Education

Research Description

Dr. Liu's research interests include performance and productivity improvement, lean construction (project-based production management for the architecture-engineering-construction industry), and international project management. Current research projects include 1) Identifying, Prioritizing, and Reducing Causes of Variation in Construction Activity Planning, 2) Quantifying the Impact of Change from Project Authorization through Start-up, 3) Cost and Benefit Trade-off Study for Field BIM Application, 4) Global Perspectives on Project, Program, and Portfolio Management in Government, and 5) Preliminary Engineering Cost Estimation for Highway Construction.

Publications

Social network analysis for construction crews

Abbsaian-Hosseini, S. A., Liu, M., & Hsiang, S. M. (2019), INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, 19(2), 113–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/15623599.2017.1389642

Benefit of cooperation among subcontractors in performing high-reliable planning

Javanmardi, A., Abbasian-Hosseini, S. A., Liu, M., & Hsiang, S. M. (2018), Journal of Management in Engineering, 34(2). https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)me.1943-5479.0000578

Investigating the cost-benefit trade-off of additional planning using parade game simulation

Abbasian-Hosseini, S. A., Liu, M., & Howell, G. (2018), Journal of Management in Engineering, 34(2). https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)me.1943-5479.0000580

Social network conformity and construction work plan reliability

Abbasian-Hosseini, S. A., Liu, M., & Hsiang, S. M. (2017), Automation in Construction, 78, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2017.01.004

"Oops" simulation: Cost-benefits trade-off analysis of reliable planning for construction activities

Hajifathalian, K., Howell, G., Wambeke, B. W., Hsiang, S. M., & Liu, M. (2016), Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 142(8). https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)co.1943-7862.0001135

Analysis of workflow variability's impacts on trade and project performance

Javanmardi, A., Abbasian-Hosseini, S. A., Liu, M., & Hsiang, S. M. (2016), In Icsdec 2016 - integrating data science, construction and sustainability (Vol. 145, pp. 281–287). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.04.075

Effects of idle time restrictions on excess pollution from construction equipment

Abbasian-Hosseini, S. A., Leming, M. L., & Liu, M. (2016), Journal of Management in Engineering, 32(2). https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)me.1943-5479.0000408

Planning for uncertainty: Use of structural equation modelling to determine the causal structure of time buffer allocation

Russell, M. M., Liu, M., & Hsiang, S. M. (2016), Construction Management and Economics, 33(10), 783–798.

What impacts the performance of large-scale government projects?

Patanakul, P., Kwak, Y. H., Zwikael, O., & Liu, M. (2016), International Journal of Project Management, 34(3), 452–466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.12.001

Case studies of the allocation and reduction of time buffer through use of the last planner system

Russell, M. M., Liu, M., Howell, G., & Hsiang, S. M. (2015), Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 141(2). https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)co.1943-7862.0000900

View all publications via NC State Libraries

Grants

Challenges and Opportunities to Promote Collaborative Scheduling in Construction Projects

Construction Industry Institute(11/01/18 - 9/30/20)

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Challenges and Opportunities to Promote Collaborative Scheduling in Construction Projects

Sponsor: Construction Industry Institute

Start Date: 11/01/18

End Date: 9/30/20

Abstract

Reliable planning cannot be performed by a single person (the scheduler) through centralized detail assignments well in advance of execution in the uncertain and interdependent environment of construction projects. Planning on the duration and sequence of construction activities is rarely a success by simply following a master schedule established with CPM at the beginning of the project. Construction activity planning includes the following four levels: 1) identifying the sequence and timing of activities; 2) scheduling and organizing the wherewithal within the planner’s control; 3) planning with others to coordinate for shared resources and/or interaction with others; and 4) designing the production system. Merely focusing on the first one limits the probability for projects to achieve the desired outcomes. Collaborative schedules developed with those who have more knowledge about the activities considered have better chances to be successfully implemented as all of the “tribal knowledge” resulting from working in a construction project, and residing with specific trades, is considered. Currently, the use of pull planning sessions to develop schedules, mostly in commercial and healthcare projects, have shown potential to grow beyond these types of projects and bring together professionals and trades workers from different backgrounds to develop schedules that do not considers only technical constraints but also the flow of information and hand-offs between people coming from multiple backgrounds, their own constraints, their ability to make promises and be accountable for them. While lean techniques and collaborative scheduling approaches have become popular to stabilize work flow and make plans more reliable, users often encounter numerous challenges with implementation. For example, lack of training or skill sets, organizational inertia to change, legal issues, partial or late implementation, and lack of empowerment of field management. Identifying the major obstacles and developing implementation guidance and strategies will be important steps in the implementation.

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How to Account for Seasonal Population Shifts in Distributing the Powell Bill Allocation Funds

NC Department of Transportation(8/01/18 - 12/31/19)

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How to Account for Seasonal Population Shifts in Distributing the Powell Bill Allocation Funds

Sponsor: NC Department of Transportation

Start Date: 8/01/18

End Date: 12/31/19

Abstract

The Powell Bill Unit of the NCDOT annually distributes a fixed appropriation from the State Highway Fund to qualified North Carolina municipalities to maintain municipal streets within their corporate limits. The eligible activities covered by the funds include construction, planning, and maintenance on streets, sidewalks, bikeways, and greenways such as resurfacing, patching, widening, storm drainage, curb and gutter, and patching. It can also be used for municipal street bond debt service and traffic control such as traffic control devices, traffic signs, speed bumps, traffic paint, and traffic cones.

