Design coordination is a broad term describing the integration of designs prepared by different members of the project design team to create a single, unified set of information that can be constructed without clashes between components. Effective design coordination can help to reduce costs, delays, and disruption that can be caused by problems on site and the need for remedial or abortive works and redesign.
One of the best practices for effective design coordination is to use predefined design coordination checklists. Those checklists can be used to ensure that the designers understand what they are responsible for, and in particular who is responsible for the interfaces and junctions between different design packages. In a more specific sense, design coordination checklists can help the design team ensure that the design solutions can be integrated, in particular, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) designs, which as they permeate through the entire building are frequently the source of coordination problems.
Using Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) like PMWeb, the design team can formalize the design coordination process by creating checklists for each discipline to be coordinated. PMWeb custom form builder will be used to create design coordination checklists for architecture, structural engineering, fire protection, hydraulics engineering, mechanical services coordination, electrical services coordination, lifts, and escalator coordination, civil engineering coordination, landscaping, and specifications. Each form will include the design coordination reviewer name and title as well as the checklist which will list items to be checked, review responses, and remarks.
The attachment tab will be used to link the PMWeb drawings list records reviewed in the design coordination checklist as well as all other documents covered in the review process. Those documents will be uploaded and stored in the PMWeb document management repository.
The workflow assigned to the design coordination checklist will identify the different roles that will be involved in reviewing and approving the design coordination. It should be noted that the workflow steps and roles could be different depending on the design discipline being reviewed.
The design coordination report will summarize the review results for all disciplines for which it will display how many items of the checklist items were verified, not verified, and those that are not applicable. The report will also include a table that lists the checklist items and their status by discipline. The report will include filters to select the disciplines to be reviewed.
About the Author
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant with more than 35-year service record providing project management and controls services to over 100 projects with a total value of over US $5 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education and Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment and Shopping Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries, and Telecommunication and Information Technology projects. He is thoroughly experienced in complete project management including project management control systems, computerized project control software, claims analysis/prevention, risk analysis/management (contingency planning), design, supervision, training, and business development.
Bassam is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Project Management, Strategic Project Management, and Project Management Personal Skills. Over the past 35 years, he has lectured at more than 350 events and courses at different locations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South America. He has written more than 250 articles on project management and project management information systems that were featured in international and regional magazines and newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Project Management Institute- Arabian Gulf Chapter (PMI-AGC) and has served on its board of directors for more than 6 years. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP), and Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE) and Green Project Management (GPM).
Bassam holds a Masters in Engineering Administration (Construction Management) with Faculty Commendation, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor in Civil Engineering – Kuwait University, Kuwait and has attended many executive management programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA and London Business School, London, UK.