RECORD

Record

I have found a video on keeping good records and the importance in keeping records in the work place. It is an OH&S video called “Stop chasing your tail” [1] which is based on safety in a construction site but it relates to our discussion today on the topic record.

With the help of my group members they were able to help me cut the important scenes that we needed that were relevant we created our own simple video for you guys to view.
This 3 minuet video helps you understand what happens if you don’t have records in the workplace and what could happen if it goes to court; it also shows that if you communication and collaboration of coworkers it can help prevent problems in the future. Also this video shows how workers are using job diaries and writing everything down as they go day to day and they are also getting it signed off.

This video shows how coworkers are communicating with one another and how they learned to keep records in the simplest way by compromising with one another and that’s what working together is all about. If you have everything documented, if it reaches the court you will be protected financially and reputation too.

The term Record refers to keeping good records, to deliver what the project needs, the project managers has to make sure the client has everything so keeping good records is extremely important.

The principles are all exactly the same; the process is much the same, “He who writes the minuets controls the project” [2]. “Why do we need to write minuets? Will you ever have a client who doesn’t change his/her mind? The client is not always entirely sure of what they want and can frequently change their mind, they don’t have a brief, the client can always disagree and say that its not what they wanted, the lack of communication with the client becomes a major factor when we undertake a project and there was no record taken then there is no evidence” [3]. “Therefore it is important to keep records from day one, so as we document properly we are able to deliver exactly what the client wants, record everything, don’t be afraid to write everything, hand it back to the client in a contract form so the client can sign it. How are you going to protect your financial benefits, how are you going to get the client to pay off what you’ve done? You have to have a record. Write the minuets in the clients need brief, send a contract that client signs and keep one with your signature” [4] everything has to be clearly documented, from what the client has stated from day one. ‘This is what you have asked for, it is all in the minuets Mr. Client’ and ‘we have delivered exactly what you want as it was all recorded. This proves clearly that the needs have all been delivered and through record management we receive our financial gain from client. “We manage the project, we write it down and throw it back to them, if you cant write it, walk away, Everything ahs to be documented like ‘what your going to do’ ‘what its going to look like’ and ‘how your going to get paid’. If you have all that documented, if it reaches the court you will be protected financially and reputation too” [5}.


“How do you protect yourself? You present something to the client; the client accepts it and agrees with you, you send it back to them on paper, your record. Get a job diary-update it ever morning you do the contract on the notes you take. Using memos or faxes or emails always do the contract and send to them ASAP, so no matter what everything is in contract”[6].

Also try to write the minuets before a meeting to clarify things and be able to clearly communicate and agree with the client, this will help the designer and the client to understand what is happening with the project and it’s all a matter of the client to sign it once it’s in contract.

So how did we select what elements to place on records? The elements we choose to go on record are things like our set time frame and planning. Also any changes we have made throughout our fabrication while modeling our building we chose which is the Wombarra house also we have documented what has changed in our progress like all the problems we were having while putting the max file into UT3.

I think the things that we have left out was a record on our progression weekly or fortnightly such as record dates and descriptions of work and who took the minuets on that day or who produced that work. We have not documented what we have contributed to the project in written form nor signed off on what we have submitted or produced weekly; in terms of the inbuilt project and for our presentations. We also found that we didn’t need our recorded history of our conversations on msn, even though it’s a good chat site we found that not everyone was on at the same time and other group members didn’t particularly like using it, so we decided that we could benefit from out recorded emails and note taking during meetings.


References:

[1] Video “Stop chasing your tail” provided by the master builders association, video workshop used from BLDG2280 class OH&S in the built environment Lectures Victor Lin.
[2] Guest speaker on record in week 5, notes recorded on Wednesday 16-4-2008 in class.
[3] Guest speaker on record in week 5, notes recorded on Wednesday 16-4-2008 in class.
[4] Guest speaker on record in week 5, notes recorded on Wednesday 16-4-2008 in class.
[5] Guest speaker on record in week 5, notes recorded on Wednesday 16-4-2008 in class.
[6] Guest speaker on record in week 5, notes recorded on Wednesday 16-4-2008 in class.