The CSI Master Format . What Does It Mean For The Construction Industry

The CSI Master Format .

 What Does It Mean For The Construction Industry

The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) is the organization that publishes the Master Format. This publication is the specifications writing standard for most of today’s construction and commercial building design projects in North America. Basically, the Master Format is an indexing system for the organization of construction data. The information is organized in title divisions, such as electrical, mechanical, procurement and contracting requirements, HVAC and thermal protection.

Although its earlier publication comprised of 16 divisions of construction, it has expanded to 50 divisions to reflect the current complexity of the construction industry along with the need to incorporate maintenance information and facility life cycle information. The divisions in the Master Format are structured for both future growth and expansion. Those in the construction industry are even encourage to propose revisions to CSI. You might say that the Master Format is a continual work in progress and constantly evolving.

Advantages of the CSI Master Format

Standards are needed to improve coordination and facilitate communication among all workers in the construction project, including architects, suppliers, engineers, project managers and energy consultants. The CSI Master Format is the standard maverick which helps everyone stay on budget, develop timelines, meet deadlines and meet building owner’s requirements. It’s also important for you to realize that with the automation increase in the construction industry, the CSI Master Format is vital to achieve meaningful interoperability. It helps every discipline involved in the design, building and operations of construction applications, whether it’s a hospital or elementary school.

The Master Format also helps contractors and architects work on additions in the future and renovations. The data can be easily retrieved. And with the increased use of building information modeling (BIM), the Master Format is a good fit. More and more, modeling software systems are using Master Format’s format for BIM integration.

Where the CSI Master Format is Being Used

Today, the CSI Master Format is used in a wide range of industry construction, such as hospitals, schools, industrial and commercial green buildings. Think about it. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are complex. The security, back-up power, HVAC, medical gas and other systems are more complicated that the traditional institutional building. With so much on the line, it’s critical that the building will perform properly for both healthcare workers and patients. For healthcare facilities, the CSI Master Format has a series of sections specifically dedicated to the HVAC in healthcare facilities. For green building, there are environmental performance requirements that cover topics, such as indoor air quality and sustainable design.

Responding to Industry Changes

The CSI Master Format is generally updated every five to seven years. As a matter of fact, the 2004 Edition looks nothing like its previous 1960s counterpart. Part of the reason for the 2004 Edition was due to the importance of building electrical systems and the need for a new division for telecommunication systems. New divisions included Division 21 Life-Safety Systems and Division 25 telecommunications systems. The Division 40s was assigned to waste treatment and power systems. Since then, CSI has updated improvements to the section for polished concrete under Division 3. The Master Format is designed to respond to industry changes, improvements and new technologies. If you’re not using it, it’s time to jump onboard.

The Difference Between Typical Project Management and Six Sigma Project Management

The Difference Between Typical Project Management and Six Sigma Project Management .

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) became an accepted standard (as established by the Project Management Institute) that is still widely used in many industries around the world. At a basic level, many of the methodologies advocated by PMBOK and Six Sigma have a great deal in common. Both seek to establish a sound plan; identify and communicate with stakeholders; conduct regular reviews; and manage schedule, cost, and resources.

Six Sigma is not just another project management initiative or process improvement
programmer. Six Sigma is not just a new term for project management nor is it amere 
repackaging of old concepts. It is more than that because it is a robust continuous 
improvement strategy and process that includes cultural and statistical methodologies. Six Sigma is complementary with existing project management programmes and standards but differs in significant ways. Both disciplines seek
 to reduce failures, prevent defects, control costs and schedules, and manage risk. Generally, professional project management attempts 
to achieve these goals by encouraging best practices on a project by project basis,often through the mechanism of a project office that promulgates policy, provides templates and advice, promotes appropriate use of tools such as critical path method, and perhaps performs periodic project reviews.
Too many project management methods have failed not because they weren't adding value but because you couldn't measure the effectiveness of the methodology or quantify the value added by process changes. Six Sigma provides a structured data driven methodology with tools and techniques that companies can use to measure their performance both before and after Six Sigma projects. Using Six Sigma, management can measure the baseline performance of their processes and determine the root causes of variations so they can 
improve their processes to meet and exceed the desired performance levels.
Six Sigma allows managers to take their projects to new levels of discipline and
comprehensive commitment. For standard project management ideas, you can approach them ad ho and implement them as you learn them. You can't do Six Sigma halfheartedly, and that is a good thing. Six Sigma is not for dabblers. You can't implement it piecemeal. If you're in, you're in deep, and you're in for the long haul. Again, that is a good thing because that level of commitment not only gets everyone involved and keeps them involved but also leads to more substantial and far reaching change in your processes.There are many challenges facing project managers: data gathering and analysis, problem solving, understanding and evaluating existing processes, developing and tracking measurements in a standard is ed manner, and making quantitative evaluations. Six Sigma methodology provides tools and techniques to help a manager be successful in all of these 
challenges. This success is accomplished by means of understanding what the methodology is, how it is applied, and how it used.

