Introduction
Project quality management is among the most challenging areas for a Project Manager because this area of expertise implies that the quality of the project’s outputs remains consistent throughout the duration of the project. In the construction business, the issue of quality is connected to the need to manage multiple vendors and contractors. This is why many companies choose to hire a consultant firm to aid in managing construction projects, and one of such businesses is Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This essay will introduce Zuhair Fayez Partnership’s construction project and discuss project quality management.
Quality Management, and Organizational Perspective
Zuhair Fayez Partnership is among the leading consultancy firms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia providing services in project management, construction management, engineering information systems, information systems and architectural areas operating since 1975 (Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant n.d.).
The mission of the organization is to be the “architectural and engineering consultant of choice”, while its core vision is to provide clients with “innovative and quality solutions” (Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant, n.d. para. 2). In terms of size, Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant, this company employed 3470 workers in October 2014. As for this business’ geographical location, the headquarters is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Its revenue is US$45.37 million per year, calculated for the previous year of operations (Dun & Bradstreet 2020). Therefore, this is a large construction business consultancy firm that focuses on providing innovative and high-quality services. From the perspective of a project manager in the organization that focuses on engineering, it is imperative to consider critical success factors (CSF) for the organization as a whole and key performance indicators (KPI) that are connected to the CSFs (Alias, Zawawi, and Aris 2014)
Critical Success Factors (CSF)
CSFs are defined as factors that contribute to the success of the project or organization in general, in this case, CSFs are reviewed in relation to Zuhair Fayez Partnership’s construction consultancy projects (Wuttke and Zanhuis, 2019). Some researchers, for example, Wuttke and Zanhuis (2019) note that CSF and KPIs are interchangeably linked since the former is the cause of successful project completion, while the latter is the measured effect of it. In line with Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant’s vision and mission statements, the two CSFs is defined by the author of this report:
- Facilitate training for Project Managers to ensure that their work is aligned with the highest standards of the Project Management Institute.
- Offer innovative solutions to the Zuhair Fayez Partnership’s clients.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
KPIs are set to ensure that the management can measure whether the CSFs, which are more general and broad statements, are achieved by the business. As defined by Wuttke and Zanhuis (2019), through KPIs, the project manager can measure if this project achieves the CSF, which is typically used to manage different aspects of a project and ensure that the quality is sufficient throughout all stages. The KPIs for Zuhair Fayez Partnership are defined using the S.M.A.R.T. approach and are connected to project quality, quantity, and time.
In addition, these KPIs are relevant for all employees and executives, not only because they align with the mission and vision statements, but also because they allow the company to provide consulting services of superior quality, contributing to the revenue and firm’s reputation. For Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant it is essential to be the “go-to” consultant for the construction business projects in the KSA, which implies an investment and training of its team members, as was mentioned in the first CSF. Hence, the following two KPI statements, linked to CSF, are defined by the author:
- By 2021 provide support in training of the 50 leading project managers of Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant.
- Implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) cost scheduling method and train 100 Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultants Project Managers to use it by the end of May 2021.
Project Definition
There is a distinct difference between projects and ongoing work, which one can distinguish using the following criteria: projects are temporary, and they must have an output in the form of unique result or service (Wuttke and Zanhuis 2019). Simply put, operational work is the day to way routine that the employees engage in, while projects have a clear beginning and end dates. Since Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant is a construction consultancy business, the project chosen for this report is the construction of an American International School of Jeddah, KSA.
The size of the site area is 48,535 m², while the capacity for accommodating new students is 1,700 with 310 parking spaces (Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultants n.d.a). The project was completed in 2017, and Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant was responsible for developing the architectural plan and managing the construction site.
As a company that offers services in construction consulting, Zuhair Fayez Partnership was hired to reach the objectives in regard to contract review and negotiations, reviewing construction design, bid phase management, cost estimating and evaluation, and construction scheduling. From the initial concept development to the closeout of the project, Zuhair Fayez Partnership was to assist the client in both coordinating and facilitating the construction project in order to mitigate complex issues emerging throughout implementation.
Project Scope
Scope predefined how a certain endeavour will be managed and approached. Scope of any project is the final output that will be the result of this construction project (Wuttke and Zanhuis 2019). The scope of this project is to create an architectural plan and manage the construction of the new building and parking lot for the American International School of Jeddah.
