Abstract
Hwaseong Fortress was constructed during the years 1794 to 1796 at Suwon, Korea. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed it as a world cultural heritage in 1997. In addition, UNESCO inscribed the documentary report of this project, called Hwaseong Seongyok Uigwe, as a documentary heritage in 2007. This remarkable document contained the project plan, the methodology of fortification, and their associated elaborate drawings and figures. The report contains mundane but crucial information pertaining to the inner workings of the project. Information such as expenditures relating to budget, time, material, and employment give insight into project management practices used before the establishment of modern project management. Further enhancing this report is a record of project communication detailing instructions and meetings between stakeholders that include the project sponsor King Jeongjo.
Could this report, written over 200 years ago, provide insight to improve modern Korean project management practices? The goal of the study is to compare project management practices used to create the Hwaseong Fortress with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (PMI, 2004), which is considered the modern project management benchmark. The conclusion of this research should reveal clues about the future of project management.
Introduction
Projects were delivered before the development of modern project management processes. Because project management has relatively only been practiced for about 50 years, there is a degree of introspection as to the future of project management. Typically, this involves a critical examination of past projects. One such project often cited as a benchmark to measure the growth of project management is the Egyptian Pyramids. Even though the deliverable of the project inspires awe after 5,000 years, little is known about the project management practices used during the project life cycle. In the end owing to poorly kept records much is left to conjecture. Hence, using the Egyptian Pyramids as a retrospective project management tool will likely be ineffective.
Exhibit 1: Hwaseong Fortress Site
This paper proposes to use the construction of the Hwaseong Fortress located in Suwon city in Korea (see Exhibit 1, the Hwaseong Fortress site location map) as a project management benchmarking tool. What makes this 200-year-old project a good study candidate is its accompanying project report called “Hwaseong Seongyok Uigwe,” example page shown in Exhibit 2. The level of detail described in the project report (inscribed in 2007 as a documentary heritage in Memory of the World program by UNESCO) coupled with the deliverable of the project (inscribed in 1997 by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage) provides an excellent opportunity to study pre-modern project management.
Specifically, this paper proposes to study the Hwaseong Fortress project practices by mapping them to the currently accepted PMBOK® Guide.
Exhibit 2: Floor Plan of Hwaseong Fortress in Hwaseong Seongyok Uigwe
The Project: Hwaseong Fortress
Project Background
King Jeongo, the 22nd king in the Chosun dynasty, presided over the construction the Hwaseong Fortress during the years 1794 to 1796.
When the future King Jeongjo was 10 years old, his father Crown Prince Sado was killed by his grandfather, the reigning King YoungJo as part of a political struggle. Upon ascending the throne after King Youngjo, the new King Jeongjo initiated the process to memorialise his late father by having his tomb moved from Baebongsan in Yangju to Hwasan, However, this plan was not without obstacles.
A government office building and private homes occupied the site that was selected for construction. Thus, o funding the project other monies were needed to offset the cost of displacement. Therefore, King Jeongjo could not unilaterally act without generating public unrest.
As a solution King Jeongjo uncovered a plan advocated in a book written by a scholar named Yoo Hyungwon. The book Bangyesurok provided the argument of filial piety as justification for the construction of a new planned city to be called Hwaseong Fortress. It enabled King Jeongjoto to strengthen his royal authority. King Jeongjo believed that increasing the power of a central authority would have the effect of marginalizing competing power groups. He believed that the excessive power concentrated on groups such as Noron Byuckpa stymied the country’s growth.
The Hwaseong Fortress project was to be a milestone in this political process. In order to establish the Hwaseong Fortress and the King’s family as bonfire authorities for Chosun, King Jeongjo planned to move to Hwaseong Fortress after abdicating the throne to his son King Soonjo. Unfortunately, King Jeongjo died before his political dream would come true.
