Selecting value management processes for implementation on capital facility projects

A variety of innovative management processes, which are also interchangeably termed as best practices, value enhancing practices, and value management, are increasingly being introduced into capital facility projects, thereby causing among project stakeholders great concern about which process to implement on a particular project. Furthermore, it is nontrivial to identify the most effective one or more of these management processes because varying circumstances on each project determine their levels of suitability. Forty-four Value Management Processes (VMPs), defined as unique, yet optional management processes, were adopted from a rigorous screening process conducted by Construction Industry Institute (CII) Project Team (PT) 184. Each VMP is significantly beneficial for capital facility projects to proactively achieve one or more articulated Project Value Objectives (PVOs), including security/safety, cost efficiency, quality, schedule optimization, or risk containment. This dissertation details a systematic approach to determining the best one or more VMPs from among the established 44 VMPs for a particular project. Each of the 44 VMPs was characterized in terms of targeted primary benefit(s), timing of initiation, project characteristics, and relative VMP impact. Throughout this dissertation, the detailed research methodology and the research findings from both industry surveys and VMP expert inputs are illustrated. The resulting computerized selection tool, programmed with Visual Basic Application (VBA) on Microsoft Excel™, is described, and its validation results and findings are also discussed. As a pioneering study, this dissertation contributes to a growing area of research not only by providing comprehensive and structured compilation of VMPs but also by developing a new selection method to effectively elicit the most beneficial VMPs. From the perspective of industry, the results of this research, especially the computerized Selection Tool, facilitate the implementation of the VMPs and should help in maximizing the potential benefits to a particular project.