BN-CO-104 Standard Procedure for Field Office Administration

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Field Communications
3. Numbering System
4. Telexes
5. Letters
6. Field Memo's
7. Radio Communication
8. Minutes of Meeting
9. Technical Bulletins
10. Technical Newsletters
11. Field Reports and Records
12. Field Office Filing System
13. Job Close Out
14. Confidential and/or Special Handling
15. Disposal of Field Office Documents at Job Close Out
16. Attachment Summary

1. FIELD OFFICE ADMINISTRATION

1. Introduction

The purpose of this section is to outline standard procedures for routing, administration, identification and filing of all communica­tions (by letter, memo, AVO, MOM, telex, etc.) between the Field Office and the Client, Home Office, Subcontractors, Vendors, Local Authorities etc. in addition all field reports and records which are to be produced and maintained by the Field Organization are listed.

• All correspondence shall be conducted in the English language, unless otherwise specified in the "Project Coordination Proce­dure".
• Correspondence, insofar as practical, shall be limited to one subject.
• Telephone communication is discouraged, telex communication is recommended in its place. All decisions reached in telephone conversations shall be confirmed in writing or by telex.
• All correspondence shall bear an abbreviated project title and the Company job number.
• All correspondence shall be numbered consecutively. Registers of these numbers shall be kept.
• Number assignment and maintaining the registers will be the responsibility of the Office Manager or the Construction Managers Secretary.
• All correspondence shall be written in the name of the Project Construction Manager.

2. Field Communications
(Attachment 1)

2.1 With Client

• Communication with Client may be done at all levels.
  Inter-office memos or AVO's should be used to confirm any procedural agreement or technical discussion. A copy of such communications should be sent to the Project Construction Manager who will, following review, submit the correspondence to the Site Engineer for further distribution and filing.
• All formal communications with the Client at the job site must be approved by the Project Construction Manager and sent over his signature. A copy of all correspondence sent from the Site to the Client should be sent to the Project Manager.No commercial or contractual matter may be covered in any communication to the Client, as this is the responsibility of the Project Manager and Sales Engineer.

2.2 With Home Office

All correspondence to the Home Office shall be sent to the Project Manager, except for field administrative matters concerning staff, which shall be sent to the Manager of Construction in the Home Office. The Project Manager will take care of further distribution in the Home Office.

2.3 With Vendors

Communications with vendors (such as backcharges) shall be handled through the Home Office Procurement Department. Where it is expedi­tious for the Field to contact the vendor directly (after approval from the Home Office Procurement Department) copies of all corre­spondence and confirmations must be sent to the Project Manager, who will make the required distribution in the Home Office.

2.4 With Subcontractors

All formal communications with subcontractors at the site must be approved by the Project Construction Manager and sent over his signature. Copies of such communications shall be sent to the Project Manager.

2.5 With Local Authorities

Communication with Local Authorities will be handled by the Home Office Authority Engineer, or, dependent on job size and location, by a Field Authority Engineer.

For inspection purposes the field will contact the relevant authority directly.

3. Numbering System

Unless otherwise specified in the "Construction Coordination Proce­dure" numbering of all correspondence from the field office will be as follows:

3.1 Letters or Memorandums from Field to Home Office:

FMH-1, FMH-2, etc.

3.2 Letters or Memorandums from Field to Client:

FMC-1, FMC-2, etc.

3.3 Letters, Memorandums or Telexes from Field to Vendors:

VEND-1, VEND-2 with reference to the relating Purchase Order Number.

Letters, Memorandums or Telexes from Field to Subcontractors e.g.

• FM or TX/J001/001
• FM = Letter of Memo
• TX = if telex
• J001 = Purchase Order Number
• 001 = Sequence Number of correspondence

3.4 Letters to Government Authorities:

GOV-1, GOV-2, etc.

3.5 Inter Field Office Memorandums:

IM-1, IM-2, etc.

