Whether the construction contract agreement is a lump sum contract or remeasured contract, one of the processes that will be needed on those projects is the Joint Measurement Record (JMR) also known as Joint Measurement Sheet (JMS). The JMR is used to capture the details of extra work record at construction site and for billing and permission for that work as well as to measure and quantify the approved work-in-place against the awarded contract agreement’s bill of quantity or schedule of values. The JMR records will be used to track units of work in place completed within each period of the project’s duration. Data from the JMR records can be also used to update monthly income contract requisitions and commitment progress invoices also known as interim payment certificates.
Using Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) like PMWeb the Joint Measurement Record (JMR) is one of the standard processes usually available to manage the project cost. PMWeb production module which can be renamed as the Joint Measurement Record (JMR) will be used to capture the details of work in place within a specific project period. This work in place could be the originally approved scope of work or for additional scope of work. There will be JMR records created for each commitment contract agreement. Those are the agreements between the project owner and contractors if PMWeb is being managed by the project owner or the agreements between the contractor and subcontractors and suppliers is being managed by the contractor. In addition, JMR records will exist for the contract agreement between the contractor and project owner if PMWeb was managed by the contractor.
The first created JMR record will capture the details of the project and agreement it will be associated with along with the description field. In addition, it will capture the start and end dates of the week where the measurement was done as well as the financial period it will be posted against. Additional descriptive fields like type, category, location among many others can be added using the JMR default fields or add new fields using the specification or user defined fields option.
The detail table of PMWeb JMR will automatically the bill of quantity or schedule of values line items of the linked commitment or contract agreement record. For each line item, it will capture the related cost account number, description, scheduled quantities, unit of measure, unit rate and total amount. In addition, it will include fields for current quantity, current total, date work done, notes and if the scope of work of that line item was done in full or not. Of course, there is also option to add new line items that for out of scope work that was not part of the original commitment or contract agreement scope of work.
To update the JMR form, the detail section line items need to be edited to provide the date the work in place was reported and the quantity of completed works. Supportive documents including pictures, sketches and computations among others can be attached for each specific line item. In addition, a workflow will be usually assigned for the JMR form to ensure that all necessary reviews and approval had been carried in the required sequence as mapped in the workflow steps.
This project team can also design the desired output form for the JMR that will show the reported work in place as well as the details of all reviews and approvals captured in the workflow. The form could also include hyperlinks to all attached documents and records.
When the JMR record status becomes approved, PMWeb JMR form will automatically display the “Create Next” button to enable creating a new JMR record that will capture the quantities of work in place reported in the previous JMR record. For commitment or contract line items that are completed, the “Done” field needs to be selected so it does get carried out for the next JMR record. This is an important feature as it helps to maintain an audit trail of all submitted JMRs to enable monitoring, evaluating and tracking those JMRs.
Using PMWeb Commitment Progress Invoice module, the data captured in the JMR approved records within a financial period will automatically update the relevant line items in the interim payment certificate for the same financial period when selecting the link for “Production”. The interim payment certificate line items for the current period will be also updated with the percent complete value in case the JMR form is not used for all line items. The interim payment certificate will have its own workflow to map the required review and approval steps.
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 in excess of US $5 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education and Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment and Shopping Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries, 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 in 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