Integrating Value Methodology and Risk Management with Developing Software Program

Abstract

Construction industry has many specific features because of which it lags behind other industries in keeping to deadlines and realizing production with minimum expenses and satisfactory quality. The industry has a reputation for time and cost overruns, this bad reputation is due to many reasons, one of them if not the main reason is that the construction industry is one of riskiest of all business types. Implementation of both value methodology and risk management is considered to be best practice in project management, this practice enables organizations to define objectives when delivering construction projects whilst reducing risk and maximizing value. Despite of their importance and benefits, both value methodology and risk management are rarely utilized by the construction industry in Sudan.This study aims to develop an integrated framework that facilitates the effective application of value methodology and risk management in a single study by integrating risk management processes and the various phases of value methodology job plan. An integrated framework that works as a guideline for integrating VM and RM in a single study has been developed, along with a complementary software that incorporate risk effect in the process of evaluating value alternatives in the evaluation phase of the Integrated Value/Risk (IVR) studies. The study concluded that, there are significant similarities in the application of the two disciplines, namely, both value and risk studies were conducted through facilitated workshops amongst key stakeholders and used brainstorming techniques to identify threats and opportunities to the project and to propose alternative solutions. Also, both studies require the involvement of major stakeholders, and a number of tools and techniques used in delivering the studies were found to be common for both disciplines. The research findings also suggest that, the application of an integrated study would result in several benefits such as: significantly improving the project outcomes and enhance value for money when compared to autonomous practice, saving time and resources, maximizing efficiency, enhancing the communication, facilitating the flow of information and improving the decision-making process. the integration also benefits greatly from addressing certain tasks and issues encountered in one discipline in light of the experiences gained through similar tasks and phases in other discipline.