3.6 Outgoing Telexes

The majority of outgoing telexes are sent to the Company. It is considered preferable to identify these telexes with a simple sequence number e.g.:

3.7 Incoming Telexes

RF-001, RF-002, etc. (RF = Received in Field)

3.8 Minutes of Meetings

• With Client :
  MOM-C01
  MOM-C02, etc.
• With Subcontractors :
  MOM-/J001/01
  MOM-/J001/02
  J001 = Purchase Order Number
• Each Subcontractor will have his own series of numbers.
• All other minutes of meetings should be numbered MOM-01, MOM-02, etc., without prefix. A register will be kept of all MOM's.

4. Telexes

4.1 Incoming Telexes

The telex operator shall log incoming telexes in the Telex Received Register by date, subject, sender, receiver, sender's telex sequence number and additional sequence number as defined in Item 3.7.
The last telex copy will remain with the telex operator in a file in chronological order.

One copy of the telex will be given to the addressee.

The original plus the remaining copies of the telex shall be sent to the Project Construction Manager or the Site Engineer for arking-up with the file number and any further distribution/action as necessary.

If the telex cannot be acted on in three working days, the person responsible shall acknowledge receipt of the telex to the sender. This acknowledgement shall indicate when answer can be expected.

The incoming telexes shall be filed in the PCM Secretary's file or the Engineering Department's file by type of telex i.e. Those from project, construction, other Company Offices, vendors/subcontractors or Client, filed separately in chronological sequence and numbered as defined in Item 3.7.

4.2 Outgoing Telexes
(Attachment 2)

Outgoing telexes shall be over the signature of the Project Con­struction Manager in conjuction with the name of the originator.
Therefore all outgoing telexes MUST be approved before sending, by the Project Construction Manager or his designate.

Telex forms BN-U 203 can be obtained through the Home Office Con­struction Department.

The sender and approver should request copies on the telex form. Persons indicated will automatically receive their copy from the telex operator.

All outgoing telexes will be numbered by the telex operator, as defined in Items 3.3 and 3.6.

The telex operator shall log all telexes in an Outgoing Telex Register by TX number, date, subject, sender and receiver and the additional telex number.

The last copy of the telex together with the draft will go to the originator for confirmation that the telex sent conforms to the draft.

The original and remaining copies will be sent to the Site Engineer for distribution and filing.

5. Letters

5.1 Outgoing Mail

All letters are officially sent by the Project Construction Manager. All correspondence to the Home Office covering project subjects shall be addressed to the Project Manager. All correspondence covering personnel affairs shall be addressed to the Manager of Construction. Correspondence concerning personnel may be addressed directly to the Home Office Department which is to take action, with copies to the Manager of Construction in the Home Office and to the Project Construction Manager. All correspondence of a confidential nature shall be sent in separate, sealed envelopes clearly marked CONFIDENTIAL.

The Office Manager shall arrange for stenographing, typing, number­ing and distribution. The Office Manager shall keep the main file with all letters filed numerically. Copies of all outgoing corre­spondence shall be given to the Site Engineer.

The Site Engineer shall mark up the copy of the outgoing correspon­dence with the file number, the distribution and indicate action as necessary, copies shall be made for persons indicated, the initial copy shall remain in the Reading File, (for routing of Reading File see also Item 5.2).

5.2 Incoming Mail

All incoming mail shall be opened and date stamped by the Office Manager. All incoming correspondence and copies of all internal memo's/AVO's shall be given to the Site Engineer.

The Site Engineer shall mark up the received correspondence with the file number, the distribution and indicate action as necessary, copies will be made for persons indicated, and the original shall remain in the Reading File.

The Reading File shall then be passed on to the Project Construction Manager and Department Heads. The Reading File will be circulated daily, the Reading File copies shall be filed.

All incoming and outgoing correspondence letters, memo's, telexes shall carry the following example marking:

6. Field Memo's

If not otherwise instructed in the Construction Coordination Proce­dure all Field memos shall be numbered in the same series as letters (see Item 3.3).

