Construction Project Management

Welcome to Construction Project Initiation and Planning. Meet your Instructor, Dr. Ibrahim Odeh, and learn what will be covered in the Construction Management Specialization and, more specifically, in this course, Construction Project Initiation and Planning, the first of the specialization series.

Gregory Sauter, President of Crossroads Advisory and Founder of Smart City Works Infrastructure Actuator, introduces the Engineering and Construction Industry. Christopher Toomey, Senior Vice President of AECOM Global Programs, compares Program Management (PgM), Project Management (PM), and Construction Management (CM). The module ends with Professor Odeh distinguishing between construction and manufacturing processes.

Professor Odeh introduces the fundamentals of the Project Development Cycle. Phillip White, a lawyer with the international firm Dentons, provides insight into Contract Types. William J. McConnell, CEO of the Vertex Companies, reviews the basics of surety bonding and Tim McManus, Vice President of Capital Projects and Infrastructure Projects at McKinsey and Company, discusses Project Delivery Methods and Surety Bonds.

Architect Sam Spada, discusses the Lean Project Delivery method and Lean Design Behaviors. Lean project delivery is a project management process that strips away unnecessary effort, time and cost in the planning, design and construction of capital projects to deliver what the Owner values.

Ryan Prime, Sustainability Director for Skanska USA, discusses Sustainable Development; development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Ryan will also review sustainability rating systems focusing specifically on the Envision Rating System.

Paul Haining, Chief Environmental Officer for Skanska USA, stresses the importance of Environmental, Health and Safety in Construction Processes.

Dareen Salama of the STV Group introduces Building Information Management (BIM) and illustrates the uses of BIM during the Lifecycle of the Project.

Bob Preto, Chairman and CEO of Strategic Program Management LLC, discusses international development and construction projects. The major challenge of international projects is risk; understanding risk, allocating risk and managing risk. In this module, you will learn to identify the types of risks found in international construction projects and learn a framework to use to understand risk.

Gus Maimis, Senior Vice President STV Construction, discusses the critical characteristics of a project manager and the most important aspects of being an effective project manager. You will learn how to build a project organizational chart and the understand the most common roles in a construction project. Gus provides insight into various methods of contracting a project manager may encounter when managing a project. The module ends with a review of the potential risks, from the project manager perspective, associated with a project.

Professor Odeh discusses the importance of project planning and scheduling. Planning provides a way to develop a framework for project execution, monitoring, and control. You will learn about and develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for a project. This module also covers standards and project coding in construction projects. You will learn how to define construction plans and build your activity list within a standard coding system. Project coding systems provide the framework for project planning and control as a means of communication.