Project cost information system for contractors

Abstract

The cost control process is an important element, in the contractor's organization. It is primarily intended to identify cost deviations from the original cost plan. Ultimately it facilitates construction organizations to accomplish productivity improvement & hence to profit maximization. The implementation of Management Information Systems for cost control in contractor's organizations is an ongoing activity even in the developed countries. But today many construction managers demand up to date cost information for effective project cost management. There are various types of Management Information systems in current use for cost control (Cost-Con, Core-Con, Cost-Track etc). But those MIS cannot be used in developing country such as Sri Lanka due to difference in data structures, different cost reports and high cost of software. This report describes an evaluation of an application of Management Information System for cost control. Cost-Con Management Information system was selected in this study since it was developed particularly for Sri Lanka. Further the software developed in other countries exhibit problems due to different data structures, data capture systems, and report formats. Demonstrations, discussions & questionnaire surveys were undertaken to evaluate the application. The results were documented of an investigation so those improvement steps can be suitably prioritized. Findings & conclusions from this study could be useful for the development of computer based cost Information system or further development of existing system of Cost-Con to suit to developing country like Sri Lanka. Key Words: Cost Control, Management Information System, Cost Information