Bogus, S M; Molenaar, K R and Diekmann, J E (2006) Strategies for overlapping dependent design activities. Construction Management and Economics, 24(8), pp. 829-837. ISSN 1466433X
Abstract
Overlapping activities that are traditionally performed in a sequential manner can significantly reduce project delivery times. Overlapping, however, should be approached in a systematic manner to reduce the costs and risks. Information gathered from sector-based case studies and from the manufacturing domain suggest a formalised framework for identifying overlapping opportunities and strategies can be successfully implemented for infrastructure projects. This framework considers activity characteristics, such as evolution of upstream information and sensitivity of downstream activities to changes in upstream information, to identify appropriate overlapping strategies. Overlapping strategies, such as early freezing of design criteria, overdesign, and early release of preliminary information, are selected based on activity characteristics. These strategies operate either by speeding up the evolution of upstream information or by reducing the sensitivity of downstream activities. By aligning overlapping strategies with activity characteristics, project managers can make better decisions on when and how much to overlap sequential activities to reduce overall project delivery time.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | concurrent engineering; decision making; project management |
| Index terms: | concurrent engineering, project delivery, evolution, case study, infrastructure project, project manager, decision-making, freezing, strategy, project management |
| Subjects: | project management theory and practice, infrastructure and transport systems, profession, engineering methods, environmental science, project delivery, management, decision analysis, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Risk Management, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Procurement, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
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