THE IMPLEMENTATION STATUS AND RESPONSES REGARDING PROJECT PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND BENCHMARKING IN THE SINGAPORE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Abstract

Project Performance Measurement (PPM) is an effective tool used to determine the success of a project‟s key performance indicators (KPI), dependent on the company‟s expectations and goals, enabling organizations to understand how decision-making processes or practices have led to success or failure in the past and how that understanding can be used to plan for future improvements. With successful implementation of PPM, companies can conduct benchmarking (BM) to their projects to learn from the best industrial practices and methods through comparative studies which can help to improve productivity and project performance. The current trend of implementation of PPM and BM in Singapore‟s construction industry is relatively unknown due to insufficient research conducted in this area of study. Coupled with the increased usage of these tools worldwide and the growing importance of implementing them into projects, a study on the current PPM trends in the Singapore construction industry is suggested so as to propose recommendations with the intention of implementing BM to the construction industry in Singapore at a larger scale. A questionnaire was carried out, where 32 companies were surveyed to determine the status of Singapore‟s construction industry in the implementation of PPM and BM. The scope of the research is limited to the study of contractor firms in Singapore. The benefits and deterrence were identified so as to provide suitable suggestions that will promote the use of PPM and BM in Singapore. The study finds that contractor firms in Singapore do not practice PPM methods on a regular basis and there is no uniformity in the calculation the performance of KPI, leading to low usage of BM in construction projects. It is recommended that contractors should be aware of the benefits that PPM and BM can provide to the company and be equipped with the knowledge of applying these systems to their projects, so as to achieve optimal performances. In addition, standardisation in PPM should be promoted in the industry to ease the use of BM systems and comparison of data.The current trend of implementation of PPM and BM in Singapore’s construction industry is relatively unknown due to insufficient research conducted in this area of study. Coupled with the increased usage of these tools worldwide and the growing importance of implementing them into projects, a study on the current PPM trends in the Singapore construction industry is suggested so as to propose recommendations with the intention of implementing BM to the construction industry in Singapore at a larger scale. A questionnaire was carried out, where 32 companies were surveyed to determine the status of Singapore’s construction industry in the implementation of PPM and BM. The scope of the research is limited to the study of contractor firms in Singapore. The benefits and deterrence were identified so as to provide suitable suggestions that will promote the use of PPM and BM in Singapore. The study finds that contractor firms in Singapore do not practice PPM methods on a regular basis and there is no uniformity in the calculation the performance of KPI, leading to low usage of BM in construction projects. It is recommended that contractors should be aware of the benefits that PPM and BM can provide to the company and be equipped with the knowledge of applying these systems to their projects, so as to achieve optimal performances. In addition, standardisation in PPM should be promoted in the industry to ease the use of BM systems and comparison of data.