As the world¡¦s high degree of urbanization, greenhouse gas emission by vehicles, home appliances and industrial production is increasing year by year and according to the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) report urban carbon-dioxide emissions accounted for 80% of total global emissions. In order to encourage the alternative energy development, Taiwan government actively promotes the subsidy for alternative energy implementation, thus making the solar energy industry booming in recent years. Based on the government procurement competition mechanism, the procurement competition needs to be transparent and fair. Faced with competition in the industry, companies must reduce costs and improve quality while also required to enhance the customer satisfaction. Therefore, a good engineering project control becomes the most important factor to enhance a company's competitive ability. Particularly, when professional management is getting more and more important nowadays, solar energy system¡¦s building construction is not only limited to technology and equipment level, but also the enterprise configuration of internal human resources and outsourcing. Moreover, how to minimize cost and how to use efficient way to make the project work on schedule are the important issues for policy makers. This study is based on a domestic solar systems engineering project, and focuses on the distribution and configuration of the limited internal and external resources of multiple projects in progress. It uses the Critical Chain Project Management in the Theory of Constraints to break through limitations. VBA programming is used to find the minimum cost of human resource conflict in the project scheduling, furthermore Arena simulation system is utilized to establish the best configuration of human resources deployment to provide decision-making mechanism. The simulation result is verified that it can really help to provide a decision-making reference to project managers to obtain the ideal scheduling and resource allocation.

The project portfolio management process is characterised by a series of stages and gates where a project needs to pass the set criteria at that given point in order to continue to the next phase of the process. In this paper it is postulated that project portfolio management, in a multi-project environment, suffers from a core problem referred to as the release-problem. The release-problem serves as the catalyst that causes seven undesirable effects to occur within the project portfolio management environment. These undesirable effects lead to delays that hamper the rate of work the system is able to complete, complicates managerial decision-making and jeopardises the four desired outcomes of project portfolio management. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / MSc / Unrestricted

Introduction: A trend for organisations to change from single to multiple project management has been observed over the last couple of decades. Organizations shifted their focus from single project management towards the simultaneous management of the whole set of projects as one entity – project portfolio. New multi-project settings require a new management approach and practices to successfully manage a portfolio. A common practice in organizations is to evaluate projects after they had been carried out. At that point not much can be done and it is impossible to improve performance and prevent failure. Hence, problems that occur in projects’ implementation phase remain unsolved and even unidentified. Constant control, review and monitoring of projects’ performance in the implementation phase could lead to the problematic portfolio areas being spotted and timely management decisions being made in order to improve the overall portfolio performance. Problem: How do organisations manage projects within a portfolio that perform poorly in the implementation phase? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is: to describe to what extent and in what ways organizations control, review and monitor project performances in the implementation phase; to identify if organisations use any methods, tools or techniques in order to spot projects that perform poorly according to their expectations; and to discover what happens to the poorly performing projects in the implementation phase after they were identified. Method: An electronic qualitative questionnaire had been constructed and sent out to the 46 sampled Swedish companies currently running project portfolios. 115 most suitable respondents had been chosen to answer the survey. Frame of Reference: Theoretical framework is built on the literature within project portfolio management field, mostly concerning control, review and monitoring of projects of projects’ performance within their implementation phase; practices used to manage poorly performing projects as well as the value of organizational learning. Conclusion: The research results show that even though majority of the studied organizations are aware and striving towards efficient project portfolio control, review and monitoring, a lot of space for improvement still remains. Results reveal that organizations are trying to keep track of projects’ performance within a portfolio, however, very few poorly performing are identified. Moreover, the management practices for underperforming projects are still very limited if not non-existent.

<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>A trend for organisations to change from single to multiple project management has been observed over the last couple of decades. Organizations shifted their focus from single project management towards the simultaneous management of the whole set of projects as one entity – project portfolio. New multi-project settings require a new management approach and practices to successfully manage a portfolio. A common practice in organizations is to evaluate projects after they had been carried out. At that point not much can be done and it is impossible to improve performance and prevent failure. Hence, problems that occur in projects’ implementation phase remain unsolved and even unidentified. Constant control, review and monitoring of projects’ performance in the implementation phase could lead to the problematic portfolio areas being spotted and timely management decisions being made in order to improve the overall portfolio performance.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Problem: </strong>How do organisations manage projects within a portfolio that perform poorly in the implementation phase?</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this thesis is: to describe to what extent and in what ways organizations control, review and monitor project performances in the implementation phase; to identify if organisations use any methods, tools or techniques in order to spot projects that perform poorly according to their expectations; and to discover what happens to the poorly performing projects in the implementation phase after they were identified.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Method: </strong>An electronic qualitative questionnaire had been constructed and sent out to the 46 sampled Swedish companies currently running project portfolios. 115 most suitable respondents had been chosen to answer the survey.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Frame of Reference: </strong>Theoretical framework is built on the literature within project portfolio management field, mostly concerning control, review and monitoring of projects of projects’ performance within their implementation phase; practices used to manage poorly performing projects as well as the value of organizational learning.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The research results show that even though majority of the studied organizations are aware and striving towards efficient project portfolio control, review and monitoring, a lot of space for improvement still remains. Results reveal that organizations are trying to keep track of projects’ performance within a portfolio, however, very few poorly performing are identified. Moreover, the management practices for underperforming projects are still very limited if not non-existent.</p>