More specifically, the scope is to construct a building with the measurements of “17,000 m², the first floor at 10,850 m², second floor at 11,650 m², annexe floor of around 3,000 m², and an estimated 2,500 m² for the services area” (Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultants n.d.a, para. 1). The school accommodates children from over forty countries, and the aim of the new campus is to create a new learning space, with a sports area for children of different ages (Jiffry 2014). The building should become an excellent civic area for the people living in Jeddah.
Project Objectives
The following objectives were identified by the author as central for the construction of a new building for the school in Jeddah:
- Implement safety systems for the buildings, including security and fire safety
- Finish the project by October of 2018
- Complete the project efficiently within the set budget
- The building should be suitable for operations as an elementary, middle and high school.
Customer and Supplier Identification
In general terms, customers of the project are either individuals or organizations that initiate the project, its main requirements and are usually responsible for setting the budget and deadline. The suppliers are vendors that provide goods or services needed to enable project completion (Wuttke and Zanhuis 2019).
The internal suppliers for the project represent the parties providing products, services and other resources imperative for the success of the project (Naoui-Outini and El Hilali 2019). In the construction project to develop school building, the client of Zuhair Fayez Partnership was the American International School of Jeddah.
In the company, internal stakeholders include the Design Department (Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant n.d.). This internal stakeholder in particular supervises the quality of this project. This department is critical for the completion of the project, since its employees are responsible for creating a vision and documentation while the former manages the quality and the process of completing the project.
All quality measures were initially negotiated between the contractors and service providers to ensure that the major assignments and responsibilities are discussed prior to their implementation. The communication and interface with the suppliers implied agreeing on specific targets and the specification of performance standards that help to both define and secure the relationships between suppliers and the organization that works on the construction of the community centre.
Customers
The Customer was the American International School of Jeddah, with Lance Jones, who is the president of the Board of Trustees initiating the project and partnership with Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant (Jiffry 2014). The function of this department is to approve the budget and the project’s architectural design and blueprints and define the requirements for the final output.
Suppliers
For this project, the Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant had to work with many vendors to deliver construction materials and design materials to the site. The suppliers are the Design Department and the Project Management Department, which are critical for the success of this project. Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant has ongoing partnerships with the best suppliers in KSA, and the Supply Chain Department is responsible for this cooperation.
These departments manage the interface with suppliers by managing interactions between the Project Management Team and the suppliers (Wuttke and Zanhuis, 2019). In this case, it was managed through the Planning Department, which is part of the Supervision and Project Management Department (Zuhair Fayez Partnerships Consultant, n.d.b). The managers placed orders online or via order forms and controlled the process of delivering the supplies to the construction site.
Product Definition
A modern and vibrant community recreation centre can be instrumental in having a stabilising effect on the lives of young and older people. By offering safe and adequately equipped spaces for either physical or other recreational activities, the community centre will instil teamwork, healthy exercise habits, as well as the overall unity of the local community.
Project deliverables represent the points that organizations can both measure and quantify and thus include tangibles in the form of finished products and intangibles in the form of increased satisfaction of community members or other measurables (Wuttke and Zanhuis 2019). The project deliverable is to have an entirely constructed building intended to be a community centre.
An interim deliverable is an intermediate deliverable that is achieved before the entire project is finally completed (Wuttke and Zanhuis 2019). Based on the presented interim deliverables, the client of the project will suggest whether there are any deviations from the specification of the project.
In the construction of the school, critical interim deliverables include the development of a blueprint for the creation of the building, construction process, installing all essential amenities such as electricity and water piping, as well as completing the finishing the centre. Once the contractors complete the construction of the building and all necessary materials are purchased, including the bricks, engineering communications, and design materials, the foundation will be set as the initial step in the actual construction of the building.
After this step is completed, the client can already have an understanding of the building’s foundation and its position relative to the surrounding environment. Electricity and water distribution piping and wiring is an interim deliverable that is completed when there are already walls and a roof for the building. This step is important to consider because its successful completion ensures that there will be minimal delays. Finally, the interior design of the community centre is an essential step because it allows the client to see how the building will look, not only on the outside but also on the inside.
Products are the results of the company’s actions or the final output of the project (Wuttke and Zanhuis, 2019). For this construction of the American International School of Jeddah, the final product is the school’s building, which is the final deliverable. The four interim deliverables or the products delivered before the final result are the following:
- Architectural plan
- This is the general plan for the chosen site that includes the specifications for the building, considering their purpose. This includes one campus building for elementary, middle, and high school with one sports area and a pool that will accommodate 1,800 students.