Facilities in Hwaseong Fortress
King Jeongjo was of the opinion that it would be wiser to withstand an attack than flee to the mountains. Consequently, in the Hwaseong Fortress design process he eschewed mountain fortress experience in favour of a new design. .To this extent, he chose prominent Silhak (practical science) scholars. His request was for them to research well-built fortresses and figure out a way to build a solid fortress. One such scholar, Jeong Yakyong (the so-called “Dasan”), researched many books from China that dealt with the design and construction of high walls, watchtowers, and double-hung gates.
Exhibit 3: Facility Guide Map of Hwaseong Fortress
Another important feature was the use of bricks. The Silhak scholars insisted on using bricks to build houses instead the traditional lumber. The reason for this was that over-logging in the 18th century created lumber supply shortages. King Jeongjo did not wish his project to add to the shortage of material for home building. However, brick making not only requires soil and clay but kilns as well. The Silhak scholars reasoned that even though several kilns would be needed for the construction of Hwaseong Fortress, they would eventually be used to supply bricks to the general population.
As a project, the Hwaseong Fortress was designed and constructed more for political and economical purposes than for military purposes. It was part of a larger planned city consisting of a modern urban infrastructure. In addition to the common facilities such as bridges and streets, the new city was to have public facilities such as water reservoirs and farms run by troops stationed nearby (the so-called “Doonjeon”). Unlike other fortresses in China and Japan in the 18th century, Hwaseong is a unique “Pogoksik” (valley-enveloping) mountain fortress built on a level site with nearby mountainous land. Hwaseong was designed to function as a military, political, and commercial entity.
Because the fortress was designed to serve a military purpose, there were 5.7 km of high walls surrounding 48 main facilities that serve military purposes (see Exhibit 3 for the facility guide map). It designed many unique features that might strengthen the weak points contained in other fortresses. These include four main gates, two flood gates, five secret gates, two command posts at the top of the Paldalsan mountains, twelve sentry posts, two big watch towers, two crossbow towers, five artillery posts, and a beacon deck with five towers, which are shown in Exhibit 4.
Exhibit 4: Facilities of Hwaseong Fortress
Time and Resources for the Project
The Hwaseong Fortress project started on January 7, 1794 and completed on September 10, 1796. It took an estimated 10 years to plan but only 34 months to construct. (This included six months of suspended work due to the cold weather.)
Hwaseong Fortress was one of the first Korean construction projects that used construction equipment. This included cranes, which were invented by Dasan. The newly invented cranes made it possible to lift heavy stones over the fortress walls. Also carts were used to carry large stones. The intention was to ease the labor burden for the workers. However, there was another important reason. The use of equipment increased to productivity of the labor. Saving on direct labor costs was essential because the project was predicted to be costly. Although still labor intensive, the use of production enhancing equipment would likely alleviate some of the project’s cost uncertainty.
The assigned project cost budget was 873,517 Nyang (monetary unit in Chosun dynasty). In actuality, cost was 860,698 Nyang. This indicates that a very precise cost control process existed. There were 1,821 craftsman involved in 22 different crafts. A total of 148 officials worked for project management along with an additional 219 supervisors to oversee the project works. In addition, there were 926 units of construction equipment used in the project. There were 10 different kinds of equipment used. Equipment consisted of items such as cranes, cow cart, and handcarts.
The Project Report: Hwaseong Seongyok Uigwe
The Hwaseong Seongyokuigwe (Uigwe here-in after) is the 1,334-page documentary record of the Hwaseong Fortress project It was inscribed by UNESCO as a documentary heritage in 2007 as a part of Uigwe in the Chosun dynasty. The Uigwe recorded and prescribed through prose and illustration of the overall process of construction of the Hwaseong Fortress and the attached government buildings.
The historic report, consisting of 10 chapters, fills nine volumes. The first volume is a preface. The next six volumes contain the main contents. The three remaining volumes are the appendices. These books note the slightest detail of the construction process of the project. Therefore, they allow researchers to find valuable and comprehensive insight into the process of governmental administration and management of national mega-size construction projects, as well as the design and construction technology of that time.
