School: Engineering, Design & Construction
Qualification: Bachelor of Engineering Technology Unit of competency: BET403 Cost Engineering
WHAT IS REQUIRED IN THIS REPORT?
This report is in two (2) parts.
PART 1: PLANNING AND PREPARATION
In this part you will prepare a memorandum to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of your company giving an estimate (budget) and work schedule for your team to produce a report for the CEO to submit to the company Board meeting in July, 2019.
Please refer to detailed requirements below. PART 2: RESEARCH AND REPORT
In this part you will research and examine two projects (buildings) for the type of work for which the CEO considers your company should become involved.
You should choose projects that relate to the field of study for which you are enrolled.
The circumstances
You are employed by a company in Australia and the CEO has decided that the company should extend its activities into a new area of business.
For the purposes of this report you are to choose two projects of the same type from a topic related to the course that you are doing.
Important points
Points to be taken into account when choosing project types:
1. The type of project that you choose must be agreed with lecturer before you commence the report. There will be a limit to the number of students who will be permitted to choose the same topic. So get your requests in early!
2. Read carefully through all of this report and do some preliminary research before you choose a topic. To enable you to meet the requirements of this report you must make sure that there is sufficient information available on the topic that you want to select. If not, you need to choose another topic for which you can find more information.
3. If too many students choose the same projects those who ask first will be accepted and the others will need to find alternative projects. So be early!
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School: Engineering, Design & Construction
Qualification: Bachelor of Engineering Technology Unit of competency: BET403 Cost Engineering
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SUITABLE PROJECTS TOPICS
· Residential building (house, double story house, unit, etc.)
· Commercial buildings
· Mid-rise buildings
· High Rise buildings
· Other project types as may be agreed with the lecturer.
REPORT ON NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
The CEO has instructed you to prepare a detailed report to evaluate new business opportunities for projects in Australia. When the CEO has reviewed your report and agrees with its content it will be presented to the company Board of Directors with recommendations to them to invest in this new venture.
PROJECT DETAILS
Your task is in two parts, as detailed here:
Part 1: Memorandum to CEO - Planning and Preparation
This phase of the task is in the form of a memorandum to the CEO detailing the budget you have prepared and the planning schedule and staffing requirements for the project team to achieve the results in the timeframe specified here.
This memorandum is from you to the CEO (who’s name is Peter D. STIRLING) outlining your approach to the task and requesting approval to proceed:
· Report to be completed within 6 months (as required by the CEO)
· Start date 14th January 2019
· Report to Board meeting on Wednesday 15th July, 2019.
· Regular progress reports to CEO (at least monthly intervals).
For this you need to:
a) Establish a budget estimate on an ‘Excel’ spreadsheet for yourself and project team involved in report preparation.
b) Plan and schedule activities and resources to complete the report in the time allocated. Schedule to be prepared using ‘Microsoft Project software or Excel.
c) Show organizational chart of team assembled to prepare report:
o Your role as the team leader
o Relationship to CEO
o The roles of other participants (staff members)
The staffs (workers) are listed on the table below:
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School: Engineering, Design & Construction
Qualification: Bachelor of Engineering Technology Unit of competency: BET403 Cost Engineering
Part 1-1 Memorandum Preparation: Additional information for this item
a) Establish a budget estimate on an ‘Excel’ spreadsheet:
b) An hourly cost rate for each of the individuals assigned to the report preparation is to be used as the basis for the estimate.
c) Refer to table below for list of staff and resources on the team.
Description Position time assigned
Your Name
Name
Name
Name
Name
Name
Name Percentage of
Annual Salary
Team Co-ordinator
Personal Assistance to CEO
Scheduler
Planning Engineer
Estimator
Estimator
Clerical Support
Part 1-2 Scheduling the Work
Draw up a schedule to plan your preparation of the report, using the following information: a) Planning the Report Preparation
The report is to be completed at least two weeks before the July Board Meeting.
