Managing the Influence of Stakeholders on the Scope of Major Construction Projects to Prevent Scope Creep in the BIM Era

The present PhD thesis is centred on investigating the challenge of scope creep within construction projects, denoting the phenomenon of an uncontrolled enlargement of project scope without essential adaptations. Stakeholders are identified as a major source of uncertainty and requests for changes in scope, which can result in risky events. Therefore, an overarching framework is needed to effectively resolve the problem of scope creep caused by stakeholder influence. The adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is suggested as an effective methodology for the streamlined management of information in construction projects, thus enabling project managers to develop an appropriate solution for the identified problem. To develop this framework, a meta-analysis approach and case study strategy is employed to analyse and synthesise secondary data collected from the PMBOK GUIDE’S (PMI, 2017) project management processes, BIM-related standards, and six case study projects. The objective is to identify essential processes and activities, their sequence and interdependencies, problematic issues, and best practices.

The outcome of the research is the creation of a Process Framework designed to address the problem of scope creep triggered by stakeholder influence. The elements and concepts of this framework are verified by undertaking semi-structured interviews with five practitioners from the construction and infrastructure industry. The Process Framework functions as a unifying mechanism that combines project management and BIM processes, thereby ensuring coordination and integration towards the overarching objective of managing stakeholder influence on project scope and mitigating scope creep.

Additionally, this research contributes to the understanding of the relationship between BIM documents and project management processes. The study explores how BIM fits within project management processes and identifies the benefits of BIM for the resolution of issues in construction projects, including end product visualization, clash detection, and efficient information sharing. This study provides an extensive and meticulous analysis of scope creep within construction projects and presents a pragmatic framework for dealing with this issue.