Astra Construction Brief

ASTRA “Arab Supply & Trading Company” is 100% Saudi owned and managed organization. Founded in 1967 to undertake various activities. More than 3500 employees work for the company in the following categories:

  • Contracting & Services
  • Agriculture
  • Commercial Retail
  • Manufacturing
  • Medical
  • Real Estate
  • Equity Investment/Shares

Based on the owner’s “self sufficiency” vision a Astra Construction was established in 1976 to fulfill the needs of Astra’s various divisions for the study, design and the construction of all required facilities. This was planned then in order to guarantee the correct implementation of ideas and projects and to ensure achieving all set tasks and goals. The increase in demand for quality in Saudi Arabia prompted us to expand in order to fulfill this market requirement and now we are classified as one of the leading constructions companies in the region.

Astra has the capacity of constructing, maintaining & operating compounds like Al-Hamra , Al -Cordoba, Khurais Compounds in Riyadh, Al-Hamran, Olaya & Astra Family Compounds in Tabuk.

Astra has the capacity to provide financial support for large projects if and when required; in fact the construction branch is organized to take on any necessary expansion to cope with such project. In 2012 Astra Construction been classified in the 1st Classification that gives Astra Construction the ability to execute projects with unlimited values. The yearly turnover of the construction branch ranges between (100 to 300) Million Dollars.

Eng. Baher Jaber
General Manager of Astra Construction

Our Departments

H.R. Department

Main Role:

A strategic and coherent approach to the management of the company’s most valued assets which is the people working for the company who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives.

Main Functions:

  • Managing people .
  • Developing the work and employment .
  • Organizational behavior.
  • Organizational design and development .
  • Resourcing of human power .
  • Performance management .
  • Human resource development .
  • Rewarding people .
  • Employee relations
  • Health and safety .
  • Employment and Human resources services .

Financial Department

Overview

Financial Department is a backbone of Astra Construction Branch, as this department is responsible for maintaining the Branch’s accounting records and providing accurate and timely financial data through an effective system of reporting also to report, analyze and interpret the results of operation to Branch Management.

Main Functions of Financial Department

  1. High levels of finance department responsibilities are apparent for core process type activities- accounting, transaction processing, financial information, zakat , cash management and financial controls.
  2. Medium Levels of finance department responsibility are seen in the application type areas such as general management and control and strategy and risk management.
  3. Junior Level of finance department responsibility are seen in accurate and timely finance recoding , monitoring of costs & revenue

PMO Department:

A PMO department helps the company to create effective control and oversight of projects and integrate them with the overall business outcomes.

Some of the benefits of instituting a PMO include:

  • Establishing an enterprise focus on improvement in project management competency.
  • Developing or enhancing project management skills and knowledge through training or mentoring.
  • Ensuring consistency and uniformity in project delivery.
  • Reducing project overruns and increasing delivery speed.
  • Increasing customer satisfaction through achievement of outcomes.
  • Archiving project operational and performance data.
  • Providing a centralized point of reference for the project management practice.

P.M.O Functions:

The kinds of functions undertaken by the PMO can vary widely. It will depend largely on the company: size, project success, maturity, project experience, level of available skill, exposure and the level of executive support for project management generally.

In some ways, what the PMO does depends on how innovative the organization wants to be. Some of the functions a PMO might typically manage include:

  • Review and approve project requests and allocate funding.
  • Develop standard project processes, tools and templates.
  • Establish and contextualize best practice methodology.
  • Develop common expectations and language.
  • Allocate project staff and manage all projects locally & centrally.
  • Provide training, and coaching to build core project management skills.
  • Track the status and achievements of all the company’s projects.
  • Advocate for project management and provide education within the organization.
  • Manage project prioritization and governance.

Procurement Department

The aim of procurement department is providing project requirements and company needs in all fields. Also the procurement department start from planning, research and studying then decision making according to company’s policy to providing materials by the best prices and high quality according to time schedule.

The department also follows the purchasing orders and testing supplied materials to make sure of conformity of specifications.

Goals of Procurement Department:

Providing materials requested and all project requirements in appropriate time Providing company and project requirements by low prices and take in to consideration quality and service.

Prevent repeat purchasing by establish general policy to department and separate Responsibilities and tasks.

Commitment of project budgets’ and coordinate with planning department .

The relation with other departments:

There is correlation with all departments in company from finance, project management, engineering department, store managements and others, and coordinates with them.

Activity of procurement department:

The departments do many activities the most important is:

  • Search with best supplying recourses with best prices according to time schedule
  • providing materials and projects requirement
  • Issuing purchasing orders and follow it to make sure delivered in deadlines.
  • Test the material supplied to make sure of conformity with specification
  • Separate the responsibilities and development policy of the department
  • Keeping of records and commitment of department cycle
  • Coordinate with company department
  • Coordinate with suppliers and evaluate of suppliers performance

Hierarchy Diagram