Project Scope Changes Research Articles

Investigation of critical factors affecting cost overruns and delays in Egyptian mega construction projects

Construction projects are prone to cost overruns and delays that can significantly impact their profitability and quality. Identifying the root causes of these issues is critical to finding practical solutions. This study focuses on the Egyptian construction sector and identifies the top six factors that lead to cost overruns and delays in mega construction projects. These factors are inadequate project planning, poor communication and coordination, changes in project scope, lack of skilled labour, insufficient budget allocation, and payment delays. The study recommends strategies to mitigate these factors, such as involving all stakeholders in the planning process, using project management tools, and setting realistic timelines to improve project planning and scheduling. Regular meetings and clear communication channels can achieve effective communication and coordination. The study also suggests managing changes in project scope through effective change management processes and ensuring sufficient budget allocation by conducting accurate cost estimates and setting aside contingency funds. These recommendations can provide practical insights for practitioners and policymakers in the construction industry to mitigate the impact of cost overruns and delays. Overall, the study emphasises the importance of identifying and addressing the key factors contributing to cost overruns and delays in mega construction projects.

CHALLENGES IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Purpose- The purpose of this study is to research some of the major problems and challenges in the construction industry that need to be addressed and solved by various stakeholders. Factors influencing technology use in building construction project management Inadequate risk management, lack of structure, poor communication, unrealistic expectations/bad forecasting, delayed cash flow and limited skills. Methodology- The study employs a quantitative study to explore the construction industry for building a competitive advantage. Findings- The analysis reveals that the construction industry faces various challenges that can impact project delivery, productivity, and overall performance. there are some common problems in the construction industry. Construction projects often encounter cost overruns due to factors such as inaccurate initial estimates, changes in project scope, unforeseen site conditions, and fluctuations in material and labor costs. Budgetary constraints can lead to financial strain and project delays. Delays in construction projects can occur due to factors like poor project planning and management, inclement weather, labor shortages, regulatory approvals, and issues with subcontractors or suppliers. These delays can result in increased costs, contractual disputes, and dissatisfaction among project stakeholders. Construction sites are inherently hazardous environments, and ensuring worker safety is a critical concern. Failure to comply with safety regulations, inadequate training, lack of safety protocols, and inadequate risk assessments can lead to accidents, injuries, and even fatalities. Effective communication and collaboration among project teams, including architects, engineers, contractors, and subcontractors, are essential for successful project delivery. Inadequate communication, misinterpretation of project requirements, and lack of coordination can lead to errors, rework, and delays. Maintaining high-quality construction standards is crucial, but the industry often faces challenges in ensuring consistent quality control. Conclusion - based upon the analysis findings it may be concluded that the difficulties can turn to competitive advantage with better strategic planning, risk management, and management of resources. The construction industry has a very important role in many countries for Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth. Keywords: construction industry, competitiveness, opportunities, JEL Codes: M11, M10, O10

The Transitioning Experiences from Traditional to Agile Project Management: A Case of an Information Technology Department of a Private-Owned Financial Institution in Cebu City

Incorporating the Agile Project Management (APM) approach was the institution’s initiative to accelerate project delivery and be more flexible in changing requirements and client demands while producing quality software. The research explores the lived experiences of the institution's project managers to uncover the challenges and demonstrated benefits during Agile Project Management (APM) implementation. This research utilized the qualitative approach through interviews with key informants who are project managers of the institution. The data gathered were from the responses of the five (5) private-owned financial institution project managers. The responses were thoroughly reviewed and tabulated to reveal the commonalities in the data gathered. The study showed that implementing APM significantly changed how the project management team handled and delivered the projects. The project management team moved the project with agility by simplifying the scope and adapting to changes in requirements to increase customer satisfaction and value; the teams were more collaborative, flexible, and able to cope with the risks. However, the study revealed that the main challenges that the project management team experienced were the uncontrollable growth of changes in project scope, under-estimated timelines, and inefficient allocation and delegation of workloads, which resulted in the delayed delivery of projects. Also, it revealed that the current coping strategies were deprioritizing other projects to accommodate new requirements, extending project deadlines, and rendering overtime, which could have been more sustainable when appropriately handled. Furthermore, the study provided recommendations and action plans to improve the implementation of Agile Project Management.

