SUBMITTAL CONTROL
SYSTEM
The Submittal Control System was developed to assist project personnel in managing submittal data, to track all submittals required by contract, to maintain descriptive information, to keep records of when submittals are due, and provide reports of submittals that are late. In addition, the system produces reports that indicate how well subcontractors performed in the process of getting submittals in on time and how the prompt the client was in approving the submittals and returning them to us. The relationship of the submittals to the timely commencement of the work cannot be overemphasized. Indeed – Construction begins with the submittal process and not with the moving the first shovelful of dirt.
The System calculates the required submittal and approval dates based on the scheduled material delivery date and the material and approval timeframes. As submittals are received, the items are updated with actual dates. The reports generated from this information provide an important means of determining which items are critical or will become critical to timely completion of the project.
PURCHASE ORDER SYSTEM
The PURCHASE ORDER TRACKING SYSTEM module gives the project personnel the ability to track Purchase Orders in a database system. From this database, Purchase Orders (PO) can be retrieved for such things as Commitments by cost code, Invoiced amounts, Outstanding balances by Purchase Order, PO line item data by Cost Code, PO line item data by stock code, commodity, etc.
The commitment data can be linked to the cost system to produce the commitment column on the cost reports.
Subcontracts and other commitments can be input into a “dummy” purchase order number in order to get these commitments into the system.
DRAWING CONTROL SYSTEM
The Drawing Control System has been developed to aid project personnel in keeping track of all drawings for a project. The reporting process is designed to keep the project informed as to current status of all related information.
The Drawing Control System is designed to track the receipt of drawings from the designer and log the distribution to key field supervision and subcontractors. The goal of the system is to help make sure the project is built using the current revisions to drawings. The system accomplishes this by logging the date of that the current revision of the drawing is received and distributed. The list of the current revised drawings is kept up to date. The system can provide a listing of the history of a drawing receipt and distribution be date and revision number. This is especially important in claims defense; when a subcontractor claims he didn’t get the revised drawing.
The Drawing Control System can print the transmittal letters for drawing distribution to the various recipients. It can also print Copy Order Requests in order to obtain the appropriate number of copies.
CHANGE ORDER CONTROL SYSTEM
The CHANGE ORDER CONTROL SYSTEM has been designed to keep a computerized log of all changes and potential changes and their status. This information can be summarized in a Change Status Analysis report.
The Change Order System gives the ability to Incorporate changes in a timely manner, Reconcile current budgets to original budgets, Document changes to the performance measurement baseline and Track trends in the change settlement process.
Features of the Change Order Control System include common database used by all departments, Automated method to track, sort, expedite filed problems/changes, Categorize change orders for project accountability, and Critical for claims defense and claims offence
RFI/DCR LOG
The RFI/DCR Log System is designed to keep a log of all Request for Information (RFI) or Document Clarification Request (DCR) and their status. The user has the option to select which name the project will use for the system, e.g., RFI Log or DCR Log.
RFI – Request for Information: The title gives the appearance of being able to ask questions about any subject. This is good for Fixed Price/Direct Hire Projects.
DCR – Document Clarification Request: This title is more limiting in appearance to only drawing and specification questions. This is good for Construction management (CM) type contracts, where we are trying to protect the owners, and our, liability. One primary importance is in the Design/Build process where the Contractor’s Design Manager tracks changes to drawings from inception, through revisions, the approval process, to Approved for Construction Design Documents issued to the project for construction. This module is used in conjunction with DWG – Drawing Control System.
The system is, in either case, the same. The RFI/DCR process is essential for expediting questions and answers that need to be documented but is more appropriate and expeditious than the formal level of the serialized letter process. Understand that you can get a lot of subjects documented through the RFI/DCR process that would be difficult to get incorporated by serial letter.
To maximize the efficiency of the system, the “Physical” flow path of the RFI/DCR documents must be unique and well defined; such as separate “IN” boxes so they are noticed and acted on immediately. This system also helps to monitor progress for expediting answers and provides a variety of historical data elements for potential recovery dollars.
VENDOR SYSTEM
The Vendor System is the project participant list and is used to create a vendor file (table) for use in the following systems, Subcontract Management System, Purchase Order Tracking – For vendor list, Submittals – For contractor list, Drawing Control – For participants list, Change Order Control – For contractor list, Request For Information (RFI) – For contractor list, and Correspondence Log – For participants list.
The Vendor System contains data for each participant of the contract including Vendor Company Name & address, Site representative & Contract Contacts, Names Phone, cell phone, facsimile numbers & email addresses, Email addresses, DBE, MBE, WBE, criteria, Prequalification data of Union/non-union, Insurance (Y/N), CSI codes for lines of work, and Comments/remarks.