Exhibit 5: Hwaseong Seongyok Uigwe
The preface, which takes up one whole volume, includes an index of important subtitles for the entire set of books along with editing guidelines and procedures. Also included is actual start dates and completion dates of the milestones for each facility. There are also detailed illustrations of each facility, equipment used, and their associated parts. Of importance to posterity is the inclusion of a full-page fortress map showing the inside view of the whole Hwaseong city as it was in the 18th century. Lastly, the preface contains the project organization with names of each government official responsible for the construction and publication of Uigwe.
The first volume includes “Ojeseonghwajuryak,” which is a basic project plan prepared by the King. It includes 136 separate records of the King’s instructions along with meeting minute records with project managers and other officials. These are listed under the titles of “Jeongyo”, “Yuneum,” “Yuji,” “Cheonryung,” “Yeonsol”, and “Gyesa.”
The second, third, and fourth volumes incorporate a poem, which was all written by the King. It also contains more routine matter such as the rules and regulations for punishing and rewarding the workers, formal letters exchanged between the governmental offices for the project plan and execution, and the number, names, and other detailed information of each workers mobilized for the project.
The fifth and sixth volumes entitled “Jaeyong” include 284 pages of records of the project’s budgeted and actual costs. This includes the type and amount of materials procured. These entries represent the total budgeted albeit itemized construction costs of over 860,698 Nyang. The records in this volume are extremely detailed itemizing each cost component, such as material items, each labour, and transportation costs. These were categorized by 68 different facilities and kept as a total construction cost of each facility.
The appendices, volumes seven through nine, are arranged in accordance with those of the main contents. They provide detailed information regarding the government buildings constructed inside the Hwaseong Fortress.
Project Management in the Hwaseong Fortress Project
Project Organization and Governance
The project was fully managed by “Seongyokso,” which is today’s project management office (PMO)- like organization. King Jeongjo was the project sponsor providing the funding. He also developed and presented the base project plan. “Chae jegong” was appointed as “Chongridaesin” (project director) and Cho simtae was appointed as a “Gamdondangsang” (project manager). Other positions such as Chaekeungdochong, Byulgamdong were assigned to various government officials. In total there were 219 officials appointed as project supervisors. The project governance was clearly defined and the role of each appointed position was appropriate.
Project Planning
King Jeongjo instructed Dasan to plan the project. Dasan researched and wrote various books about the fortress. He completed “Seongsol” about two years before the actual start of the Hwaseong Fortress project. Thereafter, King Jeongjo made a “Ojeseonghwajuryak” based on the “Seongsol.” “Ojeseonghwajuryak” is a basic project plan that is composed of a project plan and specifications for eight areas, which include “Punsu” (length, height of the fortress), “Jaeryo” (materials), Hocham (digging trench), Tosaki (excavation and basement), Doldeugi (sizing and cutting the rock), Gildakki (road construction), and Seongje (building the wall). The project plan was documented before the initiation. It described how to proceed in detail. The importance of plan was mentioned in the Uigwe as follows:
(Gyesa, December 6, 1793)
King asked, “What’s your intention?”
Chae jegong answered “The project will start soon, in the spring time next year, therefore all plans of construction must be prepared.…”
Project Management Processes
Project Charter
King Jeongjo appointed a project manager and released the source of project funding and start time of project at “Jeongyo.” This is the “Project Charter” with which King Jeongjo formally authorised the project.
(Jeongyo, December 6, 1793)
King instructed, “Hwaseong Fortress will be started at the next spring, and I appoint Cho simtae as Dangsang and Chaeyoungbusa will manage the documentary works. Docheong and Ganbyulyok will keep initial documentary works. I instruct the project funds to be coming from the Keumwiyoung and Eoyoungcheong which will be used during the coming 10 years.”
Project Scope Management
The book Seongsol, Ongseong Dosul, Nuzo Dosul, Hyunan Dosul, Poru Dosul, Kijung Dosul was written by Dasan and this includes various facilities of fortress. “Dosul” means a book with illustrations and specifications. This defined a detailed project scope to be constructed. And, the King said at Yeonsol:
(Yeonsol, December 6, 1793)
King instructed to Chae jegong, “…It is important to define the scope of work before moving forward, and management is more important than defining the scope and finding right people is most important.”
