Continuous Assessment of Project Performance

Project managers for owners, designers, and contractors need real-time information to assist them in managing projects. This paper describes a process whereby owner, engineer, and construction contractor organizations can use continuous or time-dependent variables (e.g., owner expenditures, construction effort hours expended) to predict project outcomes from start of detailed design through construction completion. Continuous variable data were collected on 54 construction projects. S-curves were developed for two project outcome categories: (1) “successful” (meeting or exceeding budget and schedule expectations); and (2) “less-than-successful” (not meeting budget and/or schedule expectations of the owner). Statistical analysis was performed to identify those variables showing a statistically significant difference between the two project outcome categories. Variables exhibiting a significant difference between the S-curves for “successful” and “less-than-successful” projects can be used as predictors of project outcome. Results show that different variables were predictors of success at different points of time during the project life cycle. Practical applications of these results along with limitations and future research are described.