Common Terms and Definitions

• A

  Actual Completion Date:

  Once a job has been completed and ready to be billed

  Actual Punch List Completion Date:

  The actual date when all punch list items have been completed

  A&FS:

  Administrative and Financial Services

• B

  Backlog:

  Accumulated supervisor's estimates, in man-hours, for any particular trade code

  Ballpark Estimate:

  Estimate given to a customer which is NOT a firm quote; estimate is worked to be as close to actual cost as possible; sent to customer by e-mail on standard mini-job report form

  Budget:

  The total sum of money allocated for a particular purpose or period of time or to a particular organization

  Budget Administrator:

  Individuals designated by the budget executive as being responsible for operating and controlling specific budget areas within the budget executive's administrative area. These individuals approve documents in their own name within the limits of policy FN18. The budget administrator approves transactions at the specified dollar levels and categories, affirming the need for the action and that the action is appropriate within University Policies and Guidelines

  Budget Executive:

  Individuals who are responsible to the President, Executive Vice President and Provost, or one of the senior vice presidents for a section of the budget. These individuals are normally the President's administrative staff, academic Deans, and Campus Executive Officers. The budget executive approves transactions at the upper dollar levels and specified categories, affirming the need for the action and that the action is appropriate within University Policies and Guidelines. Certain approval actions may be delegated to the budget administrator

  Building Maintenance Funding:

  Routine wear and tear activity, generally under $3,000

• C

  Capital Project:

  A work process; > $1 mil and normally requires Board of Trustees(BOT) approval; not state funded

  Change Order:

  A revision to an originally approved Project Request, E/A, Quotation, or Confirming Quotation due to a request from the originating department, or to address unforeseen conditions encountered after the project is working

  Classroom Committee, University Committee on Instructional Facilities (UCIF) -- Replaces Classroom Committee:

  The purpose of the committee is to improve the instructional environment of classrooms and other teaching facilities at the University Park Campus and the 18 Commonwealth Educational System campuses and provide consulting services for classrooms at the Behrend and Capital Colleges. They were also charged to facilitate the teaching faculty by providing classrooms that are optimal in size and condition and are equipped to meet the instructional needs of faculty and students

  CMMS:

  Computerized Maintenance Management System

  Code Compliance:

  Meeting the appropriate building codes

  Commissioning:

  Validation of a proper system operation for new construction

  Commonwealth Services:

  Non-University Park Campuses

  Completion Date:

  When all items on the punch list are done

  Computerized Maintenance Management System:

  CMMS

  Confirming Quote:

  Confirmation of a quote/price for a job after it has started

  Construction Completion Date:

  When all the construction is complete, less punch lists

  Construction Schedule:

  A formal plan for use of manpower, materials, and resources to complete a jo

  Construction:

  Working a phase of a project

  Contact Person:

  The originator of the work assignment and "person in the know"

  Contingency:

  Funds for unforeseen requirements

  Contract:

  A binding agreement between two persons or parties

  Contract Administration:

  A work unit of Design and Construction serving both University Park and Commonwealth Services

  An OPP activity administering all OPP Contracts

  CSR:

  Customer Service Representative

  Customer:

  A person or company that uses or purchases our services or products. Customers can be both "internal" and "external"

  Customer Completion Date:

  Date when customer wishes project to be done

  Customer Estimate:

  A customer's estimate of a project cost

  Customer Liaison for Projects:

  Define scope, determine desired completion date, coordinate design, obtain plan and estimates, control project budgets, coordinate access and resolve problems

  Customer Liaison for Service Calls:

  Customer relations, adjusts priorities, and resolves problems; shop supervisor

  Customer Service Representative:

  CSR

  Customer Survey Form:

  Form sent to contact person to be used to rate the entire project; sent after job has been completed and billed

• D

  Daily Schedule:

  Plan for person for the day; intra-shop schedule; done for a week at a time

  Design:

  A request made to OPP to perform a complete design for the entire project, with construction documents. This requires approval of the Facilities Coordinator (FC) . All design requests require authorization to direct bill a down payment of $2,000 or 10% of total construction

  DGS Project:

  A work process; project that receives the majority of funds from the state and normally is administered by DGS (normally > 1 mil)

  DGS:

  Department of General Services

  Direct Billing:

  An internal electronic University billing process that authorizes one department to bill another department for services that have been provided

  Direct Billing Authorization:

  A written or electronic IBIS document that outlines the requested service(s) from a University department which must include, a description of the service, the departmental charge budget and fund no., and an estimated cost, the department name and address, and the required authorized signatures

  Drawings:

  A technique of representing a plan or sketch

• E

  E/A

  Evaluation and Analysis

  Equipment:

  Asset(s) other than land or buildings

  Emergencies:

  A work process; $0 < Emergency < ? requires immediate action to prevent loss or damage to property, restore essential services or eliminate personnel hazards

  Estimate:

  Rough or approximate calculation

  Estimator:

