Modeling building projects as a basis for change control

Changes made in building projects during their design and execution are a major cause for delays, cost overruns and deviations from performance requirements. The impact of changes on the project often becomes clear only after their implementation in the project. At that stage it is difficult to make adjustments or consider alternatives. A timely recognition, by the project team, of the implications of proposed changes can lead to a reconsideration of the changes, so that the completed project would still meet the client's objectives. This paper presents an ongoing research project for the development of a model of building projects, as a basis for change control. The model facilitates an automatic identification of the possible consequences of changes when they are first proposed, prior to their implementation in the design and planning of the project. The model utilizes available sources of project information in order to identify the impact of changes on the primary client objectives of cost, schedule and performance. The proposed model's feasibility was examined through its application in a case-study. The model was used to identify, in retrospect, the possible impact of proposed changes in a case study of a building project. The consequences of different change scenarios were quickly identified by tracing the relationships between the elements of the project. In reality, these consequences became clear only after the changes were fully implemented.