The Value of Management

Value management concerns defining what those who commission projects mean by value, in terms of the expected benefits and then applying certain structured techniques, throughout the life of the project, to maximize the delivery of the benefits, while minimizing the use of resources.

The British Standard describes it as a management approach to help maximize the overall performance of an organisation. The standard recognizes that this is achieved through the application to projects at strategic, tactical or operational level.

‘Definitions’ abound; however, in the authors view it is not practical to capture all the nuances of value management in one or two succinct sentences, any more than it is possible to ‘define’ project management in a few words. Value management is about more than simple cost reduction. While it is a very effective way to do this, it does much more. Essentially, value management:

1- Provides a means to define projects clearly and unambiguously in terms of the client’s and end users’ long-term business needs.

2- Supports crucial decision-making based upon maximizing value.

3- Encourages innovative solutions.

4- Facilitates the optimization of the balance among initial design costs and construction costs, running and maintenance costs, and the costs of operating the business conducted within the facility.

5- Provides a means of measuring value and demonstrating that optimum value for money (VfM) has been achieved.