Introduction
Reconstruction of buildings and complexes for handicapped students is the required task for increasing the loyalty of the universities towards students with disabilities. Originally, the reconstruction process requires the adaptation of various facilities for increasing the comfort of using them for the students with disabilities, nevertheless, the reconstruction process itself requires detailed preparation and creation of the required documents.
Thus, the aim of this paper is to prepare the necessary documents for managing the reconstruction process. The documents are Scope Statement, Work Breakdown Structure, budget outline, and lessons learned as the result of the paper. Thus, the actual necessity is to outline the management process of the reconstruction and define the key aims, stages, and difficulties, associated with the reconstruction. Finally, the lessons learned should be defined for summarizing the reconstruction experience, and the importance of this project.
Scope Statement
The scope statement of the project should define the necessary changes, associated with the required reconstruction actions. Thus, the main components which should be subjected to reconstruction are doors, elevators, toilet cabins, sinks, and emergency ramps. The reconstruction of all these components will be required for simplifying the access of the disabled students to all the parts of the building and for granting them a sufficient comfort level for the students.
- Doors: The sliding doors will have push-button functionality because radiation will be annoying for both the students and the teacher. The doors will be designed from the outside of the wall and must put into consideration any window or handrail. 72 doors will be changed; 54 doors in the old building and 18 in the new one.
- Elevators: The elevator will be added by eliminating the stairs at the end of the old building and adding at least 2m*2m elevator for more circulation.
- Toilet Cabin: The idea is by joining 2 cabins to make 1 handicapped toilet cabin. The minimum of the cabin must be 160 diameters, when joining the 90 cm wide existing cabins will have 180cm wide to allow circulation. The total number of toilets to be changed is 8.
- Sinks: For each toilet, there are 3 sinks, one of the sinks will be remodeled and will be at the wheelchair level for easy washing; 8 sinks will be remodeled.
- Emergency Ramps: Due to the small space that we have and the non-handicapped constructed buildings, each emergency ramp will be attached to its building from the outside. Both emergency exits will be built from concrete.
WBS
Work Breakdown structure is defined for the proper planning of the entire construction process, considering the total amount of workers. Thus, the initiation of the project is planned for April 2010, and the termination of all the works should be finished on April 2011. The offered time scale is aimed at implementing the decisions of the project within the set timeframes. The number of workers will depend on the complexity of the task and may vary from 2 till 15. Thus, various assignments will be performed within the various terms. Moreover, some of the reconstruction stages may be performed simultaneously with others.
Time Draft
Cost Baseline
This Projectβs budget is 4,000,000 Saudi Riyals. That will be distributed roughly as follows:
- Consulting Costs: SR 200,000
- Architectural Designs cost: SR 100,000
- Labor: SR 500,000
- Construction: SR 2, 700, 000
- Maintenance cost: SR 500,000
The budget is considered from the perspective of employing the required amount of workers and finishing the project within the stated timeframe. The fact is that the observation of the stated timeline will be closely linked with observing the financial limits, as exceeding the deadline will inevitably cause the necessity to increase the budgeting.
The success of the project will be defined in accordance with the comfort level for handicapped students and within no more than two years. Thus, the educational environment should be properly suited for the students. Additionally, the successful reconstruction will presuppose the potential for further improvement of the constructions. Another factor of success will be the absence of necessity to make another reconstruction within at least five years. Thus, quality control management principles should be implemented. (Frame, 45)
Status Reports
The justification of the project will be closely associated with the aspects of control. IS370 students, semester 092, requested this project to assist Prince Sultan University to meet its goal by becoming the leader of education in the Middle East. The new service, that PSU will offer, will open doors to handicapped students by giving them the chance to complete their education and be an active member in the society.
Status of the project implementation reports will be required for the proper control and analysis of the project management and possible mistakes. Thus, the timely identification and checking of the mistakes and failures will be required for observing the timeframes of the project. (Stuckenbruck, 125) First, the key factors of project should be defined. Considering the key values, the criteria will entail the following:
- Time (Schedule). The process flow from the perspective of schedule and time frames.
