Assessing the adoption of earned value management (EVM) technique to predict and control cost overrun of construction projects in Kampala Uganda.
Abstract
Despite the provision of advance project management tools, construction projects still suffer
from cost overrun as it was re-affirmed observing 90% across the world. Amidst these
challenges faced, the construction industry contributes tremendously to the economic
development of a country’s GDP. A group survey report indicated that 61% of the projects
either failed or were challenged to meet success criteria; and 74% faced schedule and cost
overruns.
The consistent use of traditional method has put the construction industry in a back log of cost
overrun. This is because these methods use only two parameters of Planned Value (PV) and
Actual Cost (AC), leaving behind Earned Value (EV). These two parameters make it basic,
offering limited accuracy, and ignoring the unexpected circumstances that always come with
construction projects. To solve this problem, one of the most important steps in this process
is development of effective performance monitoring system. These methods include such as
Critical Path Method, PERT, and EVM systems compared to the traditional approaches (i.e.,
day to day monitoring, monthly or weekly management reports, performance reviews, key
performance indicators and project audit reports).
This study assessed the adoption of EVM technique to predict and control cost overrun in
construction industry of Uganda. The objectives are to establish the awareness level of EVM
in the construction industry, establish whether the application of EVM technique is being used
and to examine the barriers that hinder the adoption of EVM technique. The research adopted
both quantitative and qualitative method to collect data through survey questionnaires and
interview for both quantitative and qualitative data. The study shows that the awareness of
EVM among professionals is at 16.4%, and the application is at 19% indicating a very low
level of awareness and application of the technique respectively. The barriers hindering
awareness and its application were cited to be; limited awareness among project stakeholder,
requires expert knowledge, and time consuming. Among the barriers, project management
skills and maturity (expert knowledge) were ranked highest.
In conclusion, the study showed that there was a very low level of application of the
techniques in the construction industry, thus the ever-increasing burden of cost overrun in
projects. Therefore, the recommendation is to create awareness among construction
stakeholders, train project managers and employ experts to use the EVM.