A review of the current knowledge and practice related to project progress and performance assessment

Assessment of true project progress and performance is of critical importance in the successful delivery of construction projects. Major challenges related to measuring project progress and performance are the lack of consistent, reliable, and objective metrics and indicators and the lack of appropriate interpretation of these data for establishing suitable corrective action plans. The objective of this paper is to provide a review of existing applied knowledge and practices pertaining to methods, metrics and indicators for progress measurement, performance assessment and forecasting, as well as performance influencing factors, evaluating the shortcomings of the current approaches, and providing recommendations for improvement. The findings of this paper are primarily based on a comprehensive literature review and limited discussions with industry experts in the following areas: (1) methods and metrics used for progress measurement, (2) metrics and indicators used for performance assessment and forecasting, and (3) other metrics that can influence project progress and performance (e.g., risk, safety, and quality). Several industry and academic publications are reviewed including the reports from the Construction Industry Institute (CII), guidelines developed by professional organizations (e.g. Project Management Institute, Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International), and scholarly publications. Industry experts serving on the CII research team (RT-322) also provide their insights. Based on the extensive review of the relevant literature, this paper identifies limitations of various measures, metrics and indicators across different project control levels. A framework depicting the current project control process is provided along with a gap analysis related to the problems associated with this approach.