Front End Projects Benefits Realisation from a Requirements Management Perspective—A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and benefits realisation has contributed to addressing a growing need for improved performance in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. However, front end design (FED) as one of the vital processes in the project life cycle and delivery has attracted limited research to date within this understanding. This paper aims to map current evidence on requirements management in facilitating benefits realisation from an FED perspective. This is to bring about an updated and unified position on requirements management for its impact on design decision making. A systematic review of the literature covering the last ten years (2008–2018) aims first to build understanding and support identification of these emergent conceptual positions and secondly underscore essential requirements and their categorisations that impact on design discourse in FED. One hundred sixty-one peer-reviewed journal papers in the areas of benefits realisation and/or requirements management and/or FED based are identified on a pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thirty-six requirements are identified as important in influencing use case changes important in design decision making broadly grouped into nine major categories. Following analysis, this research finds little evidence supporting an integrated requirements management practice and understanding to support design decision making. The research further finds bias in current research discourse towards four requirements categories (technical, economics, governance and environment); and 14 requirements, dominated by three strategic values, collaboration and project governance, with over 80% share of literature. The least 14 requirements such as “flow of spaces, social status/aspiration, mobility and integrated design” among others only account for less than 10% of literature. The authors argue for new research to bridge this gap, highlight the essential role of requirements management and broaden understanding to improve benefits realisation, particularly for FED processes.

RETRACTED: Empowering Users as a Principle of Construction Project Management

“…To address this issue, participative approaches that empower users, such as user involvement, codesign, stakeholder engagement, and Lean-led design, are increasingly recommended to increase user value (Bal et al, 2013;Shouman et al, 2021;Smith et al, 2020). In line with this movement, the present systematic review responds to the call for papers on the theme "Principles-Based Project Management: Where to Now?"…”

“…However, in the traditional mindset, users are hardly ever engaged during the design process, whereas project sponsors receive considerable attention. This leads to a somewhat unbalanced perspective in which the user's voice is underrepresented (Blyth & Worthington, 2010;Miles, 2017;Serugga et al, 2020), increasing the potential for misalignment between user needs and building design (Chbaly et al, 2021).…”

“…In the construction industry, the term "user" is generally employed to refer to any person, group, or entity that uses a building such as an occupant, tenant, or visitor. Some authors (e.g., Othman, 2007;Shouman et al, 2021) classify users into three categories. The first is visitors, who represent temporary occupants since they do not use the building on a daily basis.…”

Front-End Design and Value Generation: A Housing Project Analysis

“…In Brazil for example, although there are some demonstrable cases of how user requirements are managed through BIM, there still remains some structural problems within the AEC sector impeding progress as compared other countries such as UK, USA or even Egypt, where BIM is already a reality in regulatory environments (Dainty et al 2017). FED, can represent the whole product development process that precedes the detail design (Samset and Volden 2016;Serugga et al 2020;Whelton and Ballard 2002). FED processes, therefore, integrate stakeholders' needs in supporting value generation, alongside definition of project scope, costs, and risks among other design decision-making processes.…”

Project Governance in State-Owned Enterprises: The Case of Major Public Projects’ Governance Arrangements and Quality Assurance Schemes

“…Further, decision making is viewed as the link connecting governance and improved project performance (Turner 2020a(Turner , 2020b. The front-end's inherent complexity and uncertainty make decision-making challenging, thus the front-end becomes reliant on knowledge sharing (Serugga et al 2020), which is also recommended to overcome uncertainty (Stock et al 2021). To further help overcome front-end challenges, the value of judgmental information is put forward, and the ability for groups to provide better probability assessments by working together and sharing knowledge and experiences, rather than the individual working alone (Imam and Zaheer 2021;Samset 2009).…”