Managing projects is one of the oldest and

most respected accomplishments of

mankind. Project management has a long
history , but in its modern form its use for
construction only extends back far as little as
30-40 years.
Much of the earlier principals and practices of
project management was developed in US.
A number of definitions of the term
PROJECT have been proposed, and some are
presented below.
1.The Project Management Institute (PMI),USA
, defines a project as a temporary endeavor
undertaken to create a unique product or
service.
2.The UK Association of Project Management
defines a project as a discreet undertaking
with defined objectives often including, time,
cost and quality goals


3.The British Standards Institute(BS6079)
defines a project as a unique set of
coordinated activities , with definite starting
and finishing points, undertaken by an
individual or organization to meet specific
objectives with defined schedules, cost and
performance parameters.
From the above definitions , it may be
concluded that a project has the following
characteristics.
1.It is temporary , having a start to and a
finish.
2.It is unique in some way.
3.It has specific objectives,
4.It is the cause and means of change.
5.It involves risk and uncertainty.
6.It involves the commitment of human,
material, and financial resources.
Definition of Project management stems from
definition of a project and implies some form
of control over the planned process of
explicit change.
1.PMI defines Project Management as the
application of knowledge , skills, tools,and
techniques to project activities to meet
project requirements
2.The UK Association or Project Management
defines it as Planning Organization,
Monitoring and control of all aspects of a
project and the motivation of all involved to
achieve project objectives safely and within
agreed time, cost, and quality criteria.
The BSI defines it as Planning, Monitoring,
and Control of all aspects of a project and
the motivation of all those involved to achieve
the project objectives on time, and to cost,
quality and performance
The common theme is that the Project
management is the management of change,
but explicitly planned change, such that from
initial concept , the change is directed
towards the unique creation of a functioning
system.
In contrast ,General or Operation
Management also involves the management
of the change, but their purpose is to
minimize and control effects of the change in
an already constructed system.
Project Management must look ahead at the
needs and risks, communicate the plans and
priorities ,anticipate problems, assess
progress and trends, get quality and value for
money, and change the plans if necessary to
achieve the objectives.
The needs of project management are
dependent upon the relative size, complexity,
urgency, importance, and novelty of project.

Project Management in Construction Industry
may be defined as the overall planning
,coordination , and control of a project from
inception to completion aimed at meeting a
client's requirements in order to produce a
functionally and financially viable project that
will be completed on time, within authorized
,costs to the required quality standards.
The Project management Body of
Knowledge(PMBOK) is the sum of knowledge
within the profession of project management.
The PMBOK includes proven and traditional
practices that are widely applied, as well as
innovative practices that are emerging in the
profession , including publish and un publish
met erils.As a result following project
management knowledge areas have been
evolved.

1.PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT:
Describes the process and activities that
integrate the various elements of project
management, which are identified ,
defined,combined,unified and coordinated within
the Project Management Process,.
2.PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT.
Describes the process involved in ascertaining
the project includes all the work required, and
only the work required, to complete the project
successfully It involves Scope Planning, Scope
Definition, Create Work Brake Down
Structures(WBS),Scope Verification, and Scope
Control project management process. .
3.PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT.
Describes the process concerning the timely
completion of the project. It consists of the
Activity definitions, Activity Sequencing,
Activity Resource Estimating, Activity
Duration Estimating, Schedule Development
and Schedule control project management
process.
4.PROJECT COST MANAGEMENT.
Describes the process involved in planning,
estimating, budgeting and controlling of
costs so that the project is completed within
the approved budget. It consists of Cost
Management process.
5.PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Describe the process involved in assuring that
the project will satisfy the objectives for
which it was undertaken.


It consist of quality planning, perform quality
assurance, and perform quality control
processes.
6..HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.
Describes the process that organize and
manage the project team. It consists of
Human resource Planning,Acquare Project
Team, Develop Project Team, and managing
the project team to achieve the final
objectives.

7.PROJECT COMMUNICATION
MANAGEMENT
Describes the process concerning the
timely and appropriate generation,
collection, dissemination, storage and
ultimate disposition of project information
It consists of Communication Planning,
Information Distribution, Performance
reporting.
8.PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT:
Describes the process concerned with
conducting Risk Management on a project. It
consists of Risk Management Planning, Risk
Identification, Risk Analysis, Risk Response,
and Risk Monitoring and Control the project.

