Developing ABC Success Index to Support Contractors During Pre-Project Planning

Link to the Latest: Project Information

Background:
The goal of this research is primarily geared towards supporting ABC projects through twofold: attracting contractors to adopt ABC projects and informing project stakeholders about ABC success indicators during the pre-project planning phase. Given the novelty of ABC method, providing knowledge of ABC success indicators during pre-project planning phase will have a significant impact on ABC project success. This is particularly true since planning efforts conducted during the early stages of a construction project, known as pre-project planning, which encompasses tasks from project scope, definition, alignment, funding source/s, initiation to the beginning of detailed design, has a significant effect on project success than efforts undertaken after project kickoff. Therefore, this study reinforces the success of ABC projects during the early planning phase by pre-informing contractors about the success indicators, which can be developed into a tool elicited from analyzing successes of previous ABC projects.

Objective:
The research team set forth the objective of producing a user-friendly tool that supports identifying ABC success indicators with the following characteristics and functions:

1. Identify the success indicators based upon the literature and industry expertise,

2. Conduct ABC industry interviews-workshops for professionals from construction, transportation, and the structural disciplines to define the required weighted success criteria i.e., ABC Success matrix; and

3. Develop regression model with a machine learning algorithm that would help to determine the correlation between different project performance factors and expected success in ABC projects as well make accurate predictions.

Scope:
The primary outputs for the project will be “Guide to being Used to Anticipate Success Rates for ABC Projects” and “an Interactive index that provides a prodigious impact to educate as well as attract prospective ABC stakeholders including contractors, junior engineers, FHWA, DOTs, etc.”. Those deliverables will be shared on websites, conferences, webinars to ensure their applicability and usability in the industry. The guide and matrix will summarize existing challenges, discuss incentive clauses, identify risks, showcase success criteria and best practices based on previous ABC projects in similar locations, SWOT analyses related to Cost, Schedule; Contract Delivery Methods, Claims; and Quality Control and Assurances. The anticipated output would be the guide and interactive index to successful ABC projects for contractors/owners to consider during the planning phase of the ABC project.

Research Team:
Principal Investigator: Dr. Mohamed ElZomor
Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. David Garber
Research Assistant: Piyush Pradhananga