All memos for distribution outside the field office shall go out over the name of the Project Construction Manager. Signing is to be by the Project Construction Manager or his designate. A copy of all memos shall be sent to the Site Engineer for Job distribution and filing.

Posting of memos, when required, and mailing of memos shall be handled by the Office Manager.

The file copy shall be filed in the letter file with the Office Manager.

7. Radio Communication

On large size projects a central radio/walkie-talkie station may be used for on-site communication.

In such cases separate instructions will be given in the Construction Coordination Procedure for that project.

8. Minutes of Meeting
(Attachments 3 and 4)

All minutes of Meeting should be typed on forms No. UE (1) 4-1 and UE (1) 4-2.

Form 1 shall be used for top sheet and Form 2 for continuation sheet.

Prior to the meeting it shall be decided who will take notes and prepare the minutes.

Execution

• Fill in all headings.
• Start with listing who were present and representing which company.
• Give a short description of the purpose of the meeting.
• Itemize the notes and fill in as far as applicable for each item which party or parties is to take action.
• Keep the notes as short as practical.
• Indicate the distribution at the end showing the names of all people, who should receive copies.
• All Minutes of Meeting with the Client shall be signed by the Project Construction Manager and bear the initials of the originator.
• All other Minutes of Meeting shall be signed and dated by the originator.
• Minutes of Meeting shall be issued promptly but not later than three days after the date of the meeting.
  However, important matters requiring quick action shall be immediately brought to the attention of the people involved by AVO, memorandum or telex.
• The Office Manager shall arrange for typing, filing and distri­bution within the time as stated above.

9. Technical Bulletins

Copies of Technical Bulletins, when received in the field shall be filed numerically by TB number by the Site Engineer, who will also make further distribution at the site.

10. Technical Newsletters

All personnel are encouraged to document in the form of a Technical Newsletter (TNL), a brief description of any information on the solution of unique construction problems, which would be useful to all Company Offices. This draft Newsletter is to be sent to the Manager of Construction in the Home Office for further action.

11. Field Reports and Records

In order to keep the Home Office informed of Construction Progress, Financial Status and Predicted Job Completion, the following reports are to be prepared by the field.

Instructions for the preparation of these reports will be found in the relevant sections of this manual.

Distribution will be as indicated on the Document Distribution List which is included in the Project Coordination Procedure.

11.1 Daily Field Force Report

11.2 Weekly Time Report for Staff Personnel

1.3 Monthly Reports

Monthly Progress Report, consisting of:

• Narrative Letter.
• Photographs.
• Monthly Job Summary.
• Field Cost Report - Field Purchases.
• Manhour Report - Subcontract Labor.
• Cost and Progress Report - Subcontracts.
• Construction Progress Chart - Overall.
• List of Field Change Orders.
• List of Extra Work Authorizations.

Monthly Analysis Cost Codes X, Y and Z

Monthly Operating Account Report, consisting of:

• Operating Account Report.
• Statement Field Expenditures covered by Purchase Orders.
• Statement Field Expenditures not covered by Purchase Orders.

Monthly Safety Reports consisting of:

• Monthly Accident Report.
• Summary of Accidents for Overall Project.
• Summary of Accidents for Month ...

11.4 Reports upon Occurrence

• Daily Material Receiving Record.
• Material Receipt Notice.
• Over/Short and Damage Report.
• Claims on Carriers.
• Backcharge to Vendor.
• Outshipment Report.
• Field Change Order.
• First Report of Injury.
• Contractors Report Accident Investigation.

11.5 Final Job Report

12. Field Office Filing System

12.1 General

The primary purpose of a filing system is to store information in an orderly way so that it is readily available for reference.

The details of a filing system may vary to suit the specific re­quirements of each job, the general set-up, however, has to be uniform from job to job in order to suit Company departmental re­quirements. The system outlined below fulfills these requirements. It may be amended to suit the various sizes and types of jobs.

The filing system is divided into three parts:

• The Project Construction Manager's File.
• The Administrative Department Files.
• The Engineering Department Files.

