as simple as a File system containing Microsoft Excel
documents, to a full-blown enterprise PMIS software.
F 5. PMIS is made to support some aspects of project management and the
information they monitor or collect.
T 6. Schedule and Planning: Computes early and late schedule, slack times and the
critical path.
F 7. The system is flexible, is one of the reasons why PMIS fail.
T 8. Project Management plan should include a routine collection of work
performance information.
F 9. Cost engineering, then, cannot be considered an adjunct of traditional
engineering.
T 10. Control and Performance: Analyze and control cost and performance, updating
existing plans as actual against planned data changes, provide what-if scenarios for the
project manager.