Enhancing Requirements Change Request Categorization and Prioritization in Agile Software Development Using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Software development now relies heavily on agile methods, which call for the efficient administration and prioritization of change requests. In order to improve requirement prioritization using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in Agile methods, this study article presents a new framework for classifying software requirements into Small Change Requests (SCRs) and Large Change Requests (LCRs). The paper examines the difficulties associated with requirement prioritization and categorization in Agile settings and offers a methodical system for dividing change requests into categories based on complexity, impact, and timeline. In order to provide a thorough grasp of the project scope and objectives, the framework considers both functional and non-functional needs. A case study containing several Agile software development projects is used to evaluate the performance of the suggested categorization and prioritization model. According to the findings, the combination of SCR and LCR categorization with AHP enables more effective teamwork and greater matching of development goals with partner objectives. The research also shows that the suggested framework's integration into the Agile development process results in a more efficient decision-making process, less time wasted on talks, and improved resource distribution. The model aids in risk mitigation by allowing a methodical and quantifiable approach to requirement prioritization. These risks are related to quick changes in project scope and changing client requirements. By presenting a fresh framework for requirement categorization and prioritization, this study adds to the current discussion on successful requirement management in Agile methods. Agile software development projects become more effective and adaptable overall thanks to the incorporation of AHP, which guarantees a more methodical and objective prioritization process. This study has the potential to greatly improve the administration of shifting needs and user expectations in Agile settings by offering a structured method to classify and rank change requests.

Delay Factors of Construction Projects in Oman

The construction industry is the second largest economic sector of the Sultanate of Oman. The construction industry plays important role in infrastructural development both for the public and private sectors. The delays in construction projects impact directly the economic development of the country. The present study aimed to analyze the delays in a construction project by conducting a survey based on a questionnaire. The questionnaire survey is answered by 74 respondents and the quantitative data is further subjected to statistical analysis. The results are further tested through the Pearson chi-square test of independence and Cramer’s V tests. The results show that several factors contribute to the project delays in Oman including cultural differences, design changes, poor project management, and changes in project scope at the time of project execution. The managerial issues involved payment delays to contractors and authoritarian delays. The clients faced poor planning and execution of the project by the contractor and sub-contracting of the critical project phases.

The Effect of Subcontracted Labor Mix on Financial Performance: Evidence from High-Tech Project Teams

Problem definition: We investigate the effect of using subcontracted workers together with permanent workers on project financial performance. Academic/practical relevance: It is widespread practice, across disparate businesses, to staff project teams with subcontracted workers—and yet, despite the prevalence of this phenomenon, there is scant research on how subcontracted workers impact project performance. Investigating such an effect is important because past findings on the effects of subcontracting in retail or assembly lines cannot be hastily extrapolated to the more qualified workers and more demanding tasks normally associated with project environments. Methodology: Building on previous findings about the higher motivation level of subcontracted versus permanent workers when the latter are protected from individual dismissal by the law, we develop hypotheses to conceptualize how and under what conditions subcontracted workers positively impact project performance. We then test our hypotheses by analyzing 413 projects of a European high-tech firm. Results: We find that with increased use of subcontracted workers comes increased project profit margins. This positive effect is stronger for larger teams and weaker when large project scope changes occur or when higher-skilled workers are subcontracted. We also find this effect to be stronger when subcontracted workers are involved in technical rather than administrative roles and when subcontractors join in the later stages of the project. Managerial implications: This study offers guidelines on how project managers can use subcontracting to increase project margins, highlighting strategic and tactical factors that affect the benefits of using subcontracted labor.

