Avoiding conflicting roles amongst Architects, Interior and MEP designers
For carrying out various design function-related
activities, the process of assigning user rights to core design activities,
particularly in IT environments, is complex. If
Architects, Interior Designers, and MEP designers are assigned rights
injudiciously, there can be conflicting roles as per a few illustrations below. Few Illustrations of conflicting role
assignments in Design functions are tabulated below
SNo
Design Activity Description
Architect
Assigned
Say employee code
Interior designer
Assigned
Say employee code
MEP designer
Assigned
Say employee code
1
Initiate or /create or design development activity at the Concept design
development stage
EA001
EI001
ME001
The same designer
approves the Concept design without any peer review or higher-level
designer
EA001
E1002
ME001
2
Initiate or /create or design development activity at the Schematic
design development stage
EA002
EI002
ME002
The same designer
approves the Schematic
design
developed without
any peer review or higher-level designer
EA002
E1002
ME002
3
Initiate or /create sanction designs/drawings for
submitting to the regulatory body
EA003
Not
applicable
ME003
The same designer
approves the sanction
designs/drawings developed without any peer review or
higher-level designer and submitted to the regulatory bodies
EA003
Not
applicable
ME003
4
Initiate or /create detailed designs/drawings based on
statutory approvals
EA003
Not
applicable
ME003
The same designer
approves the detailed
designs /drawings
without any peer review or higher-level designer
EA003
Not
applicable
ME003
5
Initiate or /create Tenders with technical and
commercial terms
EA004
EI003
ME004
The same designer
approves the Tender without any peer review or higher-level designer
EA004
E1003
ME004
6
Estimating costs of
the entire building based on various Bill of quantities
EA004
EI003
ME004
The same designer
approves the project cost without any peer review or higher-level designer
E004
EI003
ME004
7
Initiate or /create “As build designs/drawings”
EA005
EI004
ME005
The same designer
approves the As
build designs/drawings”
without any peer review or higher-level designer
EA005
E1004
ME005
8
Negotiate fees and payment terms with the outsourced
“Consultant” for procuring consultancy-related design services
EA004
EI003
ME004
Approve
the fee rate of the external consultant
without involving the contracts team or finance team
EA004
E1003
ME004
9
Certify & Approve work initiation or completion of
outsourced “Consultant” w. r. t.
designs and drawings
EA003
EI002
ME003
Authorize
payment releases for advance/other
payments to outsourced “Consultant.” Against work initiation /completion
EA003
E1002
ME003
10
Create” an agreement with an outsourced
“Consultant” towards services
EA004
EI003
ME004
Approve/release such agreement directly (without vetting of
Scope of design work, terms, and conditions by project-finance or and
project-legal team or and Project head)
EA004
E1003
ME004
11
Make changes in the scope of the outsourced
Consultant’s Consultancy work and associated deliverables
EA004
EI003
ME004
Approve
& release” the amended
agreement to the outsourced “Consultant”.
EA004
E1003
ME004
12
Make
changes in outsourced Consultant fees or
reimbursement rates or payment terms
EA004
EI003
ME004
Approve such amendments
and pass Running account (RA) bills /final bills of outsourced
Consultant for payments
EA004
E1003
ME004
Employee code no’s like EA001 &
onwards, EI001 & onwards, ME001 & onwards mentioned above are just for
simple understanding of readers and would vary based on the size of the
construction company, no of projects to be designed, and design organization
structure being lean or fat. Many more such conflicting role
possibilities can be directly identified by readers in design functions related
to Architects, Interior Designers, and MEP. In some design functions, with a very
lean design organisation, the same designers perform design activities for
Architects or & Interior Designers or & and MEP designs. Implications Assigning conflicting roles, can
trigger colluding of designers with outsourced consultants or contractors, or
project team members, and compromising of the cardinal principle of
"segregation of duties" leading to:·
Design
deficiencies. · Adverse impact on project costs or
construction quality or not meeting customer requirements or project completion
timelines.·
Statutory
non-conformances Suggested approach – Assigning roles based on Segregation
of duties The roles assigned
to any designer need to be such that these are appropriate to the
designer’s position/level, skill, and competence. The roles are to be
assigned so that the cardinal
principle of segregation of duties is followed to ensure that there
are no conflicts of duties or incompatibility in roles. The
activities proposed are as below: 1.
Identify Parameters for developing the S-O-D (Segregation
of Duty) template for Assigning Access Rights to Core design processes and their activities
2. Design SOD templates for
assigning access rights to core design processes and
their activities based on the parameters identified.3. Software programming of
SOD template for assigning access rights for core design processes
and their activities4. Populate the SOD
template with “Access rights” related activities for core
design processes. This includes reflecting the assigned profiles
for capturing assigned profiles vis-à-vis activity for core processes5. Affecting Changes
As and when changes occur vis-à-vis following for any reason, the design
team reviewing and amending populated templates as above.· Changes in design
functions assigned for executing core processes· Changes in core design
processes· Changes in design
activities · Change in
hierarchy levels in business hierarchy vis-à-vis lower, medium, and higher
levels·
Changes in hierarchy positions of designers vis-à-vis low level,
medium level, and high levels e.g.o
Lower level: staff, junior/assistant manager, and so ono
Middle level: manager, senior
manager-sr. Mgr. and so ono
Higher level: general
managers-GM, directors-Dir and so on
More details and illustrations about the
implementation of the Segregation of duties concept
are included in chapter 11 (Templates at annex 26C,27C,28C,29C) in my
handbook
