Tech cure for ailing Aussie building projects
Tech cure for ailing Aussie building projects
Feb 3, 2005: An Australian team is developing what it describes as "world-first technology" to provide a rapid cure for under-performing construction projects.
The development of the software tool - called Project Diagnostics - was sponsored by the Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation (CRC CI), a national research, development and implementation centre focused on the needs of the property, design, construction and facility management sectors.
The new software tool identifies specific areas of poor project health, pinpoints the root causes and suggests remedies.
Project Director John Tsoukas, of global engineering firm Arup, said Project Diagnostics serves as an advanced warning system which is specially tailored for construction projects that are failing to meet their goals.
"There are five basic questions you could ask of any worried client or project manager: Is your project going off the rails? Do you want to know why? Do you want to know what to do about it? Do you want to save the business case? Do you want to avoid bad publicity?
"If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then they may need Project Diagnostics."
Tsoukas said the toolkit is based on the critical success factors which most influence the success of a project, namely cost, time, safety, quality, environment, stakeholder value and relationships.
"The value of this approach is that it gives the client, project manager or other parties the ability to quickly reach a sound understanding of the current status of a project - through a series of comparisons with recognised industry norms - and then be in a position to take remedial action if required."
Tsoukas said another advantage of the Project Diagnostics software tool is the cost, describing the fee for using the service as insignificant compared with the costs of a failing project.
"The financial fallout from unhappy stakeholders and bad publicity alone, is enough to encourage any client or project manager to consider this tool essential."
Project Diagnostics assesses whether the critical success factors are on track for project success using a series of key performance indicators. These were chosen because they are easily measured, independent, sensitive, and have broad application across the various project phases, procurement methods, project sizes and levels of complexity. The indicators have been tested for robustness using Australian and international case studies in the construction sector.
Once a critical success factor is found to be under-performing, the root causes are identified using the further assessment of numerous contributing factors. These have been identified from an extensive worldwide literature review and consultation with many parties on active construction projects.
Correct and timely identification of these contributing factors allows the project manager or consultant to develop effective, focused remedies. The Project Diagnostics model is cyclic and repeats the investigation until all the identified problems have been ironed out. This enables the Client or project manager to achieve a continuous improvement in project 'health' and delivery.
Project Diagnostics is currently in the final stage of development. During 2005, it will undergo further testing and refinement using live construction projects from Australia and overseas. The service is planned to be released and available to the construction industry in Australia and internationally in the first half of 2006.
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