Critical Barriers to Traditional Project Progress Measurement: Perspectives of Ghanaian Construction Professionals

Accurate project progress measurement is critical for effective project management. Besides guarantying smooth work progress, it affords project managers the chance to identify early warning signs for peremptory remedial actions to keep the project on schedule and to budget. However, pertinent barriers can suppress the realization of the benefits of an accurate assessment of construction progress. This study aims to identify, examine and prioritize the critical barriers militating against accurate project progress measurement in the Ghanaian construction industry. Sixteen barriers identified from the literature were administered in a questionnaire survey to professionals with tier one construction firms and consultants. Sixty experienced construction professionals practising with tier-one construction firms and consultancy services took part in the survey. The relative importance index technique was used to rank the factors and correlation in responses of the two parties tested by the Mann-Whitney U statistics. The most critical barriers perceived by the professionals were 1) Reliance on Supervisor’s Judgement, 2) Generic and Non-Systematic Approach, 3) Variable Quality of Data and 4) Intricate Measurement Reports. Other highly ranked barriers include 5) Lack of Timely Information, 6) Laborious Data Gathering and 7) Quality Integration Constraint. The findings underpin the need to minimize dependence on subjective opinions and mere experiences of supervisors for assessment of project progress in this age of information technology. Incorporation of a level of automation into traditional progress methods will not only reduce human errors introduced into manually collected data but facilitate visualization of progress reports. Contiguous to a clear specification of the method of progress measurement in the contract document, a system that conveniently integrates cost, time and scope of work into progress measurement must be pursued. Addressing these identified critical barriers will consolidate current construction progress management practices.

Multi-Mode Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Models for Progress and Equal Time Interval Payments

This study utilizes a time-precedence network technique to construct two models of multi-mode resource constrained project scheduling problem with discounted cash flows （MRCPSPDCF）, individually including the progress payment （PP） and the payment at an equal time interval （ETI）. The objective of each model is to maximize the net present value （NPV） for all cash flows in the project, subject to the related operational constraints. The models are characterized as NP-hard. A heuristic algorithm, coupled with two upper bound solutions, is proposed to efficiently solve the models and evaluate the heuristic algorithm performance which was not performed in past studies. The results show that the performance of proposed models and heuristic algorithm is good.

Pengze Nuclear Power Project in steady progress

At the end of September, the approach way and linkage roads of Pengze Nuclear Power Project, a project developed by China Power Investment Corporation in Jiangxi Province, were all linked up, laying a solid foundation for the construction of the project.

“Inverse Projection Method”Model in DEA to Measure Technological Progress

In view of the problems in measuring technological progress by DEA model, premias for DEA application is analyzed in this paper. An extended model of DEA is also raised for the cases running counter to the premisess. And precision about the results of the two models is analyzed.

Three Gorges Dam project in great progress as planned

It hasn’t been easy, but almost all of the work on the Three Gorges Project is on schedule, according to a corporation overseeing construction of the dam. The China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corporation has reported that contractors and other staff are working hard to ensure that the flood season does not slow the dam project. The company recently detailed the mammoth tasks that have taken place so

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO R&D PROJECTS WINNING SPECIAL-GRADE AND FIRST-GRADE PRIZES AT THE 1994 CAS AWARDS FOR S&T PROGRESS

Following a thorough examination and appraisal by the Awards jury and after ratification by the CAS President’s Working Conference, a total of 15 R&D projects were granted special-grade prizes and 13 first-grade prizesrespectively at the 1994 CAS Awards for S&T Progress.A brief introduction of them is given as follows:

CHINESE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT (HGP) MADE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS

The first stage of HGP in China (Jan. 1994～Jun. 1997) was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China in the form of a principle project (total funding: 3,750,000 RMB) entitled "Study on gene structure of some loci in the genome of Chinese nationalities". After 3 and half years’ collaborative work by 19 groups and about 200 scientists distributed in 16 participating labs, coordinated by Prof. Bo-Qing QIANG of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE R&D PROJECTS WINNING SPECIAL-GRADE AND FIRST-GRADE PRIZES OF THE 1993 CAS AWARDS FOR S&T PROGRESS

In the wake of examination,appraisal and recommendation by the jury of the CAS Awards for S&T Progress and ratified by the CAS President’s Working Conference, 29 R&D projects was confered one special-grade prize and 28 first-grade prizes of the 1993 CAS Awards for S&T Progress respectively. A brief introduction to them is as follows: SPECIAL PRIZE (1 ITEM)

Project on Interaction between Agro-ecosystems and Global Change Making Progress

A research project on interaction between agroecosystems and global change has been accepted as a Category Ⅰ contribution to IGBP-GCTE (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme-Global Change & Terrestrial Ecosystems) Core Research, the highest-level support GCTE has offered to an individual research project so far. This was confirmed by Prof. Noble, GCTE Chairman, in a letter to Prof. Peng Shaolin, Principal Investigator of

PROJECTS WON 1998 CAS AWARDS FOR S&T PROGRESS AND FOR INVENTIONS

The CAS Awards for S&T Progress and the CAS Awards for Inventions are two major awards issued by the Chinese Academy of Sciences to recognize major research results and inventions produced by CAS scientists that have contributed greatly to the promotion of S&T progress, and social and economic development. In 1998, 12 research works won the CAS Awards for Inventions and 94 works won the CAS Awards for S&T Progress. The following are profiles of some of the prize-wining projects.

