Construction project control methodologies and productivity improvement : EVM, BIM, LBM

Abstract

Construction productivity has been and remains a concern of organizations and governments. Productivity is also a concern of individual projects. A recent survey of 50 international construction project controls professionals found limited support for the effectiveness of three well known project control systems: Earned Value Management (EVM), Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Location Based Management (LBM). Analysis of the data collected during semi-structured interviews highlights two important problems in both commercial and infrastructure projects.

The study found that all organizations used one or more of these methodologies. However, each of the methodologies was considered effective only for some projects or some parts of those projects. It appears that a major reason for lack of effectiveness is that project team capability and capacity to implement the methodology effectively was variable. However, it may be that an even more important factor is linked to the ineffective implementation; lack of understanding the theory that underpins these types of project control methodologies. EVM, BIM and LBM are all systemic methodologies aimed at reduction of waste as a means to improve productivity, thus all require consistent project process: data collection, monitoring, reporting and forecasting for effective control.