Built Environment Journal

Vol. 6, No. 2, 12-24, 2009

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF CLIENTS BRIEF: A FOCUS ON THE

ROLE OF MALAYSIAN QUANTITY SURVEYORS
Norizan Ahmad1, Hamimah Adnan2, Ismail Rahmat3, Rahasnan Abdul Rashid4
1,2,3,4

Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying, UiTM, Shah Alam

Tel: 0355444350, Fax:0355444353
norizan712@salam.uitm.edu.my
ABSTRACT

An inadequate and unclear brief is believed to be one of the main causes of cost overrun in a project.
The inability of clients to provide the required information during the briefing and design processes
has been found to be the main cause of change orders resulting in cost overruns. This paper proposes a
client-led initiative for managing the briefing process that will keep a project within its contract sum
while achieving the desired quality. The paper focuses on the role of the quantity surveyor, either as an
in-house representative or consultant, in managing the briefing to manage the construction cost. It will
highlight the findings of a questionnaire survey obtained from 104 respondents on the performances of
quantity surveyors and clients during the briefing process. The paper concludes with a summary of
significant attributes of clients that influenced the success of budget achievement, and
recommendations for improving cost management through appropriate client involvement during the
briefing process.
Keywords: client attributes, briefing process, clients brief, cost management, quantity surveyor

1. INTRODUCTION
Project time and cost overruns are among the major problems in the Malaysian Construction Industry.
Samsudin (2005), in his study on cost overruns of construction projects, found that more than 50% of
projects suffered from cost overruns, and 14% of them experienced cost overruns of between 60% to 70%
of the project costs. Ahmad et al., (2005) study showed that two thirds (70%) of projects incurred cost
overruns and more than two thirds (75%) faced time overruns.
Many researchers (Pinto & Sleven, 1988; Clarke, 1999; Bacarrini, 1999; Turner, 2004; Nguyen et al.,
2004; Fortune & White, 2006, Ahmad, 2008) have agreed that an inadequate and unclear brief is among
the main causes of time and cost overruns of projects. An inadequate and unclear brief at the inception
stage will result in a design that does not meet the clients expectation. The client will only realize the
shortfall during the construction stage and will therefore request changes. Change orders during the
construction stage are very costly and disruptive to the work schedule (Ahmad et al., 2009).

2. PROBLEM STATEMENTS
During the briefing process, the key tasks of the clients are to deliver information on client requirements
and to ensure those requirements are understood by the design team in order to translate that into the
concept and a detailed design of the proposed building. In other words, clients need to prepare a strategic
brief and monitor that until the approval of detailed design and specification. In delivering these tasks an
executive representative is responsible for formulating the policy of the project that includes decisions on
ISSN 1675-5022
2009 Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia

