Project Control systems are required to manage the core project delivery elements of time, resource, risk and change. Project Controls provide the capability to reveal trends toward cost overrun and/or schedule slippage. Identifying those trends early enables more successful project management and reduced risk.

Effective project control requires effective project planning, scheduling and cost control procedures to be established using carefully defined process and document controls, metrics, performance indicators and forecasting. There are a range of methods and techniques used for Project Control such as Critical Path Method (CPM), Performance Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Earned Value Management (EVM) as well as a range of risk and change management procedures and types of analysis. There are also increasingly sophisticated computer applications such as project management systems to help model both time and cost, which can now be linked with CAD tools enabling the linking of building elements to create 4D and 5D models.

However in spite of the tools and techniques, traditional construction planning and control systems, have received criticism over recent years due to their frequent ineffectiveness in managing project change, and delivering projects to time and cost. A predominant reason for the poor performance of such systems is that these methods and technologies remaining largely underused, often being poorly understood due to a host of unfamiliar terms and applications.

The purpose of this site is to remove the complexities associated with construction project planning and control by providing information and guidance on setting up and implementing such systems and to provide definitions and explanations on the key tools and techniques used in their deployment.