Appendices
All the evidence shown on this page has been extracted from projects work I have carried out at the university since July 2011. It comes in various forms but with a large majority of it is in the form of email communication. Effective communication is fundamental to being an effective project manager and the quickest and most common method of having recorded and written communication is via Email hence the large amount of email evidence.
All the evidence submitted below has been reviewed by my line manager and verified that it is indeed my own work being put forward as evidence (see declaration below)
evidence 01
Evidence 01 - Email communication: Below is my request to a contractor to provide a more detailed breakdown of a quotation they had provided to SHU. I requested an additional breakdown of so that my project cost manager could price check the quotation of value for money.
Evidence 02
Evidence 02 - Financial Form: At the end of each financial year we are required to reconcile the value of works completed to the value of the work paid for. This allows SHU finance create a liability to allocate expenditure into the correct financial year.
Evidence 03
Evidence 03 - Excel Spreadsheet: Below is the summary sheet of an excel spreadsheet more commonly called a 'workbook' a tool we use during projects to keep a track of the finances of a project to ensure we stay within the allocated project budget. These workbooks are also monitored by others for financial reporting so we must ensure the information within them is up to date and accurate.
Evidence 04
Evidence 04 - Building Contract: Below are extracts from a JCT Minor works building contract with design portions used for the refurbishment of two gymnasium changing rooms. My role requires me complete the project specific details of the contract before being including in the tender documentation. This contract is sent out as part of the tender documentation so contractors are clear on what contract they are pricing the construction work on. Typically used on larger value projects > £50k.
Evidence 05
Evidence 05 - Purchase Order: Below is a copy of a standard SHU purchase order. This order has been placed with one of the university's 'Measured Term Contract' contractors based upon a framework contract. Contract particulars have already been agreed previously in a framework agreement. Reference to the MTC framework agreement must be made on the purchase order (highlighted in red). MTC contracts are used for frequent smaller value works.
Evidence 06
Evidence 06 - Word Doc: This is an extract from a contractor briefing document I wrote as part of a tender package issued to tendering contractors for the refurbishment of teaching space. The project was subject to extremely tight client timescales, this meant I had to think outside of the box and find a solution which would meet the clients needs. To reduce the programme I stipulated as part of the tender that the AV and furniture installation would be included in the main contract therefore reducing the programme by a week thus meeting the clients deadline.
Evidence 07
Evidence 07 - Health and Safety induction: Before any works commence within the university a full estates health and safety induction must be given to the contractors. We are required to highlight our SHU rules for contractors including fire and emergency procedures. I decided to write my own project specific induction for a particularly complex project which involved having two principle contractors working in close proximity. I carried out the induction with both contractors present and stressed the importance of both contractors having to work collaboratively to avoid any incidents.
evidence 08
Evidence 08 - Email: Below is an email sent to my line manager by a contractor after the completion of a particularly complex and difficult project. I was praised by the contractor, my line manager and eventually the director for the leadership and hard work put in to delivering a successful project on time, on budget and without any H + S incidents or disputes.
Evidence 09
Evidence 09 - Email: Below is an email to my project cost manager forwarding him all the tender documentation he needs to send out to contractors for a tender. I must collate all relevant information so that the contractor can provide an accurate cost. I request drawings from my project engineers and provided a programme and specifications as part of the tender. I have also clarified the tender dates to my cost manager to ensure we are working to the same dates.
In the email below I have provided clarifications to questions raised during the tender period by tendering contractors. This information is is then distributed out by the project cost manager to all tendering parties so that they are pricing on a like for like basis.
Evidence 10
Evidence 10 - Project Programme: Below is an example of a project programme I put together for the refurbishment of two gymnasium changing rooms. To determine the project task duration's I use a mixture of experience from previous projects of a similar nature and also through consultation with members of the project team who stipulate how long they would like for stages of the project they are concerned with, for example my project cost manager would recommended that they would like a 2 week period for evaluating tender submissions. The programme is issued to the project team and my client.
