One of the most important jobs of a project manager is to manage a project's budget and schedule. These tasks can easily be very difficult to accomplish on projects that are complex, especially since successful project execution relies heavily on people who are expected to perform their roles individually and as a team. One of the most difficult aspects of managing projects is estimating how fast and effectively humans will perform a task; that is, determining how productive workers collectively will be each day, each week, or within any time period during the life of a project. Because projects are unique and are typically one-off endeavors, there is usually little previous empirical data to rely upon for the project manager to forecast productivity before or during the project's execution. The crux of the problem lies with adequately identifying not only the labor work flow process, but also the influences that affect the work flow process. When scope changes are introduced into the work flow of a project, the types and number of influences and their cause and effect relationships can significantly increase in numbers. This phenomenon often turns complicated projects into extremely complex ones and the final outcome can be greater than the sum of the individual inputs. For project managers who are unable to get their arms around this very real situation, forecasting the outcome of a project often becomes out of control, especially for projects that are large and heavily labor intensive. This study takes a post-positivist approach to design and builds a system dynamic model with which construction projects that are delivered using the design-bid-build methodology can be simulated to show generically how the influences that affect construction projects can affect worker productivity. No other studies are known to exist that design or build such a model for construction projects that use the design-bid-build delivery method. The model that was designed in the study is based on the works of several academics' works as well as the input of several experts in the construction field, including this study's author. As opposed to attempting to create a simulation model based on the uniqueness of a single project, a "mosaic" approach was used in creating the model in that elements of the model were identified and taken from studies found through the literature review as well as interviews with construction industry experts. The stock and flow structure of the study's model is intended to be a composite of many construction projects and can be used for any project delivered using the design-bid-build methodology. From the research, the model was created and tested using good modeling practice in that the model testing phase followed the process created by one of the pre-eminent system dynamic modelers in the world (refer to Sterman, 2000). The result is a model that simulates the work flow of labor hours in a design-bid-build construction project which can be affected by an immeasurable number of influences that can and do occur on construction projects.

This book describes concepts, methods and practical techniques for managing projects to develop constructed facilities in the fields of oil & gas, power, infrastructure, architecture and the commercial building industries. It is addressed to a broad range of professionals willing to improve their management skills and designed to help newcomers to the engineering and construction industry understand how to apply project management to field practice. Also, it makes project management disciplines accessible to experts in technical areas of engineering and construction. In education, this text is suitable for undergraduate and graduate classes in architecture, engineering and construction management, as well as for specialist and professional courses in project management.

Cost and Value Management in Projects provides practicing managers with a thorough understanding of the various dimensions of cost and value in projects, along with the factors that impact them, and the managerial approaches that would be most effective for achieving cost efficiency and value optimization. This book addresses cost from a strategic perspective, offering thorough coverage of the various elements of value management such as value planning, value engineering and value analysis from the perspective of projects.

Value Management is a philosophy, set of principles and a structured management methodology for improving organisational decision-making and value-for-money. The second edition builds on the success of the first edition by extending the integrated value philosophy, methodology and tool kit to describe the application of Value Management to the areas of service delivery, asset management, and, Programmes, in addition to Projects, products and processes. Value Management is a well-established methodology in the international construction industry, and in the UK has been endorsed as good practice in a range of government sponsored reports. In this book the authors have addressed the practical opportunities and difficulties of Value Management by synthesising the background, international developments, benchmarking and their own extensive consultancy and action research experience in Value Management to provide a comprehensive package of theory and practice. The second edition retains the structure of the first edition, covering methods and practices, frameworks of value and the future of value management. It has been thoroughly updated, and a number of new chapters added to encapsulate further extensions to current theory and practice. In particular, the new edition responds to: A range of recent UK industry and government publications; and most notably BS EN 16271:2012 - Value management: Functional expression of the need and functional performance specification; the imminent update of BS EN 12973:2000 Value Management; BS EN 1325 Value Management -- Vocabulary, Terms and definitions; the changes to "Value for Europe" governing the training and certification of Value Management in European Union countries; the UK Government’s Management of Value (MoV) initiative, together with other leading reports, international guidance and standards on Value Management. Research in Value Management undertaken since publication of the first edition. Changes in Value Management practice particularly in Programmes and Projects. Developments in the theory of value, principally value for money measures, whole life value option appraisal, and benefits realisation. Initiatives in asset management initiatives covering the management of physical infrastructure, for example the recent launch of a suite of three standards under the generic title of BS ISO 55000: 2014 Asset Management, and its predecessor BSI PAS55 2008 "Asset Management: Specification For The Optimized Management Of Physical Assets" The second edition contains a dedicated chapter of exemplar case studies drawn from the authors' experience, selected to demonstrate the new areas of theory and practice. An Appendix includes an extensive set of tools and techniques of use in Value Management practice. Construction clients, including those in both the public and private sectors, and professionals such as construction cost consultants, quantity surveyors, architects, asset managers, construction engineers, and construction managers will all find Value Management of Construction Projects to be essential reading. It will also be of interest to researchers and students on construction related courses in Higher Education -- particularly those at final year undergraduate and at Masters level.