K Ananthanarayanan

The construction cost is considered as the most important parameter to analyze the project success. It is essential to measure the variance from the budgeted cost to understand the cost impact on project performance and profitability. Though sufficient knowledge on cost overrun has been largely shared in the extant literature, it is not adequately explained why the cost overrun keeps occurring. Hence it is necessary to investigate the relationships among cost overrun factors to improve current construction cost and controlling practices. A conceptual framework is proposed based on causal mapping, systemic and scenario understandings. The traditional forecasting methods such as trend analysis, regression models are dependent on the history while predicting the future, whereas the scenario planning and cause mapping approach suggest the alternative for the future up comings and make ready for anticipating changes. With overwhelming statistical and cognitive significance, it is evident that the cost overrun risk indicators caution the project managers in the execution of building projects. From the findings of this study, decision-makers can act on early warnings of cost variances and commendably mitigate cost overruns. The findings are expected to bridge the gap in the current construction cost management practices.

The efficacy of managing a construction project mainly depends on proper planning and scheduling. Mass housing projects are highly repetitive in nature, as the methods used for construction are often repetitive or cyclic. Resources are therefore being deployed repeatedly for the similar or identical tasks in these projects. In order to eradicate delays in mobilizing resources, an efficient resource schedule is required. Traditional scheduling tools like Critical Path Method (CPM), Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) are less effective in scheduling repetitive construction projects, as they consider availability of resources are unlimited. The main challenge in preparing construction schedule for repetitive projects is synchronizing the precedence logic and the allocation of resources as per requirements for all the activities. Consequently, activity scheduling and resource planning are prepared in parallel and this will facilitate in eliminating delays and idle resources across the projects thereby, controls the chain-reaction management (ripple effects). Nevertheless, almost all the repetitive scheduling methods developed so far have been giving focus on continuous repetitive projects, whereas in the present study, the emphasis is on discrete (non-linear) repetitive projects. This paper presents a model that uses genetic algorithms to optimally assign resources to repetitive activities, which aimed to minimize the total project cost & duration, idle cost & time and to maximize resource utilization. In the present study, an attempt is made to generate a resource-driven construction schedule automatically, with which resources can optimally be allocated to the activities. This schedule can be very useful in improving productivity and saving construction time and cost and also in decision-making. In addition, a case study is delineated to check the efficiency and effectiveness of the resource-driven construction schedule which is automated.

Privatized infrastructure development is becoming increasingly common in India as a means for providing infrastructure services without directly impacting the sovereign finance. This paper focuses on some of the key issues related to the management of privatized infrastructure development in India such as various developmental and operational risks, lack of a comprehensive risk management tool suitable for domestic environment, difficulty in obtaining finance from both domestic and foreign financiers, need of careful capital structuring, absence of adequate legal framework for the project, role of project consultants, and importance of organizational characteristics of the promoter firm. Need for developing standard conditions of contract clauses applicable to BOT type procurement system is also highlighted.

Construction companies execute many projects simultaneously. In such situations, the performance of one project may influence the others positively or negatively. Construction professionals face difficulties in managing multiple projects in limited resource situations. The purpose of this study is to identify the problems in multiproject scheduling from the practitioner's perspective and to discover current practices under resource unconstrained and constrained settings. The specific objectives are (1) determining the most challenging issues being faced in handling multiproject environment, (2) enumerating the practices adopted in the industry, and finally (3) identifying the practitioners' perceptions on the multiproject scheduling aspects such as network modeling approaches; activity execution modes; concept of sharing, dedicating, and substituting resources; centralized and decentralized decision-making models; solution approaches; and tools and techniques. An online questionnaire survey was conducted to address the objectives above. The top challenging issues in managing multiproject environment are identified. Factor analysis identified the factors by grouping the variables (a) decision-related, (b) project environment-related, (c) project management-related, and (d) organization-related factors. Resource-unconstrained situation mainly faces the issue of underutilization and wastage of resources leading to lower profit realization. The following findings were identified to overcome the unconstrained resource situation such as identifying the work front, adopting pull planning approach, creating a common resource pool, and allotting it on a rental basis. On the contrary, resource-constrained situation faces the issues of prioritization of resources, coordination, communication, collaboration, quality issues, and rework. The findings suggest the strategies such as top-up via subcontracting, proactive pull planning, introducing buffers, training the culture of the organization towards better communication, coordination, and collaboration, to improve the reliability of achieving baseline project performances. Various multiproject aspects suggested for effective management. The identified problems, practices, and various multiproject aspects are expected to contribute better management of multiproject resource unconstrained and constrained project scheduling.