Six Sigma is not simply another supplement to an organization's existing management 
methods. It is a complementary management methodology that is integrated into and
replaces the existing ways of determining, analysis , and resolving/avoiding problems, as well as achieving business and customer requirements objectively and methodically. Six Sigma can be applied to operational management issues, or it can directly support strategic management development and implementation. Six Sigma's set of tools are more broadly applicable than those commonly applied within typical project management. Six Sigma is more oriented toward solutions of problems at their root cause and prevention of their recurrence rather than attempting to control potential causes of failure on a project by project basis.
The Difference Between Typical Project Management and Six Sigma Project Management The breadth, depth, and precision of Six Sigma also differentiate it from typical project management. Six Sigma has a well defined project charter that outlines the scope of a project, financial targets, anticipated benefits, milestones, etc. It's based on hard financial data and savings. In typical project management, organizations go into a project without fully knowing what the financial gains might be. Six Sigma has a solid control phase (DMAIC : Define -Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control) that makes specific measurements, identifies specific problems, and provides specific solutions that can be measured.
Six Sigma is a robust continuous improvement strategy and process that includes cultural methodologies such as Total Quality Management (TQM), process control strategies such as Statistical Process Control (SPC), and other important statistical tools. When done correctly, 
Six Sigma becomes a way toward organization and cultural development, but it is more than a set of tools. Six Sigma is the strategic and systematic application of the tools on targeted important projects at the appropriate time to bring about significant and lasting change in an organization as a whole.

Project Management Process Groups

Project Management Process Groups

For any project there are five Project Management processes during project life cycle

1. Initiating: The project goal is defined and the PM is authorized. The output of this process is often a project charter.

2. Planning: The project’s scope, time, cost and other details are determined. The output of this process is a project plan. 

3. Executing: Tasks are performed and resources are utilized to accomplish the project plan.

4. Monitoring and Controlling: The project’s is tracked and corrective actions taken when necessary to keep the project on track.

5. Closing: The project’s product, services, or end result is accepted by those who authorized it, and The archive all documents and papers and record and archive the lessons learned..

لدي اي مشروع 5 مجموعات من العمليات تتم خلال دورة حياة المشروع وهم :-

1 - مرحلة البدء: وفيها يتم تحديد الهدف من المشروع و تحديد مدير المشروع وصلاحياته واهم مخرجات هذه المرحلة هو ميثاق المشروع .

2 - مرحلة التخطيط:والتي تم فيها تحديد نطاق وزمن وتكلفة المشروع وبعض العمليات الاخري, ومن اهم مخرجات هذه المرحلة هو اصدار خطة لادارة كل عملية من تلك العمليات الى جانب الخطة الشاملة لادارة المشروع .

3 - مرحلة التنفيذ:وفيها يتم تنفيذ ما تم التخطيط اليه باستخدام الموارد اللازمه لانجاز المشروع.  

4 - مرحلة التحكم والرصد:ويتم فيها رصد ما اذا كان تنفيذ المشروع يتم طبقا للخطط التي وضعت له وتحديد الانحراف عنها وتصحيح تلك الاجراءات عند الحاجة لاسترجاع المشروع الى مساره الصحيح .

5 - مرحلة الاغلاق:نحصل فيها على الموافقة النهائية على المخرج النهائي للمشروع من قبل المخولين للامر, ويتم ارشفة كافة المستندات والاوراق وتسجيل وارشفة الدروس المستفاده. 

Weak Matrix in PMP Organizational Structure

Weak Matrix  in PMP Organizational Structure 

In a weak matrix, the project manager has a part time role with very limited power and authority. His role will be more like an expediter or a coordinator (A project expediter works as staff assistant and communications coordinator. The expediter cannot personally make or enforce decisions. Project coordinators have power to make some decision, have some authority. 

Weak matrix structure is very close to the functional organization structure. In a weak matrix .

structure, the functional manager controls the project budget.

المصفوفة الضعيفه هيا شكل من اشكال المنظمات التي يعمل بها مدير المشروع بدوام جزئي ويكون ذات سلطات وصلاحيات محدودة للغاية ويكون دوره أشبه منسق او منظم للمشروع ويعمل فقط على مساعدة الموظفين والتواصل بينهم .

Expediter لا يمكنه اتخاذ او تنفيذ اي قرارات .
coordinator لديها القدرة على اتخاز بعض القرارات، وبعض السلطة، 

المنظمة التي تعمل بنظام هيكل المصفوفة الضعيف هو اقرب ما يكون الى نظام المصفوفة الوظيفية ,وفيها يكون المدير الوظيفي هو المتحكم الاول في ميزانية المشروع.