Toma, H. M.; Abdelazim, A. N. and Ibrahim, A. H. (2026) Assessment of estimation performance for activities' cost and time in construction projects using statistical process control. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 33(4), pp. 2669-2695. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose – The cost and duration estimation process is important to be monitored and controlled in construction projects. Estimation variation from actuals presents a problem when attempting to complete a project on planned time and budget. Various studies cover project performance monitoring with different cost and time performance indices. Nevertheless, project monitoring techniques do not take advantage of the available data to assess the performance and accuracy of estimates developed by the estimation team. Design/methodology/approach – This research proposes using statistical process control (SPC) to assess the consistency and stability of the estimation of activities' costs and durations. The proposed system calculates the deviation of the estimated costs and durations from the actual values. These calculations are the activities' indices that are used to plot the control chart. The process capability analysis (PCA) is used to determine the accuracy deviation of the estimations from the organization's targets. Findings – Results of the proposed system application to a real project determine the activities that have inaccurate cost and duration estimations. This result helps the estimation departments to analyze reasons for inaccurate estimations. The proposed system is an easy, effective tool for continuous improvement to the performance of the estimation department. Originality/value – Some projects are classified as troubled projects when calculating the status of the project with reference to estimations, while the estimations themselves are troubled and need to be corrected. The proposed system of this paper is considered a novel approach by using SPC techniques such as control charts and process capability analysis for continuous monitoring and assessing of cost and duration estimation process performance to improve process accuracy and increase the credibility of estimation teams or departments.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | control chart; cost estimation; duration estimation; estimation accuracy; framework system; process capability analysis |
| Index terms: | methodology, time performance, variation, construction project, process control, process performance, project monitoring, cost estimating, stability, accuracy, monitoring, project performance, duration, estimate, continuous improvement, deviation, estimation |
| Subjects: | production management, research methods, structural engineering, control systems, financial and cost management, professional development, project management theory and practice, contractual condition, performance measurement, project controls |
| Topics: | Cost Management, Information Management, Research Practice, Site Management, Contract Administration, Time Control, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here