- Engineering plan
- This incorporates the mechanical, electric and plumbing planning for the building.
- Site layout plan
- The parking lot includes 310 spaces and requires a plan for the roads near the building and allocation of the parking spots.
- Interior design
- The concept for the way the interior of the building should look like.
Elicit and Establish Customer Requirements
Requirement collection is an essential aspect of the project completion as well as project management. For project managers, understanding what a project will present in the end is critical for its success and with the help of collecting requirements, project managers can identify end deliverables of the project and understand the end deliverables that should address the specific requirements made by a client (Wuttke and Zanhuis, 2019).
The Methodology of Elicit Requirements
In a construction project, the requirements are collected from the clients that have commissioned the construction. It is important that the Project Manager does not assume that they know customers’ requirements as what they usually think may be quite different from what the customer wants (Byrnes, 2014). To elicit product requirements that will be specific to the project and its commissioner, a series of extensive meetings can be carried out in order to discuss every detail that can influence the ultimate project success (Lientz 2011).
The Board of Trustees of the American International School of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, should be involved in the negotiations regarding specifications from the very beginning. The process of recording and documenting the requirements occurs when the Project’s Managers meets with the Board of the Trustees, when the manager is able to community the main requirements, map them, prioritise them and create a strategy for changing requirements.
Requirements for Products
The five key requirements established in regards to the final product include the use of sustainable materials and technologies, the availability of the latest security and fire protection systems, the availability of a parking lot accommodating 310 cars, the construction of student areas for elementary, middle, and highschool students, and constriction of sports facilities including pool and area for basketball. The first three requirements were explicitly stated by the customer as essential components to be present in the construction project.
The last two requirements were not strictly specified; however, they stem from the customers’ requirement to incorporate an advanced-level sports facilities that would suit the student’s curriculum. The verification of the unstated requirements has been conducted through regular meetings with the client. With the help of a specifications plan that has been established on the preliminary stages of information collection, the requirements were traced and agreed upon with the client.
Quality Planning, Metrics Definition and Acceptance Criteria
The process of quality management is intended for ensuring that all activities necessary for designing, planning, and implementing a project are effective and efficient in terms of performance and objectives. This process is rather concerned with prevention and avoidance than the measurement and improvement of poor quality outputs imperative for reaching the final steps in the closure phase (Wuttke and Zanhuis, 2019).
Therefore, during the construction process, quality management represents a repetitive cycle for measuring quality, updating relevant processes, measuring and updating again until the desired quality is reached (Wuttke and Zanhuis, 2019). The key objective behind product-oriented project quality management is ensuring that the final product meets and even exceeds the expectations and needs of stakeholders.
The quality of the project is not an orientation for the best possible result, but rather the delivery of what the client expects (Kohnen, 2007; Lientz, 2011). A Project Manager is responsible for developing and implementing a project management quality plan. Quality management implies the management of both people and varied processes (Kohnen, 2007; Chakraborty, 2019). Table 1 presents the quality metrics for the discussed project.
Table 1. Quality metrics (created by the author).
Quality Planning: Quality Effort and Cost of Quality
Cost of quality (COQ) represents a methodology that allows organizations for determining the extent to which the resources used in the activities of the project can prevent low quality, and thus appraise the quality of products or services that result from external and internal failures.
Having information on COQ allows organizations to identify the opportunities for potential savings that can help facilitate process improvements. Implementing COQ within a construction project is important for allowing the valuable information that an organization can use for determining where the resources can allocate for improving product quality at the bottom line (Littrell et al. 2020).
The cost of quality is divided into such categories as prevention and appraisal (cost of good quality, CoGQ), internal failures, and external failures (cost of poor quality, CoPQ). Prevention costs represents costs that organizations incur from activities that are intended to reduce the occurrence of failures (Littrell et al. 2020).
Appraisal costs are concerned with the costs that organizations incur for maintaining acceptable levels of product quality, such as process controls, quality audits, supplier assessments, and so on (Mihailovic 2017). Internal failures, are the costs of low quality associated with product defects before they reach customers. External failures are such that occur with the defects that are detected after the customer receives the product.
Process Cost Model
Below is the PCM for this project, which intends on identifying the cost of each deliverable.
