The Importance of Contemporaneous Records
What are contemporaneous records?
Project teams are often told to keep daily or even hourly records of events that occur on-site if a claim for additional time and cost arises. These records are known as contemporaneous records in that they are ‘recorded’ when the event occurs.
In the age of technology, there have been advancements in carbon copy daily diaries with handwritten notes accompanied by date-stamped photographs taken on a digital camera. Examples such as live feed web cameras, real-time digital diaries, and electronic sign-in and out systems and programming software are many ways that can, in some respects, automatically capture or demonstrate ‘contemporaneous records’.
What has not changed from the days of carbon-copy daily diaries and blurry digital photographs is the requirement for the event the records relate to being described in a manner that clearly articulates:
What happened
Why the event is a change
If the event is a cost change, what is the quantum of the cost change, and how do further records support this
If the event is a time change, what is the quantum of time (effect),and why has the event caused a delay to the critical path.
The above is easily articulated as a written notice or letter that refers to/appends the other contemporaneous records, such as site diaries, photographs, etc.
A picture tells a thousand words.
A picture may tell a thousand words, but pictures alone do not always demonstrate the cause and effect or tell the real story. The same goes for impacted programs - if there is no narrative explaining the impact, the program alone may be misunderstood.
Project teams need to review and collate all the records related to the event and create a further contemporaneous record in the form of a formal notice that, as a minimum, includes the four points above. The notice then becomes the primary piece of contemporaneous record which in effect tells the story of the event by using the supporting records mentioned previously.
The initial notice does not need to be legalese or overly complex. Instead, the notice should allow a third party to inform themselves of what the situation entails even though they have no experience with the project or matter.
This third party should also be able to satisfy themselves that what is stated in the notice is factually correct by referring to the site diaries and photographs etc.
Another benefit of sending a notice immediately after an event occurs, along with all the associated records, is that you create a separate head of claim, demonstrating the cause and effect.
If contemporaneous records are well organised and articulated with notices, the likelihood of contentious claims may be reduced. However, no matter how good your records are, your client may disagree with your position.
If you face a dispute, you may need expert advice and support; however, if you have organised your records in the manner detailed above, then the task may not be as difficult for your advisers.
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