PEARSON-SET THEME

UNIT: 35 Professional
Engineering Management
The development of an engineering services/s delivery plan
Contents

 Introduction to theme
 Choosing a research objective/question
 Project Evidence / Outcomes
 Employer engagement
 Sharing of good practice
Introduction

 The aim of this unit is to offer you an insight into the professional
standards maintained by engineers and to guide you on how to
develop the range of employability skills needed by practicing
engineers.
 The unit also encourages you to reflect on your personal
commitment to professional engineering standards in conjunction
with your obligations to society and the environment.
 You have to choose your own project focus for the development of
an engineering service/s delivery plan, based on a theme provided
by Pearson.
The Pearson-set theme for use with Level 5
“Reliability”

 Reliability engineering is the process of designing, operating or maintaining systems, products or

components so that they function and operate under the design operating conditions
dependably, with negligible probability of failure for their design life (i.e. from conception to
decommission).
 As reliability is the probability of success, it is used as a measure of a system’s, product’s or
component’s success at performing its function properly during its design life.
 When systems have proven to be unreliable due to poor design, operation or maintenance, the
results in many instances have been catastrophic to life, the environment, health, safety and
the economy.
 For this reason, reliability is a central consideration for engineers and they need a
comprehensive understanding of the nature of and threats from errors, failures, hazards and
risks; and the means by which these threats can be mitigated through prevention, orecasting
and the inclusion of safety factors and tolerances.
 Sustainability

 Sustainable engineering is the process of designing, operating or maintaining systems in a

way that they use energy and resources sustainably, in other words, at a rate that does
not compromise the natural environment, or the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs.

The Engineering Council describes the role of the professional engineer in sustainability as;

 ‘Professional engineers have a significant role to play in sustainability. They work to

enhance the welfare, health and safety of all, with the minimal use of natural resources
and paying due regard to the environment and the sustainability of resources. Their work is
influenced by the opportunities and challenges that sustainability brings. Engineers are
the providers of options and solutions to maximise social value and minimize
environmental impact.
Sustainability

 There are pressing challenges due to the adverse effects of depletion of resources,
environmental pollution, rapid population growth and damage to ecosystems.
 A purely environmental approach is insufficient, and increasingly engineers are required to
take a wider perspective including goals such as poverty alleviation, social justice and
local and global connections.
 Globalisation brings important opportunities for engineers to promote change through
sharing experience and good practice.
 The leadership and influencing role of engineers in achieving sustainability should not be
under-estimated.
 Increasingly this will be as part of multi-disciplinary teams that include non-engineers, and
through work that crosses national boundaries.’
 Six guiding principles to inform engineers
in their decision-making processes;

 1. Contribute to building a sustainable society, present and future

 2. Apply professional and responsible judgement and take a leadership
role
 3. Do more than just comply with legislation and codes
 4. Use resources efficiently and effectively
 5. Seek multiple views to solve sustainability challenges
 6. Manage risk to minimise adverse impact to people or the
environment
Introduction to theme

Reliability
 Reliability engineering is the process of designing, operating or maintaining systems,
products or components so that they function and operate under the design operating
conditions dependably, with negligible probability of failure for their design life (i.e. from
conception to decommission).
 As reliability is the probability of success, it is used as a measure of a system’s, product’s or
component’s success at performing its function properly during its design life.
 When systems have proven to be unreliable due to poor design, operation or
maintenance, the results in many instances have been catastrophic to life, the
environment, health, safety and the economy.
 For this reason, reliability is a central consideration for engineers and they need a
comprehensive understanding of the nature of and threats from errors, failures, hazards
and risks; and the means by which these threats can be mitigated through prevention,
forecasting and the inclusion of safety factors and tolerances.
Choosing a research objective/question

 Group work is not appropriate for this unit. Student work must be individual.
 You have to construct a coherent engineering service/s delivery plan, cultivate leadership
skills and present your findings in the form of a technical report.
 You have to choose your own research topic for this unit.
 Strong research projects are those with clear, well focused and defined objectives.
 The focus area must be related to Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
 One of the best ways to do this is to put it in the form of a question.
 You have to discuss a variety of topics related to the theme to generate ideas for a good
research objective.
 You have to broaden your understanding and widen your perspectives by being able to
explore, argue, prove, and disprove a particular objective.
 Objective should be feasible, novel, ethical, relevant and ultimately of interest to you.
 You have to use appropriate research sources.
 Qualitative and quantitative methods have to be used.
 You need to reflect on the success of your undertakings and your performance at the end
of the plan, with the inclusion of an insightful evaluation and targeted recommendations.
 Three types of resources or sources of
information

 Primary sources are original materials on which other research is based, including:
 original written works – poems, diaries, court records, interviews, surveys, and original
research/fieldwork, and
 research published in scholarly/academic journals.
 Secondary sources are those that describe or analyze primary sources, including:
 reference materials – dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, and
 books and articles that interpret, review, or synthesize original research/fieldwork.
 Tertiary sources are those used to organize and locate secondary and primary sources.
 Indexes – provide citations that fully identify a work with information such as author, titles of a book,
artile, and/or journal, publisher and publication date, volume and issue number and page numbers.
 Abstracts – summarize the primary or secondary sources,
 Databases – are online indexes that usually include abstracts for each primary or secondary
resource, and may also include a digital copy of the resource.
The project undertaken must incorporate
the following topics:

 An assessment of risk evaluation associated with project

management
 The production of an engineering service/s delivery plan
 Development of both leadership and communication skills
 A personal commitment to professional standards which
encompasses the need for reflection.
 Guidance to define your proposed area
of focus

