Advanced e-presentation system of a work plan for improved project communication
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Date
2007-03
Authors
Vendra, Venkata Krishna
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
The success of a project depends critically upon the effort, care and skill applied in its
initial planning. Construction planning is a complex process that involves coordination
between many project participants on- and off-site. As projects have been increasing in
size and complexity, the number of participants involved in a single project has also
increased. Numerous studies have suggested that the communication in project
management needs effective controlling system for a flawless information exchange
between the various working units of the project. They have reported that the lack of
planning integration between the various units of project do not adequately support the
coordination efforts required to successfully deliver projects.
This research discuss a critical investigation into the loopholes in the present
planning scheduling presentation techniques that lead to communicational and
contractual errors in Project Management. It highlights the need of a standard plan
presentation format for better coordination of works among the various parties involved
in a project. Information both objectively and subjectively are obtained through
questionnaire survey and interviews of 130 project personnel which comprises of
Project Managers, Assistant Project Managers, Project Planners, Engineers, QA/QS
and Site supervisors of the Project on- and off-site. For analysis the data was
categorized into quantitative data (data collected from all the respondents) and expert's
data (data collected from experts i.e. Project Managers, Assistant Managers and
Planners).
The research identified that the source of most problems with the current plan
presentation is poor communication and ambiguity. The work program causes difficultly
in understanding and conveying information, resulting in misunderstanding.
Interrelationship between activities too is not clearly defined thus significant time is
consumed if updating is required. To counter the loopholes in the present plan
presentation system and practices, an advanced e-presentation system was developed
and tested on an ongoing Butterworth Outer Ring Road Project (BORR) in Butterworth,
Penang, Malaysia. The result has shown that communication and coordination
between various working units with in the project has been far better in e-presentation
than similar projects having more than one main contractor.
Description
Keywords
Construction planning