Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Medium and large projects'

Traditionally, projects tend to strive for increased predictability by managing details and attempting to bring all variables under control. However, experience shows that the chance of realising a plan without major amendments decreases with an increasing time horizon, which points to a need for flexible projects. A number of scholars argue that flexibility is necessary to face changes and uncertainty in the business environment. On the other hand, flexible projects are generally not described as desirable in project management literature. These conflicting approaches to flexibility have justified an analysis of the dynamics related to project flexibility, both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. Such an analysis is presented in this thesis,based on analyses of large engineering projects in Norway. Most of the projects are governmental investments.

This thesis aims at structuring knowledge on project flexibility. Two types of results have emerged; the first related to how to analyse project flexibility, and the second related to how to manage flexible projects. Based on studies of different parts of the life cycle of projects, the research provides indications as to how flexibility can be addressed in the front-end phase of large public investments. A framework for analysing project flexibility is also proposed.

Chapter 1 discusses flexibility in a project management perspective, and raises key research questions. The research presented in this thesis addresses the dynamics between utilising benefits from flexible approaches and avoiding drawbacks. Being flexible is characterised by a capability to adapt to new, different or changing requirements.

Flexibility is used in a rather wide sense in the thesis, but is always related to the managing effects of uncertainty. Project flexibility includes adjustments and preparations in response to both internal and contextual uncertainty, such as for example, scope change management, iterative decision process and adjustments related to uncertain funding. Chapter 1 ends with two key research questions related to how to analyse and manage project flexibility.

Chapter 2 presents the research design. The thesis is based on nine papers. These papers are summarised in part one of the thesis. Three main data sources have been used, along with complementary information. First, project evaluations and summaries of 18 Norwegian investment projects have been analysed. Second, this research has benefited from access to an established database for major governmental investments, including results from 48 front-end assessments of large governmental projects. Third, a wider range of data has been collected in a multi-case study of four Norwegian railway projects.

The research is based on an inductive-deductive approach, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative information. Validity and reliability associated with the data used in this thesis are not sufficient to provide solid answers, taken in isolation. As is common in project management research, the small samples in the studies generally do not support statistical analysis of the data, particularly when subgroups of the material are subject to analysis. However, the research has taken previous studies of related issues into account.The results presented in the thesis support many of the findings from other studies, but also indicate some nuances to common understanding of project flexibility. Further research is needed to clarify to what extent these indications are of a general nature or project-specific.

Chapter 3 discusses project flexibility in different project phases. A distinction is made between three project phases: front-end, planning and execution. Both this thesis and previous research point to a flexible front-end phase as the least controversial aspect of project flexibility. Low flexibility after the front-end phase increases the likelihood of projects being completed on time, within budget and according to specifications. Some models and measures of project flexibility in a time perspective are also presented in this chapter.

Chapter 4 analyses project flexibility from a stakeholder perspective. Project stakeholders are actively involved in a project, or their interests may be positively or negatively affected by the project. Project flexibility is perceived differently by different stakeholders. Flexibility for one project stakeholder can be another stakeholder’s risk.

An analysis of flexibility in stakeholder perspective called for a distinction between internal and external project flexibility. Project internal flexibility relates to flexibility within defined scope – how requirements are to be met. External flexibility refers to adjustments of project scope – what requirements are to be met. Project internal flexibility appears to be particularly desirable to project managers and contractors. Project external flexibility is more likely to be looked upon favourably by users and project owners. Incentives open to stakeholders affect their approaches to project flexibility. In general, flexible projects have a value for stakeholders which benefit from adjustments and come at a cost for those who have to adapt.

Chapter 5 highlights the relevance of efficiency and effectiveness when discussing flexible projects. In general, efficiency is related to producing direct project outputs, often measured in terms of cost, time and quality. Effectiveness is related to added value for owners and users. The case in favour of flexibility emphasises the possibility to increase a project’s effectiveness. The case against project flexibility highlights the negative effects on efficiency due to changes and the possibilities for frustration due to lack of decisions and commitments.

Analyses presented in this thesis indicate challenges in materialising the expected benefits of flexible projects. On the other hand, the expected decrease in efficiency in flexible projects has been frequently observed throughout the analysis. Chapter 5 also addresses redundancy as an enabler for project flexibility. Redundancy is created when more resources than strictly necessary are available. The logic behind redundancy is that a project with redundant resources will be efficient because it can be executed as planned, compared to a project with no redundancy that turns out to be error-prone in reality.

Chapter 6 discusses flexibility related to modularity, flexible decision processes and flexible final products. Flexibility in the decision process means that decisions and commitments in projects are made sequentially over phases. Flexibility in the product is achieved when the final product that a project is to produce is prepared for alternative use. There are indications that flexible projects utilise both flexible products and flexible decision processes, rather than emphasising one of these dimensions at the expense of the other. When analysing flexibility in decision processes, there was a need to make a distinction between planned and actual approaches to flexibility. Actual approaches turn out to be different from planned ones.

Modularity can be an enabler for flexible project management. On a macro level, modularity means that projects are divided into independent sub-units. Decision makers can then make incremental commitments to each sub-unit at a time. In the studied projects, macro modularisation was associated with cost control but also with lower benefit realisation than planned. On a micro level, modularisation means a decomposition of a product into modules with specified interfaces. Such modularisation can reduce the ‘knock-on’ effects of design changes.

Chapter 7 summarises a framework for analysing project flexibility and indicates guidelines for managing flexible projects. The framework for analysis consists of project flexibility categorisations, perspectives of analysis, and flexibility drivers and enablers. Approaches for the management of project flexibility are also suggested in Chapter 7. Successful strategies for project flexibility either aim at avoiding flexibility or at enabling projects to be flexible. Projects can avoid adjustments or live with them. One key to successful flexibility management in projects lies in the transition from an initial open-minded environment to the subsequent focused phases. Based on the results in the thesis, an attempt is made to list approaches to project flexibility management.

Even though the results are based on studies of only a few projects, there are indications that the drawbacks of flexible projects are largest when projects do not prepare for future adjustments. This notion is consistent with previous works on flexibility, which highlight that flexible decisions require a structural framework of strategies and guidelines. The suggested approaches and categorisations related to project flexibility are intended as an input to such a structural framework.

Paper I and II reprinted with kind permission of Elsevier, sciencedirect.com

Thesis (M.S.)--East Tennessee State University, 2004.
Title from electronic submission form. ETSU ETD database URN: etd-1109104-113450 Includes bibliographical references. Also available via Internet at the UMI web site.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO
Grandes projetos de engenharia como prédios e infraestrutura urbana demandam milhões em investimentos e estreita colaboração entre equipes de especialistas ao longo de vários anos de projeto, construção e operação. Para vencer estes desafios, a indústria de Arquitetura, Engenharia e Construção (AEC) está ativamente desenvolvimento métodos e ferramentas baseadas na Modelagem da Informação da Construção (BIM). BIM promove o uso de modelos CAD 3D como uma base de dados centralizada para todas as características físicas e funcionais de uma instalação e suas informações associadas de projeto e ciclo de vida. A complexidade inerente de um modelo BIM oferece um desafio crítico de visualização: como melhor apresentar informações relevantes necessárias para diferentes análises de engenharia? Este trabalho contribui para responder esta questão através de uma abordagem teórica e prática. A tese primeiro apresenta uma revisão sistemática da literatura sobre o estado atual de visualização de informação (VIS) em pesquisas BIM. A revisão analisa em detalhe as visualizações adotadas em diversos casos de uso ao longo das fases do ciclo de vida de um projeto de engenharia. Baseado nesses resultados, a tese descreve a especificação e avaliação de um novo sistema 4D para planejamento da construção que supere várias limitações de trabalhos anteriores. Colaboradores de engenharia utilizaram o software para revisar os planos reais de construção de uma planta industrial de Óleo e Gás. As ferramentas de visualização desenvolvidas tornaram evidente incertezas no cronograma, conflitos de espaço de trabalho e outros problemas de construtibilidade. A tese contribui para pesquisas em BIM com importantes recomendações de visualização e também contribui para pesquisas de VIS ao trazer à tona desafios interessantes em um domínio de engenharia cada vez mais relevante.
Large-scale engineering projects such as buildings and city infrastructure require millions in investments and tight coordination between expert teams across several years of design, construction, and operation. To tackle these challenges, the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry is actively developing methods and tools based on Building Information Modeling (BIM). BIM promotes the use of 3D CAD models as a centralized database for all physical and functional characteristics of a facility and its related project/life-cycle information. The inherent complexity of a BIM model offers a critical visualization challenge: how to best display relevant information required by different engineering analyses? This work contributes to answering this question through both theoretical and practical approaches. The thesis first presents a systematic literature review on the current state of information visualization (VIS) in BIM research. The review analyzes in detail currently employed visualizations in diverse use cases across an engineering projects life cycle. Based on these findings, the thesis describes the design and evaluation of a novel 4D construction planning system that overcomes many limitations of previous work. Engineering collaborators used the software to review the real-world construction plans of an Oil and Gas industrial plant. The developed visualizations made evident schedule uncertainties, workspace conflicts and other constructability issues. The thesis contributes to BIM research with important visualization guidelines and also contributes to VIS research by raising awareness to interesting challenges in a increasingly relevant engineering domain.