The team activities required to prepare the report are listed below and in the expected sequence. You are to include a time and budget for site visits to each of the two projects you have chosen to examine.
You are to prepare a Gantt chart schedule and CPM for these activities, assigning your best estimate of the duration that will be required for each. The above cost estimate that you prepare will also relate to this schedule. Some activities may have ‘Float’ and may overlap to meet the completion date specified
Item Activity Key Dates
1 Start date (Assemble Team) 14th January, 2019
2 Commence Report Outline
3 Identify Projects for Site Evaluation
4 Site/Project Evaluation visit No.1
5 Analyse Project Evaluation # 1
6 Site/Project Evaluation visit No.2
7 Analyse Project Evaluation # 2
8 Prepare Draft Report
9 Team Review of Draft
10 Amend Draft Report
11 Submit Draft to CEO
12 CEO Review
13 Convert Draft to Final Report
14 CEO Final Review
15 Preparation for Board presentation
16 Presentation to Board 15th July 2019
17 Distribute Board decision internally 5 days after Board meeting
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School: Engineering, Design & Construction
Qualification: Bachelor of Engineering Technology Unit of competency: BET403 Cost Engineering
Start Date is 14th January 2019 and the calendars are to include Victorian public holidays:
· (Australia Day -26 Jan,
· Labour Day,
· Easter,
· Anzac Day,
· Queen’s Birthday,
· Melbourne Cup Day).
b) Define Calendars
Calendar 5 days x 8 hours
Part 1-3 Memorandum Content
The memorandum is to clearly state the estimated total cost and timeframe to accomplish the report preparation. A one page executive summary is required to enable the CEO to sign-off his agreement to proceed.
PART 2: RESEARCH AND REPORT (FOR SUBMISSION TO THE BOARD)
Part 2.1 What you are required to do in Part 2?
To prepare the report you need to undertake a literature review of key aspects of this proposed new field of activity. Your report is to include brief information on two projects (Timber building – Steel Concrete building).
Both projects must be in Australia. The projects reported upon must have been developed after 1990.
The purpose of this information is to inform the Board of directors of your company of the key aspects of the proposed new field of activity.
Part 2.2 Background Analysis of the Projects
Prepare a brief analysis in your own words of each of the two projects that you have chosen.
The analysis should include a description of the project(s), location(s), key quantities, etc. Project delivery system(s) used. Structure of project organizations, with relationships to parent organizations. Key methods. Source of major resources (labour, materials, etc). Temporary infrastructure required to carry out the works. $ Value of project, converted to today's dollars.
Any other relative $ information (e.g. equipment investment/revenue) accompanied by charts, schedules, graphs, etc. You may need to be creative in making assumptions where detailed information is not available.
References are to be acknowledged.
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School: Engineering, Design & Construction
Qualification: Bachelor of Engineering Technology Unit of competency: BET403 Cost Engineering
Part 2.3 Analyzing the Project
How will your company, using the knowledge gained from the two projects you have examined, establish themselves in this area of business?
· Prepare a risk analysis related to the company moving into this new area of business.
· What are the opportunities and how can they best be developed?
· Develop recommendations as to how and when the company should start this new business.
Part 2.4 Recommendations
Clearly state your recommendations for this proposed new field of business.
Should the Board of Directors approve the move into this new field of business, or not?
Give your reasons
FORMAT FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Your report is to be in the formats described above. Also you should find suitable formats from library books on report writing and presentation of technical papers.
The report is to be in your own words.
Paragraphs of text copied and pasted from articles or downloaded from the internet are not acceptable.
Your written text for the whole of your report should be between 2500 and 3000words.
SUBMISSION DETAILS
Submission date:
21st May 2019
Submission time:
1:00 – 4:30 PM.
Type of submission:
· Hardcopy to your LecturerInstructor Room 217, Building G, Epping Campus.
· Softcopy via Moodle Site - LMS.
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