Engineering Productivity and Unit Price Assessment Model

Abstract

Engineering firms must assess the productivity and cost of completed projects to obtain reasonable engineering fees. This study developed an engineering productivity and unit price assessment model by using a work time coding system that records the engineering type, deliverables, and activities involved in a project and combines them with the human resources records and costs of a completed project for engineering firms. The model provides an overview of the productivity, unit costs, and fees for completed projects at seven levels, namely, project, components, engineering type, deliverables, activities, position, and staff. The model also tabulates the unit prices of various deliverables. In the future, engineering firms can refer to past productivity records, establish a productivity target for each position or employee in terms of providing deliverables and carrying out activities, and assess and manage employee performance. More importantly, the developed model can be used to establish the cost basis for each engineering firm, enabling clients to avoid using a universal rate to determine engineering fees.