Managing Complex Construction Projects

To many program, project, or construction managers, a complex project seems to be a labyrinth with many hidden dangers. This book is a guide through that labyrinth. It explains best practices and provides insight so they cannot only identify hidden dangers but also effectively manage the construction process to either mitigate or eliminate these risks. The book presents a systems-based approach to construction project management that can facilitate a greater understanding of the complexity inherent in large construction projects and how that complexity can be effectively managed. The systems approach permits the onsite construction project manager to take a complex construction project, break it down into manageable pieces, and ensure that all systems are in alignment with the original goal of the project. This approach combines industrial engineering, project management, and finance into a unified approach for effective management of complex construction projects, ranging from a power plant to a highway project. The book explains how to manage construction projects successfully through an approach based on the three following systems: Project Management System Work Management System Quality Management System The problem with complex programs and projects is that many managers are only equipped with a knowledge of project management. A system for construction is a collection of many processes effectively working together to produce a specific deliverable, which is usually defined in the program or project’s contract. This system has a series of specific inputs and outputs, which are what the customer expects from the company or companies performing the work. This book develops checklists based on these inputs and outputs, which managers can use when first arriving onsite, and provides a "nuts and bolts" approach for managing a complex construction project onsite. The author shares valuable lessons learned during a career of more than thirty years of working on various construction sites around the world. These lessons learned are filled with valuable information to aid readers become more effective as a program, project, or construction manager of complex construction projects.

Delayed completion affects IT, process plant, oil and gas, civil engineering, shipbuilding and marine work contracts. In fact it affects all industries in all countries and the bigger the project, the more damage delayed completion causes to costs, to reputation and sometimes, even to the survival of the contracting parties themselves. In simple projects, time can be managed intuitively by any reasonably competent person, but complex projects cannot and a more analytical approach is necessary if the project is to succeed. Although much has been written about how to apportion liability for delay after a project has gone wrong there was, until recently, no guidance on how to manage time pro-actively and effectively on complex projects. In 2008, the CIOB embarked upon a 5-year strategy to provide standards, education, training and accreditation in time management. The first stage, this Guide to Good Practice in Managing Time in Complex Projects, sets down the process and standards to be achieved in preparing and managing the time model. As a handbook for practitioners it uses logical step by step procedures and examples from inception and risk appraisal, through design and construction to testing and commissioning, to show how an effective and dynamic time model can be used to manage the risk of delay to completion of construction projects.

The principles advocated in this fully illustrated guide are based on internationally accepted processes and procedures. Particular emphasis has been placed on the need for careful planning in the early stages of a project, and the requirements for successful execution at all stages, from briefing through to commissioning, are clearly brought out. The needs of developing countries have received especial attention.

Traditional project management approaches assume that project contexts are unchanging and key factors, though complicated, are reducible to unambiguous elements for management and control. Whilst this assumption has simplified the task for writers and educators, it is increasingly being recognised that these techniques do not work in projects which may be described as complex (due to their size, technical difficulties, conflicting environmental and political constraints or poorly understood or shared goals). Tools for Complex Projects draws on research in the areas of project management, complexity theory and systems thinking to provide a ready reference for understanding and managing the increasing complexity of projects and programmes. The main part of the book provides a series of fourteen project tools. Some of these tools may be used at the level of the whole project life-cycle. Others may be applied ad hoc at any time. In each case, the authors provide: detailed guidelines for using the tool, information on its purpose and the types of complexity for which it is most appropriate, the theoretical background to the tool, a practical example of its use, and any necessary words of caution. This is an example of advanced project management at work; sophisticated tools that require a level of project and management expertise and offer rigorous and highly practical methods for understanding, structuring and managing the most complex of projects.

Critical Path Method (CPM) and Performance Evaluation and ReviewTechnique (PERT) are widely recognized as the most effectivemethods of keeping large, complex construction projects onschedule, under budget, and up to professional standards. But thesemethods remain underused because they are poorly understood and,due to a host of unfamiliar terms and applications, may seem morecomplicated than they really are. This encyclopedia brings together, in one comprehensive volume, allterms, definitions, and applications related to the time and costmanagement of construction projects. While many of these termsrefer to ancient and venerable building practices, others haveevolved quite recently and refer specifically to modernconstruction and management techniques. Sources include hundreds ofprofessional books, trade journals, and research publications, aswell as planning and scheduling software vendor literature. The detailed glossary of all applicable terms includes across-referenced listing of examples that describe real-worldapplications for each term supplied. An extensive bibliographycovers all applicable books, articles, and periodicals available onproject planning, scheduling, and control using CPM and relatedsubjects. This book is an important quick reference and desktop informationresource for construction planners, schedulers, and controllers, aswell as civil engineers and project managers. It is also theultimate research tool for educators, students, or anyone who seeksto improve their understanding of the management of modernconstruction projects.

Completely rewritten book introducing quantitative analysis techniques for complex construction projects. Discusses and explains the need for analytic tools, and then demonstrates their use in planning and control of projects. Applies a systems approach to project planning and control, and describes the methodology step-by-step. Describes the use of computers in project planning and control.

Managing Change in Construction Projects: a knowledge-based approach offers a new perspective on construction project change by viewing the process of change management as a knowledge-intensive activity, where team members bring their tacit and explicit knowledge into the situation; share, create and capture this collective knowledge for future re-use in similar situations. Through this knowledge-based approach, construction teams can successfully resolve and learn from change events, leading to an overall improved performance of the industry. The book will make a significant contribution to our understanding of construction project change by offering new theoretical and practical insights and models grounded in results of case studies conducted within two collaborative construction project team settings. By demonstrating how the social construction of knowledge works in construction settings, the authors challenge the prevailing change management solutions based on ‘hard’ IT approaches. They put forward a balanced view that incorporates both IT–based and socially constructed approaches to effective management of construction project change. helps construction managers to improve and learn through the process of construction project change presents new theoretical models and offers practical guidelines first research-based book to directly address project change from a knowledge-based perspective draws on detailed studies with construction companies, including Ballast Construction and Kier Construction encourages a move from the information driven, process integrated approach to a knowledge-based view