2.2.2 Procedure

The subject of each major section of this Operations Manual is a distinct administrative discipline within that particular area of construction management. Each subject has been arranged in a manner that will facilitate the way in which various functions must be performed. Generally, these arrangements have been determined because of operating practicalities; in some cases historical arrangement may have played some role, but only if it still makes good sense in our contemporary contracting world.
As its own discipline, each section of the Operations Manual can be considered as an individual manual for the specialist involved with that particular subject matter. Its relation to the other sections of the Operations Manual are carefully interfaced. In this way, for example, the “Purchasing” section of the Operations Manual will detail the specific procedures and recommendations for procuring the subcontract for a particular situation and thereby provide the specific “how-to” instruction for the Purchasing Agent and his or her staff. It will then go on to relate those purchasing efforts to the original estimating function—which was a source of the original purchasing budget in the first place.
The Project Engineer and Site Superintendent will be interested not only in their own specialist disciplines, but also in how the purchasing efforts handle both boilerplate and specific contract requirements throughout the subcontract terms and conditions that they’ll have to live with for each project’s duration. Both of these individuals should be intimately familiar with the company’s standard operating documents (such as subcontracts, purchase orders, etc.). The manner in which specific purchases may have deviated from the company’s “standard” must be communicated to these managers in ways that are quick, clear, and complete. And so every action that may appear far removed from another person’s specific and immediate operating problem can actually be affecting them in dramatic, intimate, and persistent ways.
Each functional area within the company should have its own copy of operating procedures. It is not sufficient to have only one copy of the company’s Operations Manual in the company “library,” however active that particular bookcase might be. The procedures determined by company management to be critical to its operation must be immediately and simultaneously available to everyone who needs that information. Each jobsite must have atleast one copy, depending upon the actual size of the field staff. Compliance with the stated company procedures must be a primary objective of every company member, and the enforcement by every person with any supervisory capacity must be considered to be a primary responsibility. The company should carefully consider numbering each copy of the Operations Manual and formally issuing a copy to key members of management and staff.