Large construction projects are conducted in complex and uncertain climate by multiple stakeholders with varied expertise which increased the popularity of integration management particularly in 21st century. The main objective of the thesis is to find ways to improve integration capability in case projects. The study is pursued by both theoretical and empirical analysis. Literature was reviewed in order to provide solid theoretical background. Furthermore, questionnaire was formulated based on literature, and semi-structured interviews were conducted for the sake of data collection. Then, collected data was analysed and synthesised with theoretical background. Three research questions were defined and guided the study in order to accomplish the main objective: 1. How can integration mechanisms be analyzed in the context of large projects? 2. What is the current state of the use of integration mechanisms in Finnish and Turkish large projects? 3. How to improve integration in Finnish and Turkish large projects? Collaborative contracting is presented as one of the key concepts that influence integration endeavour of a project along with effectual stakeholder management. Withal, integration mechanisms were figured out to be means to improve integration capacity in construction business. Integration mechanisms are classified as formal, lateral, social and information and communication technologies. One case project from Finland and two case projects in Turkey are analysed and it is inferred that Finnish project that use project alliance as project procurement form has superiority regarding integration comparing with other traditional Turkish projects. It is justified once more that relational project delivery arrangements and lean tools -when acquired with lean ideology- pave the way for integration capability. Moreover, effective stakeholder management and gauging integration capacity in relation with integration requirements have great influence on improving integration in case projects. The results of the thesis provide data about difference between relational and traditional projects in different countries, data about readiness of integration in Finland and Turkey and suggest ways to improve integration. Therefore, future studies about improvement on integration can exploit this master’s thesis.

Generally risk is seen as an abstract concept which is difficult to measure. In this thesis, we consider quantification in the broader sense by measuring risk in the context of large projects. By improved risk measurement, it may be possible to identify and control risks in such a way that the project is completed successfully in spite of the risks. This thesis considers the trade-offs that may be made in project risk management, specifically time, cost and quality. The main objective is to provide a model which addresses the real problems and questions that project managers encounter, such as: • If I can afford only minimal resources, how much quality is it possible to achieve? • What resources do I need in order to achieve the highest quality possible? • If I have limited resources and I want the highest quality, how much functionality do I need to lose? We propose the use of a causal risk framework that is an improvement on the traditional modelling approaches, such as the risk register approach, and therefore contributes to better decision making. The approach is based on Bayesian Networks (BNs). BNs provide a framework for causal modelling and offer a potential solution to some of the classical modelling problems. Researchers have recently attempted to build BN models that incorporate relationships between time, cost, quality, functionality and various process variables. This thesis analyses such BN models and as part of a new validation study identifies their strengths and weaknesses. BNs have shown considerable promise in addressing the aforementioned problems, but previous BN models have not directly solved the trade-off problem. Major weaknesses are that they do not allow sensible risk event measurement and they do not allow full trade-off analysis. The main hypothesis is that it is possible to build BN models that overcome these limitations without compromising their basic philosophy.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2004.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-150).
This thesis aims to develop a set of strategic tools for real estate development projects. The conventional tools such as the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method fail to incorporate dynamics of real estate development processes. As a result, their application to real world situation is quite limited. Two methods are introduced to deal with this inadequacy of the DCF method. Decision Tree Analysis (DTA) employs a management science approach to analyze flexibilities and corresponding strategies from management decision making perspective. Real Options Analysis (ROA) aims to apply theories of valuing financial derivatives to real assets and it allows investors to quantitatively analyze flexibilities. Each technique has advantages and shortcomings and should only be used for appropriate situations. DTA is suited for analyses of project specific risks that are not directly related to the overall market. ROA is a superior tool when risks are originated from the uncertainties of markets. Applying both tools in practice requires rather simplified assumptions, and it is crucial to understand them to make the analyses meaningful. The thesis finds that incorporating flexibilities in decision making into an analysis is especially important for large-scale and multi-phase projects. The DCF method treats the later phase projects as if they are fully committed at the present time. This assumption of full commitment is rarely the case in the real world practice, and as a result, the DCF method systematically undervalues future phases in multi-phase projects. The case study of New Songdo City reveals that the value of flexibility is a critical factor for the analyses of large scale projects, especially when there is a lot of market uncertainties involved. Based on the conventional DCF method, New Songdo City has a hugely negative NPV and should not be pursued. However, the ROA and the DTA approaches show that it has a potential for creating enormous value by incorporating flexibilities of the project.
by Jihun Kang.
S.M.

The increased usage and need for software as part of products has challenged traditional project management, nevertheless for hardware heavy organisations that are used to rely on the linear prediction and tracking of project outcomes. The developments in projects with embedded systems have countless dependencies and almost impossible to predict. Literature shows that software development projects have problems meeting the initial goals of budget, time, and scope. This is discovered too late due to insufficient methods of tracking progress. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how large agile software development projects can continuously be followed to evaluate their performance and meet initial customer agreements fixed in time, budget, and scope. The thesis was conducted at Saab, active in the defense and security industry. This qualitative exploratory study was conducted with semistructured interviews and focus group discussions at the case company Saab, benchmark interviews with two additional companies, and an extensive literature study. The issues with the existing tracking approach were explored to determine how progress tracking may be created to continuously measure progress and indicate if project goals will be accomplished or not. The more general challenges in software development were also investigated to provide knowledge about areas in need of additional metrics which could indicate the problem and mitigate it. One industry-specific challenge is the security aspect that is unavoidable and requires a lot of documentation that holds up the development activities. Other detected challenges were difficulties in understanding requirements that lead to faulty estimations and work in the wrong direction, undiscovered dependencies that lead to a lot of rework and waiting for additional parts, insufficient testing environments that lead to late feedback, and holds up the development. It was also visible that the projects were conducted with different management approaches and no best-proven practice existed for tracking performance. From an analysis of the empirical data and existing literature, a suggestion of method tracking design was developed for large agile software projects with fixed contracts. The models were proposed to allow flexibility, enable control, and provide a holistic view. As Saab intends to introduce Earned Value Management in their software projects, this method was complemented with COMOD, TRL, IRL, and SRL to provide these three characteristics. Transparency and visibility of both products and processes are also found to be key to project success, thus additional metrics to increase visibility in projects are suggested to enable efficient project leading.
Den ökade användningen och behovet av mjukvara har utmanat traditionell projektledning, speciellt för hårdvaruorganisationer som är vana att kunna förlita sig på den linjära utvecklingen av ett projek. Utvecklingen av projekt som inkluderar inbyggda system med otaliga beroenden är nästan omöjliga att förutsäga. Litteratur visar att mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt har problem att nå de ursprungliga målen för budget, tid och omfattning. Detta upptäcks för sent på grund av otillräckliga metoder för att mäta framsteg i projekt. Detta examensarbete genomfördes som en fallstudie på Saab, aktiv inom försvar- och säkerhetssektorn. Syftet med denna avhandling har varit att utvärdera hur projektledning för stora agila mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt kontinuerligt kan följa utvecklingen för att möta de ursprungliga kundavtalen som är fastställda i tid, budget och omfattning. Denna kvalitativa undersökningsstudie genomfördes med semistrukturerade intervjuer och fokusgrupp intervjuer på företaget Saab, benchmarking intervjuer med ytterligare två företag och en omfattande litteraturstudie. För att utvärdera hur en metod för utvärdering av projektstatus ska utformas för att i tid ange om projektmålen inte kommer att uppnås, undersöktes utmaningarna med mjukvaruutveckling och därifrån har möjliga mätvärden och metoder för att mildra eller upptäcka dessa problem utvärderats. Några av de upptäckta problemen verkar överlappa flera industrier medan andra verkar vara mer specifika för just militär- och försvarsindustrin. En branschspecifik utmaning är säkerhetsaspekten som är oundviklig och kräver mycket dokumentation som stannar upp utvecklingsaktiviteterna. Andra upptäckta utmaningar var svårigheter att förstå krav som leder till felaktiga uppskattningar och arbete i fel riktning, oupptäckta beroenden som leder till mycket omarbetning och väntande på ytterligare delar, otillräckliga testmiljöer som leder till sen feedback och håller upp utvecklingen. Stora skillnader i de metoder som idag tillämpas från projektledning i dessa projekt var synligt under projektet, vilket indikerar på att det idag inte finns någon accepteras bästa metod i uppföjlning. Från analys av samlad empirisk data samt befintlig litteratur utvecklades ett förslag på hur en metod för uppföljning av stora agila mjukvaruprojekt skulle kunna se ut. Design på föreslagen modell skulle möjliggöra flexibilitet och kontroll samt förmedla ett helhetsperpektiv. Eftersom Saab avser att introducera Earned Value Management i sina mjukvaruprojekt kompletterades denna metod med COMOD, TRL, IRL och SRL för att få dessa tre egenskaper. Öppenhet och synlighet för både produkt och process visar sig också vara nyckeln till framgång i projektutveckling, vilket är möjligt med ytterligare mått för att öka synligheten i projektet.

