Developing a Complexity Measure for Project Schedules
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VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 132, Issue 6
Abstract
Several factors contribute to the complexity of project schedules, including the number of activities, the level of detail, and the shape of the project network. This paper presents a measure that assesses the complexity of project schedules in terms of the connectivity of the activities. Unlike similar complexity measures, the proposed complexity measure does not consider redundant relationships in the project’s schedule. In addition, the measure is expressed as a percentage and therefore has the advantage of being intuitively understand by project managers. The measure considers the degree of interrelationships between the activities in the project’s schedule. The measure has been implemented in a computerized tool to help managers assess the complexity of their projects. The tool is developed as an add-in to popular commercial scheduling software like MS Project.
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© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 10, 2004
Accepted: Nov 23, 2005
Published online: Jun 1, 2006
Published in print: Jun 2006
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