NICMAR

NICMAR INSTITUTE OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH

SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

ASSIGNMENT

NICMAR/CODE OFFICE

1. Course No.

2. Module

3. Course title

4. Candidate Name

5. Reg. No.

6. Date of Dispatch

PGPM 32

Management Information System

7. Last Date of receipt :

ASSIGNMENT
You are a project manager on a construction of Hydel-Power project comprising of four
main works viz. Main Dam, Weir, Electric Power Station and Tunnel. The requirement of ten

construction materials including cement, steel (six sizes), sand, aggregate etc. need to be monitored
daily. Construction, requirements, resources on site and in depot needs to be checked every day.
Design an M.I.S. for efficient working. Assume suitable data

SCOPE OF WORK
The work involves four main works i.e. Main Dam, weir, Electric power station and Tunnel.
The above work involves Supply, transportation, unloading, fabrication, erection, testing and
commissioning of balance ventilation ducts and equipments as per technical specifications.
Benefits of Hydro Power:
Energy has become a symbol of growth and instrument for development. Electric power
particularly the hydro power is a renewable, economically attractive, environment friendly, nonpolluting and environmentally benign source of energy. Moreover, the Hydro Power is submergence
free and has short gestation period. These benefits of HP have now been sufficiently recognized.
The need of the project comes from the benefits of HP and utilization of resources.

Management information system provides predefined types of information to the

management for relatively structured type of decisions.
Management Information System (M.I.S) design for Hydel-Power Project is very much limited
to a specific area as all the material and data is to be managed on the site for the given requirement.
Now the requirements for the hydel project are entirely different from general construction sites.
The height of the control room shall be higher as compared, so as to take care of the heat
generated from the electrical panels and the control of all the panels can be made on the
mezzanine level which saves the space and offers the wider view of the area underneath.
The substation part has to be made in the open area and the wiring of the towers is taken
care by the R.C.C. Trenches made under the floor.
From the reservoirs the water is brought through a tunnel for the generation of the
electricity. i.e. In itself a very technical and specific requirement for the construction of the
project.
As far as the scope of the hydel projects is concerned it is not as limited because of the fact that
our country is facing shortage of electricity. In future we shall need more of hydel projects to meet
the requisite demands of the power sector and of course to facilitate the people staying in the
remotest areas of the country. This is the reason in the recent years even World Bank has offered to
finance the hydel projects in states like Himachala Pradesh, utaranchal, Assam & jammu Kashmir.

MATERIALS MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION

Material management can thus be defined as that aspect of management Function which is
primarily concerned with the acquisition, control and use of materials needed and flow of goods and
services connected with production or construction process into and within an organization.
The modern concept of Materials Management integrates the entire range of functions which
effect the flow, conservation and utilization of all materials and brings together the activities such as
materials planning and budgeting, purchasing, inventory control, clearing and forwarding, receiving
and storekeeping, materials handling, salvaging, scrap and surplus disposal, value analysis and
materials standardization. The significance of this concept lies in the fact that efficiency of any
organization is depend upon having the : Right Material of the Right Quality at the Right Price in
the Right Quantity at the Right Time and Place

The management of the various materials required at site shall be organized at different levels.
Upper Level To determine the goals, objectives & plans.
Ability to deal with the ambiguities of the decisions taken.
Middle LevelDetermination of the ways to construction done in time schedule. To check
how much money has been incurred till the specific date.
Lower Level Control the activities of the workers to meet the targets.
The materials required for the hydel projects shall be managed according to the levels
mentioned above.

Here I take the example of a hydel project of 5MW capacity. Requirement for the project is as
follows:
Control Room with a covered area of 14,000sqft.
o Outer walls in brick
o Frame work of RCC Columns and Beams
o Asbestos sheets as roofing
o Concrete floor with separators
o Steel windows and doors
o Tie beams at the regular intervals to prevent Earthquake.
66KVA grid station in the open area

 Office Spaces
Site Offices as temporary structures
Material Storage Areas
Water Reservoir
Accommodation for staff
Material requirement for the project:
Cement

2200 bags approx.

Steel

40 Tonnes approx.

Aggregate

12,000 cft approx.

Sand

8,500 cft approx.

Bricks

1,80,000 no.

