Volume 10, Issue 2

Published December 2018 | Download Full Manuscript (PDF)

Papers & Abstracts:

Download PDF W117 Editorial Board & Contributors 

The W117 commission is a leader in innovation. It is the first commission to have a very focused goal of implementing academic research/industry testing to impact the construction industry. The research is constantly evolving and impacting the direction, scope and speed of evolution of performance metrics, transparency, mitigation of risk and the improvement of the supply chain stakeholders. However, this is not the only thrust and value of W117. The W117 is looking to change the definition of successful and impactful research from traditional academic/industry research. It will change what is recognized as valuable and impactful research. This Research Roadmap is the latest document, as of June 2018, and will be continually changed in the coming years. W117 welcomes all other working commissions and industry visionaries to join in the effort towards improving the construction industry.

Download PDF | Yutian Chen, Oswald Chong

The Chinese construction industry (CCI) has grown to be one of the largest in the world within the last 10 years. The size of the CCI is on par with many developed nations, despite it being a developing country. Despite its rapid growth, the productivity and profitability of the CCI is low compared to similar sized construction industries. In addition to the low efficiency of the CCI, the minimal documented performance information collected, shows projects being completed over budget, over the scheduled time, with poor quality of work. A literature research was performed on other developing countries similar to the CCI, to identify if there were any solutions that had been proven to improve the productivity and performance of a construction industry. It was found that Vietnam, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and India were the closest to China with enough documentation on their construction industry. Both countries identified the Best value Approach (BVA) as the only solution with documented performance showing it could solve the issues developing countries face with their construction industry. This paper proposes that more research should be performed looking into the ability of the CCI to implement the BVA.

Download PDF | Violette Krouwel

Since Best Value was first introduced in the Netherlands in 2005 several tender procedures have been conducted following this approach, however, most documented cases have been within construction. As there is a lack of documented cases of the BVA in areas outside of construction in the Netherlands, this researches focus is to further test, explore and confirm the claims associated with the Best Value Approach and its applicability in the Facility Management (FM) industry. Using case study research, the Best Value Approach (BVA) was used to procure cleaning-related services for the Facility Management department of an organization in the energy sector. The research findings confirmed the applicability of the BVA in the FM industry through the successful identification of an FM expert supplier as the best value for the lowest cost. The results additionally confirmed the BVA to being more efficient, improve supplier risk migration measures and give a clearer view of the accepted project scope.

Download PDFIsaac Kashiwagi

The Information Communications Technology (ICT) industry has been experiencing challenges in project performance for years. Similarly, complexity has been identified as a primary contributor to the challenges in project performance for years. As project complexity is a long-standing issue to ICT performance, an analysis is needed to identify the existing state of research within project complexity and future research necessary to progress the field of research. This study, through literature research, analyzes 19 existing complexity models, including their definitions, factors, and tools of measurement. Findings identify a theoretical definition to project complexity, a general list of 33 factors used to measure complexity and identifies the current research within project complexity to be at a theoretical and conceptual state which has not yet reached a sustained and lasting practical level to the industry. It is proposed that future research into the perception perspective on ICT project complexity may provide novel insights into ICT project complexity.

Download PDF | Chara Farquharson, Jake Gunnoe , Alfredo O. Rivera

The mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems are three of the most important systems within a building. These systems alone can account for 40-60% of the total construction costs for commercial building projects (Second, Hanna, 2010). It is crucial that these systems function adequately. With the technological advances within the construction industry, the push for advanced technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) has significantly increased. This research provides a detailed literature review examining how BIM is now used in the industry. BIM, a three-dimensional tool used to model a building and its components, is commonly used during the planning, design, construction and operation phases of a project. A literature search suggests that specialty trades use BIM to increase collaboration between stakeholders. Current literature suggests that according to the Best Value Approach (BVA), upfront collaboration between clients and vendors lead to inefficiencies. BVA decreases collaboration by creating a system in which clients can better utilize the expertise of high-performance vendors, without enforcing project requirements and control measures. The authors suggest that BIM usage may be more effective if paired with BVA; doing so will simplify communication from MEP experts and minimize risk caused by collaboration.

Download PDF| Mohsen Shahandashti, Baabak Ashuri, Ali Touran, Reza Masoumi, Edward Minchin

The purpose of this study is to determine the relative importance of key results areas (KRAs) and develop key performance indicators (KPIs) for construction portfolio performance management. The research methodology consists of the following steps: (1) Designing and conducting a fact-finding survey of owners and contractors to determine the relative importance of KRAs; (2) Designing and conducting structured interviews to develop KPIs; and (3) Assessing the usefulness of the results. Unlike the literature that has consistently highlighted the importance of risk management for construction portfolio performance management, risk management is not among top five KRAs (schedule, cost, cash flow, change management and safety) identified in the survey. This represents the significant gap in how research community and industry look at portfolio performance management. When it comes to dashboard development, contractors and owners have different KRAs within their dashboard for portfolio management. The limited knowledge about the relative importance of KRAs is one of the most important barriers towards managing project portfolios. This study is the first attempt to critically examine the literature and practice of construction portfolio performance management in order to highlight noteworthy differences between KRAs studied by the research community and implemented by the industry.

Download PDFDean T. Kashiwagi, Jacob S. Kashiwagi

The delivery of services to government groups have historically been unsatisfactory. Multiple studies have identified these services as low performing. Studies have also found that information communication technology services have been one of the worst performing services over the last 10 years. The Performance Based Studies Research Group (PBSRG) has been testing a delivery model, called the Best Value Approach, for the last 20 years that can ensure government groups receive high performing services. The major issue that the BVA approach encounters is it requires the organization to change their normal way of delivering services. It requires the organization to minimize their management, direction, and control of the vendors and instead, utilize their expertise. This paper will review a case study with a local government organization (LGO) and their issues with trying to apply the BVA to deliver their Peoplesoft software.

Download PDF |  Yue Choong KOG

Thirteen studies to identify major delay factors for construction projects in Kenya have been reported in the literature. Nine of these studies were based on self-administered questionnaire survey of views of project participants and four studies were based on site records of actual construction projects. Thirty-three of the more than forty construction delay factors reported in the literature were identified as one of the top construction delay factors by the thirteen studies on Kenya. This is illogical, misleading and confusing. A thorough review of these thirteen studies is undertaken to identify top delay factors for construction projects in Kenya. With respect to the construction delay factors identified, remedial measures to improve the schedule performance of construction projects in Kenya are presented.