9.PROJECT PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT
Describes the process that purchase or
acquire products, services as well as contract
management process. It consists of the Plan
Purchases and Acquisitions, Plan Contracting,
Select Sellers, Contract Administration,
Contract Closure procedures.
The Project Manager is the person responsible
for accomplishing the project objectives.
This means he is responsible for managing
Project Life Cycle which defines the phases that
connect the beginning of a project to the end..
Co mmon characteristics of Project Phases are:
1.Begining,Middle,and Ending.
2.Occur sequentially
3.Experince transfer
4.Vary by industry and project.
Typical phases of a construction industry
project are:
1.Inception or Feasibility Stage
2.Design and Contract Document Stage.
3.Construction Stage
4.Completion , handover and occupation
stage.

The Project Management System is the set of
tools, techniques, methodologies, resources
and procedures used to manage the project.
The Project Management Plan describes how
the project management system will be used.
By understanding of project management
system elements required for a perticular
project, project management plan is prepared
by integrating the tools,
tecniques,methodologies, resources and
procedures used to manage the project.
Project Management Plan includes:
1.Scope Management Plan: defines describes
and verifies the project scope.
2.Schedule Management Plan: establishes the
criteria for developing and controlling the
project schedule.
3.Cost management Plan : establishes criteria
to plan,structure, estimate, budget and
control the project costs.

4.Quality Management Plan: Reflects the
organizations quality polycy and applies it to
the project.
5.Staffing Management Plan: Describes when
and how human resources requirements will
be met.
6.Communication Management Plan:Covers
all communication aspects of the project.
7.Risk Management Plan: Describes how risk
management will be structure & carried out.
8.Procument Management Plan: Describes
how the procurement activities will be carried
out and managed.
This means overall responsibility of Project
manger will be:, balancing and control the
constraints of 5 things

They are:
1.Scope
2.Schedule
3.Resources
4.Quality
5.Risks
Project Managers can be employed as Internal
or External Project Managers.
Internal Project Managers are selected from
clients own organization.
External Project Managers are employed as
separate entities on contractual basis.
These contractual implications can change
depending on the level of the project
manager is involved in the project.
The Institution of Civil Engineers guides
drafting of documents on civil engineering
and construction projects by means of
formalized system called New Engineering
Contracts(NEC) created for the purpose of
obtaining tenders, awarding and
administering contracts.
They legally define the responsibilities and
duties of Client and Contractors in the work
information.
The NEC is an integrated set of contract
documents that are designed to provide Client
and their suppliers with project focuses out
comes.
It aims to ensure the achievement of Clients
objectives for the projects in relation to quality,
performance, cost and time. There are six
options for NEC.
The contract that confirms the most with the given
options and required in the case of Project
Management is Option: F.-Management Contract
This option is suitable for management
contracts in which all or most of the work is
done by subcontractors, and the Contractor
manages the procurement and the work
undertaken by the specialist contractors.
Payment is made to the Contractor by the
client for the cost of sub contracts plus a
management fee.
In this case the management fee goes to the
body task with the Project Management.
If the project management company is
attached to the consultant company , the
project manager is entirely tasked with
overseeing the design phase and then
proceeding to the procumbent stage to
supervise the procurement and tendering
process.
Once a contractor is appointed, he is tasked
with carrying out the project while impartially
coordinating between the design office and
the contractor.
The design phase of a project is usually the most
complex and crucial portion of any construction
project.
The design Phase should be completed before
the construction process can begin, or parallel to
the construction process.
Effective management of the personal and
resources are important in make sure the design
are completed with in the budget and in a timely
manner.
This the one of the crucial job of the PM during
the design phase.