 Develop a methodical proposal. As you will need to include an engineering service/s delivery plan as
an integral part of your submission, you should be simultaneously considering the impact on
stakeholders and what performance measures you envisage employing.
 Select a topic of personal interest in your chosen specialism, i.e. Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
The topic chosen should allow a sufficient and suitable degree of research through the existence of
adequate background information. You will need to ensure it relates to the theme set by Pearson for
the relevant year of study.
 A good proposal should meet the following criteria:
 Covers an area with sufficient source material.
 Extends a current line of learning that will lend itself to further rigorous scrutiny. There should be
sufficient breadth to allow you to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you have learned within
the unit, but it should not be unwieldy so that you are unlikely to be able to see it through to
completion.
 Agree both your proposal and the format that your engineering service/s delivery plan will take with
your lecturer before beginning the main body of your research.
 Guidance to define your proposed area
of focus

 Conduct your underpinning background research as outlined in the proposal

agreed with your tutor.
 Communicate your findings and proposals in a manner appropriate to your
audience. You will also be expected to justify any appropriate recommendations
that you make.
 You must complete a coherent engineering service/s delivery plan in order to
complete your work for this unit.
 You will need to reflect on your own performance at the end of the unit with the
inclusion of self-evaluation by means of reflective practice (see following section)
Milestones and interim feedback

 Your work needed to be authenticated as your own, which can be done by regular monitoring
of progress and conducting interim reviews.
 The purpose of milestones is to monitor the progress of the delivery plan.
 Each milestone should be a clear, achievable activity that you aims to achieve by a particular
time.
 By partaking in structured, timely meetings and feedback sessions in this unit, you will realise first-
hand the benefits of implementing a similar approach in your own professional careers.
 Students should set at least two milestones. Examples of milestones include:
completing underpinning industrial research in the chosen pathway
completing and discussing the area of focus
producing an overview of the anticipated issues/ problems
 At each milestone, it will be checked whether it has been achieved or not.
 You must complete the engineering service/s delivery plan in order to complete your work for
this unit.
example of a proposal brief.
Proposal Brief

 Define your chosen specialist topic area of investigation. This can be stated as a problem,
objectives or simply as a question. Choose your topic area with great care, remember
that you’ll need to construct a resilient engineering service/s delivery plan to fully illustrate
how the project will be delivered.
 Provide a written outline of your proposal for agreement with your lecturer before you
engage in the main body of the work.
 Describe your methodology. You’ll need to demonstrate an understanding of the pitfalls
and limitations of the methods chosen and ethical issues that a professional engineer
faced with similar problems may encounter.
 Your engineering service/s delivery plan is an integral part of how you’re going to tackle
the problem. A well-defined service delivery plan helps to explain how the project is to be
delivered.
 Proposal Brief

Below are several aspects you will need to consider when constructing your service delivery plan:
 1. A detailed task breakdown
 2. Challenges: both planned and unforeseen
 3. Assessment and feasibility studies (links to risk evaluation)
 4. Responsibility for completion
 5. External & internal pressures: costs, impact on other services/ users
 6. Impact on stakeholders if not undertaken
 7. Performance measures
 8. Project team management strategies and considerations
 9. Start date/time of individual task and project
 10. Finish date/ time of individual task and project
 Consider the impact of effectively managing the people involved both directly and
indirectly with the project. How would you ensure the team remain focussed in achieving
the desired goal(s)?
 Consider how you will communicate the outcomes to the identified audience. As well as
documenting your findings in a professional engineering report, you will need to bear in
mind the essential key points required to deliver an effective presentation.
What is Self-Evaluation?

 Self-evaluation (also known as ‘reflective practice’) is a means of analysing

something you have done or have been involved with.
 This could be an individual task or a series of tasks completed over a period of time.
 The purpose of self-evaluation is to look back at an event after a short period of time
to analyse, evaluate and explore if the event could be made better.
 It may be that the undertaking cannot be improved, in which case you are
confirming best practice through your reflection.
 Self-evaluation is generally accepted as being an essential part of an engineer’s
professional development.
 Self-evaluation could be applied to every task that is performed, and on some
occasions this may be the right thing to do, however; repeatedly documenting the
same thing over and over without any changes in outcome is of little benefit or
purpose.
What is Self-Evaluation?

 Setting aside time to reflect will be of most use to you if it is undertaken regularly, at a
time that fits in easily to your lifestyle.
 It is essential that it is in a format that makes sense to you. What evolves from your
reflection are your views, so there is no right or wrong way of doing it.
 You will need to reflect not only on how successfully you have executed your
proposal, but also on your own performance at several points throughout the
project; a good time to do this would be after each milestone has been reached
and when the project has been completed.
 Effective self-reflection can help to identify further continuing professional
development and assist in the formation of a personal training development plan.
Project management components

 A clear definition of the project, including good rationale and alignment to corporate goals;
 Developing a project organizational structure with associated channels of communication,
accountabilities, responsibilities, and reporting facilities;
 Defining project requirements from customers and establishing a project scope for success;
 Planning the project to include analysis of activities, and defining and developing major tasks with
milestones;
 Planning clear and adequate communications
 Evaluating risks at all stages of a project and planning to mitigate these risks;
 Estimating time, costs, resource requirements and performance measures, and project value;
 Scheduling all activities;
 Continuously monitoring and controlling scope, time, cost, performance factors, and project value;
 Implementing the project;
 Bringing closure to a successful project; and ●● Creating and benefiting from project value.