Every project uses some form of production pipeline, whether on purpose or not. It is a broad concept best defined as the management of the flow of data and the data itself. This study was made with the intention of finding out what makes a good iterative pipeline. Through literary research for larger and smaller groups and a practical study for smaller and individual projects, the following was found to be useful: Consistent naming conventions throughout the entirety of the production process that carry across both project files and scenes as well as exported data. Intuitive and easy-to-navigate folder structure. An iterative production process with regular feedback loops or other options in place for reviews is also of great importance. / Alla projekt använder någon form av produktions pipeline, oavsett om det är avsiktligt eller inte. Det är ett brett begrepp som simplifierat kan definieras som hanteringen av data och arbete. Den här studien gjordes i ett försök att ta reda på vad som kännetecknar en bra iterativ pipeline. Följande saker har visat sig vara användbara genom både en litterär och praktisk studie: Konsekventa namngivnings standarder genom hela produktionsprocessen som gäller för såväl projektfiler som exporterade data. Tydliga och lättanvända mappar. Iterativt flödesschema med regelbundna feedbackloopar, eller annat alternativ på plats.

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Many organisations aim to grow and increase their profitability, yet not many start-ups manage to survive beyond birth. The transformation into a well-established enterprise is generally seen as a big obstacle to tackle. Further on, project based organisations faces several challenges during scale-up such as how to maintain customisation within customer projects and how to keep up across-functional integration. This thesis addresses how a start-up manufacturing enterprise can scale-up its customer project management. Accordingly, the aim of this thesis is to get a better understanding of the difference between a start-up and an incumbent enterprise, and in turn highlight how to maintain customised operations in a project based organisation. The basis for this thesis is a case study conducted at Northvolt, a lithium-ion battery manufacturing enterprise located in Sweden. The outcome was performed through a collaboration with Northvolt’s customer project management department, and an analysis of conducted best-practice interviews together with a literature review. The empirical findings can be summarised in the following: • First, a growing enterprise needs to implement industry quality standards through the identification of standardised modules. Likewise, an enterprise needs to find which layers to keep flexible and create an environment that enables customisation. • Second, the dynamics within organisational structures can be illustrated as a cradle moving back and forth. An external platform enables new product development. • Third, cross-functional integration is identified as a corner stone for scale-up, but also vital to maintain new product development and hence customisation. • Fourth, pushing down the ownership together with clear targets and milestones is crucial to facilitate a mindset that motivates the workforce in growing sustainable. At the end, this thesis provides Northvolt with some key aspects to have in mind while scaling-up their customer project management, and highlights the conceptual contribution. / En strävan efter uppskalning är vanligt förekommande för företag inom tillverkningsindustrin. Däremot är det inte en självklarhet att transformera ett start-up till ett väletablerat företag. Att omstrukturera verksamheten till en framstående och välfungerande organisation uppfattas i regel som en svår uppgift. Projektbaserade organisationer möter allt som oftast flera utmaningar under uppskalning, sa som att bibehålla kundanpassning inom kundprojekt samt att den tvärfunktionell kommunikationen ofta blir lidande. Den har uppsatsen adresserar huruvida ett tillverkningsföretag, som befinner sig inom start-upstadiet, kan skala upp sin kundprojektavdelning. Därmed syftar denna uppsats till är att ge en ökad förståelse av vad som skiljer ett start-up från ett väletablerat företag, samt identifiera huruvida det går att bibehålla kundanpassning inom växande projektbaserade organisationer. Grunden till denna uppsats är en fallstudie genomförd tillsammans med Northvolt, ett batteritillverkande företag baserat i Sverige. Resultatet är baserat på best-practice intervjuer samt en litteraturstudie, varav analysen ar utförd i samarbete med Nortvhvolts kundprojekt avdelning. Det empiriska resultatet kan kort sammanfattas enligt: • För det första, ett växande företag behöver implementera branschspecifika kvalitetsstandarder genom att identifiera vad som kan standardiseras. Likaså behöver ett företag specificera vilka delar som kan hållas flexibla för kundanpassning. • För det andra, en organisation pendlar allt som oftast mellan olika strukturer. Genom att skapa en extern plattform kan ett företag generera produktutveckling i allt högre grad. • För det tredje, tvärfunktionell kommunikation är en grundsten för uppskalning, men även en nyckel för att generera produktutveckling och därmed kundanpassning. • För det fjärde, att trycka ansvaret längre ner i hierarkin tillsammans med att implementera tydliga mål och hållpunkter utgör en grund för att ge arbetskraften den motivation som krävs för att växa hållbart. Till sist bidrar denna uppsats med några applicerbara verktyg som Northvolt kan ta tillhanda för att skala upp deras kundprojekt avdelning, och slutligen en redovisning av det konceptuella bidraget inom uppskalning av projektbaserade organisationer.

