Question 1- Answer
Types of Project Lifecycle
The types of project life cycles are various as discussed by different scholars and researchers. These types of project life cycle include iterative, adaptive, incremental, agile, waterfall, etc. (Project Smart, n.d.). However, the study has found that it is very important to understand the importance of each type of project life cycle according to the nature of the project.
Uses of each type
The uses and benefits of each type of project life cycle are as follows (Project Smart, n.d.):
Iterative/ Incremental
The major purpose and objective of iterative product life cycle are to develop the incremental system. It is more flexible as compared to other project life cycles because it begins with partially adding the system and then gradually inserts more systems and features till the end of the project and system. It is the reason why it is more flexible as many new systems can be added at any stage of the project. The improvements are also possible in iterative project life cycle based on the learning in the previous phases and iterations (Project Smart, n.d.).
This type of life cycle is used for the projects where the scope changes are required by the manager during the life of the project based on the information and details come from iterations. It is mostly used for long term projects such as a project of three to five years is very difficult to run based on the initial scope and hence, the changes are managed at different stages such as designing, testing, coding, modifying and delivering.
Adaptive
The adaptive life cycle of the project is aimed to respond to the changes of high level during the life of the project and response to the stakeholders involve in the project. The iterations are also used in the adaptive cycle; however, these iterations are used to response quickly to the problems and the scope for change remains fixed (Project Smart, n.d.). The adaptive life cycle is used for the different projects as mentioned in the iterative life cycle. It is used in those projects in which the rapid response and changes are required, and scope cannot be changed.
Agile
Agile is another important project completed methodology that is resulted in the need to develop the applications of software. The deliverables in Agile are also submitted in iterations and stages (Project Smart, n.d.). However, agile takes less time to deliver as compared to other life cycles from year to months and months to days. Agile is mainly used for software projects to deliver them in less time i.e. within weeks rather than in months.
Waterfall
It is the most traditional life cycle method for the project deliverables that has been used for many decades. The deliverables must be defined clearly for its each stage as the scope cannot be changed. The waterfall project lifecycles are used for various projects of engineering and technology that requires the complete and proper set of deliverables for each phase of the project such as what is to be delivered at testing phase, what is to be delivered at the design phase and what is to be delivered at final stage etc.? It is also used in the project management of construction projects (Project Smart, n.d.). It is more organized and planned life cycle as compared to other, however, it is very difficult in waterfall projects in response to the changes and problems occurred.
Question 2- Answer
Abstract
The delay is one of the major challenges in the projects across the industry as well as the research studies. Delays result in delaying the total duration of the project and it results in increasing the total duration of the project and thus, a project may become unsuccessful if it is delayed and its duration has increased than originally planned. For this purpose, various methods have been developed and designed to analyze the delays. The delay usually occurs in the schedules of the project either in industry or research; therefore, the report is conducted to investigate different schedule delay methods used in industry and research. The data is collected from secondary sources such as research papers, books, journals, newspapers, and websites. The study has found various methods of delays in research as well as in the industry. It has found in the study that the industries are mainly involved in using quantitative methods. However, the research claimed to use various other techniques and qualitative analysis for the delay to be incurred.
Introduction
The delay analysis has been found as a very efficient technique to measure the delay in the project and also helps to understand the quality of the project in the context of different stakeholders and parties such as contractors, customers, owners, etc. Based on this calculation, compensation for time and cost as the results of delay is being decided. The use of various techniques and methods is found as very important in every industry for the proper control and planning of the project and to use the resources provided within the given time frame. The management of construction project is mainly found to achieve this objective and aim of the construction project.
It is very important to address the issues during the project for the successful completion and delivery. Before starting work at the site, the contractors work in the office for the planning, estimating, scheduling, negotiating, controlling and purchasing, etc. The scheduling at this stage is being done very carefully. However, to deliver the quality of the project, it is very important to achieve the goals and objectives of the schedules.
The essence of the performance of the project for management, contractor and owner is the performance time. It makes the need for project delay analysis as significant for the contracting parties for the right decision making on right time or prior claim for cost compensation. In line with this need, various methods and techniques of analyzing the delays have emerged over the last few years.
However, few studies have claimed that these techniques of delay analysis are not found as very successful reducing the rate of problems and incidents in the project although, aid for decision making. One of the major cause for these incidents found are the disputes that emerge with the limitations of the methods and techniques and their capabilities (Hegazy, 2012). These limitations are found in the practical use of the methods within the industry. Therefore, the better understanding of delay analysis techniques is very important to provide the techniques both use within the industry and available in the research field and to understand that how these techniques can be improved.
Literature Review
The analysis and review of the literature are meant to understand the problem statement and the relevant studies and literature already exist about the research topic. It is going to cover the review of delays, causes of delays, delays in industry and methods used in the industry found in the previous studies.
Delays and delay problems
Various studies have already discussed the delay and delay problems, but the major focus of the studies remain towards the delays in the construction projects. The study has stated that delay is the natural part of the projects yet the project management knowledge has been acquired.
Many of the experts believe that because of the inherent nature of the delays, these delays can be ignored. However, it has been noted that the success of the project companies are now mainly depends on their ability to meet the time and cost and thus, the need for identifying the causes and problems of delays are found as very important (Barry, 2009).
The delay problems are wider and broader that impact on the success of the whole project. However, it is important to understand the causes of the delays or delay problems. The major problems and causes of delays are associated with the contractor of the project. The project can be delayed if the contractor does not find the labor or there is a delay in finding labor to start work.Also, if the contractor is failed to start the activities immediately after signing a contract as per planned, then these factors could also delay the project (Braimah, 2013).