CORRESPONDENCE LOG
The correspondence tracking system has been developed to aid project personnel in keeping track of all formal (written) correspondence for a project. The system will keep records of both incoming and outgoing correspondence.
Outgoing and incoming correspondence are tracked by Assigned Actions of Who is to respond, When the response is due, When was the response made, Serial letter number of the response, and Unassigned correspondence.
Keywords can be assigned to each document and Documents can be retrieved by these keywords.
A file folder number where the original and/or copies are filed can be assigned to each document. Comments or remarks can be input for each document. These can be as brief or as expansive as the user requires.
QUANTITY TRACKING (QUANTITY INSTALLATION REGISTER)
Project management have a requirement to know the status of the Project at all times in order to make sound decisions. Quantities provide the formal definition of Scope of Work and the basis of progressing. A concentrated effort on quantities is needed in order for the Project personnel to know their scope of work, where they are at, and where they are going.
Quantity progressing starts with a good sound takeoff. The project personnel should not rely on the bid take-off from bid drawings. The project personnel need to perform a detailed takeoff from the Contract drawings. This gets the project personnel into the drawings and the scope of work. The project takeoff needs to be kept current with revised drawings and any other changes affecting the scope of work quantities. It is imperative that a current scope of work be maintained in order to have valid project progress status, valid productivity/production rates, and valid estimates to complete. The QIR should reflect “Actual” quantities. Let the Job Cost Report take care of the “Earned” quantities.
The Quantity Installation Register was designed to be the vehicle to track scope of work quantities and progress quantities. The theory of the Quantity Installation Register is to keep quantities at a lower level than the Cost Account, Schedule Activity, Client Bid Item, or Subcontract Work Item. The Quantity Installation Register will roll up and subtotal progress for these other systems. The reason for this low level of detail is for ease of maintaining scope of work and progressing. Also, we can keep the schedule activities at a higher level on the CPM schedule and let the Quantity Register be the “list” of all items that make up the scope of work of the activity. This way we can demonstrate quantitative progressing on a higher level schedule activity. This “sells” to clients. Particularly the ones that require less than twenty (20) day durations on activities. What the client wants is to quantitatively measure progress.
We want to maintain our quantities down to the drawing, pour, lift, area, building, etc. so that progressing can be easily accomplished by field personnel. Quantities should maintained down to a detailed location. This facilitates the ability to not only know what the scope of work consists of but also where that scope of work is to take place. Detailed variations by detailed location can be tracked. This is especially important for tracking bid quantities so you can get paid for the right quantities. By having a current quantity takeoff down to this low level eliminates the need to recalculate the in-place quantities every week. When the work is accomplished you simply take credit for the pre-calculated quantities.
COST CONTROLS
The Job Cost System is designed to provide monitoring and reporting of quantities, manhours and dollars. The system maintains As Bid Budgets, Original Budgets, Current Budgets, and Estimates and Completion (EAC). Actual and earned values and maintained for week-to-date, month-to-date and job-to-date status.
The Job Cost System does the BUDGETING, PROGRESSING, FORECASTING and REPORTING for the engineers cost report. Actual and manhours are maintained in the Accounting System residing on the Accounting computer. Actual" are transferred from the Accounting System to the Job Cost System via an ASCII file.
DATA ELEMENTS
Each cost code in the Job Cost System have the following data elements Estimate as Bid Budget, Original Control Budget, Current Control Budget, Current Period Actuals (aka Week-to-date Actuals), Month-to-date Actuals, Job-to-date Actuals, Current Period Earned Values (aka Week-to-Earned Values), Month-to-date Earned Values, Job-to-date Earned Values, and Estimate-at-Completion.
Manhours, quantities and dollars are restored for each of the above data elements for each cost code. All other data on the reports are calculated from the above information.
The system handles the current period, i.e., week-to-date, month-to-date, and job-to date information.
SUBCONTRACT MANAGEMENT
The subcontractor management system is utilized every time a subcontract is awarded on any type of project.
On Construction Management contracts all reimburse cost will be included. Here, separate line items will be included for each Purchase Order if the client needs the visibility, as well as each Change Order. An owner’s cost report then can be produced. On hard dollar fixed price contracts the owner’s bid item payment breakdown should be incorporated into this system. It is progressing register for subcontracted work and also the pay estimate backup for construction management contracts.
Objective is to accurately break down a subcontractor’s quantities, manhours, and dollars into line items of work that is easily progressed. The accuracy of our progressing techniques is important in making good management decisions on the subcontractor’s capabilities throughout the project. Also, it assures both we and our clients that we’re are not overpaying for work-in-place, and the same time, the subcontractors is getting paid for what he has done. Like the Quantity Installation Register for our own direct hire work, it is the lowest level at which we track our subcontractor’s work.
