Project management, engineering practice and professional conduct
This domain tests delivery discipline - scope, cost, schedule, risk, site supervision - and the ethical obligations of a Hong Kong registered professional engineer.
Lifecycle and supervision
Public transport and logistics projects move through feasibility, preliminary design, detailed design, tender, construction, commissioning and defects liability. Each stage carries a cost-estimate accuracy range; quoting a feasibility estimate as a budget is a classic error. Site supervision follows the Building (Administration) Regulations with a Registered Structural Engineer and Registered Geotechnical Engineer where applicable; temporary works need design and checking; commissioning must be witnessed with as-built records and O&M manuals handed over.
Earned value
CV = EV − AC; SV = EV − PV; CPI = EV/AC; SPI = EV/PV; EAC = BAC/CPI; VAC = BAC − EAC. Cost and schedule must be read together - a favourable CPI with adverse SPI usually signals a problem deferred, not avoided.
Worked example
BAC = HKD 4,800k; PV = 1,200k; EV = 1,000k; AC = 1,100k.
- CV = 1,000 − 1,100 = −100k (over budget).
- SV = 1,000 − 1,200 = −200k (behind schedule).
- CPI = 0.909; SPI = 0.833.
- EAC = 4,800/0.909 = 5,280k; VAC = −480k.
The forecast is a 10% cost overrun if the current efficiency persists - the answer should say so and propose recovery options, not merely report the indices.
Conduct
The HKIE Code of Conduct requires integrity, competence within one's field, objectivity, confidentiality and disclosure of conflicts of interest. Public safety and the environment rank above commercial or client interest; an engineer must report unsafe practice and may not misrepresent qualifications or accept undisclosed inducements. Gifts, hospitality and secondary employment must be declared; confidentiality survives leaving a project.
Traps that cost marks
- Reporting SPI > 1 as good news while CPI < 1 shows overspend.
- Using EAC = BAC − CV instead of BAC/CPI.
- Treating float as slack available for any activity (only free float is safe).
- Failing to declare a conflict, or accepting a benefit that could reasonably be seen as influencing judgement.