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Built Environment Journal

project goals and objectives that support the organizations business mission. These become the
parameters of the project that provides direction for the clients technical representative and other project
participants for project implementation.
On the other hand, the technical representative, who is normally the project manager for the clients has,
the responsibilities of managing the gathering of functional and operational information for strategic brief
development and managing the briefing process with the design team in translating it into the project brief
and the subsequent design for the project.
Briefing is a communication process between the clients organization and construction professionals
to produce the clients statement of needs (Barret & Stanley, 1999; Brown, 2001; Ryd, 2004; Kelly et al.,
2005). It is iterative in nature, which requires shared understanding and commitment from the project
participants involved. There are two phases of communication involved during briefing formulation i.e.
communication within the clients organization and communication between client and the design team.
However, lack of effort on the part of the client in providing a clear point of contact and coordination
within the clients project team, results in inadequate communication during the briefing process.
Communication problems become compounded when the client is multi-faceted. Communication needs to
be very transparent and coordinated. This is to ensure a similar understanding of project goals and
objectives within the clients organization. Often multi agendas exist in a multi-faceted client
organization. The existence of secret knowledge may cause conflict in information delivered to the
design team (Usmani & Winch, 1993 cited in Barret and Stanley, 1999). Smith (2000) stressed that the
process is often marked by conflict between various parties causing poor quality, time and cost. Brown
(2001) claimed that the element of trust is an important element for a successful and effective
communication.
On the other hand, in larger organizations only a relatively a small group of people is involved and
makes decision for the rest of the stakeholders. This may cause the brief to be under resourced (Barret &
Stanley, 1999). Poor communication within stakeholders is one of the common causes of inadequate
assessment of clients requirements (Austin et al, 2002).
Insufficient allocation of time for the briefing process is another reason for inadequate assessment of
clients requirement during briefing. The nature of the briefing progression requires sufficient time to
allow all key issues to surface. However, lack of time is commonly the reason given in response to
inadequacies in briefing and restricted communication (Brown, 2001, Ahmad, 2008). Clients generally
have a misconception that faster the commencement of the project on site reflects efficient management of
the project. This is only true for the construction stage, where the scope of work has been fully considered
and a realistic time determined. Barret and Stanley, (1999) stressed that the early stage of the briefing
process is critical in ensuring that the objectives are clearly defined. Sufficient time needs to be allocated
to allow the client and the designer to develop a brief that is mutually comprehensible.
Blyth and Worthington, (2001) concurred that many projects suffer from poor identification due to
inadequate time and thought being given at an early stage. The amount of time it takes to develop a brief is
frequently underestimated due to a sense of urgency fuelled by a desire for an immediate solution.
Investing time at the beginning of a project to develop a complete definition by taking account of all the
requirements will reduce the likelihood of changes later. Clients who push for tight deadlines have to be
prepared to ensure that their organization fulfill its obligations by taking decisions when necessary and by
providing information on time (Kelly et al., 2005; Othman et al., 2005).
In other efforts, clients need to involve all relevant user groups timely during briefing to ensure all
requirements are considered. Strategic coordination of user groups will make the effort feasible. Kelly et
al. (2005) found that, the brief was less comprehensive when only a small group of representatives from
the clients organization and design team prepared the brief. Kamara et. al. (1999) also discovered that
limitations in the brief were due to inadequate involvement of all the relevant parties to a project.
Barret and Stanley (1999) and Othman et al. (2005) pointed out that often users are not involved in the
briefing process. Furthermore, if they were involved, they were not properly coordinated and caused
conflict between user groups that hamper the benefit of their involvement in the process. In many cases
users may appear at a later stage to verify the completed accommodation allocated for them (Othman et
al., 2005)
14

Strategic Management Of Clients Brief: A Focus On The Role Of Malaysian Quantity Surveyors
The involvement of other stakeholders, particularly in public organizations would prolong the duration
of briefing due to difficulties in identifying them and reaching a consensus (Chan et al., 2004). Brown
(2001) suggested that an appropriate team structure needs to be established within the clients organization
in order to ensure the client is well represented for identification of requirements. Strategic programming
of briefing is particularly important for a multi-faceted client to allow representatives of focus groups to
present their requirements at an appropriate time.
Drawing from the main references of Latham (1994), Yusuf (1997), Hudson and Clift (1998), Barret
and Stanley (1999), Kamara et.al. (1999), Smith (2000), (Blyth and Worthington (2001), Austin et al
(2002), Kelly et al. (2005), Othman et al (2005), it can be concluded that there are two main problems
with briefing. These are inadequate brief and changes of brief at a later design stage, which are caused by
five main factors. The following are the five main factors that cause problems with briefing:
i)
Lack of identification of client requirements
ii)
Inadequate communications between parties involved in briefing
iii)
Insufficient time allocation for the briefing process
iv)
Inadequate involvement of all relevant parties of a project
v)
Lack of strategic framework for a decision-making process
These factors are caused by many factors attributed by clients and the design team who are the key
project participants during the briefing process.
3. CLIENT ATTRIBUTES
The clients project manager needs to possess leadership skills and be knowledgeable in the construction
process and the organizations mission in order to effectively manage the whole process of the briefing.
These are the key qualities required for a clients project manager to positively contribute to a successful
briefing as well as to project success. Leadership skill needs to couple with authority for efficiency and
effective management effort. The present study will include and measure the attributes of both executive
and technical representative as clients attributes.
Drawing from the main literature of OReilly (1987), BSI (1995), Green (1996), Salisbury (1998),
Barret and Stanley (1999), Blyth and Worthington (2001), CABE (2003) and London et al. (2005) reveals
that there are five key issues related to client attributes during the briefing process. These are:
i)
Knowledge of the client
ii)
Leadership skill of the client
iii)
Communication skill of the client
iv)
Commitment of the client
v)
Decision-making skill of the client
4. THE RESEARCH
The research was aimed at improving the clients brief for better cost management of construction
projects. Three main objectives were set out:
i)
To identify client-related attributes during the briefing process
ii)
To identify the levels of client attributes during briefing
iii)
To establish the relationship between client attributes during the briefing process and budget
achievement
Two sets of questionnaire surveys were designed to investigate clients current performances during
the briefing process, and the influences on project success. The questionnaires on the attributes of clients
were directed to the project architect, while the questionnaires on the perceived level of project success
were directed to the client. Pairs of respondents, an architect and a representative of the client, were
obtained from the same project.
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Built Environment Journal