Resource allocation in IT projects: using schedule optimization

Resource allocation is the process of assigning resources to tasks throughout the life of a project. Despite sophisticated software packages devoted to keeping track of tasks, resources and resource assignments, it is often the case that project managers find some resources over-allocated and therefore unable to complete the assigned work in the allotted amount of time. Most scheduling software has provisions for leveling resources, but the techniques for doing so simply add time to the schedule and may cause delays in tasks that are critical to the project in meeting deadlines. This paper presents a software application that ensures that resources are properly balanced at the beginning of the project and eliminates the situation in which resources become over-allocated. It can be used in a multi-project environment and reused throughout the project as tasks, resource assignments and availability, and the project scope change. The application utilizes the bounded enumeration technique to formulate an optimal schedule for which both the task sequence and resource availability are taken into account. It is run on a database server to reduce the running time and make it a viable application for practitioners.

Predefined Project Scope Changes and its Causes for Project Success

In project management, the project scope is the base of significant project planning processes such as estimating the cost, schedule and building work breakdown structure. Poor project scope definition directly affects project cost and schedule. Accordingly, dealing with unrealistic scope definition of cost and schedule may lead to failing a project. Besides, changes in project scope have a negative and positive impact on project success. This paper aims to predefine the potential scope changes to keep the project scope on track and identify any weakness in scope definition at the early stages of a project. Enhancing project scope quality has a massive impact on the success of a project and it adds more control over project scope. A method is proposed to improve the quality of project scope and increase the efficiency of controlling scope changes. The proposed method will help to avoid scope creeping by defining a clear statement of work, increase the learning opportunities of the development team to optimize its processes, reducing the communication gap between the clients and development team and screen adjustments of new tasks. The proposed method is validated using a survey and the results are found encouraging.

Implementasi Metode Persentase Penyelesaian untuk Pengakuan Pendapatan pada Perusahaan Jasa Konstruksi

This study examines the application of the percentage of completion method in revenue recognition in construction service companies, which is a sector with high complexity in revenue accounting. The percentage of completion method is used to record construction project revenue based on the extent to which the project has been completed, as an alternative to the complete completion method which may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the project. In this study, we analyze the effectiveness and challenges in applying this method with a focus on the accuracy of financial reporting and its impact on the company's income statement. The research method uses a case study approach by analyzing data from several construction companies that apply the percentage of completion method. The results show that this method can improve the accuracy of revenue recognition and provide a more realistic picture of project performance. However, challenges such as inaccurate cost estimates and changes in project scope remain issues that must be addressed. This research provides insights for construction companies and stakeholders in understanding the benefits and constraints of the percentage-of-completion method for more transparent and accurate revenue recognition.

Predefined Project Scope Changes and its Causes for Project Success

In project management, the project scope is the base of significant project planning processes such as estimating the cost, schedule and building work breakdown structure. Poor project scope definition directly affects project cost and schedule. Accordingly, dealing with unrealistic scope definition of cost and schedule may lead to failing a project. Besides, changes in project scope have a negative and positive impact on project success. This paper aims to predefine the potential scope changes to keep the project scope on track and identify any weakness in scope definition at the early stages of a project. Enhancing project scope quality has a massive impact on the success of a project and it adds more control over project scope. A method is proposed to improve the quality of project scope and increase the efficiency of controlling scope changes. The proposed method will help to avoid scope creeping by defining a clear statement of work, increase the learning opportunities of the development team to optimize its processes, reducing the communication gap between the clients and development team and screen adjustments of new tasks. The proposed method is validated using a survey and the results are found encouraging.

Cost Overrun Causative Factors in Road Infrastructure Projects: A Frequency and Importance Analysis

Road infrastructure projects are essential for a country’s economic and social development. Due to the magnitude, the projects are associated with considerable economic investments that in the case of failure can seriously affect regions’ economies. Despite the importance, roads from different countries are affected by cost overruns, hence, it is essential to identify and analyze the causative factors to focus the search for mitigation solutions. There are several studies focused on the cost factors identification, however, studies are lacking that synthesize and analyze the frequency and importance with which the factors have been reported to obtain a phenomenon overview. Therefore, this paper focuses on analyzing the frequency and importance with which cost overrun factors are reported in road projects. The research method consisted of a systematic review compound of five principal stages: (1) question formulation; (2) searching of relevant documents; (3) document selection; (4) evidence collection, analysis and synthesis; and (5) results’ report. Thirty-eight cost overrun factors were identified and classified into 14 categories. According to the Influence Index, the five most important and frequent cost overrun factors were: (1) failures in design, (2) price variation of materials, (3) inadequate project planning, (4) project scope changes, and (5) design changes.