Project Time Management
The estimated duration of the project was 10 years. However, it was completed in 34 months. All detailed time recording included start and completion time of each facility along with their associated milestones were recorded in “Shiil” in the preface. Time management of this project was detailed and accurate. Because of this detail it was likely that it helped the project team reduce the project duration. The “Shiil” tells us many things, such as:
- Wall construction was executed simultaneously in four areas with different a crew of teams. The team might have consisted of members of similar crafts and number of laborers. This would make competitive situation between the teams increasing both speed and quality.
- The fast-tracking method used by concurrent wall construction could be achieved using readily available labor. This would likely be the main reason for the early completion of the project.
- Floodgate construction was difficult due to its construction on the water stream. The Hwahongmun gate was constructed as a first trial The later one, Namsumun was constructed faster due to a steep learning curve based on the building of the Hwahongmun gate.
Exhibit 6: Time Schedule of the Project
Project Cost Management
In volumes six and seven (Jaeyong) in Uigwe describes “Guhoik” (budget and fund source), “Silip” (actual resource cost) in detail. This is the most detailed part of Uigwe as it includes all the detailed records of resource expenditures. The contents of “Jaeyong” include material items, quantity and cost, quantity and cost of equipments, and name and rates of every worker. The actual cost of each facilities was itemized by materials, labor, and transportation cost. Comparing the cost management practice of today, the cost management in that time was as sophisticated as it is in today.
Project Quality Management
King Jeongjo emphasized the solidity of the fortress more than its beauty. The King said at Yonseol:
(Yeonsol, December 8, 1793)
King instructed to Lee Yookyung, “I assigned this work to you as you are capable to do. The most important part in fortress construction is to keep solidity,…and I’m saying that the gorgeousness is not important but solidity is most important…”
According to the “Samok”(management principle), inscription of names of workers and supervisors at the surface of each facilities’ is required. This is for the quality assurance practice.
Project Human Resource Management
Human resource management was an important part in the Hawseong Fortress project. Cho simtae, a project manager, proposed a team building plan in addition to the appointment of government officials for the project to the King for approval several times before and during the project. In addition, to promote achievement, there were eight documented ceremonies rewarding good performers. Also, there were 11 documented parties that provided special foods to the workers. The King provided imperial gifts to the workers and provided medicine to overcome the hot weather in summer. The implication is that senior management tried to keep their labor in good condition and provide continuous motivation for the project.
Project Communication Management
There were 136 records kept in Uigwe, which are Jeongyo (instruction of the King), Yooneum (King’s will on the Hwaseong Fortress), Yooji (instructions to the project manager), Jeonryung (rewarding details), Yeonsol (Q&A between King and officials), Gyesa (suggestions and discussions records). The King requested progress reporting and instructed that there be documentation of the project. It is apparent that the project communication management was regarded an important process in the project.
Mapping the Processes to the PMBOK® Guide
By Processes Groups
Similar to project charter in the PMBOK® Guide, the Hawseong Fortress project was initiated with King’s “Jeongyo.” In this section the King appointed a project manager and authorized the starting of project.
Dasan and the King accomplished the basic project plan, the so-called “Ojeseonghwajuryak.” This defined the scope of project with some base specifications of facilities and equipments to be used. Planning process described in the PMBOK® Guide regarding public projects today were included in the plan found in the Uigwe.
During the execution of the project, records of the multiple communications made between King and project manager and other officials in the project team were included in Uigwe. This reveals how the project was managed. Much of the project’s execution, monitoring, and control processes were also found in the King’s instruction and meeting minutes. This is similar to the project communication plans used today.
At the completion of project, the King had a “Nak Seong Yeon” party to celebrate the successful completion of the project. This is the same closing process in the most of project today.