Construction cost is the most important criteria of project success and hence the construction project performance is generally expressed in terms of cost and its variance from the budget. In spite of having extant literature, cost estimation methods, cost indices etc., construction projects rarely meet the budgeted cost. This research study focuses on the construction cost overrun and to identify the various factors that affects the construction cost performance. Based on an extensive literature review and input from industry experts, sixty eight factors that causes cost overrun were identified for investigation. Further, a structured questionnaire survey was conducted among the industry experts and the collected data has been analysed statistically. It is concluded that the factors namely scope creep, construction delays, rework and practise of awarding the contract to the lowest bidder are most significant factors for construction cost overrun in non-infrastructural Indian projects. The relative importance of the listed factors used to guide the project team in addressing the cost related risks involved in the projects. The findings are expected to bridge the gap in the current construction cost management practices.

Measuring cost variance is indispensable for understanding project status, monitoring the financial risks involved, and improving the project performance. Positive cost variance, denoted as cost overrun, is the key indicator of construction performance. Although the number of studies on cost overrun factors is growing substantially, many consider the causes of cost overrun factors as independent, and a regression model for forecasting is therefore developed. There is no consideration of the behavioral pattern of cost overrun factors. Hence, there is a need for a novel approach to managing cost risks that considers the characteristics of cost overrun factors. Construction cost overrun factors identified from extensive literature review were obtained through use of a questionnaire survey concerning building construction projects in India and analyzed through cluster analysis. A taxonomy was developed statistically with five groups of cost overrun factors: price-related, quality-related, design-related, execution-related, and professional skill-related. This classification illustrates the idiosyncrasy of cost overrun factors, thereby identifying the stakeholders that are best positioned to manage the cost risks. Thus, decision makers can understand cost overrun behavior and can effectively plan mitigation actions in project control practices. A case study is delineated to explain the applicability of the taxonomy of cost overrun factors.

Determination of a schedule to complete projects exactly on their assigned due-dates is considered a major objective for many researchers and practicing managers. In some situations, projects that are completed before their due-dates are not handed over to the project owner or customer, but held with the organisation that executes the project, while the projects that are completed after their due-dates are considered tardy and result in loss of customer goodwill and penalty. The current study, therefore, addresses the problem of scheduling resource-constrained multiple projects with the consideration of projects having different relative earliness and relative tardiness costs. In the first phase of the study, relative costs (or weights) for tardiness of projects is considered, and the scheduling rules are presented in order to minimise the weighted tardiness of projects. In the second phase of the study, the objective considered is the minimisation of the sum of weighted earliness and weighted tardiness of projects, and the scheduling rules are presented by incorporating the relative costs of earliness and tardiness of projects. Computational studies have been conducted separately for both phases of the current study; the performance of the scheduling rules has been observed independently and the results of the computational study have been reported. Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Motivation is one of the factors that influence the productivity of people. Engineers play a vital role in the management of projects in a construction organisation. The success of these projects relies heavily on their active involvement and effective performance. Hence it is important to assess the impact of motivation on the performance of these engineers. The broad objective of this work is to assess the impact of motivation on the performance of these engineers. The specific objective of this paper is identifying the key factors that cause motivation and de-motivation in engineers. Literature survey, expert opinion and semi-structured interviews were conducted to find these factors. A structured principal questionnaire survey was carried out among 100 engineers from the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to find the weightages for the key factors. Using these factors to conduct specific motivational programmes will help in improving the productivity of people on a project.

Despite massive investment opportunities and the establishment of a framework for private sector participation in highway infrastructure development programmes in India, private investment (including foreign direct investment) in this sector is not up to the expected level. A high degree of risk exposure, disagreement on many risk issues among major stakeholders, and the absence of adequate government guarantees have been identified as some of the major reasons for this lukewarm response. This paper discusses the outcome of a risk perception analysis carried out to evaluate the risk criticality, risk management capability, risk allocation/sharing preference, and factors influencing risk acceptance of major stakeholders. A survey was conducted among senior project participants such as government officials, promoters, lenders and consultants of Indian BOT road projects. Eight types of risks have been identified as very critical in the Indian road sector under BOT set up with traffic revenue risk being the most critical. Though there is fair agreement among survey respondents with respect to the risk management capabilities of stakeholders, their preferences of allocations are divergent. The significant factors influencing the risk acceptance of each stakeholder are identified through regression analysis. The study reveals that the factors and their relative influence on the risk acceptance of stakeholders are considerably different.

The AEC (Architecture/Engineering/Construction) industry is facing a tough competition. The conventional scheduling methods explain the progress of the work in the form of bar charts and network diagrams. It is very difficult to visualise the sequence of activities and the parallel occurrence of it. Visualization of the structure at stages of progress of the project will give an easy understanding of the progress of the project to the team members at different levels. Also the project manager can see the delay in the project, if any activity is suspended or otherwise, and thus can view changes in the project model if any of this activity is updated. 4D models will be useful for identifying the construction problems prior to construction and will play a crucial role in decision-making process. Thus, this tool of 4D visualization will be used for a better communication of the project that will help to visualize the construction. The main objective of this paper is to report on the development and implementation of a 4D tool in the Indian AEC industry linking both schedule as well as a 3D model of a generalised building or structure. A case study has also been taken to validate the developed model.