Effective management of the personal and
resources are important making sure
construction phase of the project is
completed with in the budget and in timely
manner.
Therefor Project Manager must understand
and appreciate the problem faced by
Contractors due to incomplete design hence
he must cordinate with design team to avoid
any conflicts
The client is the main party in the process of
the life cycle of a project. Because a project is
initiated based on clients requirements.
The Project Manager acts on behalf of the
client , and work to satisfy the requirements
of the client.
The main reason for selecting a project
manager is the clients in experience in the
construction field , and his inability to
manage a project according to its life cycle by
process by process.
Some advantages of a client opting for a project
manager when going about initiating and
construction of a project are as follows.
1.High level of Quality: The Project Manager
acting behalf of a client is always on the lookout
to improve the quality of the project.
2.Mitigation Conflicts: The Project Manager is
usually an independent third party in the project
who is able to give an objective opinion or
evaluation of a conflicting situation and thus
mitigate the likelyhood of an unnecessary
escalation of a situation.
3.Objective Informant: The Project Manger is
able to deliver a completely objective report
to the client which is unbiased in its content
unlike if the client were to obtain the same
information from the design or construction
teams who are likely to omit their flaws and
shortcomings when delivering the report.
4.Reguler Updates.The client is provided with
constant and regular updates by the project
manager.
5.Ease of work: The client need only communicate
his requirements, changes or adjustments to a
single entity. It eliminates the need for the client to
communicate and coordinate separate parties which
further complicates his work.
6.Experience: The experience of the project
manager is a valuable assets in a highly volatile and
unpredictable field such as construction as he is
able to make calculated judgmentsM and forecast
and formulate effective plans based on his previous
experiences.
Best Practices in project management are
tried and tested processes collected from
experience and lesson learned.
The Best Practices in project Management are
are available in PMBOK(Project Management
Body of Knowledge) issued by PMI.
It highlights the importance of right mix of
Planning ,Monitoring, and Controlling to
complete a project on Time, Cost and Quality.



This covers the areas such as
1.Project Definition.
2.Project Work Plan
3.Project Management Process.
4.Managing Scope.
5.Managing Risks.
Some advantages of Best Practces are listed
below.
1.Transfer Knowledge
2.Better Communication.
3.Time and Cost savings
4.Better process quality.
5.Better Team work
6.Better monitoring and controlling
KPI is the measure of a process that is critical
to the success of an organization.
There are number of performance measures
of a process that is critical to the success of
an organization.
The KPI is the measure of a process that is
critical to the success of an organization.
Thre are number ofperformance measures
that define the success of a project or
organization.

The responsibility of managing growth and
economic challenges requires Leadership in
construction companies to devise a
disciplined business strategy.
This strategy must efficiently address
potential opportunities and problems as they
arise by providing reliable, timely information
to support management and decision
making.
Monitoring KPIs should be apart of the
disciplined business strategy.


Many clients, especially with in the public
sector are seeking to work with companies
that demonstrate a commitment to
continuous improvement.
Often implementation of a KPI systems are
seen as a requirement for companies towin
work.
From clients perspective, KPIs provide a
useful way to demonstrate wider project
requirements, beyond time and costs.
Clients of the construction industry want
their projects delivered:
-On Time
-On Budget
-Free from defects
-Efficiently
-Right first time
-SaftlyM-
Clients, for instances, assess the suitability of
potential contractors for projects, by asking
them to provide information about how they
perform against range of indicators.
Some information will also be available
through the Industry Bench Marking
initiatives , so clients can see how potential
contractors compare with the rest of the
induestry in a number of different areas.
Such Bench Marking initiatives will be able
construction companies to Benchmarking
their own performance and enable to identify
strengths and weaknesses, and assess their
ability to improve over time.
Following are some few KPIs construction
companies monitor.
1.Liqudity: The purpose of this KPI is to
determine how much cash the Work in
Progress is generating or consuming in a
company.
2.Cash Flow: The purpose of this KPI is to
understand whether individual projects
generating or consuming cash. Consistent
attention to cash flow also helps to promote
timely billing and collections.

3.Labour Productivity: This KPI is particularly
important to sub contractors, as productivity
problems can leads to erode profit margins.
Helps managers establish daily performance
goals and improve future estimating and
bidding accuracy



4.Schedule Variance: Project owners demand
clear communication regarding project
progress and timely completion.
Understanding how factors cause schedule
variations, such as change orders and
effectively managing schedule variance also
helps construction firms maintain a
competitive advantage against other firms
that often fall behind schedule.
5.Margin Variance: It is important to compare
the gross margins to business plan objectives
by monitoring overall margin variance.
Also it is important to investigate the gross
margins on particular projects, relative to the
project estimates, to determine whether the
project is` achieving expected profitability.

6.Unapproved Change Orders: Construction
firms face increasing economic threat from
performing unapproved change orders. It is
important identify unapproved change orders
frequently and get it certified and properly
documented.
7.Custormer Satisfaction: It is important to
maintain competitive advantage , to track the
firms ability to meet owner expectations by
compiling and analyzing qualitative feed
back.


This examination of past projects identifies
potential deficiencies, enabling the firm to
address such issues in current and future
projects.