The Influence of Project Characteristics on Contractual Behaviour of Key Participants in Civil Engineering Projects

This paper described the importance of paying attention on the aspects of project characteristics in understanding the contractual behavior of key participants in civil engineering projects. The purpose of this paper was to identify the project characteristics variables contributing to the unfavorable contractual behavior of key participants in civil engineering projects. An extensive literature review was carried out using content analysis and unveiled nine (9) civil engineering project characteristics that may contribute to the contractual behavior of key participants. They were project type, project size, project scope changes, design changes, site surrounding condition, ground condition, project complexity, procurement method, type of standard form of contract. The findings provide basis for understanding the factor that influence the contractual behavior of key participants in order to comprehend the constraints faced by them in implementing the civil engineering projects. Hence, the initiatives or proactive preventing actions can be suggested in future study to improve the contractual behavior of key participants and eventually will lead to the project success.
 Keywords: Civil Engineering; contractual behavior, project characteristics.

Developing Mobile Water Operator Technology for Africa

The current status of drinking water networks in most African countries emphasizes the need for effective management methods for physical and financial operations. At the same time there are obstacles for implementing innovative technologies, as these bring operational and financial risks for water utilities, especially if it involves completely new platforms for the management of a utility’s infrastructure. Winning trust with your innovation cannot only be achieved by delivering a solid product. Involving local stakeholders is crucial for its success. Project scope changes during the development phase of your product introduce additional layers of complexity, something which is not uncommon due to unforeseen field conditions. The whole process of building up an idea to a proof of concept and testing its financial feasibility within a given time frame and in different environments is a challenge for many software companies operating in the water sector.

Measuring the Impact of Scope Changes on Project Plan Using EVM

Earned Value Management (EVM) measures project performance against a baseline plan. It identifies deviations in budget and schedule, aids project managers in taking earlier corrective actions against cost and schedule overruns. Although the literature highlights the significance of scope by adopting it as a leading indicator to measure project success or failure. However, EVM does not include scope when evaluating the performance of any software project. While considering the importance of scope and its ever-changing nature, it is imperative to measure the effect of changes in scope on the project plan. To analyse such effects, this study aims to enhance the traditional EVM by incorporating scope into it. The main objectives of this paper are: i) to extract the effects of project scope changes, ii) to map extracted effects of project scope changes with Software Project Scope Rating Index (SPSRI) elements, and iii) to quantify the extracted effects and integrate them with EVM. An extensive literature review is conducted to achieve the first objective, which results in the seventeen unique effects; that were used to map with SPSRI elements. To forecast the variations in scope for a given project budget, Monte Carlo simulations were run on the top eight scope elements, whereas, the results were incorporated with EVM to identify the deviations between actual and projected values of scope’s score and cost. Finally, the multivariate regression model was used to evaluate the influence of individual element on the overall estimated cost of the project. The correlation between the independent variables (SPSRI elements) and the dependent variable (overall cost) was calculated along with the valuation of each independent variable on the dependent variable. Moreover, the effects are statistically shown that independent variables have influenced the dependent variable. This technique could assist the project managers to forecast deviations in project scope earlier.

Fuzzy decision analysis for project scope change management

Fuzzy decision analysis for project scope change management

INVESTIGATING MICROSTRUCTURES AND HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERPLASTICITY BEHAVIOR OF MG-5(MASS%) SN ALLOY BY USING EQUAL CHANNEL ANGULAR EXTRUSION

Performance analyses of consultancy firms usually include man-hour analyses, schedule analyses and budget analyses. During the project management process, the project scope change makes it difficult for the management to control the project and predict the future trends. This research has developed a project performance measurement model based on the concepts of CAPP (Continuous Assessment of Project Performance) and PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge), created by the Construction Industry Institute and PMI (Project Management Institute). Through data collection, analysis, and summary, this study establishes a historical database, reviews existing records, and selects major and significant performance evaluation indicators from the project data, as well as building of relevant models. Through an established Web-based project performance measurement system to identify the project implementation performance trend, it allows participants in various stages of the construction engineering life cycle to exchange and share engineering performance information and experience.

