Antoniadis, D N, Edum-Fotwe, F T and Thorpe, A (2006) Project reporting and complexity. In: Boyd, D (Ed) Procs 22 nd Annual ARCOM Conference, 4-6 September 2006, Birmingham, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 123-133. PROJECT REPORTING AND COMPLEXITY Dimitris N. Antoniadis 1,2 , Francis T. Edum-Fotwe 2 and Anthony Thorpe 2 1 BAA Plc, UK 2 Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK All project life cycles from the shortest to the longest demand from the project teams some type of reporting. Currently the construction industry perceives reporting as a bureaucratic contractual process that occurs as and when demanded by the Client or the Senior Manager. It does not contribute to the degree that it should to the decision making process and frequently the fast pace of the project makes the reporting process redundant. Reporting, as part of the written form of communication within the project system, is considered as the means of interconnecting the numerous activities that contribute towards the delivery of the project and the actors that are involved in the project. The interconnections or interrelations are established through the report writers (encoders) and the recipients of the reports (decoders) and these are affected by a number of factors. These factors and the number of interconnections introduce complexity. In this paper the authors will review current literature in project reporting and will present examples of reporting features that contribute to project complexity. They will discuss some of the key reporting attributes under the context of complexity and will propose a conceptual approach to minimise complexity driven in projects through reports. Keywords: communication, complexity, information management, project reporting. INTRODUCTION Construction projects are typically characterised by complexity, under time and/or cost pressure and requiring creativity and cooperation (Morris and Hugh 1987, Thompson 1967, Bertelsen 2004). To mitigate the effect of such complexity the execution of construction projects relies on the effective structuring and integration of several sub-systems. From the number of project sub-systems, within project management, the reporting sub-system is seen as a feedback mechanism. A number of authors define actions to be taken in formulating the appropriate approach. In practice, reporting often presents considerable difficulty and it is perceived as a bureaucratic process that does not contribute to the decision making. The interconnections and the factors affecting reporting accentuate the level of complexity and often militate against the efficient management of the project. The issues associated with the influence that these interconnections have on the project performance have not received extensive attention. This is because these issues are closely tied up with the individuals and their organisations, and so remain esoteric. The authors herein will review the interconnection and the reporting process within the projects, present examples of reporting features that contribute to the complexity and propose a conceptual approach to minimise it. 1 dimitris_antoniadis@baa.com, or D.Antoniadis@lboro.ac.uk