This research was preceded by an exploratory study using questionnaire survey and a semi-structured
interview. The initial data was obtained from a census. A random sample using the sequential method was
then used to identify a sufficient sampling size. The sequential method was chosen because it was not
possible to pre-determine the population mean for the calculation of the required sample size for the
research. The investigations were focused only on the Klang Valley, as two-thirds of the practicing
architects were in the Klang Valley and most of them were found to be involved with projects throughout
the country. A total of 104 cases were obtained, giving a response rate of 26.3% (N=394).
5. THE RESULTS
i)

Profile of the respondents

More than half (54%) of the architect responded were principals of the firm, 37 % were senior architects
and 9% were project architects. Two thirds (65%) of the respondents had more than 15 years of working
experiences in the construction industry, while 25% had between 11 to 15 years of working experiences,
and only 10% had working experience of between 5 and 10 years. Thus responses were based on
reasonably experienced respondents.
On the clients side, more than half (55%) were represented by project managers, 28% were middle
managers and 13% were consultant project managers. Senior managers (4%) were the respondents from
small organisations. Two thirds (70%) of the respondents had worked for between 6 and 15 years, while
30% had only 5 years experience with the company at the time of the interview. This indicates that these
respondents, too, had sufficient knowledge of the organisations business needs.
ii) Profile of the projects
A total of 104 projects were investigated. All projects were categorised as complex projects based on the
Malaysian Architects Act 1967, Architects (scale of minimum fees) Rules 1986. In this scheme, category
one project is very complex building, and category two project is complex building. Of the projects
investigated, more then half (61%) were in category two and 39% were in category one.
iii) Clients Representatives
The personnel that represent the client during briefing process were divided into two categories, i.e.
executive representatives and technical representatives. Executive representatives were the senior and
middle managers who were the key administrative personnel or the top management of the clients
organisation. Technical representatives were the in-house technical team or appointed consultant project
manager (PMC).
iv) Executive Representatives
The senior managers were more frequently (84%) involved during the briefing process compared to the
middle managers (74%). In many cases, both types of managers were involved during the briefing process
of the project (63%). However, the extent of involvement of the executive representatives differed
depending on whether their client was a public or a private entity.
Middle managers were the lead for executive representatives for both public-owned and public
developer clients; the mean values of their involvement were, 3.63 and 4.00 respectively (on a 5-point
Likert scale). As for senior managers, the mean values of their involvement were 3.00 and 3.67
respectively (refer to Figure 1). One can observe that the involvement of middle managers was higher
than for senior managers under both types of public clients.
In contrast, the involvement of senior managers was higher than that of middle managers for private
clients. The mean values of the involvement for senior manager were 4.06 for private-owned and 4.11 for
16

Strategic Management Of Clients Brief: A Focus On The Role Of Malaysian Quantity Surveyors

Mean value

private developer client. The middle managers involvement was lower with mean values of 3.60 for
private-owned and 3.75 for private developer client.
Due to their size, public organisations are structured into several divisions which are led by middle
managers. Thus, project implementation will normally be handled by middle managers, while approvals
will have to be
sought from the
approval
committees
which are headed
by
senior
6
managers.
4
senior manager

middle manager
0

public

public dev private

private

senior manager

3.34

3.67

4.06

4.11

middle manager

3.63

3.6

3.75

Type of client

Figure1: Level of client representative (executive) involvement, by type of client