Sweden has a goal of having 100% renewable electricity production by 2040. To reach this goal, wind power is one of the most important energy sources that needs to be heavily expanded. However, finding a good project site and realizing a project is a process that takes several years and can be difficult to achieve. Between 2015 and 2018, no less than 76% of Swedish wind power projects applying for permits were rejected. As an industry player with the aim of becoming fossil free, Pöyry has the interest to pursue Sweden reaching its goal. Pöyry has long experience of wind energy development and has now requested a method that can evaluate and compare Swedish wind power projects in all stages with the aim of identifying the best available project to proceed with. The objective of this thesis is thus to investigate factors that are critical for developing profitable projects, identify the largest expenses and create a tool that evaluates projects based on several parameters. A literature review is performed to obtain knowledge about wind power project development and data is collected from various projects in Sweden from 2016 and onwards to get an updated view with information and valuable numbers from realized projects. An analysis is then carried out with the aim of finding the most important factors that can affect the development of wind power projects, positively or negatively. This is followed by an identification of the most significant expenses in a project, whereupon a simplified but realistic way of calculating these are created. Lastly an evaluation tool is developed using Excel, with the purpose of evaluating projects, finding risks and estimating costs as well as electric energy production. Finally, candidate projects can be compared, helping developers finding the most beneficial and environmentally friendly projects.
Sverige har som mål att ha 100% förnyelsebar elproduktion till 2040. För att nå detta mål är vindkraft en av de viktigaste källorna till energiproduktion och måste därmed expandera de kommande åren. Att hitta ett bra projektområde och fullfölja ett projekt är en process som tar flera år och kan i många fall vara svårt att uppnå. Av alla svenska projekt som ansökte om tillstånd mellan 2015 och 2018, fick 76% avslag. Med inriktningen att bidra till ett fossilfritt Sverige är Pöyry en aktör inom industrin som vill hjälpa Sverige att nå detta mål. Företaget har lång erfarenhet av vindkraftsutveckling och har nu efterfrågat en metod som kan utvärdera och jämföra svenska vindkraftsprojekt i alla dess olika stadier med syfte att identifiera de bästa projekten att jobba vidare med. Syftet med detta examensarbete är därmed att undersöka faktorer som är kritiska för projektutvecklingen, identifiera de största kostnaderna samt skapa ett verktyg som utvärderar projekt utifrån flertalet faktorer. För ett erhålla kunskap om utveckling av vindkraftsprojekt utförs en litteraturstudie, varpå projektdata från 2016 och framåt samlas in för att få en uppdaterad bild med värdefull information och siffror från realiserade projekt. Därefter utförs en analys med syfte att hitta de faktorer som har störst påverkan, negativ som positiv, på utveckling och uppbyggnad av vindkraftsprojekt. Därpå identifieras de största utgifterna i ett projekt och en förenklad men realistisk beräkningsmodell skapas för att uppskatta dessa. Slutligen utvecklas ett verktyg i Excel som utvärderar projekt, hittar risker samt uppskattar kostnader och energiproduktion, vars syfte är att hjälpa projektörer att jämföra projekt och därmed hitta det mest kostnadseffektiva och hållbara alternativet.

This thesis investigates three large-scale urban projects in Australia: Kogarah in NSW, Dandenong in Victoria and Canning in Western Australia. Each is a regeneration site based upon transit-oriented development (TOD) principles. The findings of this research culminated in the creation of a framework that can be used for other regeneration projects, such as the Canning City Centre, a TOD in the planning phase.

As computers absorb an ever-increasing proportion of corporate resources, and spread into every sphere of business activity, the issue of achieving benefits from investments in information technology (IT) is assuming major importance. Research evidence to hand suggests that IT investments are failing by orders of magnitude to provide appropriate levels of payback. A major part of the difficulty lies in the fact that management appears to lack a framework or even a language for addressing the issues, and are bewildered by the speed and impact of the changes that are taking place. This is particularly apparent in smaller and medium-sized organisations. This thesis examines the causes of the problem, and suggests that it stems mainly from an undue emphasis being placed by management on finance-based techniques, a legacy from an earlier and much different environment. It seeks to establish that such techniques are not only inadequate, but potentially counter-productive. Using established research methodologies, a framework is developed which seeks to address the key issues involved in achieving business benefits from IT, yet which is understandable to, and applicable by, managers in medium-sized organisations. Uniquely among IT investment frameworks, the concept of business reengineering or business process redesign is introduced as a formal evaluation criterion, reflecting the degree of business transformation currently being experienced, and the central role of IT in that transformation. The framework is then validated and refined through being applied in actual investment decision making processes undertaken by five organisations covering a range of business arenas.

Requirement elicitation is a critical activity in the requirement development process and it explores the requirements of stakeholders. The success or failure of this process is based on identifying the relevant stakeholders and discovering their needs as well as the quality of requirements. The quality of the requirements is greatly influenced by methods applied during requirements elicitation process. Only complete and structured requirements make these projects more reliable. The common challenges that analysts face during elicitation process are to ensure effective communication between stakeholders as well as the acquisition of tacit knowledge. Mostly errors in the systems are due to poor communication between user and analyst, and these errors require more resources (time and money) to correct them. The understandability problems during elicitation process of large web projects can lead to requirements ambiguous, inconsistent, incorrect and unusable. Different methods (Conversational, Observational, Analytical and Synthetic) are available to deal with the problems during requirement elicitation process. The challenge for analysts is to select an appropriate method or set of methods and apply them for the clear, consistent and correct requirement gathering. This study based on the results of interviews conducted to the professionals, who have industrial experience in development of web systems. The elicitation problems that are identified in literature and interview along with applicability of elicitation methods for requirement gathering in large web projects development are documented in this report.
Umar Sajjad Charhoi, Kotli, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan Muhammad Qaisar Hanif Bhimber, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan

Na literatura disponível hoje, encontram-se exemplos da utilização do Scrum em projetos e times pequenos, deixando um questionamento sobre a possibilidade de utilização desta metodologia em projetos e/ou times grandes. Esta dissertação tem por objetivo examinar casos práticos de empresas conhecidas onde foi utilizado Scrum em projetos grandes, enfatizando as dificuldades encontradas ao longo de todo processo e as soluções adotadas, destacando as práticas que levaram os projetos a obter sucesso.
In today s writings, there are many examples of using Scrum in small teams and projects, leaving a knowledge gap about the possibility of applying Scrum in big teams and large projects. This work aims at presenting case studies in known companies where Scrum has been applied in large projects, emphasizing the roadblocks found throughout the process, and the solutions adopted, highlighting the practices that lead the projects to success.

Globalisation has come as a double-edged blade for information technology (IT) companies; providing growth opportunities and yet posing many challenges. Software development is moving from a monolithic model to a distributed approach, where many entities and organisations are involved in the development process. Risk management an important area to deal with all the kinds of technical and social issues within companies planning and programming schedules, and this new way of working requires more attention to be paid to the temporal, socio-cultural and control aspects than before. Multinational companies like IBM have begun to consider how to address the distributed nature of its projects across the globe. With outlets across the globe, the company finds various people of different cultures, languages and ethics working on a single and bigger IT projects from different locations. Other IT companies are facing the same problems, despite there being many kinds of approaches available to handle risk management in large scale IT companies. IBM commissioned the Distributed Risk Management Process (DRiMaP) model as a suitable solution. This model focused on the collaborative and on-going control aspects, and paid attention to the need for risk managers, project managers and management to include risk management into all phases of projects and the business cycle. The authors of the DRiMaP model did not subject it to extensive testing. This research sets out to evaluate, improve and extend the model process and thereby develop a new and dynamic approach to distributed information systems development. To do this, this research compares and contrasts the model with other risk management approaches. An Evolutionary Model is developed, and this is subjected to empirical testing through a hybrid constructive research approach. A survey is used to draw out the observations of project participants, a structured interview gathered the opinions of project experts, a software tool was developed to implement the model, and SysML and Monte Carlo methods were applied to this to simulate the functioning of the model. The Evolutionary Model was found to partially address the shortcomings of the DRiMaP model, and to provide a valuable platform for the development of an enterprise risk management solution.

