Challenges of Cost Forecasting in Large Projects - Critical Review Report

PPMP20015 – RESEARCH IN PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
ASSIGNMENT 1
Critical Review Report
Lecturer: Dr. Rashidul Islam
Topic
Analysing the Challenges of Cost Forecasting in Context of large
Projects

Index
Summary...............................................................................................................3
Introduction...........................................................................................................3
Table Of Identified Sources.....................................................................................................................3
Critical Appraisal.....................................................................................................................................5
Preliminary Research Questions..............................................................................................................6
Similarity Report......................................................................................................................................6
Personal Reflection & Conclusion...........................................................................................................6
References................................................................................................................................................7

Summary
It is obvious that there has been real progress in developing a general framework for larger
construction projects which may be universally applicable to ensure better time and cost control.
However, projects of said magnitude tend to have a major local influence on how their cost estimation
is done effectively. For example the labour laws and compensation standards are different across the
world. Similarly, there are different local factors that affect each project. While most studies aim at
framing a universal framework, it is widely suggested to customize such recommended frameworks to
the local needs and constraints.
Introduction
In Construction industry, the main motive is to ensure the projects finishes on time, within budget and
achieving all project objectives. Regardless of the fact that we have the availability of various Control
Techniques and Project control Software, many construction Projects in UK fail to meet the
objectives. The research should be in the field of studying the ability of the practitioners to effectively
control their projects. A survey was conducted on 250 Projects to find the common factors inhibiting
the time and cost at the real time and hindering Factors like, design changes, risks/uncertainties,
inaccurate evaluation of project time/duration, complexities and non-performance of
subcontractors were the major findings. This Research includes a combination of Quantitative and
Qualitative methods mainly done in two stages. First stage being the Questionnaire survey in order to
generate information from a large number sample Population. Second stage is using the semi-
structured interviews in order to create depth to the results of the questionnaire survey by
investigating and elaborating on some of the issues highlighted.
Table Of Identified Sources
This study proceeded toward the influencing factors from a new perspective. Most of the previous
studies were focused on the causes of the cost and time overruns. The Survey of this Study mainly
approached the current view of the Leading Practitioners in the UK. In Comparison to previous
studies where External factors were cited as important factors, it was interesting to find in this study
that top five inhibiting Factors were all Project internal elements (Abbas, 2006). The External Factors
such as inflation, material shortage, unforeseen ground conditions, inclement climate, etc. may be
difficult to handle but the frequency of their occurrence is general low whereas internal factors are
persistent and require constant controlling.
The mitigating measures are distilled from in-depth interviews with experienced management
practitioners, which came out with the steps to improve the current project control practice. For
instance, general decline in the production of detailed design for construction projects has been
perceived as a bottleneck during Project control process (Kaliba, Muya, Mumba, 2009).
Generally, a lack of distinction between a design change and a design development lead to
squabble between Project Partners. Further interviews brought out the fact that unachievable and
unrealistic time scales from the Client contributes to the Problem of Project management. The
mitigating measures like, designing the project to a great detail at the outset whenever possible,
clear distinction between a design change and a design development at the outset of a project,
educating and advising client on alternative if an unachievable/unrealistic project timescale is