Stage 1 : From foundation level to plinth level

Cement :
600 bags
Sand:

3500 CFT

Aggregate:

2500 cft.

Steel:

12 tones of 25mm , 20mm & 8mm

Bricks:

20,000 bricks in no.

Stage 2 : Up to lintel level

Cement :
500 bags
Sand:

2500 CFT

Aggregate:

3500 cft.

Steel:

07 tones of 25mm , 20mm , 16mm & 8mm

Bricks:

50,000 bricks in no.

Stage 3 : On laying of slabs

Cement:
700 bags
Sand:

3000 CFT

Aggregate:

5000 cft.

Steel:

8 tones of 25mm , 20mm ,16mm & 8mm

Bricks:

80,000 bricks in no.

Remaining quantity of the materials shall be ordered on the requirement of the

miscellaneous activities like plastering, brick soling and brick ballast, etc.

INVENTORY CONTROL MEASURES

The aim of the materials management is to make available the right type of material in
right quantity, at the right price, at the right time and at the right place. The objective is such that the
construction work should not beheld up for the want of material but the total investment on the
materials minimum. If we examine the aims and objectives very carefully the concept of Inventory
control in the material management is obvious. This can be considered as a very important function
of materials management. It is mainly concerned with laying the policies regarding how much
quantity of a material should be held in stock so that the aim of the material management of
ensuring continuity of the project with the minimum investment in materials is fulfilled.

Inventory are necessary because they provide protection against uncertainty of demand and supply.
1. They ensure smooth flow of materials through production process.
2. They ensure reasonable utilization of manpower and equipment etc.,&
3. They also provide the means to maintain good customer service.
TWO-BIN System
Inspired by the kanban replenishment method developed and made popular in Japan, this
replenishment system, adapted to hospital supplies, is based on the principle of two bins for each
product type. Each bin contains half of the quota (inventory level) for a given product. A bar code
label is affixed to the front of each bin. When the first bin is empty, user personnel or clerical staff
transfers the label to a board mounted on the wall, and supplies are used from the second bin.
Using an optical scanner and according to a pre-determined schedule, a stores employee
scans the labels on the board to capture data on the products requiring replenishment, which in turn
triggers the process to replenish the quantity contained in the bin. This activity can be eliminated
through the use of a replenishment software application that uses RFID technology. This application
is presented in the section RFID-assisted replenishment.
Once the person responsible for managing inventory in the department has replenished the
bin, he or she first transfers the remaining supplies in the second bin to the first bin, then places the
new supplies in the now empty second bin, returning the label to the front of the first bin. In this
way, stock rotation occurs with each replenishment.
This system simplifies the needs evaluation process. When compared with other recurring
replenishment methods, the two-bin system stands apart. It requires no inventory taking (or
verification) prior to scanning the labels. It also facilitates stock rotation management, which is
essential to prevent product expiry, and it significantly improves the control of stock levels.

EOQ:
Economic order quantity (also known as the Wilson EOQ Model or simply the EOQ Model)
is a model that defines the optimal quantity to order that minimizes total variable costs required to
order and hold inventory.
It is based on the assumptions:
1) The demand over the period of cycle (normally a year) is constant and is known in advance.
2) Consumption of the material occurs at the uniform rate.

3) The price of the material is independent of the order. Quantity discount is not allowed
4) There is no lead time in the replenishment.
We should know Ordering cost and Carrying cost
A) Ordering Cost: consists of
i)

Requisitioning

ii) Order processing

iii) Order placing, and
iv) Receiving, inspection, checking etc.
B) Carrying Cost:
i) Interest on Capital invested
ii) Storage, handling and warehousing such as rent, Insurances and taxes, Lighting, and
other maintenance costs
Right purchase quantity should ensure that overall cost of acquisition and possession is
minimum, while holding the optimum quantity of an item in inventory. It will have to be
appreciated that a point of minimum cost is reached at which the ordering cost will be just equal to
the carrying cost such that neither excess material is ordered nor too many orders are frequently
placed for the same material during a time period, for which demand pattern is more or less known.
It must be remembered, however, that while the former varies with the number of orders placed, the
latter is linearly and directly related to the quantity carried into the inventory.

