CASE STUDIES

Problem:

Contractor A noticed through site visits that their “Confirmation of Verbal Instructions” (CVR) system was failing and site teams were falling behind with the required paperwork. This led to a lack of focus of the CVR’s during weekly meeting with the client/architects on a number of projects. Over time this had cost Contractor A, large sums in unrecoverable changes when accounted for across ongoing projects.

Cause:

An investigation of key sites revealed that the Site Managers were under pressure to complete and although CVR’s were being done (by hand), these were not entered into the CVR Log in time for the weekly meetings. Over time, partly due to Site manager embarrassment or work pressure meant that some CVR’s were “lost”.

Solution:

All Site Managers were computer literate and were using Microsoft Excel. Our solution was to create a CVR spreadsheet which generated a CVR sheet that could be filled in by the Site Manager. Once complete, the sheet had a send button which executed a macro that sent the one sheet via Microsoft Outlook to the appropriate distribution and also logged this onto a “summary” sheet. The summary sheet could easily be printed off at any time to show CVR’s status. The clients / architects would send back the CVR’s with their comments / approvals which were then copied into the spreadsheet to complete the approvals trail and automatically updated the summary sheet. 

Review:

A review was carried out on the Key projects. The Site Managers found the new system easier to manage. Findings were that no CVR’s had been “lost”, readily available (and up to date) summary sheets meant that these were always included in the weekly meeting minutes. This meant that the Quantity Surveyors were appraised of the variations being done so additional costs could be better managed and reclaimed (subject to contract type).

Outcome:

Simplifying this process freed up the Site Managers to concentrate on completion, without failing to capture changes. More accurate costings and revenue claim back increased the accuracy of the cash flow and reduced end of project surprises and profits were up for Contractor A.