Private clients organisational structure is generally smaller than public clients. Therefore in private
organisations, the senior managers were more involved during the briefing process, in that they were able
to issue instructions directly to the design team.
v) Technical Representatives
More than two thirds (71%) of the clients investigated had an in-house technical team to help implement
their projects. The technical personnel commonly included the project manager, architect, planner,
quantity surveyor (QS), civil and structural engineer (C&S Engineer), mechanical and electrical engineer
(M&E Engineer) and project management consultant (PMC), if one was appointed. Other personnel that
could be employed by the client include hospital planner, marketing agent, environmental and traffic
auditor, landscape architect, accountant, contract manager and senior administrator.
The reported frequency of these technical representatives involvement in the briefing process were:
44% QS, 41% project manager, 41% PMC, 40% architect, 35% M&E engineer, 32% C&S engineer, 18%
planner and 16% others (refer to Figure 2).
The QS was the most frequently involved during briefing, followed by the project manager, PMC and
architect. However, in response to a question on extent of involvement, the QS mean value was the
lowest at 3.6 (refer to Figure 3). However from Table 1 it can be seen that the QS was more highly
involved with private-owned clients compared to other technical personnel. In terms of degree or extent of
17

Built Environment Journal

involvement, PMC registered the highest involvement with a mean value of 4.21, followed by the project
manager with a mean value of 4.00 and the architect with a mean value of 3.93.
The exploratory research revealed that the QS personnel in public sector projects were generally
involved in the preparation of tender and contract documents, while those involved in the private sector
acted as advisers on cost and material selection. When employed by a private developer, the QS were
overshadowed by the clients in-house marketing unit or agent. The in-house marketing personnel played
a more important role in the economic issues of the property development.
The in-house marketing personnel were more conversant with the selling price, design options, and
financial implications of commercial and residential buildings. The QS generally administered the contract
and payment valuations during the course of the project.
The results suggest that private clients representatives were more involved and had a bigger role to
play than the representatives of public clients. In complex projects there is also higher involvement of the
C&S and the M&E engineers. In earlier exploratory research, it was found that architects would bring in
the C&S and the M&E engineers at a very early stage, in some cases even at architectural competition
level. At this stage the designers are more concerned about design viability than the cost.

44
41

40
35

32

18

Q
S
Ci
vi
lE
ng
M
&
E
En
g
O
th
er
s

t
Pl
an
ne
r

rc
hi
te
c

Pr
o

je
ct
m
an

16

PM

41

ag
er

percentage

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Type of representatives

Figure2: Frequency of clients representative (technical) involvement during briefing process

4.21
4

3.93

Q
iv S
il
M Eng
&
E
En
g
O
th
er
s
PM
C

3.6

Pr
oj
ec

tm

3.78

3.75

3.85

an
a
A ge
rc
r
hi
te
c
Pl
an t
ne
r

mean value

4.3
4.2
4.1
4
3.9
3.8
3.7
3.6
3.5
3.4
3.3
3.2

18

Type of representativ es

Strategic Management Of Clients Brief: A Focus On The Role Of Malaysian Quantity Surveyors

Figure 3: Extent of involvement of clients representative (technical) during briefing

Table 1: Mean value of technical personnels involvement during the briefing process, by client
type.
Technical
personnel
Project Manager
Architect
Planner
QS
Civil Engineer
M&E Engineer
Others
PMC

Public owned
3.83
4.00
3.40
3.55
3.71
3.75
4.13
4.19

Type of client
Public
Private owned
developer
3.67
4.50
3.00
4.33
2.50
0.00
2.50
4.75
3.00
4.50
3.00
4.50
3.00
3.00
1.00
4.67

Private developer
4.17
3.50
2.00
3.00
3.00
0.00
4.12
4.75

From the analysis above, the frequency of the QS involvement is high, but in terms of extent of
involvement the mean value for QSs is the lowest. It appears that the QSs potentially expansive roles are
not fully exploited in either sector; the QSs tasks or services are not much different from previously
compared to those offered by the other professionals.
vi) Clients performance during briefing process
From a thorough review of the literatures, 31 variables of attributes related to the client during briefing
process were identified. The variables were grouped into three main categories:(a) quality of clients
representatives, (b) management of clients brief, and (c) commitment to clients organisation (refer to
Table 2). These variables were tested against budget achievement. Budget achievement was ascertained
from a comparison of the percentage difference between awarded contract sum and actual final account.
The respondents were asked to rate the clients attributes on a five-point Likert scale where 1
represented very low level and 5 represented very high level; in the case of budget achievement, 1
represented very unsuccessful and 5 represented very successful. Table 2 shows the clients
performance in terms of their attributes during the briefing process measured against project budget
achievement.
Comparisons were made between the ranking of a clients mean score of their related attributes, and
the significant attributes against budget achievement. Significant attributes were denoted by the value of
the correlation coefficient, in which the higher the value of the correlation coefficient, the stronger the
relationship between the two variables.
Table 2: Clients attributes and association with budget achievement
Clients Attributes:
(a) Quality of Clients Representatives

