In the context of a growing social complexification, projects have evolved in the pastdecades from simple endeavours to complex and uncertain undertakings. Consequently,project complexity has emerged as an important research direction, and recently severalproject complexity frameworks have been suggested. However, little research has beendone in this area and there has been no study on the relationship of project complexity,in its holistic sense, and the risk of delay. Therefore, the study investigates the intricaterelationship between project complexity and project delay. The research is conducted inthe context of Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP) implementation projects,which are inherently complex and often record delays. The study has a qualitative nature and adopts an inductive approach. Nine ERPimplementationprojects have been studied in order to answer the research question.Several sources of evidence (semi-structured interviews and questionnaires) have beenutilized to ensure the credibility of the research findings through triangulation. The study contributes to the research field by verifying and augmenting the existingframeworks on reasons for project delay, complexity categories and their interplay. Itwas identified that complexity in a holistic sense represents a necessary condition forproject delay. Moreover, the study showed that although ERP projects are oftenconsidered to be technically complex, their complexity stems mainly from ‘subjective’(or perceived) and ‘uncertainty’ complexity dimensions. Finally, the conceptual modelof Eden et al. (2005) was modified to reflect the findings of the study.

abstract: Saudi Arabia has been facing issues with completing construction projects on time and on budget. It has been documented that 70% of public construction projects are delayed. Studies have identified the low-bid delivery method as an important factor in causing such delays. The procurement system (low-bid) ignores contractors’ performance, and that is reflected in projects’ performance. A case study was performed, at a University campus in northern Saudi Arabia, identifying the major causes of project delays and cost overruns. The University was experiencing delays from 50% to 150%. Also, the actual project costs for four projects were examined and found that all four projects’ costs were higher than the original bid. The delay and cost overruns factors were gathered from the University engineers. A literature research identified one construction management method, best value performance information procurement system (BV PIPS), has documented multiple times its ability to improve project performance. In a comparison using the result of a case study and the results of (BV PIPS), Saudi Arabia’s delivery system was identified as a potential cause of project performance issues. The current procurement system was analyzed and modified to adapt with the (BV PIPS). The proposed procurement system using BV PIPS, which can be implemented in Saudi Arabia, was created with owner side. A large survey was conducted of 761 classified contractors and 43 universities’ representatives who rated causes of delay factors and cost overruns. The delay factors were then compared to delay factors experienced on Saudi construction projects, identified by performing a literature research. The comparison identified 14 important causes of delays. Moreover, the survey showed that classified contractors and universities’ representatives unsatisfied with low-bid, and they agreed with BV PIPS which selecting vendors based on performance with price. The proposed model required a submitted level of experience (LE), risk assessment (RA), and value added (VA). Besides, project managers of vendors should be interviewed during the clarification phase. In addition, venders should submit the project’s scope, technical schedule, milestone schedule, and risk management plan. In the execution phase, vendors should submit a weekly risk report (WRR) and director’s report (DR). / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Construction 2016

<p>  </p> <p>Available literature indicated that construction projects have been experiencing significant time overruns from their planned duration. In many cases, the primary reasons for project delays were ineffective planning and scheduling methods, poor communication and collaboration between the key stakeholders, and the construction operations and task requirements have been overlooked.</p> <p>Construction project planning and scheduling are extensively studied topics, and several techniques have been developed to solve construction project scheduling problems. Traditional production planning and scheduling techniques are based on the push planning strategy, such as linear and network scheduling techniques. In the traditional method, the project scheduler calculates activity durations and then sequences them to determine when to complete the work. These techniques and planning methods have been criticized for lacking collaboration between project workers and realistic integration of the project time, location, and other essential resources to create a reliable work schedule. Furthermore, the inability to account for site operations, tasks, and workflow leads to waste and delay. </p> <p>Consequently, Ballard and Howell (1990) proposed the last planner system, and then Ballard et al. (2000) further developed the method. In the last planner system, all key stakeholders and the project management team actively communicate and coordinate to accomplish the project’s planned milestones. The last planner system and pull planning scheduling objective is improving workflow and increasing plan reliability. However, the pull planning scheduling method has some limitations. For instance, this method cannot be used to determine the available work capacity in each working space and show how much work can be completed at a given time. In addition, the pull planning and LPS system are highly descriptive and experienced-based, relying on the decision and experiences of the site supervisors. </p> <p>Available literature concerning construction project delay also indicated that ineffective planning and scheduling, slow decision-making, and poor communication and coordination had been the top critical causes of construction project delay.</p> <p>Therefore, this research was conducted to minimize construction project time and cost overrun due to poor scheduling and production planning. The study has been conducted in two main parts. In the first part of this study, critical causes of project delay have been analyzed, and the contribution of poor planning and scheduling to construction project delays in different environments has been assessed. The relative importance index and Spearman’s coefficient techniques have been utilized to analyze the collected data.  The second section of this research work was conducted to investigate the construction scheduling reliability and production efficiency and developed the enhanced production planning and scheduling method to improve schedule reliability and production plan efficiency.  The reason for developing the enhanced production planning and scheduling method was to find the best work option to optimize work duration and efficiently plan required resources per category of the identified activities. In addition, this study has automated the scheduling input data capturing from the project BIM model by utilizing the developed visual program.</p> <p>The study finding in the first section indicated that the top ten critical causes of identified causes of project delay in specified environments were significantly different. However, Ineffective project planning and scheduling had been among the most critical causes in all three conditions. Ineffective planning and scheduling were ranked number one in developed environment conditions, second in developing countries, and fifth in high-risk environments.</p> <p>Study results in the second section have shown that the case study's executed schedule had experienced significant changes in the planned dates of individual tasks, project milestones, and resource allocation. The project schedule critical path and critical activities were changed repeatedly after each update, and the project structure work was delayed for 30 days from its initial plan, as illustrated in figures 33 to 35. Subsequently, the enhanced planning methodology has been applied in the selected case study to validate the developed method and evaluate the result of the case study. The case study implemented work plan has been compared with the enhanced planning-based developed schedule. The total duration of the enhanced planning-based method has been calculated to be 240 work days, which shows 30 days less time from implemented case study plan and 50 days from the project base plan in the construction document, as illustrated in figures 39 to 41. </p> <p>Furthermore, the production schedule sensitivity analysis has shown that the production schedule and the case study base plan tasks duration have not been significantly different since both schedules were created based on the similar size of the work crew, but in terms of the number of the planned task, the production schedule had been created based on the most suitable work option. Another advantage of the production schedule is that it is more reliable because the schedule is created for a shorter duration, not long before the project work starts, and it is created after multiple collaborations and assessment steps. In addition, the developed program in this study using Revit dynamo automated the extraction of input data from the BIM model to create the project schedule. </p> <p>In conclusion, based on the case study results, the enhanced production planning methodology and developed metrics and indices can be applied to various building construction projects to find the most suitable work option and create a reliable and resource-efficient work schedule. </p>

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