  One who determines the cost of manpower, material and resources needed to complete a project

  Evaluation and Analysis

  A request given to OPP to complete a construction/project budget estimate for an entire job. All E/As completed by OPP are valid for 60 days. If no response is given within that time frame the project is placed on hold by OPP

  E/A

• F

  FC:

  Facilities Coordinator

  Facilities Coordinator:

  Office of Physical Plant's departmental contact for a college or department

  FC

  Facilities Resources & Planning:

  A division of OPP responsible for assigning, allocating, and reassigning building space

  Final Inspection:

  Project review before final payment

  Financial Officer:

  Individual who represents the Corporate Controller in the various budget executive areas. This position has the responsibility of assuring that budgets and expenditures are controlled, assets of the University are protected, and that all actions are in compliance with University Policies, Guidelines, and Procedures (refer to Policy FN18). In addition, the Financial Officer is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of all documents/actions through the local and central accounting and budgeting systems

  FO

  Fixed Task:

  Accounting mechanism to accumulate labor, material and equipment charges on recurring work in utilities, janitorial, and landscape

  FO:

  Financial Officer

  Forecasted Completion Date:

  An OPP date, when we wish the project to be completed

  FR&P:

  Facilities Resources & Planning

• G
• H
• I

  IC:

  Inside Construction

  Inside Construction:

  Construction done by OPP trades

  IC

• J

  Job Cost Phase:

  Job cost labor task file to do a specific project

  Job Number:

  An activity number assigned after funding and authorization(s) have been received

• K
• L

  Labor:

  Human activity that provides the goods and services in an economy

  Leader:

  Person responsible for accomplishing an objective through the work of other people

• M

  Major Maintenance Funding:

  Larger project work, generally greater than $3,000; centrally administered on 778-08 by work control; intended for repair/replacement of larger building components or systems

  Major Project:

  A work process; > $25,000 (Non Capital, Non DGS)

  Material Hold:

  A period of time for which a work assignment, or copy there of, is unavailable due to ordering, waiting for receiving and routing paperwork

  Materials:

  The elements or substances of which something is made

  Material Transfer Invoice:

  A form on which the cost of materials (and sometimes labor) can be charged to one task number and credited to another.

  Mini-Jobs:

  Jobs that are more than a work assignment and less than a project; currently, set at up to $5000; when a job would need multiple crews, this could change a work assignment to a mini-job; also, a project request to a PC could go to mini-job if under $5000

  Minor Project:

  A work process; > service call < $25000

  Mission:

  A statement defining the purpose of an organization's existence

  MTI:

  Material Transfer Invoice

  Multiple Copy Work Assignment:

  Additional copies of the same work assignment issued for a different/parallel purpose than the original, such as materials or additional trade codes working simultaneously

• N
• O

  Object Class:

  A unique number assigned to a University financial transaction identifying the type or expenditure

  OC:

  Outside Construction

  OPP:

  Office of Physical Plant

  Orientation periods:

  Familiarization and start up orientations both for OPP and the customer on equipment by the contractor

  Outside Construction:

  Construction performed by an outside concern, not OPP labor

  OC

  OT:

  Overtime

  OTC:

  Office of Telecommunications

  Overhead Tasks:

  An accounting mechanism to accumulate labor, material and equipment overhead costs (e. g. training, cleanup, shop materials, overhead materials, etc.)

  Overtime:

  Time beyond an established limit

  OT

• P

  PART

  Process Action Re-engineering Team

  PA/RT

  Process Action Re-engineering Team

  PAT

  Process Action Team

  PC:

  Project Coordinator

  Project Contact

  Phase:

  Working a specific task; i.e., to run conduit

  PL:

  Project Leader

  Planned Proactive:

  Used to designate planning activity on maintenance funded jobs or work assignments; the work activity is being done in advance of failure of equipment and has been anticipated (planned) and done in a chosen time frame

  Planning and Estimating:

  Scope verification, trade and material sequencing and detailed cost estimating

  PM:

  Project Manager

  Project Management

  Preventive Maintenance

  PM Fee:

  Project Management Fee

  PO:

  Purchase Order

  PRAG:

  Project Resource Allocation Group

  Preventive Maintenance:

  A work process; repetitive, and recurring, maintenance work, which is estimated and scheduled

  PM

  Process:

  The steps involved in accomplishing a task

  Process Action Team:

  A team of experts established to analyse and improve a process to eliminate waste in the process

  Process Action Re-engineering Team:

  A team of experts established to analyse and improve a process to eliminate waste in the process

  Professional:

  One who engages in a pursuit or activity professionally; i.e. an architect

  Project:

  A specifically formulated plan or design

  Project Contact:

  A person who initiates a project

  PC

  Project Coordinator:

  An OPP employee assisting in project management activities

  A job description in the project management area

  PC

  Project Leader:

  Coordinates all job activity and monitors costs; may be a PC, PM, operations supervisor or manager, renovations supervisor, mini-job CSR

  PL

  Project Management Fee:

  A fee or down payment required allowing the project to proceed.