In the current market situation today which is changing rapidly, many companies have decided to adopt the project-based organisational structure. However, the literature on this area has been lacking, particularly in the multi-project environment. This is an important subject to explore since it has a substantial impact on a company’s productivity. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to expand the knowledge on project resource management in multi-project organisations. The methodological approach of this work was a case study, where interviews and observations were conducted at a large PBO running multiple new product development projects. The unit of analysis in the case was the way of working in projects and PRM techniques used in the context of two new product development projects. Waterfall Method and APM was identified as two fundamental ways of running a project. Additionally, RBS and RBV, Kitting, CONWIP and Project Freezing and finally CCPM were identified as techniques that can be used in project management. Several similarities and differences were identified when comparing the case study with previously conducted studies. Particularly, similarities regarding the experienced pressure and how resource conflicts caused by this were managed. Lastly, improvement proposals to current PRM techniques were identified. By using both Waterfall Method and APM together, their strengths could be combined. Moreover, HRM has become an increasingly more important task for the line managers, which should be taken into consideration when stating the work description. The results of this study will contribute both theoretically and practically. This work supports the evolution of the PRM techniques by evaluating them in a practical context. Finally, the conclusions of this work provide recommendations which are more practically applicable for PBOs.

Detta Examensarbete utfördes som en fallstudie Saab Combat Systems, som är och undersöker utmaningar i form av beroenden och osäkerheter som uppstår i Multiprojekt-Organisationer. Dessa utmaningar verkar orsaka konflikter och tvetydigheter i Multiprojekt-Organisationer gällande exempelvis, kommunikation, resursallokering, produktutveckling samt maktstrukturer mellan olika roller (Engwall &amp; Jerbant, 2003; Dahlgren &amp; Söderlund, 2010). Detta Examensarbete behandlar dessa utmaningar genom att undersöka och besvara följande forskningsfrågor: Vilka utmaningar i form av beroenden och osäkerheter existerar på Saab Combat Systems? Hur kan dessa utmaningar hanteras? Våra resultat visar att tre olika typer av beroenden uppstår i Multiprojekt-Organisationer som utvecklar komplexa produkter och system; organisatoriska beroenden, tekniska beroenden och resursberoenden. Dessa tre beroenden verkar påverka varandra och resultera i osäkerheter när flera projekt hanteras samtidigt. Dessutom ökar nivån av osäkerhet i projekt på grund av osäkerheter i relation till maktstrukturer samt utveckling av komplexa produkter och system. De tre identifierade beroende inkluderar projektosäkerheter samt projektberoenden. Vi har valt ut tre stycken olika typer av Management Control Systems; Projektkontor, Projektportföljhantering samt Programhantering och drar slutsatsen att de kan användas för att hantera de tre identifierade beroendena Multiprojekt-Organisationer. Vi har dock upptäckt att dessa Management Control Systems har både fördelar och nackdelar gällande hantering av de tre olika typer av beroenden. Alla identifierade beroenden och osäkerheter kan följaktligen hanteras genom att kombinera olika Management Control Systems. Dessutom har vi kompletterat en redan utvecklad modell av Dahlgren &amp; Söderlund (2010) genom att kartlägga de tre beroendena, som tar hänsyn till projektosäkerheter och projektberoenden, samt vilken typ av Management Control Systems som är mest lämplig för att hantera dessa beroenden. / This Master Thesis was conducted as a case study at Saab Combat Systems investigating challenges in form of dependencies and uncertainties that emerge in Multi-Project Organizations. These challenges seem to cause conflicts and ambiguity in Multi-Project Organizations regarding for instance; communication, human resources allocation, product development and power structures between different roles (Engwall &amp; Jerbant, 2003; Dahlgren &amp; Söderlund, 2010). Thereby, this Master Thesis addresses these challenges by investigating and answering the following research questions: What challenges in form of dependencies and uncertainties exist at Saab Combat Systems? How can these challenges be addressed? Our Results display that three different types of dependencies exists in Multi-Project Organizations developing Complex Products and Systems; organizational dependencies, technical dependencies and resources dependencies. These three dependencies seem to be connected, and therefore result in uncertainties when managing multiple projects. Additionally, uncertainties in relation to the power structure as well as development of Complex Products and Systems tend to increase the level of project uncertainty. The three identified dependencies include both project uncertainties and project dependencies. We have chosen three different Management Control Systems; Project Management Office, Project Portfolio Management and Programme Management and conclude that they can be utilized in order to address the three identified dependencies in Multi-Project Organizations. However, we have found that these Management Control Systems have benefits as well as shortcomings when addressing different types of dependencies. Consequently, by combining them, all of the identified dependencies and uncertainties can be addressed. Furthermore, we have complemented an already developed model by Dahlgren &amp; Söderlund (2010) by mapping the three identified dependencies, which consider project uncertainties and project dependencies, as well as which Management Control System is most appropriate when addressing these three dependencies.

大型及多重專案管理須面對繁複關聯的組織、複雜變動的流程、交疊共用的資源等，其績效控制及資訊系統建置等問題素為專案管理領域中關鍵性的研究課題。本文旨在提出為提昇大型及多重專案管理績效的全球資訊網資訊系統設計方法，並舉出營建業工程專案作為所提方法促成電子化應用之實例說明。系統之應用領域分析採用超媒體方法，概念設計採用物件導向之混合模式方法，系統建置則以全球資訊網為環境，並透過物件導向程式設計及軟體整合方法達成。 / Since large-scale and multiple project management involves interdependent organizations, dynamic processes, as well as shared resources, the methodologies related to project performance control and information system development have become critical research topics in the project management domain. The goal of this paper is to propose a web design method for developing information system to efficiently and effectively support the multi-project management processes. A construction project is used as an example to illustrate how the proposed approach is applied to enable electronic applications for the construction business. A hybrid modeling technique is adopted during the application analysis and conceptual design stages that integrates hypermedia node-link model and object-oriented model. As for physical implementation on the WWW environment, object-oriented programming design and software integration approaches are used to achieve the goal.