The Submittal Control System was developed to assist project personnel in managing submittal data, to track all submittals required by contract, to maintain descriptive information, to keep records of when submittals are due, and provide reports of submittals that are late. In addition, the system produces reports that indicate how well subcontractors performed in the process of getting submittals in on time and how the prompt the client was in approving the submittals and returning them to us. The relationship of the submittals to the timely commencement of the work cannot be overemphasized. Indeed – Construction begins with the submittal process and not with the moving the first shovelful of dirt.
The System calculates the required submittal and approval dates based on the scheduled material delivery date and the material and approval timeframes. As submittals are received, the items are updated with actual dates. The reports generated from this information provide an important means of determining which items are critical or will become critical to timely completion of the project.
PURCHASE ORDER SYSTEM
The PURCHASE ORDER TRACKING SYSTEM module gives the project personnel the ability to track Purchase Orders in a database system. From this database, Purchase Orders (PO) can be retrieved for such things as Commitments by cost code, Invoiced amounts, Outstanding balances by Purchase Order, PO line item data by Cost Code, PO line item data by stock code, commodity, etc.
The commitment data can be linked to the cost system to produce the commitment column on the cost reports.
Subcontracts and other commitments can be input into a “dummy” purchase order number in order to get these commitments into the system.
DRAWING CONTROL SYSTEM
The Drawing Control System has been developed to aid project personnel in keeping track of all drawings for a project. The reporting process is designed to keep the project informed as to current status of all related information.
The Drawing Control System is designed to track the receipt of drawings from the designer and log the distribution to key field supervision and subcontractors. The goal of the system is to help make sure the project is built using the current revisions to drawings. The system accomplishes this by logging the date of that the current revision of the drawing is received and distributed. The list of the current revised drawings is kept up to date. The system can provide a listing of the history of a drawing receipt and distribution be date and revision number. This is especially important in claims defense; when a subcontractor claims he didn’t get the revised drawing.
The Drawing Control System can print the transmittal letters for drawing distribution to the various recipients. It can also print Copy Order Requests in order to obtain the appropriate number of copies.
CHANGE ORDER CONTROL SYSTEM
The CHANGE ORDER CONTROL SYSTEM has been designed to keep a computerized log of all changes and potential changes and their status. This information can be summarized in a Change Status Analysis report.
The Change Order System gives the ability to Incorporate changes in a timely manner, Reconcile current budgets to original budgets, Document changes to the performance measurement baseline and Track trends in the change settlement process.
Features of the Change Order Control System include common database used by all departments, Automated method to track, sort, expedite filed problems/changes, Categorize change orders for project accountability, and Critical for claims defense and claims offence
RFI/DCR LOG
The RFI/DCR Log System is designed to keep a log of all Request for Information (RFI) or Document Clarification Request (DCR) and their status. The user has the option to select which name the project will use for the system, e.g., RFI Log or DCR Log.
RFI – Request for Information: The title gives the appearance of being able to ask questions about any subject. This is good for Fixed Price/Direct Hire Projects.
DCR – Document Clarification Request: This title is more limiting in appearance to only drawing and specification questions. This is good for Construction management (CM) type contracts, where we are trying to protect the owners, and our, liability. One primary importance is in the Design/Build process where the Contractor’s Design Manager tracks changes to drawings from inception, through revisions, the approval process, to Approved for Construction Design Documents issued to the project for construction. This module is used in conjunction with DWG – Drawing Control System.
The system is, in either case, the same. The RFI/DCR process is essential for expediting questions and answers that need to be documented but is more appropriate and expeditious than the formal level of the serialized letter process. Understand that you can get a lot of subjects documented through the RFI/DCR process that would be difficult to get incorporated by serial letter.
To maximize the efficiency of the system, the “Physical” flow path of the RFI/DCR documents must be unique and well defined; such as separate “IN” boxes so they are noticed and acted on immediately. This system also helps to monitor progress for expediting answers and provides a variety of historical data elements for potential recovery dollars.
VENDOR SYSTEM
The Vendor System is the project participant list and is used to create a vendor file (table) for use in the following systems, Subcontract Management System, Purchase Order Tracking – For vendor list, Submittals – For contractor list, Drawing Control – For participants list, Change Order Control – For contractor list, Request For Information (RFI) – For contractor list, and Correspondence Log – For participants list.
The Vendor System contains data for each participant of the contract including Vendor Company Name & address, Site representative & Contract Contacts, Names Phone, cell phone, facsimile numbers & email addresses, Email addresses, DBE, MBE, WBE, criteria, Prequalification data of Union/non-union, Insurance (Y/N), CSI codes for lines of work, and Comments/remarks.
