Mechanism for allocating delay to constituent activities in project management

Abstract

Project delays are common in construction due to unavoidable factors such as severe weather and human factors such as poor planning. These delays originate from the constituent activities within the project. A critical challenge in project management is accurately assigning delays to specific activities. However, this issue remains poorly understood. This study aims to address the allocation of delays to constituent activities by developing a mechanism using the Shapley value. We also propose solution methods to effectively solve the delay allocation problem. Moreover, we conduct numerical experiments that demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the proposed mechanism and solution methods. This study can provide guidelines for allocating project delays (e.g., identifying the activity that contributes most to project delay) and project appraisal. Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of the allocation of project delays, providing reference for project management and decision-making in the construction industry.