Government financial models, a particular type of deterministic computer model, are created in order to estimate the cost of expensive projects with large time frames. The model is a function of many inputs, most of which are taken to be known. However the value of a small number of inputs X is unknown. Whilst the precise value of X is unknown, subjective knowledge about X can be represented by a joint probability distribution G(x). As a result of the uncertainty in X, the scalar output of the financial model is the random variable, Y. The main focus of this thesis is in learning about the uncertainty in Y that results from uncertainty in X (uncertainty analysis), and in determining which elements of X are most (and least) important in driving the uncertainty in Y (sensitivity analysis). In principle both uncertainty and sensitivity analyses can be conducted using Monte Carlo. This method requires a large number of model evaluations. We are interested in the case where the computer model is too computationally expensive to make Monte Carlo practical. We consider a Bayesian approach, which uses the Gaussian Process prior for unknown functions in order to make inference about the computer model itself, using a small number of model evaluations. We then use this information about the structure of the computer model in order to perform uncertainty and sensitivity analyses using relatively few runs of the model. In this thesis, we adapt the standard Gaussian Process prior in order to utilize the additional information we have about the structure of government financial models. 'We develop methodology for calculating measures of uncertainty and sensitivity based upon a Gaussian Process model. The methodology also utilizes the additional structural information within government financial models. Finally, we develop elicitation methodology for use in determining the joint probability distribution G(x). We provide an example from the Private Finance Initiative.

As an important basis in decision-making, risk assessment has been applied in many fields. However, most risk analyses of logistics projects are still at their infancy, wherein qualitative methods are applied. Performing further qualitative and quantitative analyses of the risk of logistics projects is meaningful. This thesis aims to thoroughly analyse the effects of risk factors on project objectives to illustrate the economic goals of investment and the possibility of realisation. Hence, it can promote scientific decision-making by investors, which is the main issue in this thesis. Large-scale logistics projects are characterised by high risk, high investment, and high professionalism. This thesis applies risk assessment to logistics projects and divides the risk assessment of logistics projects into two levels. In the first level, various risk factors in the process of investment, construction and operation of the logistics projects are fully considered, and a set of risk comprehensive evaluation index system for the logistics projects is established. At this level, this thesis assigns light to each factor, judges the degree of risk of each factor in logistics projects and evaluates the risk degree of the logistics projects via fuzzy comprehensive measurement method (FCMM). It proposes a logistic alliance risk identification and analysis method based on the particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm and penalty function method to address the limitation of existing methods, such as FCMM. This proposed method is called PSO–analytic hierarchy process (PSO–AHP). On the basis of the introduced index system and methods, this thesis uses Hanjin Shipping as a novel case to show how risk evaluation is performed. Results show that both methods can be used to predict the risk of Hanjin Shipping, and management risk is the main risk faced by Hanjin Shipping. This finding is consistent with the predicted results. The contents of this thesis provide meaningful results for actual application. Thus, the models and index system applied in this thesis (FCMM and PSO–AHP) can be used to perform risk measurement. In the second level, combined with the results of the overall risk assessment of the logistics projects, this thesis provides several suggestions on risk prevention for these kind of logistics projects. This thesis not only measures the risk of large-scale logistics projects but also provides several strategies to improve the management of logistics projects and reduce the probability of risk in the Chinese context. Moreover, this thesis generates suggestions for the development of Chinese large-scale logistics projects in South Africa. The main contents of this thesis can be summarised as follows. The first chapter is the introduction. This chapter briefly introduces the background of large-scale logistics projects, explains the purpose and significance of the research and introduces the main research issues and innovations. It also briefly introduces the structure of this thesis. The second chapter comprises a review of previous studies. It mainly reviews and summarizes relevant literature on risk theory and logistics risk to provide a solid background analysis for the remaining part of this thesis. The third and the fourth chapters are about the methodologies and indicators used in this thesis. The third chapter summarises and introduces the main methods used in the risk assessment for the logistics projects. It focuses on the methods used in this thesis. The fourth chapter presents a systematic analysis of the various risks faced in the process of investment, construction and operation of logistics projects. It appropriately enumerates the main analysis of this thesis, namely, the various risks in large-scale logistics projects. An index system is also constructed in this chapter. The fifth and sixth chapters focus on the specific operation process of the models used in this thesis. These chapters focus on the data analysis according to the models proposed in previous chapters, and the results of quantitative analysis are mainly discussed. The seventh chapter is aimed at the risk prevention of large-scale logistics projects. The eighth chapter is the research summary and outlook, where it summarises the conclusions and shortcomings of this research, discusses the innovation of this thesis from the analysis and indicates further research directions. The main contributions of this thesis are as follows. (1) On the basis of China’s Belt and Road strategy, this thesis pays special interest on the risk analysis of large-scale logistics projects. With the development of Chinese economics and special relationship with South Africa, cooperating in aspects where logistics projects play a great connecting role becomes increasingly important for these countries Thus, ensuring how the risk of China’s large-scale logistics projects is sufficiently low becomes increasingly important. The methods and results in this thesis can be applied to the large-scale logistics projects in China and South Africa. (2) Many studies on risk assessment issues obtain risk factors using Delphi method (Dalkey and Helmer, 1963; Fan, 2019; Dufour et al., 2017). This method usually suffers from the fact that the experts’ knowledge, ability and experience limit their personal judgement method, and the recognition result is influenced by the subjective factors of the experts. This thesis does not use AHP method on it own but focuses on the usage of work breakdown structure (WBS) method to determine the risk factors of logistics construction projects, which can provide a reasonable risk index system. As WBS can let people carefully build an index system from each aspect of the large-scale logistics projects. (3) This thesis generates a PSO method to PSO–AHP method and applies it in the risk assessment of large-scale logistics projects, in which Hanjin Shipping is taken as an example in a novel way. Many studies primarily use FCMM to perform the risk assessment. However, limited research focuses on the use of PSO–AHP methods on the risk assessment of large-scale logistics projects. This thesis not only uses FCMM to handle risk assessment but also uses PSO–AHP method and then selects the better method on the basis of certain criteria. By doing so, this thesis provides an excellent example for researchers to select between the two models for risk assessment. (4) This thesis not only measures the risk of large-scale logistics projects but also provides several strategies that can improve the management of logistics projects to reduce the chance of risk happening based on actual situations. It also generates suggestions for the development of Chinese large-scale logistics projects in South Africa. As the measurement of risk in terms of large-scale logistics projects is an instrument for people to prevent risk, each method should be used to guide the development in actual situations. Thus, this thesis provides several strategy suggestions that can reduce the risk of large-scale logistics projects in China and South Africa by combining the results obtained from models and actual situations in China and South Africa.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020.
Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM)
PhD
Unrestricted

This research focuses on the Implementation of IT systems and public sector and national ID card projects in particular. Such projects have high expectations but low success rates. The study Investigated the factors contributing to IT projects failure through on extensive review of the existing literature. This was enriched and tested by close Involvement with the UAE national ID card project, surveys and In depth interviews with senior managers from other ID card projects and presentations and attendance at over 50 conferences on this subject. Many of the factors leading to either success or failure identified in many practical studies could be addressed through a well designed project management methodology. Based on the literature, practical experience, observations and feedback from practitioners a project management methodology; named PROMOTE - PROject Management Of Technology Endeavours - was developed and tested for the planning and Implementing large scale IT projects mainly In a government context. The US$200+ million dollar national ID programme In the United Arab Emirates was the main test vehicle. Its Innovations include a hybrid systems development/project management customer based philosophy, a number of new tools and techniques and the Introduction of a mentor for the project manager. To help assess the general applicability of the methodology it was also tested In the Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Bahrain national ID initiatives. The methodology phases were refined several times (and other phases were added) to address the problems Identified from UAE project, the literature, the experiences reported at GCC committee meetings and from other large scale Implementations around the world (from conferences and study visits to other countries). From the testing conducted, the methodology is believed to add a significant contribution to the field of IT projects Implementation and In Increasing the success chances of such projects. Such success should have a profound Impact on government services. The study also recognises that a better understanding of the new methodology and its contributions Is only possible through further research and application In other large scale IT projects. This should allow the extension of the applicability of this methodology to a much wider spectrum.

Introduction: Over half of the Swedish IT-projects get delayed and more expensive than budgeted. Large corporations and governmental institutions stand before the process of investigating in new IT-systems in intervals of three to five years. In order to decrease the cost, an external consultant with large experience in IT-purchases could be used by the customers. These consultants does today work solely for the customers, helping them to find the best solution. We want to see if an external consultant instead could act as an inde-pendent moderator between the supplier and customer in the IT-systems lifecycle.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze problems and possible solutions related to the involvement of third party consultants in larger IT-projects. In particular, we will investigate when and where in the project cycle it could be beneficial to use an independent moderator.

