Construction Project Information Systems Management

Module Description

Construction projects, of whatever complexity, involve a varying number of stakeholders – project owners, project team members, architects, engineers, contractors and facility managers.

The construction industry faces constant challenges of limited manpower, tight budgets, conflicting requests and accelerated schedules.

The managing, dissemination, logging and updating of all the information and keeping stakeholders updated with the latest information is a complex process and needs to be carried out diligently and in a structured manner, will result in errors, project delays and additional costs.

When such systems tend to be cumbersome, most users will tend to circumvent the processes and revert to ad-hoc and uncontrolled information sharing. Construction managers need to have a sound knowledge of the effectiveness and importance of good project information management systems and the ability to implement and manage such systems.

These can vary from simple lists and schedules to more sophisticated web-based organisation-wide software packages for use with larger and complex projects. The aim in all cases however is the coherent organisation of the information.

One of the most interesting emerging advancement is Building Information Modelling (BIM) – a process that generates and manages computer-based models of buildings and other structures, and helps to bridge the information gap between the project owners, design team, contractors and facilities managers.

Entry Requirements

Candidates who apply for this course must possess one of the following: 

• a Level 6 degree in a related field; 

 OR  

• a Level 5 diploma or higher diploma and 5 years’ work experience in a managerial role.  

Preference is given to applicants having a Level 6 degree in a discipline related to construction, and a minimum of 3 years’ work experience in management within the industry. 

Target Audience

This course is targeted at professionals with supervisory and/or middle management experience in the construction industry who wish to have a more thorough background in the subject in order to further advance their careers , namely:  

• Architects and Civil Engineers 
• Mechanical and Electrical Building Services Engineers  
• Project Managers and Coordinators 
• Project Owners 

The target group can be extended to groups working within the construction industry, such as logistics managers, maintenance managers and facilities managers. 

Module / Unit Instructions

The proposed structure comprises a blended approach promoting the building of a community of practice via peer-to-peer learning.

The structure uses primarily two dimensions of teaching-learning modes:

1. Face-to-face sessions: 18 hours.
2. Online Learning Activities: 12 hours.

Face to Face sessions

• Face-to-face sessions include lectures, tutorials, discussions, presentations and workshop activities promoting peer-to-peer learning.

Online Learning Activities

Online learning activities incorporate tutorials and asynchronous discussions. These may consist of active interaction, participation and contributions in fora discussions, sharing resources and self-reflection exercises.

Learners also contribute to the building of the community of practice by providing feedback to their peers as critical friends, enhancing the learner’s critical engagement throughout the study period.

The tutor provides continual support during both teaching -learning modes by providing information, readings and tasks relevant to the module in question.

The tutor provides continuous formative feedback as an on-going guidance during the student’s learning experience in preparation for their summative assessment.

How you’ll be assessed

Assessment of each module consists of two assignments, each carrying a weighting as below:

a) One Formative assignment carries 20% of total module mark achieved. b) One Summative assignment carries 80% of total module mark achieved.

For successful completion of a study module the student is required to achieve a minimum of 41% pass mark in both the formative and the summative assignment.

The overall grade achieved for each module is calculated as the sum of:  20% of the mark achieved for formative assignment; and  80% of the mark achieved for the summative assignment.

All assignment tasks of both formative and summative assessment aim to provide the learner an opportunity to produce evidence of his/her competences aligned to the learning outcomes of each individual Module.

Assessment

a) Formative assessment tasks are provided in the form of structured online discussions that support learners in their development throughout all of the modules studied.

Such discussions are facilitated and monitored by lecturer who provides students with constructive feedback to help them improve and prepare for summative assignment and dissertation.

Formative assessment tasks will contribute to the student’s final mark to acknowledge their work and give chance to improve.

This method allows students to also contribute to the building of the community of practice by providing feedback to their peers as critical friends, enhancing the learner’s critical engagement throughout the study period

b) Summative assessment is done via one assignment at the end of each module.

The mode of assessment varies and may include in-class assignments, and home-based written assignments. The recommended assessment tool for this module is essay title. Other assessment tools which may be used are case studies and reports.

Word count range: 3000 ± 10%. For successful completion of a study module the student is required to achieve a minimum of 41% pass mark in summative assignment.