  PM Fee

  Project Manager:

  An OPP employee responsible for all project activities

  A job description in the project management area

  PM

  Project Number:

  A number which identifies all project related activities

  Project Phase:

  Phases a project goes through in A&E, Design and Construction

  Project Request:

  A document to initiate some types of construction work

  Punch List:

  A list of items which must be corrected or competed before job completion

  Purchase Order:

  A project can be done with outside resources via purchase order if the anticipated work is less than $25,000; may or may not require a design; three bids generally needed; coordinated by PL; planning and estimating done by the successful bidder

  A binding document between two parties to obtain materials, parts, goods and services

  PO

• Q

  Quotation:

  A request made to OPP to complete a construction quotation for the entire project with the option given to do as a Cost (Time & Material) Quote, or a Contract (Fixed Priced) Quote. This requires approval of the Facilities Coordinator (FC). All quotations require authorization to direct bill a down payment of $2,000 or 10% of total construction/project estimate

  Quote:

  To state the current price for a commodity, a job or a project

• R

  Re-commissioning:

  Re-validation and making new construction changes depending on current usage of an existing system

  Record Drawings:

  A set of "as built" drawings

  Related Work Assignments:

  Work assignments, with different task numbers than the original, started to handle work associated with the original work assignment of for rework

  Renovations:

  To restore to a formal or better state by repairing or rebuilding

  Rework Codes:

  A three-letter code to indicate cause of rework done on a work assignment

  Risk Management:

  Insurance and legal review of a project

• S

  Scheduled Punch List Completion Date:

  The date when all punch list items must be completed

  Scheduled Start Date:

  To start a project construction

  Scoping Estimates:

  Scope is generally understood and estimate is based on square foot or unit prices using historical data; estimate is within +/-20%; no charge for the scoping estimate; scoping estimates are also done to estimate the backlog of major maintenance projects

  Service Calls:

  A work process; routine work where there will be no more than 16 hours labor and no more than 3 shops and no more than $3000 material. If the routine work exceeds any of the parameters, it will no longer be considered a service call.

  Shop Drawings:

  A set of submittals or approvals which must be approved prior to fabrication or construction

  Shop Loading:

  1-3 month look, loads projects to specific shops, determines level of effort for work types, makes IC/OC decisions; assesses available labor

  Standing Order Number:

  Four digit budget number that customer give to CSR so mini-job can be started; a standing account with OPP's A&FS set up by departments to allow their budgets to be direct billed for services rendered

  Strategic Plan:

  The plan that defines the organization's mission, vision and strategic goals

  Supervisor's Estimate:

  Done via estimate screen; a guess in man hours, as to the work represented by a work assignment based solely on the description on the face of it

  Supervisor's Jobs:

  A job where an operations supervisor is the project leader; no formal job plan, estimate or sequence of work is prepared; generally initiated from a work assignment charged to building maintenance (770-06) that exceeds or is expected to exceed $3,000; typically no 9.5% PM fee; some originate when a repair activity is identified that is large in scope and will be done by the operations crews; nearly all are funded by major maintenance (778-08) though some may be funded by building maintenance or other sources

• T

  Task Number:

  Like phase numbers

  Telecommunications

  A science that deals with communications at a distance

  Timberline:

  Software package used for estimating; used all the time for projects; has been adapted to use on mini-jobs

  Trade Code:

  A three-digit number assigned to a particular occupational specialty

  Trades:

  Different types of architectural and construction crafts

• U

  Unplanned Reactive:

  Used to designate planning activity on maintenance funded jobs or work assignments; the work is being done in reaction to equipment that has failed and has not been anticipated (or planned); the work must occur immediately

  UR:

  Unplanned Reactive

• V

  Vision:

  A definition of where an organization aspires to be in the future

• W

  Warranty:

  A written guarantee of the integrity of a product or service

  Waste:

  The difference between the way things are now and they way they would be if everything were perfect

  WCC:

  Work Control Center

  Work Control Center:

  A division of OPP that handles work input, plans, estimates, schedules, establishes priorities, manages OPP backlogs and allocates the total resources directed to maintenance, repair, renovation, and operation of The Physical Plant

  Weekly Schedule:

  1-2 week look; coordinate IC/OC work; inter-shop schedule; iron out scheduling conflicts

  Work Assignment Sequence:

  A number defining the expected order in which trades are assigned

  Work Coordination Duties:

  Coordinate OPP efforts to accomplish all facets of work from after assignment of service calls or following construction authorization of projects through close out, acceptance and reporting; activities requiring coordinator are: daily scheduling, daily job site access, cost control and material delivery

  Work Orders on Preventive Maintenance:

  A preventive maintenance work order is the order issued by the PMCS which directs the accomplishment of a specific PM assignment; the design team felt there was no need to change the term "work order", because it is a unique term to preventive maintenance and its meaning does not change

• XYZ