It was found that the project 200 years ago has the similar process groups of Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Control, and Closing that is described in PMBOK® Guide.
Exhibit 7: Mapping Project Management Processes in the Hwaseong Fortress to the PMBOK® Guide, 4th Edition
By Knowledge Area
There were project management processes discovered in the Uigwe that are similar to those in the PMBOK® Guide. Exhibit 7 compares the processes found in Uigwe to the PMBOK® Guide. It appears that there were 17 processes in place in the Hwaseong Fortress project as documented in the Uigwe. The remaining four processes may have been used but they were not found in the Uigwe.
It was difficult to find processes procurement management and risk management, because those might not be area of practice 200 years ago. In addition there were certain time management processes such as the critical path method that were not used. This may explain the large variance between the estimated completion date and the actual completion date. The Uigwe gives the researcher no clue as to how the time estimates were accomplished.
Almost half of the processes consisting of modern project management processes were used in the Hwaseong Fortress project. Considering it was during the late 18th century in Korea, it would be natural to conclude that most of core project management processes were in place.
Finding the Future of Project Management
Two dots represent a straight line connecting project management’s past with the present. It is fortunate that the Hwaseong Fortress project and its accompanying Uigwe leave little to conjecture with respect to past project management practices. The Uigwe provides clear insight into past project managmenet practices. Listed next are the findings in future of project management through the research of the Hwaseong Fortress project.
1. Keep Changing the Body of Knowledge, but without Changing the Fundamental of Project Management
The research shows that almost half of modern project management processes were applied in the Hwaseong Fortress project. This is because the fundamentals of project management are sound enough to transcend time. What made the Hwaseong Fortress project different was the philosophy that projects are executed by people. Thus, a premise that people management must be a core of project management value is imperative to deliver a successful project. King Jeongjo recognized and applied this premise. Effective communication as recorded in the Hwaseong Seongyok Uigwe is also a critical success factor. Formal project management did not exist during the reign of King Jeongjo, yet he was able to successfully apply the rudiments of project management. This is testimony to the intuitive nature of the project management process.
2. Continuous Expansion of Concept and Application Area
The techniques that we now call “project management” have all been identified and developed over the last 30-50 years. An early project management technique, called PERT/CPM, concentrated on the schedule/cost only. In time this was expanded to nine knowledge areas included in the PMBOK® Guide. Presently the project managements concepts are being expanded in areas such as program management, portfolio management, earned value management, and organizational project management.
Besides, the application areas project management itself is expanding from its traditional roots in engineering, construction and aerospace/defence. Now project management is being tailored to various industries that include information technology, manufacturing, telecommunication, finance, and software development. In some cases there is a concerted effort to converge project management with other management philosophies such as six sigma, supply chain management, and balanced scorecard.
3. Continuing Rapid Development of New Tools and Techniques
Improved tools and techniques are creating an ongoing evolution in project management and the working environment. The introduction of the PERT/CPM improved project management as a management science tool. The recent invention of the critical chain method is beginning to find application in real-life projects. Emerging technology advancements in the computing environment, such as in hardware, software, telecommunication, and the Internet, make what was once considered impossible now possible. This is also occurring in the project world. The current computer technology makes project information tracking in real time possible, enabling accurate project forecasts.
4. Project Management Surviving Long Term as a Management Science Technique
Project management is not the outcome of the radically new scientific thought. As shown, the same concepts and processes were applied 200 years ago in the Hwaseong Fortress project. Project management is a management science allowing the work performed by humans to be accomplished more efficiently. Recently, many universities recognize project management as a new academic area and research work in project management is under way. Associations develop and adapt project management standards, such as the PMBOK® Guide from PMI, ICB from IPMA, P2M from PMAJ, APM BOK from APM, and so on. The International Standard Organization (ISO) launched project committee (PC236) recently to develop new project management standards (namely, ISO 21500). This tells us that project management will survive for the longer term because it’s the collection of theory, concepts, practices, and tools that generates new added value and can be applied in vast area of industries, works, and applications.