How to Identify, Document and Communicate Acceptance Criteria
CQEC Development Team: Bill Bennington, Ed Donahue, Paul Stewart, Dana Vincent, Brendan Bartolo, David Mata, Mike Clippinger, Joel Henson and Mark Drzewiecki
Purpose: This document provides a list of tools that CQEC members have deemed as essential components for managing execution of the quality process. In order to achieve quality, alignment with the stakeholders must be achieved. In order to achieve alignment, expectations, or minimum acceptance requirements, need to be established ahead of the work. Not every single component on every job can be inspected by the stakeholders, so priorities for inspections should be established based on risk and importance to project success. The below information contains a list tools, with examples, that will help project teams to organize and track essential acceptance criteria for typical construction projects, with the goal of achieving alignment with the key, critical stakeholders.
1.Develop a project risk assessment (During preconstruction.)
2.Develop a Definable Features of Work (DFW) log. (During preconstruction.)
3.Develop a test and inspection plan (During the submittal process. Trade partners should deliver this information to the GC as part of the submittal deliverables.)
4.Develop a work plan for your DFW’s (Post submittal process, typically 3-4 weeks prior to work starting to allow for review and revisions)
Vital behavior: include trade partners in this process
5.Conduct a Pre-Preparatory meeting (Typically 3-4 weeks prior to work starting to allow for review and revisions.)
6.Hold a preparatory meeting for each DFW (Typically 1-2 weeks prior to work starting.)
Vital behavior: invite all applicable stakeholders including but not limited to: general contractor, trade contractor, adjacent trades, design team, vendors, AHJ, third party inspectors.
Vital behavior: This is the final opportunity to determine whether the team is actually ready to begin the work. Are they a “go” or a “no-go”?
7.Memorialize the Acceptance Criteria (Include this in the work plan and memorialize with stakeholders during the Preparatory meeting.)
8.Convey the plan (Prior to installation of the first component of work or mockup.)
9.Build a Mockup (may be stand alone or the first article of actual work, to be determined by the project team)
PASS: If the initial inspection passes, proceed to step 10 below and communicate acceptance.
FAIL: If the initial inspection fails, proceed to step 4 above and adjust the plan. Rebuild or adjust the mockup and review again. Once passed, ensure the craft are trained on the revised work plan.
10.Release for production
Purpose: This document provides a list of tools that CQEC members have deemed as essential components for managing execution of the quality process. In order to achieve quality, alignment with the stakeholders must be achieved. In order to achieve alignment, expectations, or minimum acceptance requirements, need to be established ahead of the work. Not every single component on every job can be inspected by the stakeholders, so priorities for inspections should be established based on risk and importance to project success. The below information contains a list tools, with examples, that will help project teams to organize and track essential acceptance criteria for typical construction projects, with the goal of achieving alignment with the key, critical stakeholders.
1.Develop a project risk assessment (During preconstruction.)
2.Develop a Definable Features of Work (DFW) log. (During preconstruction.)
- This will serve as the roadmap for your quality management process i.e. Three Phase Inspection Process
3.Develop a test and inspection plan (During the submittal process. Trade partners should deliver this information to the GC as part of the submittal deliverables.)
- This will identify contractual requirements within your DFW’s
- Establish hand-offs / hold points
- Sample Inspection and Test Plan
4.Develop a work plan for your DFW’s (Post submittal process, typically 3-4 weeks prior to work starting to allow for review and revisions)
- Identify stakeholders
- Identify adjacent trades
- Build specific inspection checklists
- Sample Work Plan
- Sample inspection checklist
- Ensure the Foreman or Superintendent who is directly supervising installation of the work is participating in developing the work plan.
Vital behavior: include trade partners in this process
5.Conduct a Pre-Preparatory meeting (Typically 3-4 weeks prior to work starting to allow for review and revisions.)
- Review the workplan and ensure it is complete and properly addresses primary risks
- Ensure the team is ready to start work
6.Hold a preparatory meeting for each DFW (Typically 1-2 weeks prior to work starting.)
- This meeting is a confirmation of the decisions made during the workplan and pre-preparatory meeting processes
- Review the Project Risk Assessment
- Review the Inspection and Test Plan
- Emphasize hand-offs and hold points
- Identify necessary mockups
- Establish schedule for the initial inspection
- Establish frequency for follow up inspections
- Sample Preparatory Meeting Agenda
- Ensure the Foreman or Superintendent who is directly supervising installation of the work is present at the meeting.
Vital behavior: invite all applicable stakeholders including but not limited to: general contractor, trade contractor, adjacent trades, design team, vendors, AHJ, third party inspectors.
Vital behavior: This is the final opportunity to determine whether the team is actually ready to begin the work. Are they a “go” or a “no-go”?
7.Memorialize the Acceptance Criteria (Include this in the work plan and memorialize with stakeholders during the Preparatory meeting.)
- What are we looking at, how will we measure this, who will measure, how often and who will accept. Document this on the work plan.
- Once the acceptance criteria have been determined, incorporate it into the work plan for that definable feature of work
- Distribute work plans to all attendees of the meeting to document mutual understanding
8.Convey the plan (Prior to installation of the first component of work or mockup.)
- Foreman or Superintendent to train applicable craft
- Ensure all craft have easy access to the plan for reference
9.Build a Mockup (may be stand alone or the first article of actual work, to be determined by the project team)
- Utilize developed work plans to create the mockup
- Modify work plans or inspection and testing plans as needed based on lessons learned through the mockup process
- Verify the constructability sequence per the work plan is correct
- Acceptance instrument (how/what will we measure)
- Stakeholder review of the product. This is the trial run to ensure the inspection review process is adequate for all stakeholders.
PASS: If the initial inspection passes, proceed to step 10 below and communicate acceptance.
FAIL: If the initial inspection fails, proceed to step 4 above and adjust the plan. Rebuild or adjust the mockup and review again. Once passed, ensure the craft are trained on the revised work plan.
10.Release for production
- Conduct follow up inspections at frequency identified in the work plan.