INNOVAZIONE NEL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT CONTROL INNOVATION IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECT CONTROL

Construction control is an essential management function for successful delivery of construction projects. For the Project Management Body of Knowledge the control process compares actual performance with planned performance, analysing variances, assessing trends to effect process improvements, evaluating possible alternatives and recommending appropriate corrective action as needed. A variance is a quantifiable deviation, departure or divergence away from a known baseline or expected value. So, construction control can be divided in the monitoring phase that detects variances, and the control phase that recommends proper corrective actions. Actually main goal of Project monitoring process is the measure of project performance. The measurement of the performance of a construction project can be achieved through technical testing and professional observations and through the use of metrics such as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are intended to represent the health of the construction project and can be used to predict the future project performance by means of an ICT – based model, e.g. activity network or a flow-line chart, implemented with a proper controlling technique. So the measure of project performance is actually in profound relationship with project models beyond project control technique. With this point of view the traditional Project Control approach is compared with the innovative Production Control approach for construction. In particular most used ICT – based project oriented controlling techniques, ie scheduling models and Earned Value Method, are compared with production oriented techniques ie the Last Planner System, the Critical Chain Method and the Location - Based Management System. This paper shall provide a review of ICT-based construction project control methods and discuss their benefits and limits to explain the performance of modern construction controlling processes.