12.2 The Project Construction Manager's File

This file contains the following, all of which are confidential:

• The proposal and prime contract, including revisions/amendments and change orders.
• The construction estimate, including revisions (Budget).
• Monthly Home Office cost reports.
• Confidential letters/memo's

12.3 The Administration Department Files

These files contain:

The Office Manager's File consisting of

• Copies of assignment agreement - staff personnel.
• Copies of weekly time sheets - staff personnel.
• Copies of correspondence or documents relating to staff person­nel.
• Copies of purchase orders, correspondence, etc., relating to telephone, telex, office equipment, field office furniture and temporary buildings (X, Y and Z cost codes).
• Copies of accident and safety reports.
• Copies of field purchase order register.
• Copies of insurance certificates from subcontractors and vendors performing work at site.
• Copies of outgoing telexes (to be maintained by PCM Secretary).
• Copies of incoming telexes (to be maintained by PCM Secretary).
• Copies of all correspondence as described in Items 5.0, 6.0 and 8.0 (Master File).

Material Supervisor and Warehouse Files consisting of:

• Copies of all Home Office and field purchase orders, filed by purchase order number, within each cost code, in individual folders.
• These files include purchase requisitions, correspondence, material receiving notices, outshipment reports, over-short and damage reports, shipping notices, packing slips, freight bills etc.
• Material requisitions in numerical order.
• Daily material receiving records in numerical order.
• Copies of outshipment reports, in numerical order.
• Copies of over short and damage reports, in numerical order.
• Expediting reports.

The Job Accountant's File consisting of:

• Copies of field purchase orders in individual folders, includ­ing requisitions, material receiving notices, outshipment reports, overshort and damage reports, copy invoices and other correspondence, etc., connected to accounting.
• These will be filed by purchase order number.
• Copies of statements of expenditures covered by purchase orders, with copies of vouchers.
• Copies of statements of expenditures not covered by purchase orders, with copies of vouchers.
• Copies of "transmittals of invoices for payment".
• Copies of bank statements.
• Copies of operating account reports.
• Vendor record cards.
• Commitment cards (by cost code).

12.4 The Engineering Department Files

These files contain:

- Home Office subcontracts, filed by subcontract number in individual folders.

Each folder will contain clearly divided and marked sections for:

• Purchase Order
• Requisition
• Correspondence To
• Correspondence From
• Miscellaneous Items
• Minutes of Meetings

This file will contain the original of all correspondence received from the sub-contractor.

In addition the Cost Engineer will maintain a similar file for his own use containing extra work orders, extra work order reports, negative extra work orders, pay item authorization, engineers certificates and required back-up, together with registers for recording the various documents and showing amount of invoices approved and contract sum through latest extra work order.

• Field subcontracts, filed see above.
• A file for each subcontract containing a complete set of documents and correspondence as issued for bids, including originals and/or copies of drawings and specifications.
• Field-originated and copies of Home Office change orders to the prime contract filed by number.
• Backcharges to vendors, filed by number, bearing reference to the corresponding pages in the job record book.
• Copies of all purchase orders.
• Copies of all requisitions.
• Copies of all specifications.
• Stick files of Company drawings by account in numerical se­quence.
• Drawing schedules.
• Piping isometrics by area and isometric number.
• Instrument details, by drawing number.
• Spare Company drawings by drawing number.
• Manufacturer's drawings and instructions by purchase order number in vendor print sequence number in individual folders, with operating manuals, vessel books, vendor test certificates in separate files also by P.O. number.
• Drawing transmittal letters - chronologically.
• Concrete log.
• Concrete test reports.
• Piping and vessel inspection/test reports.
• Vessel/Tower closing certificates.
• Pump alignment records.
• Electrical tracing log sheets.
• Job record book.
• One set of all void Company drawings etc.
• Daily field force reports.
• Weekly equipment reports.
• Monthly field cost and progress reports.
• Correspondence
  - Field to Home Office
  - Home Office to Field
  - Home Office to Client
  - Field to Client
  - Client to Field
• A copy of all marked up drawings "As Built" with transmittal letter to Client and/or Project Manager.