Method: We have conducted semi-structured interviews with six organizations to get an understanding about consultants in IT-projects. Four of the interviewed were IT-managers at organizations were large IT-systems are bought and implemented. Then, two of the in-terviewed represented the supplier companies that sell large IT-systems.

Frame of reference: Transaction cost theory and agency theory has been used. Transac-tion cost theory is a theory on whether you should conduct the service internally or purchase it from external firms. Agency theory describes problems in the relationship between a principal and an agent. The agent has a diversified interest towards the principal. In our case, the agent is a consultant.

Conclusion: The implementation phase benefits from using an external moderator who monitors what the customer needs, and then in a continuous interval measures if the project is aligning towards the stated goal. This can lower the failure of information and identify problem areas early and thereby prevent costly adjustments later in the project. An in-dependent moderator with a high degree of routine and specific knowledge could enhance communication, create a better fit of the implemented system and foresee opportunistic advices from suppliers. In the pre-study phase there are benefits for the customer with evaluating the need, stating specific demands and define a clear goal.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Technology, Management, and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 280-302).
A critical element of the challenges and opportunities for today's large engineering projects are associated with the multi-type and networked relationships between these projects and their various stakeholders. This dissertation advances a multidisciplinary approach-Stakeholder Value Network (SVN) analysis-as a unique lens to examine, understand, model, and manage these stakeholder relationships. The SVN approach, based on the Social Exchange Theory (SET), unifies both social and economic relationships into a common framework, under which all the stakeholder relationships are formed by the use of subjective utility analysis and the comparison of alternatives. Next, restricted and generalized exchanges are identified as two basic patterns for stakeholders to exchange both tangible and intangible value, and from this, the missing links between relationship types and exchange patterns are also discovered. In the end, the network implications, such as stakeholder importance or salience, are inferred as the outcome of both value exchanges and the structural properties of the network consisting of stakeholders and their exchange relationships. According to the above theoretically grounded assumptions, a four-step methodological framework (viz., Mapping, Quantifying, Searching, and Analyzing) is developed for the SVN analysis. As part of this development, a network utility model is built to quantify the value delivered to the focal organization (viz., the large engineering projects) through the channel of generalized exchanges. Meanwhile, the benefits from as well as a feasible way for the integration of stakeholders and strategic issues are explored under the SVN framework. In addition, for the purpose of reducing the egocentric bias associated with the pre-selection of a focal organization, the four-step framework is further developed to interpret the implications of the SVN from the perspective of the whole network. The computational challenges arising from this new development are met by the construction of a dedicated mathematical tool for the SVN analysis, namely, the Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) modeling platform. Corresponding to the two-stage development of the methodological framework, two large real-world engineering projects are studied respectively: The first one, Project Phoenix, is a retrospective case and applies the SVN analysis from the focal organization perspective. Based on this case study, the descriptive accuracy of the SVN analysis is validated, through a comparison of important stakeholders derived from Mangers' Mental Model, the "Hub-and-Spoke" Model, and the SVN Model. Specifically, it is found that Managers' Mental Model is similar to the "Hub-and-Spoke" Model, and both models miss the Public Media and the Local Governments as important stakeholders at the beginning of the project. On the contrary, even with only prior information, the SVN Model identifies the importance of these two stakeholders by capturing the impacts of indirect stakeholder relationships as generalized exchanges. The reasons why generalized exchanges matter for today's large engineering projects are further examined from psychological, sociological, economic, and managerial aspects. The second one, China's Energy Conservation Campaign, is a prospective case and applies the SVN analysis from the whole network perspective. In this case study, five basic principles are first proposed for modeling the intraorganizational hierarchies of large and important stakeholders, and then these principles are tested as an effective means to manage the structural complexity of the SVN in the modeling process. During this process, the instrumental power of the SVN analysis is demonstrated. The SVN approach becomes complete with the above theory, methodology, tool, and meaningful findings from two representative case studies. At the end of this dissertation, two conceptual innovations are conceived to bridge the gap between the SVN analysis and systems architecting, and the theoretical, methodological, as well as empirical directions of future research on the SVN approach are also discussed.
by Wen Feng.
Ph.D.in Technology, Management, and Policy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2001.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 182-185).
Concurrent construction has been widely used for modem construction projects, as a method to shorten time-to-market. Concurrent construction, however, requires a careful and systematic approach to its planning and management, since it also has greater potential to impact the construction process than the traditional more serial method. These industrial trends and challenges in concurrent construction, together with increased understanding of dynamics and complexities of construction, have increased the demand for a more efficient planning and control method. In this context, the simulation-based scheduling method that has the potential to more effectively deal with the dynamic state of construction processes has currently emerged as an alternative to the network-based method. However, despite its potential advantages over the network-based method, very few of the existing simulation tools have overcome their practical limitations and have proven their applicability to real construction processes. As an effort to address some of these challenging issues, this thesis presents Dynamic Planning and Control Methodology (DPM) that has been developed to help prepare a more robust construction plan against uncertainties and to provide policy guidelines for the planning and control of a construction project, taking into consideration the context in which the project is being developed. The use of DPM would be especially beneficial for construction projects performed concurrently and involving higher complexity and uncertainties, ensuring that those projects can be delivered in time without driving up costs.
by Moonseo Park.
Ph.D.

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The timely delivery of addressed software issues (i.e., bug fixes, enhancements, and new features) is what drives software development. Previous research has investigated what impacts the time to triage and address (or fix) issues. Nevertheless, even though an issue is addressed, i.e., a solution is coded and tested, such an issue may still suffer delay before being delivered to end users. Such delays are frustrating, since end users care most about when an addressed issue is available in the software system (i.e, released). In this matter, there is a lack of empirical studies that investigate why addressed issues take longer to be delivered compared to other issues. In this thesis, we perform empirical studies to understand which factors are associated with the delayed delivery of addressed issues. In our studies, we find that 34% to 98% of the addressed issues of the ArgoUML, Eclipse and Firefox projects have their integration delayed by at least one release. Our explanatory models achieve ROC areas above 0.74 when explaining delivery delay.We also find that the workload of integrators and the moment at which an issue is addressed are the factors with the strongest association with delivery delay.We also investigate the impact of rapid release cycles on the delivery delay of addressed issues. Interestingly, we find that rapid release cycles of Firefox are not related to faster delivery of addressed issues. Indeed, although rapid release cycles address issues faster than traditional ones, such addressed issues take longer to be delivered.Moreover, we find that rapid releases deliver addressed issues more consistently than traditional ones. Finally, we survey 37 developers of the ArgoUML, Eclipse, and Firefox projects to understand why delivery delays occur. We find that the allure of delivering addressed issues more quickly to users is the most recurrent motivator of switching to a rapid release cycle.Moreover, the possibility of improving the flexibility and quality of addressed issues is another advantage that are perceived by our participants. Additionally, the perceived reasons for the delivery delay of addressed issues are related to decision making, team collaboration, and risk management activities. Moreover, delivery delay likely leads to user/developer frustration according to our participants. Our thesis is the first work to study such an important topic in modern software development. Our studies highlight the complexity of delivering issues in a timely fashion (for instance, simply switching to a rapid release cycle is not a silver bullet that would guarantee the quicker delivery of addressed issues).

Purpose: there is a substantial history of academic and professional interest in the planning, execution and performance of very large projects, typically focussing on underperformance relative to financial and social expectations. However, a lot of evidence in the professional, academic and public media that suggests these projects often underperform. This underperformance is continued to be reported and believed to be at least partly because of poor management and poor decision making. One of the key issues that has been identified as a cause for their underperformance is poor project. estimation. The focus of this thesis is to answer why they still show a poor performance record and to explore the influence of cognitive biases on decision stakeholders that lead to produce inadequate estimates. Theory and methodology: we combine a psychological perspective, the prospect theory in particular, on the decision making undertaken in managing such megaprojects with an in-depth, qualitative investigation of the knowledge of experienced managers and other key stakeholders, up to ministerial level (n= 29). We take this approach in order to complement previous studies of megaproject decision making which have often been undertaken from either a statistical perspective, or an experimental one, based on psychological laboratory studies. Key contributions: our results identify important and practically relevant insights in relation both to cultural specifics and generic issues of management decision making. A theoretical framework was developed and initially validated that explains megaproject poor estimates and poor performance from a psychological perspective along with identifying some underpinning causes for megaproject poor performance.