Mean

19

Rank

Budget
Spearman

Built Environment Journal

1. Understanding of project objectives

2. Understanding of project priorities
3. Degree of trust in designer's team
4. Knowledge of their organisations mission
5. Commitment
6. Understanding of their roles and responsibilities
7. Awareness of project constraints
8. Authority in decision making
9. Ability to communicate and manage flow of information
10. Knowledge of the construction process
11. Experience in the construction process
12. Ability to lead and manage the project
13. Ability to coordinate and foster teamwork with the project
team
Clients Attributes:
(b) Management of clients brief

4.25
4.16
4.11
4.11
4.04
3.95
3.92
3.83
3.55
3.52
3.44
3.43

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

3.41

corr. coeff.
0.28*
0.16
0.07
0.39**
0.27*
0.23*
0.09
0.12
0.34**
0.30*
0.29**
0.40**
0.42**

Mean

Rank

Communication with the project team

Ensuring changes are evaluated and taken into account
Review of brief and sign-off complete brief and
specification that fully meets requirements
4. Organizing of client's project team
5. Communication within client organization
6. Allocating adequate time for project
7. Reducing level of bureaucracy
8. Coordinating and monitoring of brief
9. Allocating adequate time for briefing process
10. Planning for brief development
11. Developing, documenting and communicating a clear
brief
12. Coordinating a user group for brief development

3.74
3.66

1
2
3

Budget
Spearman
corr. coeff.
0.24*
0.28**
0.32**

4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

0.22**
0.43**
0.43**
0.30*
0.44**
0.50**
0.42**
0.41**

3.18

12

0.41**

Clients Attributes:
(c) Clients commitment

Mean

Rank

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

4.21
4.03
3.90
3.88
3.63
3.49

1
2
3
4
5
6

Budget
Spearman
Sig.P
0.29**
0.15*
0.35**
0.40**
0.30**
0.30**

1.
2.
3.

Providing finance
Support from top management
Maintaining active participation in the project
Providing full time representative
Effectiveness of communication
Promptness of decision making

3.62
3.57
3.46
3.38
3.38
3.37
3.29
3.24
3.22

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).;* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

(a) Quality of clients representatives

Clients representatives comprise the clients project team as a whole, including the executive and
technical representatives. The mean values for the quality of clients representatives ranged from 3.414.25, i.e. from moderate to very high. The research identified nine variables that were significantly
correlated to budget achievement. The significant variables in descending order are:
1. Ability to coordinate and foster teamwork within the clients project team
2. Ability to lead and manage the project
3. Knowledge of their organisation mission
4. Ability to communicate and manage flow of information,
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Strategic Management Of Clients Brief: A Focus On The Role Of Malaysian Quantity Surveyors
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Knowledge in construction process

Experience in construction process
Commitment,
Understanding of project objectives
Understanding of their roles and responsibilities