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Breaking through to Collaborative Scheduling: Approaches and Obstacles

Construction Industry Institute(5/11/16 - 10/27/16)

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Breaking through to Collaborative Scheduling: Approaches and Obstacles

Sponsor: Construction Industry Institute

Start Date: 5/11/16

End Date: 10/27/16

Abstract

This proposal addresses collaborative aspects of developing and implementing schedules. Collaborative schedules (CSs) developed with subject matter experts (SMEs) have stronger success outcomes, as deep construction project and trade knowledge is considered. Currently, the use of pull planning sessions in commercial and healthcare projects has shown potential to expand beyond these sectors, bringing together professionals and trade workers from various backgrounds to develop schedules. With pull planning, technical constraints are considered, along with information flow and activity handoffs, within the context of varied backgrounds, constraints, and accountability. While lean techniques and collaborative scheduling approaches have become popular for stabilizing workflow and increasing plan reliability, users often encounter numerous challenges with implementation, such as lack of training or skill sets, organizational inertia to change, commercial issues, partial or late implementation, and lack of empowerment. Identifying major obstacles and developing implementation guidance and strategies are important steps in successful schedule execution; this research seeks to address these issues.

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Design of A Construction Expenditure Forecasting and Monitoring Tool for NCDOT Mega Projects

NC Department of Transportation(10/01/14 - 6/30/15)

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Design of A Construction Expenditure Forecasting and Monitoring Tool for NCDOT Mega Projects

Sponsor: NC Department of Transportation

Start Date: 10/01/14

End Date: 6/30/15

Abstract

The purpose of this proposal is to provide NCDOT with a design of a model to accurately portray construction costs of mega projects on a monthly basis. The model will track and document in-place cost and predict future costs based on NCDOT’s historical cost records for mega projects. It will also enable NCDOT to simulate changes in scheduling and depict the impact of those changes on payout costs. Finally it will enable NCDOT to identify projects that are deviating from their optimal cost payout curve pattern, pinpoint the factors causing that deviation, and allow NCDOT to be more proactive in making more informed cash flow management decisions. Key factors that influence the predictability of Preliminary Engineering (PE), Right-of-Way (ROW), and Construction expenditures for mega projects will be studied. A series of interviews will be conducted in the form of focus groups to help identify the key influencing factors that affect expenditure predictability for these categories. From these interviews a set of key variables will be identified that most significantly affect cost payouts. This phase will focus on the question of what factors will have the greatest influence in predicting project timeliness and cost. A qualitative assessment of the factors will be made and an assessment of their probability of impact will be determined for PE, ROW, and construction. The model design will include model objectives, data requirements and sources, approach/methodology, software platform, development and testing timeline, and expected performance parameters.

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Using Simulation to Explore the Investment in Planning by Project Teams

Lean Construction Institute (LCI)(9/01/13 - 8/31/14)

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Using Simulation to Explore the Investment in Planning by Project Teams

Sponsor: Lean Construction Institute (LCI)

Start Date: 9/01/13

End Date: 8/31/14

Abstract

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), Target Value Design (TVD) and Last Planner (LPS) call for new levels of cooperation on projects. Relational contracts, Integrated Forms of Agreemetn, used on these projects typically establish a shared risk/reward system; a pre-established agreement on the sharing of pains and gains. These contracts mobilize cooperation by rewarding performance of the delivery team a a whole rather then by each party improving productivity of each trade. In this approach, the underlying theory of project success has shifted from optimizing the performance of each party to optimizing the project as a whole.

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Evaluation of Vela Systems to Increase Worker Productivity and Field Efficiency

Skanska USA Building Inc.(6/01/11 - 12/31/11)

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Evaluation of Vela Systems to Increase Worker Productivity and Field Efficiency

Sponsor: Skanska USA Building Inc.

Start Date: 6/01/11

End Date: 12/31/11

Abstract

Construction management operations have historically been paper intense processes with a low rate of productivity. These operations can also be time consuming for the operations level employees. They spend a substantial amount of time duplicating the field generated notes/information back in the office or job trailer. Transfer of information between the general contractor and their subcontractors is often confusing because directions are coming from multiple sources and often through various mediums as well. Vela Systems is a construction field management based software designed to address these issues in order to increase the effectiveness of its users. The objectives of this research project is to 1) determine what are the benefits and costs associated with using Vela software (Classic initially and then VFM) as a: mobile electronic plan library in the field (On a tablet for Skanska, an iPad for subs, and the mobile electronic plan table for subs); 2) to perform a Cost-Benefit evaluation between manual material tracking of pieces of curtainwall and door frames with the material tracking module in Vela; and 3) to determine it Vela increases project performance (whether this is through time saved/money saved for O/GC/Sub/ or increased quality.