An optimal equipment replacement model was developed, that is useful for evaluating machinery replacement proposals. The model is based on discounted cash flow methods, and performs the evaluation by comparing the cash flow profile of the currently owned machine (the "defender") against that of a proposed replacement (the "challenger") over a finite time period. The optimum time to replace the defender is determined as the age which will maximize the net revenues from operating both machines over the planning horizon. Real time data were collected from the operation of similar machines, and used to estimate repair and maintenance costs, machine resale values, and machine operating costs. These costs were then discounted to a base year, and aggregated into cash flow profiles. The cash flow profiles were then converted to annual equivalents, which form the basis of the replacement decision. A method of estimating the rate at which a group of machines accumulate technological obsolescence was developed. These estimates are made as a function of the improved ratio of productivity to fuel consumption of new generations of machines over older ones. The replacement model was encoded into a microcomputer spreadsheet application program, that is useful as a financial planning tool in short and medium term timber harvesting projects. The program is interactive, and can be used to evaluate the sensitivity of the proposed replacement to different economic parameters. Sensitivity analyses was performed on the computer model by varying six of the input variables. From the results, it was concluded that the optimum life was relatively insensitivity to changes in most of the inputs. The cash flows, however, was highly sensitive to changes in most of the input variables. Changes in the length of the planning horizon had the highest effect on both optimum life and cash flows of the assets. The value added cost of the product had no effect on optimum life, but a very high effect on cash flows.
Forestry, Faculty of
Graduate

Prompted by growing environmental and energy concerns, increasing research is dedicated to the development of technologies capable of sustainably converting sunlight into commercially viable forms of energy such as chemical fuels. Crucial to this energy conversion is the availability of materials, photo-catalysts (PCs), capable of promoting redox chemistry following absorption of light. Since the macroscopic efficiency of PCs is governed by the atomistic details of the PCs interfaces with media and reactants, increasingly large efforts have been dedicated to the characterization and understanding of these interfaces, also by mean of first principle simulations. In this context, we present a theoretical investigation of a rapidly growing class of onedimensional nanomaterial, Imogolite nanotubes (Imo NTs), whose potential for photocatalysis has so far been overlooked. The first Chapter of the Thesis provides an overview of the current state of the art for research in PCs, and the theoretical framework needed for atomic-scale understanding and informed development of PCs. The computational underpinning of the research carried out for this Thesis, namely Density Functional Theory (DFT) and its linear-scaling (LS) implementation in the ONETEP program is presented and discussed in Chapter 2. Ahead of presentation of the results of my original research, a small literature review on Imo NTs is provided in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 illustrates the applicability of LS-DFT to Imo NTs and, by mean of detailed benchmarking, sets best practice for simulations of these systems. The potential of Imo NTs as (co-)PCs is explored in Chapter 5, where an extensive study of the structure, wall-polarization, absolute band-alignment, band-separation, and optical properties of several Imo NTs is presented and discussed. The simulations suggest possible profitable use of Imo NTs for both photo-reduction and hole-scavenging purposes. The occurrence of (near-)UV charge-transfer excitations is also observed, which may be effective for electron-hole separation and enhanced photo-catalytic performances. Finally, the effects of the NTs’ wall-polarization on the absolute alignment of electron and hole acceptor states of interacting water (H2O) molecules are quantified and discussed. Chapter 6 reports an extensive study of defects in Imo NTs. Electronic and optical characterization of the defective Imo NTs suggests energetically favourable separation of photo-generated electrons and holes via relaxation to different defect-sites, with the ensuing possibility of defect-centred photo-redox activity in defective Imo NTs. The Thesis ends with the investigation of termination effects in Imo NTs. Chapter 7 presents results on the structural, electronic and optical characterization of representative finite Imo NTs models capable of simultaneous description of the NT-ends and bulk-like NT-core. The simulations reveal the presence of longitudinal band-bending and of NT core-end bandsseparations, which in turn suggests advantageous relaxation mechanisms for photo-generated e*-h pairs along the NT axis, to the potential benefit of Imo NTs photo-catalytic reactivity.

The Medium Voltage Direct Current (MVDC) distribution represents a promising technology for future shipboard power systems. In such a topic, during the last years, universities and reserch centers have proposed technical solutions to achieve the important targets of MVDC technology, for instance fuel saving, reducing power system weight/space, reconfigurability in case of fault and enhanced power quality. Conversely, the main challenge to face regards voltage control, which has to be capable for guaranteeing the paramount requirement of stability. In regards to this aspect, a possible instability may arise due to the presence of high-bandwidth controlled load converters, modeled as Constant Power Loads (CPLs). Such non-linear loads are seen from the system as negative incremental resistances which are the cause of voltage instability in presence of a perturbation (e.g. load connection, generating system disconnection). The thesis has been realized in the Laboratory of Grid Connected and Marine Electric Power Generation and Control (EPGC Lab.), at the University of Trieste. The aim is to develop voltage control strategies to solve the CPL issue in a realistic multi-converter MVDC Integrated Power System, which is conveniently designed considering a real cruise line MVAC distribution. In such a system, voltage instability may be engage by different approaches, exploiting plant solutions (addition of dedicated filters, addition of energy storage devices) or control solutions. The latter is followed in this thesis: in this case voltage actuators (DC/DC power converters) are used to compensate for the voltage instability: therefore, on one hand (load side) power converters are responsible for the non-linear loads’ issue but, on the other (generators side), they may be utilized to contribute in its solution, thus ensuring a stable behavior. The stabilizing approach foresees the employment of different control techniques, whose theory is focused in the thesis. Starting from the simplier State Feedback (SF), two techniques are mostly studied in the multi-converter arrangement, i.e the Active Damping (AD) and the Linearization via State Feedback (LSF). The AD is a control method to transiently increase the filter resistances in order to damp the voltage oscillations: one of the main pros is the simple implementation on digital controllers, whereas the drawback regards its limited stabilizing action. Therefore, strategies based on Active Damping are to be used to stabilize non-critical systems. Conversely, LSF is a well-performing technique to obtain a notable cancellation of the non-linearities related to CPLs, by exploiting the DC/DC converters to apply a proper non-linear control function. Against the notable capability in stabilizing critical systems, great attention is to be paid in control function’s estimation: inaccurate system parameters or errors in controller’ feedbacks may invalidate the LSF approach, determining a partial loop-cancellation, therefore a non-linear resulting power system. Final simulations are aimed in testing AD and LSF, implemented in global and local control strategies: the former strategy has the purpose to solve the instability directly on CPLs, whereas the second one ensures the bus stability.
La distribuzione in media tensione continua (Medium Voltage Direct Current, MVDC) rappresenta una tecnologia promettente per i sistemi elettrici navali del futuro. A tal riguardo, negli ultimi anni, università e centri di ricerca hanno proposto soluzioni tecniche tali da raggiungere gli obiettivi propri della tecnologia MVDC: fra gli altri, risparmio di carburante, riduzione del peso/ingombro dell’impianto elettrico, riconfigurabilità a fronte di guasti e miglioramento della power quality. D’altra parte, la più grande sfida da affrontare riguarda la regolazione della tensione che deve risultare in grado di garantire il requisito fondamentale della stabilità. Relativamente a questo aspetto, una possibile instabilità si manifesta in presenza di convertitori di carico a banda elevata, modellizzabili come carichi a potenza costante (Constant Power Loads, CPLs). Tali carichi non-lineari vengono visti dal sistema come resistenze incrementali negative, le quali rappresentano la causa dell’instabilità della tensione a fronte di un disturbo (per esempio connessione di carico, disconnessione di un sistema di genenerazione). La tesi è stata realizzata presso il Laboratorio Grid Connected and Marine Electric Power Generation and Control (EPGC Lab.), presso l’Università degli Studi di Trieste. Lo scopo è quello di sviluppare strategie per il controllo della tensione in grado di risolvere la questione CPL, considerando un possibile impianto elettrico integrato (multi-convertitore) in MVDC, convenientemente progettato a partire dalla distribuzione reale MVAC di una nave da crociera. Nel sistema visto, l’instabilità di tensione può essere affrontata secondo diversi approcci, sfruttando soluzioni impiantistiche (aggiunta di filtraggio dedicato, aggiunta di energy storage) oppure soluzioni controllistiche. Il secondo approccio è quello seguito nella presente tesi: gli attuatori di tensione (convertitori DC/DC) vengono usati in questo caso per compensare l’instabilità di tensione. Quindi, da una parte (lato carico) i convertitori sono responsabili del problema dei carichi non-lineari, dall’altro (lato generatori) possono essere utilizzati per contribuire alla sua soluzione, garantendo un comportamento stabile. L’approccio stabilizzante previsto prevede l’utilizzo di diverse tecniche di controllo, analizzate nella tesi dal punto di vista teorico. A partire dalla tecnica semplice State Feedback (SF), altre due tecniche sono state studiate per il caso di sistema multi-converter, ovvero l’Active Damping (AD) e il Linearization via State Feedback (LSF). L’AD è un metodo di controllo per incrementare transitorialmente la resistenza dei filtri, in modo tale da smorzare le oscillazioni di tensione: uno dei principali vantaggi è quello relativo alla semplice ingegnerizzazione su controllori digitali, mentre lo svantaggio riguarda la limitata azione stabilizzante. Pertanto, strategie basate sull’AD devono considerarsi valide per stabilizzare sistemi non critici. D’altra parte, LSF è una tecnica molto valida per ottenere una buona cancellazione delle non-linearità dei CPL, per mezzo dell’azione di convertitori DC/DC in grado di applicare un’opportuna funzione di controllo non-lineare. A fronte di una notevole capacità nello stabilizzare sistemi critici, grande attenzione va posta nella stima della funzione di controllo: conoscenza inaccurata dei parametri o errori nei feedback ai controllori possono invalidare l’approccio LSF, causando una parziale cancellazione, quindi un sistema risultante non-lineare. Le simulazioni finali hanno lo scopo di testare le tecniche AD e LSF, implementate in strategie di controllo locale e globale: la prima strategia ha lo scopo di risolvere l’instabilità direttamente sui CPL, mentre la seconda assicura la stabilità del bus.