The results suggest that strong leadership is important for a project to succeed in achieving the budget.
This is in line with CABEs (2003) guideline that the first key to a successful client is to have a strong
individual who provides leadership and is supported by a good team. Strong leadership provides clear
vision, through good communication and good management of information. Experience and knowledge
are the fundamental ingredients to lead and manage a project efficiently (Barret & Stanley, 1999, Fortune
& White, 2006 Ahmad, 2008). The organisations mission and project objective is the ultimate measure
against which the success of the project is compared. The building which is ultimately produced must
reflect and support the clients organisation (CABE, 2003; Beck, 2009).
A comparison between the ranking of the mean scores obtained by the clients and the attributes that are
significantly correlated shows that only three significant attributes are ranked high (1, 4 and 5) which
represent understanding of project objectives, knowledge of their organisations mission and
commitment. The remaining six attributes are ranked low (6, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13). This indicates that
there is mismatch between clients emphasis and the client attributes that are significant in achieving
budget success.
(b) Brief Management Effort
Brief management effort refers to the effort made by the clients before and during the briefing process.
There were 12 variables identified under this category (refer to Table 2). All attributes were significantly
correlated to the budget achievement. The following were the attributes found to be significant in
descending order:
1. Allocation of adequate time for the briefing process
2. Coordinating and monitoring of the brief
3. Allocation of adequate time for the project
4. Communication within the clients organisation
5. Coordinating a user group for brief development
6. Planning for brief development
7. Developing, documenting and communicating a clear brief
8. Review of brief and sign-off complete brief and specification that full meets requirement
9. Reducing level of bureaucracy
10. Ensuring changes are evaluated and taken into account
11. Communication with project team
12. Organizing of client's project team
These findings indicate that complete information on client requirements is very important.
Information leads to understanding and reduces uncertainty. The more information received at the initial
stage, the more accurate is the prediction of the outcome and the least likely variation will occur
(Kashiwagi, et. al., 2006). This is achieved by organised strategies to involve user groups intended for the
building. Users will provide full information on the work process in the building, (Barret and Stanley,
1999).
Sufficient allocation of time is required to allow the required information to be retrieved. Full
consideration at the early stage provides opportunities to increase value at the lowest cost (CABE, 2003;
Beck, 2009). Monitoring and reviewing the brief will help the designer to confirm that the requirements
are accurately captured and translated. It is then very important for client to approve and show
commitment by signing-off the proposal for the designer to proceed.
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Built Environment Journal

However the overall performances of the clients were lower compared to the earlier category of quality
of clients representatives. The mean scores were moderate with mean values ranging from 3.18 to 3.74.
The rankings based on the clients mean scores were almost to the opposite of the rankings for the most
significant related attributes. This suggests that clients emphasis in managing their brief were mismatched
with the most significant attributes to achieve budget success.
(c) Commitment of clients organization
The commitment of the clients organisation refers to the organisations readiness to provide the required
resources and management support for project implementation. The level of commitment reflects the
importance of the project to the organisation. Six attributes were identified in this category (refer to Table
2).
The performance of the client in this category was ranked moderate to very high, with mean values
ranging from 3.49 to 4.21. Five out of six attributes were found to have a significant correlation to budget
achievement. Similarly, the attributes with a higher correlation coefficient were ranked low in client mean
scores. The significant attributes in descending order were:
1. Providing full time representatives
2. Maintaining active participation in the project
3. Effectiveness of communication
4. Providing finance
5. Promptness of decision making
The results suggest that the emphasis has shifted from the fundamental role of providing finance to
providing management support. A higher level of involvement in the form of active participation will
provide an efficient and effective response crucial for the designer team to perform during briefing process
(Kashiwagi, et. al. 2006).
(d) Monitoring tools for the briefing process
There was an increasing demand by the client to use strategic monitoring tools in their project
management. Nearly a quarter (23%) of the projects investigated were using newly introduced monitoring
tools to strategically monitor their briefing process (refer to Table 3). The monitoring tools used were
Value Management (VM) and Facilities Management (FM).
In general terms, VM is used to reduce redundancies in design and cost without sacrificing the quality
of the solution. Meanwhile, FM in many (86%) cases scrutinised the life cycle of materials and services of
the equipment that were suggested for the solution. However, two of the projects investigated applied FM
in more strategic issues i.e. design flexibility and space management.
Table 3: Percentage of projects applying management tools during the briefing process.
Management Tools
With VM
With FM
With FM & VM
None
Total

Percentage
(N=104)
13.2
2.1
7.7
77.7
100.0

Table 4 shows the types of buildings that used the monitoring tools during the briefing process. They
were: offices, educational building, residential buildings, hospital, public amenities, gallery and
institutional buildings. The variety of types of buildings indicates that the application of the monitoring
22

Strategic Management Of Clients Brief: A Focus On The Role Of Malaysian Quantity Surveyors
tools was not limited only to very complex or specific types of building, but was also employed for more
straightforward buildings.
A t-test was conducted to determine whether there was any significant difference in the degree of
budget achievement between projects with and without monitoring tools. A significant difference in the
level of the budget achievement was found between the two conditions.
Although there were still some cost and time overruns on the projects, t- tests indicated that there was a
significant difference in the percentage of overruns for both factors between projects with monitoring
tools and those without monitoring tools. Table 5 shows that the percentage of budget overruns was 2%
and time overruns were 17% for projects with monitoring tools, compared to 6% and 27% for budget and
time overruns respectively for projects without monitoring tools.