Furthermore, the issues can be raised with the major activities during the project at each stage such as issues in the size of the material provided is not accurate as per required or the requirements of the owner might be changed during the project such as to add additional features that were not added to the initial plan. The project can also be delayed if the problems have cured during the testing and controlling stage. These extra activities and late beginnings of the few work directly impacts on the overall success of the project.
Delays in industry and research
Within the industry, the researchers defined delay that it is the time which is consumed for some activities and parts of the project that fails to perform on time and extended due to some issues and circumstances. The construction law society has stated that the term delay is directly linked with the completion where it can be defined as the extension of the date to which the contract aimed to finish the whole project. Another study has stated that within the industry, meeting the time of the project completion is very important for the contractors and if the delay is caused by the employer or owner, then the contractor must be given with extra or additional time to finish it (Braimah, 2013).
The study has found various delays, and its types include according to time, according to impact, according to liability, according to occurrence, etc. These delays are further categorized into more types include critical delay, non-critical delay, independent delay, concurrent delay, excusable delay and no excusable delay (Hegazy, 2011).
Different studies have found different causes and issues of delays in the construction industry such as the lack of funds, project complexity, many stakeholders’ involvements, inefficiency of site management, poor management, and planning, etc. Although, it has stated that delay is a usual part, however, it is still important to use the methods and techniques to analyze the delays for the efficiency of the project.
Research Objective
It is very important to identify the objectives and aims of the research study to justify the needs of study and to explain that what the study is going to provide and achieve at the end of the study. The major objective of this study is to investigate the methods use to analyze the schedule delays. Based on the major aim of the study, the objectives are as follows:
Schedule Delay Analysis in Industry
The project delay analysis in the industry is aimed to identify that how much of the project is successful to ensure the quality of the project to its owners and contractors. Therefore, it addresses the questions such as what was imaged and expected to happen and what have done? What was the inconsistency? How inconsistency effect on the schedule of the project? To answer these questions, various techniques of delay analysis have applied in the industry. Based on the findings of the secondary data, the study has found various schedule delay analysis techniques are used in the industry. These techniques have been categorized into two groups include Critical Path Method and Non-Critical Path Method (Hegazy, 2012; Barry, 2009).
For more focused results, the study planned to compare the delay analysis in two cross countries industries; one is of the UAE and second is of United Kingdom. The study has found that there are various methods have been applied in the UAE industry, and the techniques selection process is become more important to define and analyze the delay. Because of the increasing claims to the UAE industry, various contractors have applied the delay analysis techniques. The techniques used in the UAE industry include As-Planned, As-Built, As-Planned But for, “Window” Analysis, Impacted As-Planned, Time Impact Analysis and Collapsed As-Built (Braimah, 2013). However, the study has claimed that these methods are still not successful in addressing the delay issues in the projects and more improved methods are being required (Hegazy, 2012).
On the other hand, the delay analysis is one of the common practices in the UK industry. However, the study has found that the most common practices of using delay analysis techniques are more associated with As-Built and As-Planned, where, the practice of other types such as Window Analysis is not common as the majority of the field workers are not even aware of these types. The study has further found that in the UK, As-Built and As-Planned received the top rank in the list of most effective techniques to deal with delay claims and disputes (Ndekugri, Braimah & Gameson, 2008).
Schedule Delay Analysis in Research
Although various techniques and methods have already been implemented in the industries, and almost same methods have applied in the cross countries industries, however, it is important to find some other techniques within the research context for the improved methods and processes. The study has found that apart from the common and most popular methods applied in the industry, some other techniques can also be used.
The study has claimed that the industries used fuzzy and unclear logics and methods to find and analyze the delays. The contractors in the industry only depend on the quantitative methods and techniques based on the computing methods (Pandey et al. 2012).
The study in this claim has found that some other techniques can be used across the industries include net impact method, Global impact method, actually based method, Impact/update method and snapshot or update methods. These methods can be found as more effective as compared to the existing practices in the industry. On the whole, it can be said that the research claimed to use more improved and enhanced techniques of delay analysis.
Conclusion
The study was conducted to find the schedule delay analysis techniques used in both industry, and research and various methods and techniques are found from the discussion and analysis of the secondary data. The delay is found as the most common and natural issue in the project management. However, it is concluded from the discussion that the delay analysis is very important at the planning stage. For this purpose, various methods and techniques of delay analysis are extensively being used in the industry in the practical world. These techniques include As-Planned, “Window” Analysis, Impacted As-Planned, As-Planned But for, Time Impact Analysis, As-Built, and Collapsed As-Built. It has found that many of these techniques are effective and efficient and support in dealing with the claims of delay, however, based on the research analysis, it is concluded that more improved and qualitative methods can be used in the industry for better results.
References
Barry, D. (2009). Beware the dark arts! Delay analysis and the problems with reliance on technology. Society of Construction Law, 1-14.
Braimah, N. (2013). Construction Delay Analysis Techniques—A Review of Application Issues and Improvement Needs. Buildings, 3(3), 506-531.
Hegazy, S. (2012). Delay analysis Methodology in UAE construction Projects: Delay Claims, Literature Review1. PM World Journal, 1(2).
Ndekugri, I., Braimah, N., & Gameson, R. (2008). Delay analysis within construction contracting organizations. Journal of construction engineering and management, 134(9), 692-700.
Pandey, M. K., Dandotiya, A., Trivedi, M. K., Bhadoriya, S. S., & Ramasesh, G. R. (2012). Delay Computation Using Fuzzy Logic Approach.International Journal of Intelligent Systems and Applications, 4(11), 84.
Project Smart. (n.d.). Which Life Cycle Is Best For Your Project? Retrieved on May 11, 2016, from; https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/which-life-cycle-is-best-for-your-project.php