Despite the many researches made on emergent strategies and project portfolio management, one can hardly find studies on the link between them. It can easily be assumed that emergent strategies and market dynamics have considerable effect on the portfolio of projects in organizations and, supposedly, give rise to emergent projects. We defined emergent projects to be untypical or irregular projects for the organization which are at the borderline or even outside the mainstream of the current portfolio of projects. These types of projects impact the company’s strategy with the aim to increase the organizations competitiveness. This study will try to find out the possible distinct characteristics and strategic impact of emergent projects on large organizations so that these kinds of projects can be properly recognized for what they really are and managed effectively.

 

We used a semi-structured interview method to collect data from six international companies in four countries. The countries are Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Taiwan. Using template analysis method, we analyzed the collected data. The analysis confirmed our assumption that there is a correlation between emergent strategies and project portfolio management. Moreover, we found out some of the characteristics and strategic impacts of emergent projects. The results of the study, therefore, shows that emergent projects are kinds of strategic projects which have bigger significance and bring a higher sense of urgency to organizations than the normal projects in their portfolio. Furthermore, the study indicated that emergent projects do not need any different project management methodology than typical projects do. Nonetheless, emergent projects are characterized by rarity, disrupting routine operations, enhancing company-customer relationship, causing resource reallocation, bringing profit, demanding higher budget, opening both internal and external new opportunities, posing risk due to shorter planning phase and limited implementation time, and capturing higher attention from top management. The major result we have found out in the research about the strategic impact of emergent projects is that they have a higher potential to bring profit and new business opportunities which in total make organizations more competitive in their respective markets.

The theoretical and managerial implications of our research have a common idea that emergent projects should be recognized and categorized as strategic projects of organizations. Further studies should be carried out on how the dynamic situations of business environments and emergent strategies affect the project portfolio of organizations. Moreover, it is worth researching on how the idea of emergent projects are dealt in the studies of strategic project management and project categorization both in the academic and practitioners world. Overall, the study has brought the linkage between emergent strategies and project portfolio management into light through the discussion on emergent projects.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
O objetivo da dissertação é analisar em que medida a avaliação da conformidade de projetos de engenharia de grandes empreendimentos, conduzidos segundo regime epecista, pode ser utilizada como ferramenta de aprendizagem organizacional pelas entidades envolvidas. No contexto organizacional em que a pesquisa se insere, os objetos de análise são os projetos de três terminais aquaviários a serem operados pela Transpetro: (i) Pecém – Tecem (CE); (ii) Barra do Riacho (ES); e (iii) Ilha Comprida (RJ) e a unidade principal é a Unidade de Implementação de Empreendimentos para Transpetro (IETR) da Petrobras. A metodologia compreende: (i) pesquisa bibliográfica e documental sobre os temas centrais; (ii) seleção do tipo de caso e delimitação das unidades de caso; (iii) proposição do modelo conceitual; (iv) elaboração do estudo de caso; (v) formulação das conclusões do caso e recomendações para as entidades envolvidas. Destacam-se como resultados da pesquisa: (i) a indicação dos documentos críticos nas fases FEED e executiva dos respectivos projetos; (ii) o mapeamento dos principais erros oriundos da incompatibilização entre as disciplinas envolvidas ou decorrentes do não atendimento a requisitos de normas e regulamentos técnicos aplicáveis; e (iii) a proposição de recomendações para as entidades envolvidas. Como conclusão, a pesquisa indica que o modelo conceitual proposto mostrou-se adequado para os fins a que se destina, constituindo um importante instrumento de gestão que poderá ser disseminado em outros contextos organizacionais de avaliação da conformidade de projetos de engenharia.
The objective of this dissertation is to analyze to what extent the conformity assessment of engineering projects in large buildings, conducted according EPC regime, can be used as a tool for organizational learning by the entities involved (contractor, business EPC; subcontractors and certification). In the organizational context in which the research takes place, the objects of analysis are the projects of three waterway terminals of the Transpetro: (i) Pecém - Tecém (CE); (ii) Barra do Riacho (ES); and (iii) Ilha Comprida (RJ) and the main unit is the Unit Implementation of Projects for Transpetro (IETR) from Petrobras. The method comprises: (i) bibliographic and documentary research on the central themes, (ii) selecting the type of case and delimitation of the unit case, (iii) propose of a conceptual model, (iv) preparation of case study, (v) formulation of conclusions and recommendations of the case to entities involved. Stand as the search results: (i) an indication of critical documents in phases FEED and executive of the respective projects, (ii) the mapping of the principal errors that come from the incompatibility between the disciplines involved or arising from the unmet requirements of applicable standards and technical regulations; (iii) to propose recommendations for the entities involved. In conclusion, the research shows that the suggested model was adequate for the purposes for which it is intended, constituting an important management tool and learning that could be disseminated in other organizational contexts of conformity assessment of engineering projects.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1999.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-92).
In large-scale projects, collaboration is an essential key for the success of projects. Since different participants from different organizations try to work together in projects, competitive stresses exist in their relationships and as a result, disputes or conflicts may inevitably occur. Pena-Mora and Wang (1998) have developed a preliminary collaborative negotiation methodology for facilitating/mediating the negotiation process of conflicts. In order for that collaborative negotiation methodology to be more detailed for its implementation, it needs to account for the effect of project structure and delivery method on the negotiation processes in large-scale projects. Because contracts define the temporary formal and informal relationships among the different parties in a project and subsequently, they define the framework of the negotiations of conflicts within that project, different delivery systems may be more or less effective in terms of conflict resolution. In this research, to study the effect of delivery system on negotiation of conflicts, first, several different project structures and delivery systems are studied in order to identify participants' roles, responsibilities, and relationships. Second, potential conflicts in relationships among project participants are examined to show that each delivery system has typical or pattern behavior that may affect the interrelationship among groups on negotiations. These patterns or characteristics of the groups and their relationship make possible to evaluate quantitatively and qualitatively the advantage or disadvantage of each delivery system in terms of conflict avoidance or dispute resolution. Then, indexes of negotiation effectiveness for each delivery system are developed in order to quantify the advantage of implementing the collaborative negotiation methodology in a large-scale project within a particular delivery system.
by Tadatsugu Tamaki.
S.M.