CORRESPONDENCE LOG
The correspondence tracking system has been developed to aid project personnel in keeping track of all formal (written) correspondence for a project. The system will keep records of both incoming and outgoing correspondence.
Outgoing and incoming correspondence are tracked by Assigned Actions of Who is to respond, When the response is due, When was the response made, Serial letter number of the response, and Unassigned correspondence.
Keywords can be assigned to each document and Documents can be retrieved by these keywords.
A file folder number where the original and/or copies are filed can be assigned to each document. Comments or remarks can be input for each document. These can be as brief or as expansive as the user requires.
QUANTITY TRACKING (QUANTITY INSTALLATION REGISTER)
Project management have a requirement to know the status of the Project at all times in order to make sound decisions. Quantities provide the formal definition of Scope of Work and the basis of progressing. A concentrated effort on quantities is needed in order for the Project personnel to know their scope of work, where they are at, and where they are going.
Quantity progressing starts with a good sound takeoff. The project personnel should not rely on the bid take-off from bid drawings. The project personnel need to perform a detailed takeoff from the Contract drawings. This gets the project personnel into the drawings and the scope of work. The project takeoff needs to be kept current with revised drawings and any other changes affecting the scope of work quantities. It is imperative that a current scope of work be maintained in order to have valid project progress status, valid productivity/production rates, and valid estimates to complete. The QIR should reflect “Actual” quantities. Let the Job Cost Report take care of the “Earned” quantities.
The Quantity Installation Register was designed to be the vehicle to track scope of work quantities and progress quantities. The theory of the Quantity Installation Register is to keep quantities at a lower level than the Cost Account, Schedule Activity, Client Bid Item, or Subcontract Work Item. The Quantity Installation Register will roll up and subtotal progress for these other systems. The reason for this low level of detail is for ease of maintaining scope of work and progressing. Also, we can keep the schedule activities at a higher level on the CPM schedule and let the Quantity Register be the “list” of all items that make up the scope of work of the activity. This way we can demonstrate quantitative progressing on a higher level schedule activity. This “sells” to clients. Particularly the ones that require less than twenty (20) day durations on activities. What the client wants is to quantitatively measure progress.
We want to maintain our quantities down to the drawing, pour, lift, area, building, etc. so that progressing can be easily accomplished by field personnel. Quantities should maintained down to a detailed location. This facilitates the ability to not only know what the scope of work consists of but also where that scope of work is to take place. Detailed variations by detailed location can be tracked. This is especially important for tracking bid quantities so you can get paid for the right quantities. By having a current quantity takeoff down to this low level eliminates the need to recalculate the in-place quantities every week. When the work is accomplished you simply take credit for the pre-calculated quantities.
COST CONTROLS
The Job Cost System is designed to provide monitoring and reporting of quantities, manhours and dollars. The system maintains As Bid Budgets, Original Budgets, Current Budgets, and Estimates and Completion (EAC). Actual and earned values and maintained for week-to-date, month-to-date and job-to-date status.
The Job Cost System does the BUDGETING, PROGRESSING, FORECASTING and REPORTING for the engineers cost report. Actual and manhours are maintained in the Accounting System residing on the Accounting computer. Actual" are transferred from the Accounting System to the Job Cost System via an ASCII file.
DATA ELEMENTS
Each cost code in the Job Cost System have the following data elements Estimate as Bid Budget, Original Control Budget, Current Control Budget, Current Period Actuals (aka Week-to-date Actuals), Month-to-date Actuals, Job-to-date Actuals, Current Period Earned Values (aka Week-to-Earned Values), Month-to-date Earned Values, Job-to-date Earned Values, and Estimate-at-Completion.
Manhours, quantities and dollars are restored for each of the above data elements for each cost code. All other data on the reports are calculated from the above information.
The system handles the current period, i.e., week-to-date, month-to-date, and job-to date information.
SUBCONTRACT MANAGEMENT
The subcontractor management system is utilized every time a subcontract is awarded on any type of project.
On Construction Management contracts all reimburse cost will be included. Here, separate line items will be included for each Purchase Order if the client needs the visibility, as well as each Change Order. An owner’s cost report then can be produced. On hard dollar fixed price contracts the owner’s bid item payment breakdown should be incorporated into this system. It is progressing register for subcontracted work and also the pay estimate backup for construction management contracts.
Objective is to accurately break down a subcontractor’s quantities, manhours, and dollars into line items of work that is easily progressed. The accuracy of our progressing techniques is important in making good management decisions on the subcontractor’s capabilities throughout the project. Also, it assures both we and our clients that we’re are not overpaying for work-in-place, and the same time, the subcontractors is getting paid for what he has done. Like the Quantity Installation Register for our own direct hire work, it is the lowest level at which we track our subcontractor’s work.