Wk 3 - JP Phentar Construction

JP Phentar Construction:

Case Study JP Phentar has owned and operated his construction company for 27 years and is currently interested in building a custom home for his own family. Phentar Construction has specialized in large and exotic custom homes built in areas that present challenges, such as heavily wooded and rocky terrain, hillsides, and sandy beach sites. Phentar Construction has built large custom homes for executives, heads of state, and movie stars around the world; those projects generally include interesting and challenging amenities for construction companies to manage in the course of building homes. Phentar is pulling out all the stops on this construction project to include things in his own home that his family can enjoy although they are typically out of the norm for most family residences. Phentar has purchased three acres of foothill terrain that include several large rock outcroppings that have to be removed for the construction of an 8,500 square foot six-bedroom, six-bathroom home. This home will also include an elaborate game room with professional pool table and arcade games, a large family room with rock fireplace, and a fully functional home theater room with large-screen TV and surround sound and theater seating. The home will also feature as its primary centerpiece a 35,000-gallon saltwater fish tank that will start at the main floor in the center of the house and extend for two stories to the ceiling. This fish tank will include a large rock wall covered with all manner of coral and sea urchins, flowing water movement, and it will be stocked with an elaborate display of tropical fish. The exterior of the home will include a large pool with spa and a covered patio with full outdoor kitchen, including a fully functional brick fire oven. Because Phentar has built homes with similar amenities in the past, he knows all too well several of the contractors required to outfit these types of amenities can present challenges in cost estimation, level of quality, and ability to stay on schedule. Concerns with this particular project lie within clearing the initial acreage of large rock, and specialized amenities such as the game room, theater room, and fish tank that can present challenges during the scheduling of these activities in the course of building the home. There can be serious issues in the timing of these activities because they can affect other areas of the home during construction. Phentar is confident this project can be completed if proper project management tools and techniques are implemented to monitor and control critical activities through the course of this project life cycle.

Case Study Exercise for Chapter 11

1. Determine what information-gathering tools would be most effective on this project and what activities would need to be monitored.

* Subject Matter Experts – these individuals are typically tasked with performing the actual work of the activity or those directly overseeing the individuals performing the work activities.

* Check Charts – they list project activities and provide workers a device to check off completion points and record duration and, in some cases cost elements of specific work activity.

2. Based on data that would be generated from work activities, what types of analytical tools could be used to determine project status?

* Milestone Analysis – can be designed into a project plan or WBS as major stop points or evaluation points of project status. They can be regulatory inspection points.

* Control charts – They indicate variances of actual performance relative to a reference point. A chart is set up with two axes that indicate two parameters that are being evaluated where the zero point on the chart represents the estimate or baseline, and the plotted data represents actual performance relative to a zero-point baseline.

3. Can any corrective actions be initiated?

* Corrective Action Requirement - When the project manager prepares and communicates work performance reports that indicate a problem is occurring on a specific activity, these reports typically generate discussion and further root cause analysis to determine what can be done to correct the problem. The outcome of these discussions and analysis will, one hope, produce a corrective action requirement that is documented and implemented on the work activity.

* Troubleshooting Tools – It is important that the root cause of the problem be determines before actions are taken so as not to overlook the actual root of a problem and implement actions on components of work activity that do not solve the actual problem.

* Fault Tree Analysis – This technique requires the project manager to solicit specific information from individuals knowledgeable of the work activity, review the information gathered. Analyze the results that suggest a problem is occurring, and then use this information to develop the fault tree.

Chapter 11: Schedule and Cost Monitoring

Wilson, R. (2014). A Comprehensive Guide to Project Management Schedule and Cost Control - Methods and Models for Managing the Project Lifecycle. https://bibliu.com/app/#/view/books/9780133573121/epub/OEBPS/html/title.html#page_iii.