Development of quantitative evaluation method of social effect of socio-technical projects

The key indicators of social effect are determined, which are the basis for the quantitative evaluation of social changes in the region, where the socio-technical project is implemented. These include raising the employment rate, improving housing provision, increasing the availability and quality of services, and increasing the availability of active and cultural recreation.The factors affecting the manageability of the socio-technical project, which should form the basis of accounting the risks of the socio-technical project are identified. These are high project risks, a high probability of project scope changes, elongated project execution phases, participation of unique resources in the project.The formation mechanism of the social effect, showing its nature is developed. This mechanism helps to understand the importance of prioritization when planning the social outcomes in the implementation of socio-technical projects. The essence of this mechanism is to transform the needs and resources into the positive and negative social effect.The model for simulating the size of the social effect, depending on the needs of a social group and the value of the project output generated in a social group is developed. This model is a graphical interpretation of the social effect formation process.The mathematical model for the quantitative evaluation of the social effect is developed. This model allows obtaining an integral indicator of social changes in the consumer's interaction with the project output. The resulting quantity is dynamic and distributed in time, its numerical value can be both positive and negative.Quantitative evaluation of the social effect of the socio-technical project allows understanding how deep changes occurred in the social life of the territory, what principles should form the basis of new management methodologies, and what results are not achieved. It should be considered that the social effect indirectly contributes to economic efficiency, since the socio-technical system usually increases the attractiveness of the territory in which it is located.

Identifying Issues of Change Leading to Cost Conflicts: Case Study in Cambodia

It is impossible to avoid changes in construction projects. Construction changes have minor and major effects on the success of a project, particularly on its cost. A detailed study of change is needed to alleviate such effects on project cost. This paper introduces the identification of specific change issues regarding costs that may lead to conflicts between the owner and the contractor of a project. Such identification would help project practitioners be aware of change issues and manage them effectively as well as open up alternative viewpoints of change by the two parties. To achieve the research objective, a 16-item questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale was conducted to collect the necessary information. The data were collected from respondents in Cambodian building construction projects. Responses from 53 professionals working for contractors and owners were analysed with the aid of software package, Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The result of tests passed internal reliability of the scale and significant agreement among the respondents. The analysis of a one sample t-test showed that there were fifteen significant and important change issues. The five top priority change issues related to project costs are changes in scheduling made by the owner, project scope change made by the owner, change due to poor and incomplete design, change in design functions required by owner/client, and change in material specifications. The research findings would be beneficial to all project participants for gaining a deeper understanding of specific change issues so that change management can be carried out more efficiently. In addition, project stakeholders would be more perceptive about the consequences of any changes.

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE: A TOOL FOR SOFTWARE PROJECT SCOPE VERIFICATION

Software project scope verification is a very important process in project scope management and it needs to be performed properly and thoroughly so as to avoid project rework and scope creep. Moreover, software scope verification is crucial in the process of delivering exactly what the customer requested and minimizing project scope changes. Well defined software scope eases the process of scope verification and contributes to project success. Furthermore, a deliverable-oriented WBS provides a road map to a well defined software scope of work. It is on the basis of this that this paper extends the use of deliverable-oriented WBS to that of scope verification process. This paper argues that a deliverable-oriented WBS is a tool for software scope verification.

Work Breakdown Structure: A Tool for Software Project Scope Verification

Software project scope verification is a very important process in project scope management and it needs to be performed properly and thoroughly so as to avoid project rework and scope creep. Moreover, software scope verification is crucial in the process of delivering exactly what the customer requested and minimizing project scope changes. Well defined software scope eases the process of scope verification and contributes to project success. Furthermore, a deliverable-oriented WBS provides a road map to a well defined software scope of work. It is on the basis of this that this paper extends the use of deliverable-oriented WBS to that of scope verification process. This paper argues that a deliverable-oriented WBS is a tool for software scope verification