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The purpose of this paper is to assess different labor hiring policies for construction projects using system dynamics (SD) which have a considerable impact on project performance. Time intervals and work crew composition are two such policies. Through the implementation of a variety of policies, a managerial opportunity presents itself for the effective allocation of human resources and improvement in project performance.

The study developed a dynamic model to assess different labor hiring policies using SD based on literature. To further distinguish between findings, the effects of the applied policies on performance were considered using earned value management. Based on a real case for validating the model, the paper discusses the potential benefits of the model, including: having a systematic and holistic view, considering dynamic the labor need and allocation, identifying alternative strategies for performance improvement and simulating the reality of the projects in a virtual model.

The achieved simulation results show how different hiring policies affect project performance. This research model can aid decision makers to assess labor hiring policies in various time intervals with different compositions and assist them in selecting the best policies for effective implementation of project.

The proposed model would be a major attempt using SD to model labor hiring policies more accurate in construction projects performance. In fact, an accurate estimate of labor needed, along with the proper planning and implementing of various labor hiring policies, presents a managerial opportunity whereby the effective allocation of workforces can be optimized leading to drastic improvement in project performance.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a Doctor of Project Management research study including summary of the literature review, the application of the combination of case study, survey and theory building research methodologies, key research findings and potential areas for future research.

The research investigates the reasons for the limited adoption of earned value management (EVM) as a project performance evaluation technique. It proposes new extensions to this technique that will be beneficial to project management practitioners. The multifaceted research approach incorporates the following elements: a review of previous and current literature on EVM; a survey of project management practitioners on their practices and attitudes towards EVM; analysis of the known challenges of the EVM technique; development of techniques to address and resolve the EVM challenges; consolidation of those techniques into a single framework and implementation model; and validation of that framework and model through multiple methods.

The research confirms that EVM can be greatly enhanced and simplified though three key initiatives: include the cost assurance (i.e. risk transfer) provided by procurement contracts; measure project achievement and progress on the completion of each phase, rather than monthly; and combine the above into a simplified, single model.

This paper provides practitioners with an insight into how EVM can be enhanced and applied in project management organisations. In particular, the integrated PAVA technique should be particularly useful to projects using the rolling wave approach, as its recognition of phases provides a framework for short‐ and long‐term planning.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the project completion time and cost under non-deterministic conditions using interval gray numbers (IGNs).

The earned value management (EVM) method based on the IGN has been developed.

The EVM method based on the IGN has been verified by a numerical example that can be applied to construction projects.

The EVM method, based on the gray numbers, reduces the budget and time shortage risk. Also, using this method, the managers would not be restricted to provide very exact values in their progress reports in the non-deterministic conditions.

One notable and significant point in all projects during the execution process is to estimate the project completion time and cost. However, non-deterministic conditions for both planned and actual physical completion percentage of projects have not been considered for predicting the project completion time and cost in the literature. Therefore, the novelty of this paper is the prediction of project completion time and cost under non-deterministic conditions using IGN.

Within earned value management, the cost performance index (CPI) and the critical ratio (CR) are used to generate the estimates at completion (EACs). According to the research in the 1990s, estimating the final contract’s cost at completion (CAC) using EAC_CR is a quicker predictor of the actual final cost versus using EAC_CPI. This paper aims to investigate whether this trend stills holds for modern department of defense contracts.

Accessing the Cost Assessment Data Enterprise (CADE) database, 451 contracts consisting of 863 contract line item numbers (CLINs) were initially retrieved and analyzed in three stages. The first replicated the work conducted in 1990s. The second stage entailed calculating 95 per cent confidence intervals and hypothesis tests regarding percentage accuracy of EACs for a contract’s final CAC. Lastly, regression analysis was conducted to characterize major, moderate and minor influencers on EAC reliability.

For modern contracts, EAC_CR aligns more with EAC_CPI and no longer demonstrates early accuracy of a contract’s final CAC. Contract percentage completion strongly reduced the per cent error of estimating CAC, while cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts and those with no work breakdown structure greater than Level 2 negatively affected accuracy.

To militate against optimism of early assessment of a contract's true cost.

This paper provides empirical evidence that EAC_CR behaves more like EAC_CPI with respect to modern contracts, suggesting that today’s contracts have relatively high SPI. Therefore, caution is warranted for program managers when estimating the CAC from contract initiation up to and slightly beyond the mid-point of completion.

Integrated project delivery (IPD) is highly recommended to be utilised with building information management (BIM), specifically with BIM level-3 implementation process. Extant literature highlights the financial management challenges facing the proposed integration. These challenges are mainly related to the IPD compensation and the conventional cost control approaches that are not consistent with IPD principles. As such, this paper presents an integration of several methods to support automating risk/reward sharing amongst project parties thus enhancing IPD core team members’ relationship.

The literature review was used to highlight the challenges that face the IPD-based cost management practices such as the risk sharing/reward sharing amongst IPD core team members and potential methods to bridge the revealed IPD gap. A framework was developed by integrating the activity-based costing (ABC) – as a method to analyse the cost structure – and earned value management (EVM) to develop mathematical models that can determine the three main IPD financial transactions (i.e. …) fairly. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed system, a real-life case study was used, in which, promising results were collected in regard to visualising the cost control data and understanding of the accumulative status of the project cost and schedule for team members.