Evidence 11
Evidence 11 - Contractor progress report: Below is a copy of a contractors project progress report issued by the contractor to me during a fortnightly progress meeting. This is the opportunity for the contractor to bring to our attention any issues on site and update us to progress to programme. During this project there were no issues onsite or issues with programme so no action was required.
Evidence 12
Evidence 12 - Email Communication: Below is an email from my contractor working on the refurbishment of two changing rooms, they are informing me that they are approximately a week behind on programme due to additional and unforeseen works required and will not complete to our targeted completion date. This required me to assess the situation and implications of not completing on programme and take action accordingly. After consultation with my client, other contractors following on and the contractors programme issued to commence to ensure the application for an extension was legitimate I took the decision to permit an extension of time due to the additional works. I then made all stakeholders aware of the extension and gave new completion date (see bottom email). We also permitted to the contractor to work additional hours to accelerate the works at a cost to the project, this decision was taken because the project completion date was more critical than the cost of the project.
evidence 13
Evidence 13 - Risk Register: Below is an extract of part of a monthly major project report which is issued to higher management to update them on the progress on projects. Part of the major project report is a risk register which we are required to populate with known risks to the project and give the risk an appropriate risk rating (High, Medium and Low) we also have to give the reasoning behind the risk and also the implications of the risks and any mitigation measures we can use to reduce the likelihood or severity of the risk and also who is responsible for managing the risk. The risk register evolves throughout the duration of the project, updating the risk register on a monthly basis with risk ratings changing as the project progresses.
evidence 14
Evidence 14 - Meeting notes: Below is an extract from a pre-contract meeting minutes issued to all parties after carrying out the pre-contract meeting. We use a standard template agenda which we minute during the meeting and then formalize and issue out for comment and agreement so that all parties are clear on the outcomes of the meeting. We then retain a copy in the project file for use if any disagreements occur on what was previously agreed.
Evidence 15
Evidence 15 - Project change control form: Below is a copy of a completed project change control used to formalize requests a change to the project. Clients may request changes to the project which may have an effect on programme and budget. So we must prepare a written change control to issue to the client for signing highlighting the implications on programme and cost to the project the change will have. This also creates an audit trail for financial auditors to explain why or where monies have been spent and why.
Evidence 16
Evidence 16 - Project evaluation survey: After a sizable project it is common place to obtain the clients views and satisfaction with regard to the project management of the project. This information is collected and if required actions can be taken to address shortfalls. On this occasion I received favorable responses from the clients, with perhaps work to be done on improving the quality of my written documentation issued to clients.
Evidence 17
Evidence 17 - Project Definition Document: Below is the client approval form which forms part of a project definition document (PDD). The aim of the PDD is highlight the what is being proposed, cost of the project, timescales and any other implications the project will have. If the client is happy with what is being proposed they sign the client approval form below to agree. The PDD and client approval are supposed to prevent disagreements during the project over what is being proposed, the PDD will be the first piece of documentation to review if there are disagreements and any changes to the PDD initiated by the client always requires project change control (evidence 15)
Evidence 18
Evidence 18 - Building control certificate: This is the final certificate issued by the appointed building control officer to certify that all work completed in the project was in accordance with current building regulations. The building control officer is involved at an early stage to give his views on what is being proposed and any comments or changes they insist on must be incorporated into the project. This certificate is retained in the project file for future reference.
Evidence 19
Evidence 19 - Email communication: Below is an email I sent to my director requesting certain information and direction regarding a project. I also took the opportunity to make him aware of risks that I was encountering during the project. I stated dates to make him aware of the timescales that the project was on to highlight the need for urgent decisions or direction from him on how to progress.
Evidence 20
Evidence 20 - Contractor review form: After each project we as project managers are required to evaluate the performance of the appointed contractor. We rate the contractors performance against a marking criteria provided to us. This information then highlights where the project has encountered problems because of the contractors performance. If a contractor receives a poor evaluation the contractor is contacted to discuss how and where they can improve their performance to ensure it doesn't occur again. If poor performance continues contractors can be removed from future tender lists.