Scheduling techniques that accommodate complexity: industrial practices and new approaches.

Complexity is a recognized factor that impacts project performance, yet quantifying this impact remains elusive. The Newtonian certainty of breaking down a project's schedule through a work breakdown structure into discrete activities fails to acknowledge the interwoven nature, iterative behaviour, and emergent state that arises when dealing with complexity. To understand the impact of complexity on a project's schedule, it is essential to identify, assign, and quantify complexity traits relative to the project's network. Through the research supporting the thesis, a comprehensive literature search has identified a set of complexity traits, and further research has isolated discrete complexity strings within project schedule networks. Assigning these complexity traits to these strings unveils the DNA of complexity within any given project schedule. A two-stage Delphi Method is employed to allocate the identified complexity traits to the discrete complexity strings. The two stages involve initially assigning traits to specific strings and subsequently recognizing the complexity strings with the most profound impact. A Forced Ranking Scale is then utilised to assess the effects of these complexity traits on the identified complexity strings. This method facilitates the determination of the impact of any set of traits on a specific complexity string, ultimately leading to the calculation of a revised makespan. The resulting affected schedule vividly demonstrates the discrete consequences of these traits within the determined complexity strings while also aiding in identifying activities directly and indirectly affected by the traits. The thesis offers methods for identifying and associating complexity strings with distinct complexity traits. Furthermore, it outlines a procedure for calculating and substantiating the influence of these complexity traits on a project's schedule makespan.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Robert Gordon University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Lambert, Jeremy Clifford

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Q.M.M. Zaman, R. Laing, D. Ahiaga-Dagbui and P. Boateng

• Construction projects
• Construction industry
• Project management
• Project scheduling
• Project complexity
• Delphi method

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:rgu-repository.worktribe.com:3085475
https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-3085475

Author Identifier

0000-0002-1048-1632

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rgu-repository.worktribe.com:3085475