Set-up of the Engineering Filing System

The Engineering Filing System shall be set up as per Attachment 5 to this section (with the File Numbers used on the correspondence file ref. as previously defined in Items 3.0 and 5.0 i.e. RF/A1, RF/B1-C, RF/J102 etc.).

A colour system should be maintained for easy identification when searching for "lost" files, or quick identification if files are placed in the wrong location. (This is easily done by colored stick-on labels that are obtainable for "box" files, Attachment 6). For stick files a similar coloring system should be maintained (as listed). This helps in keeping stick files in correct order on the racks and easy identification. Such stick file color marking can be done by spray painting both ends 20cms of each stick.

The Company, Client and Vendor files shall have subsections by Company account code with additional sections as noted in Attachment 5.

13. Job Close Out

When the construction of the project is completed all administrative and financial matters have to be closed out. Outstanding matters need to be sufficiently documented and transferred to Home Office for finalizing. The following items must be finalized before closing and moving off the site:

• All invoices against Field Purchase Orders paid and a written statement to this effect secured from each vendor.
• Material receipts completed for each item on Home Office Purchase Orders.
• Documentation of claims and back charges against vendors completed and transmitted to Home Office.
• Documentation of change orders to prime contract completed and transmitted to Home Office.
• Subcontract work completed, extra work orders documented and final invoice approved for payment.
• Surplus material and scrap disposed of.
• Accumulated engineering and accounting information forwarded to Home Office.
• Temporary buildings and facilities dismantled and removed, as required.
• Post office box terminated and arrangements made with post office for forwarding of mail.
• Rental on telex and printing machines and the like terminated.
• Make arrangements with Client and/or Post office for disconnec­tion of telephone and telex facilities.
• Final site clean-up completed.

14. Confidential and/or Special Handling

Documents issued to the Project Construction Manager for the project and for which he is held responsible for safe keeping and return to the Home Office Construction Department upon completion of the job include the following:

• Proposal.
• Prime Contract with Change Orders.
• Construction Estimate (Budget).
• Home Office Cost Reports.
• Company Standards and Procedures.

15. Disposal of Field Office Documents at Job Close Out

For each project, the disposal of field office documents is to be checked with the Project Manager, the Home Office Construction Department and the Client. A specific document disposal procedure shall be included in the Construction Coordination Procedure.

The following will serve as a general outline:

• For disposal of Accounting Documents and Warehouse files the Home Office Accounting and Procurement Department are to be contacted through the Project Manager for disposal instructions.
• It should be discussed with the Client's representative, whether the Client is interested in the Field copies of Engi­neering Information. The Project Manager's approval is first required.

All documents and files that are to be sent to the Home Office, should be packed in uniform carton archive boxes (size 11.5 x 25 x 36cm.) which can be placed directly in the Home Office archives.

Before inserting the documents in these boxes, the covers and folders must be removed and the documents bound by means of a fastener.

On the outside of the box the contents must be indicated e.g. Purchase Orders 001 through 999. The boxes must be numbered with job number and box sequence number.

A transmittal must be prepared showing box numbers and a brief description of the contents e.g. Box 6 "Test and Acceptance Certs." and "Authorities File", Box 12 "Petty Cash and Bank Documents".

"As Built" Drawings shall be packed and sent separately to the Project Manager.

16. Attachment Summary

1. AVOID VERBAL ORDER - BN-U 201 - Refer to form section
2. CABLE TELEX FORM - BN-U 203 - Void
3. MINUTES OF MEETING - UE (1)-4-1 - Refer to form section
4. MINUTES OF MEETING - UE (1)-4-2 - Refer to form section
5. TYPICAL SET-UP OF FIELD ENGINEERING FILING SYSTEM - Refer to project filing procedure
6. TYPICAL EXAMPLES OF ENGINEERING BOX FILE NUMBERING - Refer to project filing procedure