Table 4: The type of building in projects using monitoring tools

Type of the building
Office
Educational building
Residential building
Hospital
Public amenities
Others; Gallery &
Institutional buildings
Total

Frequency
N=24
8
7
3
2
2
2
24

Percentage
33.3
29.2
12.5
8.3
8.3
8.3
100.0

Table 5: Result of t-tests for projects with and without monitoring tools measured against
project success criteria
Project success

Levenes
test (P)

Budget
achievement
Time
achievement

0.56
0.10

Normality
With

Without

0.62

0.60

0.74

0.11

Percentage of T-test (P)

overrun
with without
2.00 6.00
0.012
17.00 27.00

0.024

6. POTENTIAL ROLE OF AN IN-HOUSE QUANTITY SURVEYOR DURING THE BRIEFING

PROCESS
Findings from the research have indicated that the Malaysian quantity surveyors still play only a
traditional role in the clients organisation. Their knowledge and skills were underutilised. The QS has the
most knowledge and skill relevant to the construction industry. Their knowledge in construction
technology, economic and business, contract management, arbitration and project management makes
them the most relevant person to provide input and advice from inception of a project to its total
completion. They need to recognise the opportunities to play an appropriate role to provide dynamic
services to their organisation.
As a clients representative, the QS can make a major contribution on behalf of the client during the
briefing process. The survey found that clients performed only moderately and they did not focus on
significant factors during briefing. Three main issues relating to clients performance were revealed by the
research: i.e. strong leadership, strategic management of information for brief development, and
monitoring of the brief.
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Built Environment Journal

The QS is in the best position to adopt a proactive role in managing the clients brief and in becoming
the brief writer. To fulfil this role, they need to develop and strengthen their leadership skills and acquire
competency in the use of monitoring tools such as FM and VM to be effective in managing the brief.
Briefing is a continuous process, which starts at the initial stage of the project and continues until its
completion. This is to allow interaction to take place between the client and the designer continuously.
The iterative nature of the early design development and the necessity to accept change is an important
component of the briefing process. However major changes should not occur at the later stage. Through
careful consideration, the clients main issues should be identified earlier.
There are two types of brief i.e. strategic brief and project brief. A strategic brief is the clients
statement of needs which includes project objectives, the context of the project, work process and
functions, overall scope and purpose of the project. This is the important information required from the
client. The project brief, on the other hand, is the translation of the strategic brief into technical terms for
design purposes, which is the job of the designer.
Guided by the factors identified in the research, an in-house QS can occupy the role of coordinating
and compiling relevant information for the brief development. Using their skills and competencies in
management of cost and value, QS are able to advise on appropriate proposals for project objectives. The
proposal should focus on perspectives of success criteria that are relevant to the stakeholders.
A Facilities Management (FM) brief consists of a business, operational and design brief (McLennan,
2000). The briefing exercise ensures the facility is more adaptable to future change compared to a
traditional brief, which deals with only the short term issues of project development (Nutt, 1993, Ahmad
et al, 2009). The holistic approach taken by a FM brief is more balanced, paying due regard to the
organisations future business,, designing with the future in mind and considering post-occupancy issues
and risk (McLennan, 2000). Therefore it reduces the likelihood of variation during construction.
Value Management (VM) is a highly structured investigative approach for obtaining value at the best
price. It reduces redundancy, keeping the function and achieving value at a realistic cost equation.
It is possible for the in-house QS to acquire the two monitoring tools and set up a team within the
organisation to provide the services in-house. Professor JJP Verster, chairman of the International Cost
Engineering Council (ICEC), was quoted as saying that The professional should understand current
issues and be prepared to participate in pro-active manner to stay relevant.

REFERENCES
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Strategic Management Of Clients Brief: A Focus On The Role Of Malaysian Quantity Surveyors
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