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Project, Program, and Portfolio Management in Government: Application and Performance

Project Management Institute(1/01/11 - 6/30/13)

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Project, Program, and Portfolio Management in Government: Application and Performance

Sponsor: Project Management Institute

Start Date: 1/01/11

End Date: 6/30/13

Abstract

The application and performance of project, program, and portfolio management in government is historically poor as reported by United States Government Accountability Office, United Kingdom?s National Audit Office, Australian National Audit Office, and others. The goal of this research is to propose a strategic roadmap for successful implementation of project, program, and portfolio management in government. This research will analyze the performance of past and on-going government projects by identifying factors of success/failure of government projects and programs. The key lessons learned of managing government projects will be captured and classified into a comprehensive database of worldwide government projects and programs that can be used for both practitioners and academics. The primary data will be collected and analyzed using publically available government data and published audit reports. This research will identify common reasons for poor project performance in government, analyze relationships between the performance of government projects and programs and their characteristics (e.g. budget size, duration, scope, and team composition), and report key lessons learned and provide recommendations to improve the project management performance in government. The researchers are particularly interested in mega projects as many of the government initiated or government funded projects are large and complex. Three major sectors in the government have been identified to evaluate and analyze project management practices and performance: Transportation/infrastructure; defense/space; and information systems development and deployment. From the practitioners? perspectives, this research and the proposed strategic roadmap will help government officials, project planners, and project managers make better decisions by proactively planning, managing and controlling government projects. From the academics? perspectives, this research will contribute to the body of knowledge of better understanding the challenges and opportunities of applying and implementing project, program, and portfolio management in government.

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Quantifying the Impact of Change from Project Authorization to Start-Up

University of Texas - Austin(9/01/10 - 11/30/13)

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Quantifying the Impact of Change from Project Authorization to Start-Up

Sponsor: University of Texas - Austin

Start Date: 9/01/10

End Date: 11/30/13

Abstract

Change is a serious and expensive problem for the Construction Industry, as demonstrated by the number of previous CII studies and the number of papers published on this subject. We believe it is important and timely to conduct more research to quantify change?s comprehensive impact at project?s different phases from authorization to start-up, and on factors other than labor productivity. Combining CII?s existing benchmark database with that of Professor Ibbs would give us a large number of projects and a broader view of projects by which to test, verify, discover, etc. other aspects of project change and its impact on project success. And then incorporating those statistical findings would allow us to both those findings in an ?industry-friendly and ?usable? report.

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Evaluation of the Cost Benefit Trade off for Vela Implementation

Skanska USA Building Inc.(8/16/10 - 5/31/11)

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Evaluation of the Cost Benefit Trade off for Vela Implementation

Sponsor: Skanska USA Building Inc.

Start Date: 8/16/10

End Date: 5/31/11

Abstract

The objectives of this innovation grant project are multi-faceted. In general, we intend to utilize Vela for Field BIM applications, utilizing NCSU students to document the efficiency gains and perform a cost-benefit analysis to be used as the basis for recommenations on future applications throughout Skanska.

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Preliminary Engineering Cost Trends for Highway Projects

NC Department of Transportation(8/16/09 - 12/31/10)

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Preliminary Engineering Cost Trends for Highway Projects

Sponsor: NC Department of Transportation

Start Date: 8/16/09

End Date: 12/31/10

Abstract

This research will study how to accurately estimate Preliminary Engineering (PE) costs for NCDOT highway projects. The goals of this research are to have a comprehensive study of the factors affecting NCDOT PE costs, to build a data query tool containing 10 years of NCDOT highway project characteristics and PE cost information, and to build tools to help NCDOT estimate PE costs accurately and efficiently. Due to funding source limitations, achieving these goals is critical for the NCDOT because PE costs are a large portion of overall project costs. 2007 NCDOT bridge project data shows that PE cost percentage of total project expenses (including ROW, construction, and PE) can vary over 15 percentage points from an average of about 20%. The lack of predictability in PE costs in the early stage means that budgets are often insufficient, which compromises the ability of the NCDOT to deliver its entire planned transportation program and erodes public confidence in the agency. The team will begin the research by developing a comprehensive list of factors affecting PE cost based on a literature review and NCDOT project data. Secondly, the team will conduct a statistical analysis of past NCDOT highway projects to identify the factors that have significant impacts on PE costs in the Planning and the Design Preconstruction areas. Data will be grouped by numerous factors including project type, project complexity, year, whether the PE was conducted in-house or by a consultant, etc. The average and range of variation for each group will be calculated. Thirdly, the team will build a data query tool containing 10 years of NCDOT highway project information to provide average and range on PE cost percentage of previous similar. Fourthly, the team will build a fuzzy neural network tool for PE cost ratio estimation. The inputs into the tool will be descriptions of project characteristics and the outputs of the tool will be estimated ratio of PE cost to total project cost. Finally, guidelines for NCDOT highway project PE cost estimation will be developed. The guidelines will include a checklist of important factors to be considered in PE cost estimation, a convenient estimation tool, a sensitivity analysis of those factors, and estimated ranges of variations of PE costs on previous similar NCDOT projects.

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