35493 - Managing Engineering and Construction Processes

Academic Year 2012/2013

  • Docente: Rosa Grimaldi
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: ING-IND/35
  • Language: English
  • Moduli: Alessandro Grandi (Modulo 1) Rosa Grimaldi (Modulo 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Civil Engineering (cod. 8211)

Learning outcomes

A successful learner from this course will know the principles, methods and tools necessary to manage design and construction processes, elements of planning, estimating, scheduling, bidding and contractual relationships, valuation of project cash flows, critical path method, survey of construction procedures, cost control and effectiveness, field supervision.

Course contents

The course aims at providing basis for understanding and managing construction processes. To reach this aim, the course is divided in two modules, each of 30 hours.

The FIRST PART will provide a framework for understanding and analyzing both financial and managerial accounting as well as broader managerial issues. Lectures and readings provide an introduction to the following concepts: balance sheet, income statement, cash flows, different types of costs, present value techniques, capital budgeting.

The SECOND PART of the course addresses the fundamental principles of project management and how to best apply these principles in today's business environment, with applications in the engineering and construction industry. It will cover the following main topics: a) basic principles of project manageme; b) specific approaches and tools; c) the broader business context of project management; d) application to the engineering and construction industry.

Readings/Bibliography

Anthony R., Hawkins D. and K. Merchant, "Accounting: Text and Cases”, 13/e, 2011, McGraw-Hill

Project Management for Construction. Fundamental Concepts for Owners, Engineers, Architects and Builders , by Chris Hendrickson, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA l52l3 - Second Edition prepared for world wide web publication, version 2.2, Summer, 2008.

http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/index.html

Teaching methods

The teaching material includes: presentation slides and illustrations; cases and exercises; articles and supplemetary reading material.

The course material will be posted on the course web pages of Universibo web site AMS Campus - AlmaDL - Università di Bologna (http://campus.unibo.it/)

Assessment methods

FIRST PART

The final exam will include practical exercises and theoretical questions. Exercises are aimed to assess your ability to put in practice accounting techniques; theory questions are intended to evaluate your level of understanding and knowledge of the theory.

The final exam for this FIRST PART will take place in room 3.1 on Wednesday 17thof April at 9 am (from 9 to 11). Students are invited to take part to this intermediary exam. The grade of this FIRST PART exam will contribute to the final grade (to be computed at the end of the whole course), which is likely to be the weighted average of the FIRST PART grade and SECOND PART grade.

SECOND PART

There will be a final written exam at the end of the course.

The final exam will include:

- exercise(s) on project planning techniques

- open-ended question(s)

- multiple choice questions

Registration to the exam takes place through the AlmaEsami website.



Teaching tools

For the first part of the course The following textbook is needed for a clear comprehension of the topics presented during the course (please, consider only the chapters suggested in the list below):

Anthony R., Hawkins D. and K. Merchant, "Accounting: Text and Cases”, 13/e, 2011, McGraw-Hill (Price: 60€)

To order the book, students can refer to the library Pitagora Editrice - Via Saragozza 112 - 40135 Bologna - tel. 051/6446460. In the event of impossibility to find the abovementioned text, you can use the previous edition (12/e, 2007).

In addition to the textbook, during the course some exercises will be presented. The text of the exercises will be available online in advance to be downloaded by students. After conducting exercises in the classroom, also their solutions will be available online. The didactic material is published to the students at the following web site: https://campus.cib.unibo.it/


Office hours

See the website of Rosa Grimaldi

See the website of Alessandro Grandi