Contemporary companies work in complex environment comprising many simultaneous running projects, i.e. multi-project settings. To a large extend those projects are interdependent and are multi-professionally constituted of representatives from customers, suppliers, other business partners and researchers from academia. The success of projects, particularly in the multi-project setting, is dependent of the collaboration and interaction among those actors involved. The aim of this article is to explore the dynamics of interactions with external actors, such as customers, suppliers, other business partners and academia and investigate the effect of interactions on performance in multi-project settings. The methodology is based on a mixed-method approach, comprising a quantitative survey and a complementary case study. The quantitative survey questions are based on the extended literature study of project management interactions. The case study was selected in order to create a deeper understanding of the processes of interaction, barriers to interactions and the outcome in terms of project performance. The results show that interactions with external actors positively influence performance in terms of estimated quality, time, and cost, innovations and actor satisfaction. / no

Uncertainty and complexity are two factors that make project planning a challenging task. Companies operating in a multiple project Engineer-to-Order environment face an additional dimension of difficulties because of interactions between projects. The changing environment and frequency of unforeseen events increases the difficulty of planning and re-planning and requires flexibility. This study explores how project planning is conducted and what the associated challenges are in a multiple project ETO context. To that end, a case study of a company operating in such a context was investigated using a qualitative approach. In so doing, we shed light on the challenges and provide some insight to mitigate the challenges. The findings suggest that there are challenges related to resource allocation, prioritization, communication and progress updates, and keeping the plan up to date and valid. Practically, the main takeaways are that synergies may be found when leveraging workflow reliability and flexibility as it comes down to deciding when the respective approach is suitable to mitigate the challenges found in the study. In addition, we suggest that prioritization should be integrated into the planning processes to create a better consensus within and among projects. Lastly, we also suggest an additional precondition for releasing work to production.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation aims to develop a decision model for sequencing production activities to optimize the delivery time of projects. The survey classify him as applied and descriptive with qualitative and quantitative approach, having how the procedure the single case study. To develop the decision model was used the process flow map to identify the critical control points and determining the evaluation and priorization criteria of project activities for each subprocess. After, it were measured all evaluation criteria identified by mathematical formulas and it was subsequently drafted a simulation tool for priorization and decision on multiple projects to sequence the production activities. The base-building of simulation tool was the Microsoft Excel® software application. The tool was used in a lower hierarchical level to identify the projects to be executed with better success, aiming to maximize revenue. The model was tested in a electromechanical industry located in northwest of Rio Grande do Sul, where it was randomly selected six projects with engineering and custom manufacturing(ETO and MTO) among twenty projects that are executed in average per month. As a result, it was obtained the projects analyzed according to criteria adopted, which should be prioritized in production without compromising delivery time to the customer and the earnings of the company. Therefore, one can conclude that the tool can assist in prioritization of project execution type (ETO and MTO). / A presente dissertação tem por objetivo desenvolver um modelo de decisão de sequenciamento de atividades de produção para otimizar o tempo de entrega de projetos. A pesquisa classifica-se como aplicada e descritiva com abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa, tendo como procedimento o estudo de caso único. Para o desenvolvimento do modelo de decisão foi utilizado o mapeamento de fluxo do processo para a identificação dos pontos críticos de controle e determinação dos critérios de avaliação e priorização das atividades de projetos para cada subprocesso. Depois, foram mensurados todos os critérios de avaliação identificados através de fórmulas matemáticas e posteriormente foi elaborada uma ferramenta de simulação de priorização e decisão em múltiplos projetos a fim de sequenciar as atividades de produção. A base de construção da ferramenta de simulação foi o software aplicativo Excel®. A ferramenta foi utilizada num nível hierárquico inferior para identificar os projetos a serem executados com melhor êxito, visando maximizar o faturamento. O modelo foi testado numa indústria eletromecânica do Noroeste do Rio Grande do Sul, onde foi selecionado aleatoriamente seis projetos com engenharia e produção sob encomenda (ETO e MTO) de uma média de vinte projetos que são executados por mês. Como resultado, obtevese dos projetos analisados, de acordo com critérios adotados, qual deveria ser priorizado na produção sem comprometer o prazo de entrega ao cliente e o faturamento da empresa. Portanto, pode-se concluir que a ferramenta pode auxiliar na priorização de execução de projetos do tipo (ETO e MTO).