Cooperative power is critical knowledge in traditional projects Projects that are executed in the home country of the initiating organization or company (traditional projects) face important challenges that result from the tensions between internal actors, such as suppliers, contractors and sub-suppliers. Research shows that the actors often rather compete than cooperate. Collaboration and communication skills are essential to increasing the efficiency of project execution. Project delays, conflicts and cost overruns can be the result of failing to understand this requirement. “Cooperative power” is a concept that emphasizes this need. Competitive power and competitiveness have been studied and presented in management courses for many years, but empirical research shows the need for something different in the execution of large scale projects: cooperative power and cooperativeness. Collaboration and communication across organizational borders are demanding, whether internally in an organization, between organizations or with the external surroundings, and good projects might fail because of a limited understanding of cooperative power. The power of the authorities and legislation is underrated in global projects In global projects the power of the authorities and government in different countries are clearly underrated. Relationship building with the external stakeholders, such as domestic authorities, legislation and government, is needed. Global projects require project managers and staff that have RQ (relationship intelligence) in addition to the more widely used IQ, EQ (emotional intelligence) and CQ (cultural intelligence). New models developed There is a tremendous body of knowledge available on traditional project management, e.g. literature on project risk and control, but the literature on the organizational and relationship side of projects is rather scarce. This thesis presents several new models that can be applied in project execution to reduce organizational challenges.
Samarbeidskraft er kritisk for å gjennomføre prosjekter For å lykkes med gjennomføringen av prosjekter er god samhandling og kommunikasjon mellom de ulike aktørene avgjørende. Dette øker effektiviteten og kvaliteten i prosjektene. Motsatt, kan dårlig samhandling og kommunikasjon bety store kostnader, og i verste fall føre til at gode prosjekter stopper opp eller må skrinlegges. Det gjelder både dårlig samhandling og samhandlingsutfordringer internt mellom selskaper i prosjekter, og utfordringer knyttet til samhandling med de eksterne omgivelsene. Samarbeidskraft er et nytt begrep, som brukes for å beskrive potensialet i god samhandling og kommunikasjon. Gjennom studier av prosjekter både nasjonalt og globalt er det klare fellestrekk i prosjektene. Dårlig samarbeidskraft og manglende forståelse for hvem du bør spille på lag med kan oppsummeres som den viktigste mangelvaren. Konkurransekraft er et mye brukt begrep, men i gjennomføringen av store prosjekter kan vi nesten snakke om det motsatte, nemlig samarbeidskraft. Samhandling og kommunikasjon på tvers av organisasjoner er svært krevende. Det gjelder internt i prosjektet mellom virksomheter, men også samhandling med de eksterne omgivelsene, der gode prosjekter rett og slett havarerer fordi aktørene ikke får dette til. Myndighetskontakt avgjørende i globale prosjekter I prosjekter innenlands er det mest utfordrende å få til kommunikasjon mellom samarbeidsaktørene internt i prosjektene, der en ser klare trekk til at aktørene heller konkurrerer enn å samarbeide. Det kan for eksempel dreie seg om samspillet mellom leverandør og bruker, og mellom driftsteam og prosjektteam. I globale prosjekter er det samhandlingen med de eksterne aktørene som er mest krevende. Å bygge relasjoner med lokale myndigheter, lovgivere og andre premissgivere i det aktuelle landet er kritisk for å gjennomføre prosjektet. For å gjennomføre prosjekter er det altså ikke nok å ha kompetanse på prosjektstyring og risiko. Prosjektene må også bemannes med det som i denne avhandlingen kalles relasjonell kompetanse (RQ).

Large-scale international science projects (LISPs) are those projects where two or more countries formally agree to cooperate toward the achievement of a scientific, research and development, or engineering goal. In general, only projects exceeding $1 billion U.S. are considered LISPs, so sheer size commands attention, and because they are so costly and visible, failure can lead to significant scientific, financial and political consequences. This researched focused on how 7 different critical success factors impacted the level of technical interface knowledge shared among international partners involved in a large-scale international space science project (LISSP) – the International Space Station (ISS), which is currently under assembly and testing at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The research methodology employed documentation review, individual interviews and surveys of experienced engineers and managers from three different countries associated with the ISS. The research methodology was applied to three different cases (retrospectively) involving the processing of flight hardware from the three different international partners. The analysis showed that only 5 out of the 7-factor model played a significant role in the level of knowledge sharing between partners. The developed model provides future international partnerships with critical success factors that they can apply to their specific project / mission teams in order to improve the level of knowledge shared between them.
Ph.D.
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
Engineering and Computer Science
Industrial Engineering and Management Systems

This study examines the organisational architecture of megaproject meta-organisations; that is project-based organisations formed to deliver one-off, capital-intensive systems. It investigates how the organisation that promotes the megaproject - the buyer organisation - divides and allocates the scope of the development work during the delivery phase across multiple suppliers. In so doing, the buyer organisation sets organisational boundaries around its own work and that of each project supplier: effectively creating the megaproject meta- organisation architecture. We use organisation design literature as the main cognitive lens to understand the architecture of megaproject organisations. This literature posits that organisational boundaries can be understood by examining the interplay of four logics: i) Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), ii) capabilities, iii) power and iv) organisational identity. The impact of these four logics on organisational boundaries has been theorised extensively in the context of the enduring firm. Here, we seek to extend our knowledge of boundaries in megaproject organisations. Unlike the enduring firm, megaproject organisations do not operate in efficient markets, are set up to have a finite-lifespan and are highly interdependent with their environment. Megaproject organisations are also a critical form of organising addressing one of the grand challenges of our time: the provision of basic infrastructure. Yet, little is known about the architecture of megaproject organisations. To address this theoretical and empirical gap, we undertook a multiple case research. We conducted an in-depth analysis of the procurement choices for four large infrastructure assets: the London Olympics 2012, Crossrail, Thames Tideway Tunnel and Heathrow's Terminal 2. The research results in the development of an original conceptual framework that illuminates how the four complementary logics are brought to bear in the organisational design choices that determine megaproject architectures. The study contends that the organisational boundaries, which demarcate the work of each supplier, are the outcome of a reconciliation of efficiency concerns and considerations about the capabilities available in-house and in the supplier market. Importantly, this reconciliation is context-sensitive. Hence, the solution space for potential organisational architectures is constrained by considerations related to power and organisational identity. Power constraints are rooted in the interdependency of the buyer with its environment, including regulatory-political and ownership relations, as well as its bargaining position vis a vis suppliers. Organisational identity constraints relate to the buyer organisation's identity, which is both pre- given and developed through self-selection over time.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2006.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 216-230).
Large engineering projects design, engineer and construct much of the world's energy, transportation and defense infrastructure. These large scale engineering endeavors are highly visible, have long lasting impacts and are of major economic significance. Yet despite their importance they frequently suffer from cost overruns and long delays and deliver systems with operational shortcomings. A contributing factor to the challenge of large projects is that the project enterprise is created by separate firms being brought together by the project sponsor, typically via formal contracts. Success requires multiple firms with hundreds (possibly thousands) of engineers working together to efficiently create complex product systems within an environment of high uncertainty. In an attempt to improve project outcomes, sponsors often endeavor to create "alignment" between themselves and their key contractors. In practice, alignment has proved difficult to create and to sustain. This research explores the policies and actions taken by firms that give rise to alignment. The large engineering projects studied for this research were offshore oil and gas field developments. grounded theory method, supplemented by formal dynamic model building, was used to investigate the causal mechanisms that support, or inhibit, the generation of alignment. The research revealed that alignment is founded on the collective understanding of the project, incorporating the firm's separate interests, and inter-firm trust. Furthermore the two antecedents of alignment act together to form a self-enforcing alignment mechanism. Six factors (system architecture, organizational design, contract design, risk, metrics and incentives) were identified that establish the inter-firm interactions through which collective understanding and inter-firm trust are created. These findings are organized into a framework that guides policy selection with a view to enabling the generation, and sustainment, of alignment.
(cont.) A grounded theory method, supplemented by formal dynamic model building, was used to investigate the causal mechanisms that support, or inhibit, the generation of alignment. The research revealed that alignment is founded on the collective understanding of the project, incorporating the firm's separate interests, and inter-firm trust. Furthermore the two antecedents of alignment act together to form a self-enforcing alignment mechanism. Six factors (system architecture, organizational design, contract design, risk, metrics and incentives) were identified that establish the inter-firm interactions through which collective understanding and inter-firm trust are created. These findings are organized into a framework that guides policy selection with a view to enabling the generation, and sustainment, of alignment.
by Nicholas McKenna.
Ph.D.

This thesis focused on the performance of large-scale renewable energy projects for the United States Air Force. As global energy demands continue to rise, the need to find ways to save energy and produce alternative sources of energy will increase. The Federal Government has begun to address the challenge of energy production and energy security in recent years. In order to increase both the energy production and energy security for the Air Force, there is a trend to increase the amount of renewable energy produced on military installations. The goal of this research was to compare the estimated and actual performance of these large-scale on-site renewable energy projects at Air Force installations. The variables considered for this research were the execution methods and the renewable energy sources. The performance of each project was evaluated against factors identified in previous sustainable construction studies. The study found that actual performance of third party owned and operated projects differed from the expected performance by less than the Air Force owned and operated projects, and that performance of renewable energy projects differed from the expected performance by less than high performance buildings from previous studies. The study also found factors that contributed to the gap between the expected and actual performance including optimistic modeling, unusual weather, operational issues and higher than expected maintenance of the projects. The results of this research were an initial step in understanding the actual performance of large-scale renewable energy projects.
Master of Science

This research explores the current situation of the Sanitary Provision in medium to large shopping malls. It outlines the develop process on the Sanitary Provision Ratio in Hong Kong, the History, Development and the Current Situation. This research also studies how the relationships between sanitary provisions and the operation / performance of shopping malls. The research involves a review of relationship between the revenue or the customer satisfying rate and the sanitary provision. The researcher tries to make suggestions for sanitary provision in future shopping mall and compare the benefit with the falter reasons. The benefit is quantified to the revenue & customer service in particular shopping mall while comparing to the expense on offering a better sanitary provision facility. After the comparison, suggestions would be drawn on the form of sanitary provision in the future shopping mall in order to achieve a balance between Cost (extra installation on the sanitary provision) and Benefit (Good impression from the customer and Shopping Mall Revenue).
published_or_final_version
Housing Management
Master
Master of Housing Management