Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:198285 [] For AuthorsIf you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -This paper aims at improving progress tracking and control of repetitive projects by developing a novel framework that automates the documentation of as-built information directly into the project schedule and also introduces enhanced linear scheduling formulation to support project control decisions. Design/methodology/approach -The proposed framework uses e-mail technology to facilitate detailed tracking of daily as-built events of all parties through bidirectional communication between site and head office. It also provides a new formulation for more accurate critical path and linear scheduling computation to accurately update the project's time and cost during construction. Findings -Using a case study of a road project, the paper proves that the proposed framework reduces as-built documentation effort and its schedule updates are more responsive to all as-built events than traditional scheduling techniques.Research limitations/implications -The proposed method applies to linear projects (e.g. highways) and can be extended to other repetitive projects such as high-rise buildings. It can also be extended to include voice features and procedures for forensic schedule analysis. Practical implications -The developed methodology presents a low-cost approach to document timely progress information for decision makers of massive linear projects (often associated with infrastructure) to have better control over the execution of projects, save documentation time and cost, and avoid disputes and problems. Originality/value -This research contributes in improving construction productivity by collecting timely as-built information using affordable communication technologies. It also presents novel advancements to the existing scheduling and control techniques to suit linear projects, which are most challenging.

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Design changes (DC) contribute significantly to construction projects’ delays and cost overruns. Many research efforts tackled DCs management, yet with less efforts in healthcare construction (HC) projects which involve multiple stakeholders including medical users and require meeting engineering and medical specifications. Therefore, a new system dynamics model that simulates HC environment, considering engineering and medical factors that can potentially trigger DCs, was developed. It simulates, as well, DCs’ ripple effect in inducing further DCs due to: errors encountered while processing the DCs, and time extension which make the project vulnerable to DCs to catch up with the latest medical advancements. Using a real HC project, the proposed model is validated, and a sensitivity analysis has been conducted to identify the most sensitive factors to DCs. Thus, the new SD model is a useful tool to allow proactive DC management and sound decision-making in order to maintain the planned project performance.