Cost of Quality
Table 2 outlines the composition of the CoQ for this project.
Table 2. CoQ (created by the author).
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance is a quality management component that emphasises giving confidence that the requirements of quality will be met. The benefits acquired from quality-assurance are two-fold: internally to project managers and externally to clients of the project (Lientz 2011). The three quality requirements, such as the parking lot, renewable energy use, and sustainable building techniques, are all fulfilled with the help of quality assurance.
To ensure that the requirements are met, it is necessary that the team engages and collaborates in the quality assurance process. For instance, in the design and construction of the parking lot, a site team is assigned to conduct regular assessments and preventive measures such as changes in parking lot layout to ensure maximum efficiency. The main strategies that help organizations improve their processes and eliminate gaps in the workflow are:
- Quality assurance (QA)
- quality measurement (QM)
- total quality measurement (TQM)
The three quality frameworks are intended for processing improvement strategies that depend on detailed and data-driven planning. Therefore, when refining the workflows embedded into the construction project, each strategy will help quality managers examine the mission, goals, and values, as well as the intentions behind the project.
Quality Control
Quality control is a component of quality management that focuses on quality requirements fulfilment (Lientz 2011). While quality assurance is concerned with the way in which a process is performed or how a product is made, quality control is concerned with the inspection aspect of quality management. Measures of quality control are used for analysing and evaluating the quality of the different processes included in a project in accordance with the standards of the organizations or requirements that have been specified upon the negotiation phase between clients and the company (Littrell et al. 2019).
Corrective Actions
In terms of the quality control of two interim products, such examples as the blueprint for the construction of the centre and the development of the building’s foundation, the focus is placed on ensuring that the products meet the expectations of customers. A measurement of quality control in the development of a building’s blueprint is the visual quality that considers every detail of the construction project and presents them in an exact way that can be understood by the client (Akadiri, Chinyio, and Olomalaiye 2012).
The building of the foundation is qualified with the help of such controls as structural quality. To ensure that the criteria of quality are met, corrective actions may be implemented, implying improvements to processes taken for eliminating the causes of non-conformities. Error proofing is the corrective action that can be carried out to eliminate the limitations in blueprint development while process redesign can help increase the quality of foundation construction.
Quality Tools
Quality tools that are applicable to the current construction project are intended to improve the quality of processes being carried out.
Cause and effect diagram
The cause-and-effect diagram can be used in terms of designing a product to identify the factors that would cause an overall effect (Littrell et al., 2019; Kohnen, 2014). In constructing the building, the diagram can consider such quality impacts as the availability of sustainable materials, suppliers of technologies and security systems, transportation, team members and machinery to implement the construction, and so on. This quality tool is especially relevant for such expectations of quality as the use of sustainable materials and technologies during the project (Buonocore et al., 2019).
Inspection
Another quality tool is inspection, which are meetings during the development process that help address any conflicts between team members and account for the quality of the project.
Flowchart Diagram
This diagram helps organise each step of the project logically and determine where quality issues may occur. This logical outline helps define potential quality issues and address them by using the quality standards set for a particular project.
Reflection on Project Quality Through Customer Satisfaction
Designing customer satisfaction into the product of a project is essential because a satisfied customer means the availability of further projects in the future. Establishing good quality measures is imperative for understanding whether customer’ expectations are being met (Kohnen, 2014).
If customer satisfaction is low, it is necessary for project managers to find new methods for meeting them. Therefore, when a project is being carried out, there is the need to embed the client not only in the decision-making process but also in the ongoing quality assurance and evaluation. For instance, a customer satisfaction survey is a method for monitoring the concerns and positive attitudes of customers when it comes to the direction in which a project is heading. Project managers that work on the construction of the school in KSA, should regularly interact and communicate with the institution’s Board of Trustees.
In such interactions and communications, it is imperative to recognise and address the individual needs and expectations and meet them accordingly (Wuttke and Zanhuis, 2019). Meeting the expectations, especially in terms of quality and costs of quality, leads to a greater connection between customers and contractors (Mokhlesian, 2014).
Conclusion
Overall, this report explores the QM on projects using the example of the construction of the American School in Jeddah. The report outlines the deliverables of this project, the client and their expectations, as well as elicit expectations. In addition, different tools and methods for controlling quality are presented. The COQ and PCM help understand how different factors impact the quality and cost of this project.
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