- Finances (budget) β how is the project processing from the perspective of budget.
- Risks (weaknesses and threats of the project)
- Issues (unpredicted moments and how they were managed)
The weekly reports may also involve the following criteria:
- Communication (how is the communication process arranged with a stakeholder)
- Quality Management. Statistics, notions and recommendations on the matters of the quality management process and how the possible problems were solved or failed.
- Resources. This should entail the information on the matters of the resources used, and resources left.
- Team members actions. This point of the report is required for controlling the actions by the working personnel.
Additionally, in accordance with Frame (345), the following statement should be emphasized:
Another key point is to make the focus the exceptions. The point of the report is to get attention focused on the bits that are not going to plan. The status report should be an exception report. It should bring the spotlight onto the issues the project. This of course implies that the report will be short and succinct. The next few sections cover what might be in a weekly status report.
Monitoring and controlling in general entail the necessity to control every step of the project. Thus, the person, responsible for monitoring and controlling, will have to assign the team leaders in order to extend the monitoring network. Moreover, the team managers will have to arrange short meetings with the workers for setting the daily aims and scheduling. The effective control will have to include several project teams:
- The scope team
- Time Team
- Communication Team
- Cost Team
- Human Resources Team
- Risk Team
Final Project Presentation
In general, the presentation should entail the following points:
- Background, describing the basics of the project implementation and the values of reconstruction, required for the increased comfort of handicapped students.
- Description of the project, with pointing out all the necessary changes and modifications
- Objectives. This point is required for clear explanation of the aims and requirements of the project, as well as the necessity of every particular reconstruction
- Calendar of the project. This point is required for defining the values of timely implementation of every particular phase (Reiss, 567)
The presentation of the project require precise, accurate and valuable description of the possible difficulties and problems, which handicapped students faced, and how they were solved by the reconstruction. Then, the reconstruction process should be represented step by step. Finally, if the presentation is created for authorities, the financial resources and HR resources allocation should be represented. In fact, the general information, provided above will be sufficient, as authorities should see the final result, and know that the resources were allocated wisely. Thus, the Project Presentation should be based on the matters of implementation and control.
Finally, the statistical data, associated with the amount of handicapped students in the university should be offered. This information will show the importance of the reconstruction. Additionally, their opinion may be given, thus, the presentation will require preliminary survey, aimed at collecting the opinions and assessments of these students.
The key principle of creating report should be based on the notion by Stuckenbruck (123):
Any piece of paper that generates action is better than a piece of paper that takes time to read yet does not result in any activity. You might even ask why the latter should be produced at all but unfortunately, most paper falls into the latter group. A project presentation should be a piece of βactionβ paper. Keep this in mind when you report on your project.
Lessons Learned Report
The lessons learned are generally associated with the necessity to increase comfort for those, who are disabled, as they are people who are potential inventors, innovators and idea generators, thus, providing an opportunity to study effectively for everyone is essential for increasing the educational potential of the youth, independently on their physical abilities. Moreover, caring of those who are disabled, we show our tolerance and lack of ignorance, which is not admissible in this situation. Additionally, the lessons learned represent the precious experience of making the environment more friendly towards disabled people. Thus, this experienced may be used by other universities and other countries.
Conclusion
Finally, it should be emphasized that the reconstruction of the university building for increasing the comfort level for handicapped students, is the project which is associated with proper control and strict monitoring of the implementation process. Thus, several key documents will be required for it. The scope of the project, WBS, schedule and timelines for defining the terms of the project, the presentation of the finished project, and the definition of the project importance, are the most important documents, required for the reconstruction process.
Works Cited
Frame, J. Davidson. The New Project Management: Tools for an Age of Rapid Change, Complexity, and Other Business Realities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.
Reiss, Geoff. Project Management Demystified: Today’s Tools and Techniques. 2nd ed. London: E & FN Spon, 2005.
Stuckenbruck, Linn C., ed. The Implementation of Project Management: The Professional’s Handbook. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2002.