PROJECTS WON 1997 CAS AWARDS FOR NATURAL SCIENCES AND FOR S&T PROGRESS

The CAS Awards for Natural Sciences and the CAS Awards for S&T Progress are two major awards issued by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The former is to recognize the scientific findings and research results by which CAS scientists bring to light natural phenomena, laws and properties in their basic and applied basic research. The latter is to award major inventions or research results produced by CAS scientists that have contributed greatly to the promotion of S&T progress, and social and economic development. In 1997, 68 research projects won the CAS Awards for Natural Sciences, and 106 research works won CAS Awards for S&T Progress. The following are profiles of some of the prize-wining projects.

Design & Construction Progress and Prospect of TGP

The construction of the TGP has proceeded smoothly since its commencement of construction in 1994 and the construction quality is good in general. The construction proceeds in accordance with the master project schedule in preliminary design approved by the central government and the investment can be controlled within the total budget of the preliminary design. The Changjiang Water Resources Commission, taking charge of the general design jobs of the TGP, has consistently paid attention to the project quality in the first place and carried out large amount of investigation, design and scientific research work. This paper makes an overall summarization and presentation on important technical issues in the design, such as dam, powerhouse structure, permanent ship locks, ship lift, project safety monitoring, main river closure and the 2nd stage cofferdam, mechanical and electric design etc., and put forwards a lot of suggestions about optimizing design schemes and measures for smoothing away construction difficulties in accordance with construction progress.

A Standard Framework for Effective Progress Reports in the State of Kuwait

The construction industry in the State of Kuwait has recently witnessed a rapid growth as the volume of construction projects increased significantly over the past decade. Because of the progress and growth of the industry and the size of the projects, the volume of disputes between the parties to the various contracts has increased accordingly. As projects become larger and more complex, their management and control become more difficult, especially in the absence of effective standard systems to for managing project progress and determining the delay, if any. Even the simple issues, as well as the large ones, if neglected and unaddressed in a timely manner, can cause huge problems that concerns to all project parties. Irrespective of addressing and managing construction delays legally, the resulting legal disputes always have other negative effects on the contracting parties. If the parties to the contract have an insight that enables them to forecast and identify the issues that may cause a conflict before it occurs, that eliminates a myriad of problems before they occur, and greatly reduces the chances of further conflict between contracting parties. This paper presents a framework for a novel progress reporting system that can help minimize contract disputes in the state of Kuwait.

LIRR "R&D and Industrialization of High PerformanceFunctional Refractories for Metallurgy New Technology" Project Gained Fund Support

Checked by Henan Province Development and Relbrm Commission and Henan Province MunicipalFinance （）ffice, the “R ＆ I） and Industrialization of High Performance Functional Refractories for Metallurgy New Technology” project declared by 1,1RR gained a special fund support on self-renovation and products structure adjustment. The project will realize the technology integration and industriali-zation of key refractories including purging component, metering nozzle and toil and belt continuous casting nozzle, etc. through building high performance functional refractories production lines for metallurgy new technology.

6-44 Progress of HIMM Project

Heavy ion beam has been considered to be the most optimal radiation for tumor treatment in the field of radiotherapy due to a high ionization density and a high relative biological effectiveness (RBE), culminating in a sharp maximum at a discrete penetration depth that coincides with the maximum physical dose around the socalled Bragg peak. It is important to develop the hospital-based heavy-ion-therapy facility to make the treatment accessible for public tumor patients.

CAS Action Plan for the Development of Western China Progressing Smoothly

Since CAS is charged with the key task of carrying out strategic, fundamental and forward-looking studies for this country, it is incumbent upon CAS scientists to take an active part in the National Program for the Development of Western China. This is also an important part of the national Knowledge Innovation Program (KIP) spearheaded by CAS. Over the past two years, CAS has made a series of remarkable advances in Western China with regard to the development of research bases, exploration of crucial scientific problems, the training of talented people, and providing consultation services for decision makers.With the furtherance of the national drive to develop the country's western region, CAS will step up its efforts and increase its funding, to make more and greater contributions to the overall development of the region.