Flexible work breakdown structure for integrated cost and schedule control

Integration of cost and schedule control systems has been an issue of great concern for researchers and practitioners in the construction industry. Nevertheless, the real-world implementation of this promising concept has not been popular enough to maximize the benefits that this integration has to offer. One of the major barriers is the overhead effort to collect and maintain detailed data. The purpose of this paper is to propose a flexible work breakdown structure (WBS) that optimizes the overhead effort by means of reducing the amount of data to be controlled. In order to have a flexible structure, the WBS numbering system needs to utilize standard classification codes and should not have a common strict hierarchy for all components. A case study is analyzed in this paper in order to examine the proposed concept. Practical implications are outlined as well.