EOQ MODEL
ROL:
The two factors that determine the appropriate order point are the procurement or delivery
time stock which is the Inventory needed during the lead time (i.e., the difference between the order
date and the receipt of the inventory ordered) and the safety stock which is the minimum level of
inventory that is held as a protection against shortages.
Reorder Point = Normal consumption during lead-time + Safety Stock.
Several factors determine how much delivery time stock and safety stock should be held. In
summary, the efficiency of a replenishment system affects how much delivery time is needed. Since
the delivery time stock is the expected inventory usage between ordering and receiving inventory,
efficient replenishment of inventory would reduce the need for delivery time stock. And the
determination of level of safety stock involves a basic trade-off between the risk of stock-out,
resulting in possible customer dissatisfaction and lost sales, and the increased costs associated with
carrying additional inventory
REORDER POINT FORMULA:
Reorder point = S x L + F ( S x Rx L)
Where
S = Usage in units
L = Lead time in days
R = Average number of units per order
F = Stock out acceptance factor

SITE STORAGE AND REPORTING

Materials to be stored are in the following way:
Steel & Cement
Aggregate, Sand

in a room with an area of 14,000sqft.

in open courtyard

Reporting:
Scheduled Reports: I would make the scheduled reports which would be issued fortnightly.
The reports would be containing the details of production, monthly cash flow etc. for further use in
planning and control processes.
Error Reports: I would make these reports to correct the invalid customer names, incorrect
totals and missing data during transaction.
Control Reports: Control reports would be maintained in the form of payroll register, a
journal, a cash register etc. giving detailed listing to describe each transaction occurring during a
specific time period.
Provision for Exception reports & Demand reports would be there.

INTEGRATED REPORTING SYSTEM

Basically an integrated reporting is the system in which can get information from all the
reports at lower level. Specific to this project reports from labour class to S.E.s etc. would be base
for integrated reporting for the next level.
SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT:

For the system development of the hydel project we shall be

following the following steps:

Own staff
Staff of outside
agencies
Separate files for
Work done by
own staff

different applications

Billing for
various activities
Work done by
outside staff
Integration of related files of various activities:

Files shall be made in Excel programme

for the separate jobs to be done in a stipulated period and the manpower involved.
Relationship between different entities:

One to one

One to many

Many to many

different entity relationships are as follows

In the management system of hydel project we shall create files showing one specific
activity is to be done by one agency e.g. the completion of superstructure shall be done by a
construction agency. This construction agency shall be assigned more than one job. Here One
to many type of relationship between different entities shall be helpful.

DATA PROCESSING:
Activity

Agency

Duration

Cost

Civil work

P1

2yrs 3 Months

..Lacs

Finishing

P2

6Months

..Lacs

FLOW CHARTING:
Flow charts of the various jobs/activities shall be made on the weekly basis, checking the
commitment by the agency for that specific job. If any activity is not completed in the specified
time it will have to be overlapped in the second week assuming it to be the responsibility of the
concerned agency. After the 6th week if the same situation prevails for the delayed activity penalty
clause will be applicable as per the agreement. The employer and the outside agency shall sign this
agreement. This flowchart shall be made using the P.C. software MRPII System(Material Resource
Planning) and shall make it very easy to maintain the records of agencies hired and the jobs done by
them.
Activity

1st week

2nd week

A1
A2
A3

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

3rd week

4th week

5th week

Data Communication, file design:

As per the data file enclosed below.
System design specifications:
The MIS specifications were designed with 40GB hard disc, 512Mb RAM, P4 & MS-Office
as software.
System analysis and design:
As I have already discussed the MIS design for the hydel project with the system design
specifications already mentioned. The whole project has been divided into construction segments.
The data file for the different activities has already been attached with. As per my design all the
activities e.g. requirement of the materials, their consumption, the duration of the activities, the
manpower required has been segregated so as to avoid all confusions regarding the cost factor and
consumption of materials. I have designed the specifications for the contractors and other outside
agencies as well e.g. the time schedule of the work they will handle and the penalty clauses, if
applicable.
I have designed my specifications of the materials stage wise. This will avoid any type of
pilferage during the construction tenure of the project. To the maximum I have tried in my design
not to have excess storage of the materials as this leads to the wastage of materials like cement
(because of its setting action), steel (rusting of steel) after the handing over of the project. In totality
I conclude that my MIS design for the project is completely successful.