A centralised cost management system (CCMS) for IPD is developed to enable the IPD cost structure as well as automating the risk-sharing/reward-sharing calculations. This system is linked with a web-based management system to display the output of proposed risk-sharing/reward-sharing models. Moreover, a novel grid is developed to show the project status graphically and to respect the diversity in core team members backgrounds. In addition, the case study showed that the proposed integration of different methods (ABC, EVM, BIM and web-based management system) is interoperable and applicable.

This research presents a comprehensive solution to the most revealed challenges in cost management practices in IPD implementation. The outcome of this research contributes to the body of knowledge through presenting new extensions of the EVM to be used with the IPD approach to calculate risk/reward. Moreover, the implementation of the proposed tools such as centralised cost management system (CCMS) and CCMS for IPD web system will enhance/foster the implementation of the IPD in conjunction with BIM process.

Existing studies on project performance improvement mainly investigate project management (PM) execution processes. Limited publications investigate the project management office's (PMO) proficiency in facilitating proper PM practice. This paper identifies the key performance indicators (KPI) of PMO operations and develops a KPI-based performance management system (KPMS) for revitalising PMO performance for an engineering-service contractor (ESC).

A four-phase study was initiated at an ESC in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). Phase-1 established historical project performance and PMO challenges via documentary analysis. Empirical data from the PMO staff and management was acquired at Phase-2 to determine PMO process value-drivers and strategic roles. Phase-3 comprised the development of a modified PMO process and the KPMS, whereas Phase-4 evaluated the efficacy of the PMO process and the KPMS framework in a trial period.

The ESC's existing PMO process lacked significant value-drivers of its PM practice. The company also overlooked strategic PMO roles. Trial implementation of the modified PMO process achieved improved project performance, which stakeholders attributed to the value-driven processes and guidance provided by the KPMS. The KPMS, when used in tandem with Earned Value Management (EVM) index score review revealed core performance aspects that could facilitate continuous improvement of the PMO process at the ESC.

Findings provide an adequate basis for policy creation regarding PMO performance evaluation and guidance for companies contemplating a similar endeavour. A viable model for PMO performance management and improvement is proffered. The findings and the model would provide a platform for subsequent research in the areas of PMO development and business process improvement.

This is the first study conducted to obtain management and practitioners' inputs on developing a PMO performance management framework in a project-based contractor organisation in T&T. Various PMO challenges and implications of improvements specific to engineering-service contractors and similar organisations were determined.

For decades, cost growth in major military weapon system programs has been problematic. The result is a multitude of studies documenting internally focused causes of Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition cost growth and a spawning of acquisition reforms that have provided little relief to the problem. The missing components of these prior analyses are the larger economic and political factors that contribute to cost growth. This study analyzes cost growth in major DoD development and procurement contracts through a holistic political-economy construct including the effect of the political party of the President and Congress, and the liberal-conservative record of the Armed Services Committees. These political-economy constructs in both development contracts and procurement contracts are found to be more robust.

The role of a government investment project (GIP) management supervisor is to improve supervision performance and the Chinese government has issued a series of polices, displaying the determination to solve supervision problems. The purpose of this paper is to assist the government to play its role of supervisor and to realize progress supervision performance for GIP in practice with the Agent Construction System (ACS).

Taking consideration of the essence of ACS, the paper analyzes the system supported theory, which is a supervision mechanism, with contract management as the core and goals as orientation. The authors design the system frame and its composing modules according to the main function of this information system.

The research builds an expected supervision information system with four functional modules, which is designed according to logical sequence of supervision, based on a theoretical supervision mechanism.

The system is, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the most advanced and practical information system for GIP supervision published in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the link between value creation, performance measurement and goodwill accounting according to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US‐GAAP). Since economic goodwill is identical to the present value of future residual income, the paper examines how accounting information gathered for impairment testing of goodwill according to International Accounting Standard (IAS) 36 and Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) 142 can be used for internal control purposes.

The paper adopts common assumptions in the literature of residual income‐based valuation and analytically derives a periodic performance measure of both value creation and its realization based on information available from impairment testing.

This paper demonstrates that information required by IFRS and US‐GAAP to evaluate a firm's goodwill can be used to design a performance measurement system which provides information about both value creation and realization of value.

From a practical perspective, the paper shows that appropriate adjustments of data used in impairment testing result in information which ideally fits the requirements of an optimal performance measurement system.

The paper presents a performance measure which provides information about the actual creation of value as well as its realization in a period and is superior to traditional residual income‐based performance measures.

Provides a useful summary of research on value added (VA) reporting and shows how income statements can be rearranged to show gross or not (of depreciation) VA. Starts with descriptive research on its use in various countries, enumerates its advantages and limitations and goes on to review empirical research on VA firm performance, the informational content of VA (as against conventional) data in market valuation and its predictive ability. Suggests that VA disclosure should be mandatory in the USA and calls for further research on its usefulness.