The construction industry's overall project performance is significantly reduced by numerous interface issues that also hinder its industrialization. Interface Management (IM) is becoming critical to the success of multidisciplinary construction projects. This research deals with three challenging problems associated with IM: 1) how to build a holistic understanding of interface issues for developing all-around IM solutions; 2) how to define and present interface information in a unified, accurate, and efficient way to improve information sharing, coordination, and implementation; and 3) how to resolve interface issues as a whole to optimize IM performance. Comprehensive cause factors of interface issues are investigated from different yet interrelated perspectives. These cause factors allow for the development of an object data model and a systematic IM strategy. The findings of this multi-perspective approach not only add a holistic view of interface issues to the existing body of knowledge but also provide a theoretical base for researchers and practitioners to seek all-around IM solutions. As a key innovation, an object view of interfaces is defined, resulting in a unified way of presenting interface information. This new technique of modeling interfaces as knowledgeable, intelligent, and active objects is far superior to the traditional use of simple relationships. The proposed Interface Object Model (IOM) framework is the first in the literature to present a comprehensive data structure and its dependencies of interface information for object modeling. This can greatly improve the quality and interoperability of modeled interface information. When integrated into a Building Information Modeling (BIM) approach, this technique can significantly enhance BIM capabilities for interface-related coordination, decision-making, operation, and management. As a first application, a systematic model-based IM strategy is conceptually developed, which provides a good foundation for creating an implementation environment for the developed interface model. This strategy aims to resolve interface issues as a whole throughout a complete project process. The multi-perspective approach, the generically structured IOM, and the conceptual, systematic IM strategy all target broad applications. Individually or jointly, they can also be applied to other domains beyond construction. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this research was to determine how team design and project management (planning and tracking) affected planning and design performance and the people involved in the process. A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate three factors: team design (individuals versus groups of three), project support (no project support versus manual project support versus automated project support), and the engineering design life-cycle, which includes conceptual design, preliminary design, and detailed design. There were six observations per treatment, involving a total of 72 undergraduate engineering students. The impact of these factors were evaluated for planning time, design cycle time, cost effectiveness, cost variance, schedule variance, mental workload, and job satisfaction. For treatments that called for groups, group process was evaluated in addition to group workload. The results showed groups took 61% more time to plan their projects compared to individuals (p<0.01). Planning time was 31% longer for participants with manual support compared to those with automated project support (p<0.01). Schedule variance (p<0.01) and cost variance (p<0.001) decreased 24% and 23%, respectively, over time during the design process. The design cycle time was 17% longer for participants without project support compared to those with automated project support (p<0.05). During design, groups and individuals allocated their time differently (p<0.05). Mental workload, measured with the NASA Task Load Index (TLX), showed workload increased 16% over time (p<0.001). In addition, the combination of design phase and project tracking support affected the TLX (p<0.01). Job satisfaction was 5% lower at the end of the design project compared to the beginning of design (p<0.05). From the analysis on group process, the type of project support affected the group process during planning. Groups with manual support interacted 83% more than those with automated support (effective behaviors: p<0.01; ineffective behaviors: p<0.05). During design, the roles individuals played within the group affected how much they contributed to the group's process (effective behaviors: p<0.0001; ineffective behaviors: p<0.01). There were several practical implications that can be drawn from this study. In the decision to use teams versus groups, there was evidence that groups were able to attend to more of the design requirements than individuals, which resulted in the design of systems with higher reliability. However the tradeoff of using groups were in the labor cost and in longer planning and status report meetings. Therefore the organization's goals need to be carefully considered before selecting the team design. For project support, there were clear benefits to automating the planning process. Automation resulted in better Gantt chart and planning sessions that were completed more quickly compared to those with manual support. Furthermore, systems designed with automated support resulted in lower design costs compared to systems designed without project support. / Ph. D.

The success of a firm depends on the overall performance of all projects undertaken, whether they are production, sales, maintenance, or other types of projects. Correctly choosing promising projects becomes one of the most significant prerequisites for the success of the firm. The"correct" decision, in this research, is identified as the selection of the right projects at the right time. While there are various restrictions that limit the selection decision, this study focuses on situations in which the funds available to the candidate projects are limited. Unlike typical project selection problems, which assume that the disposable capital all comes from the specified budget, this research considers four additional methods to increase the funds available for the projects. They are project deferral, cash flow transferals, financing, and investment functions. The purpose is to increase the firm's wealth by selecting worthy projects which would otherwise be rejected. To make the right selection under this new situation, a modified version of Weingartner' s 0-1 integer programming model is developed. By introducing artificial variables, the modified model can be maintained in a linear programming (LP) form (mixed integer). The advantage of the formulation is that, the relatively convenient LP software package can be used to manipulate the tedious calculations and then derive the optimal answer. No new solution techniques are necessary. The revised model is developed under an imperfect capital market condition in which an n-step function is used to describe the dependency between the cost of capital and capital supplied. The workings of the revised model are illustrated by numerical examples. Future research topics, including the uncertainty consideration, are recommended at the end of this thesis. / M.S.

Yes / The study analyses approaches to the management of two projects within the regeneration portfolio of a large UK metropolitan council. Developing a theoretical framework drawing both from mainstream project methodologies and international development, the study highlights a number of key issues which need to be addressed, including entrepreneurship, participation, stakeholder buy-in, project lifecycles and benefit management. Key lessons emerging from the study include the need to foster entrepreneurship within the controlled environment of the project and the importance of setting programme targets which are appropriately orientated to harness the interdependent nature of benefits of regeneration projects in the public sector. / None

Yes / Agile development methodologies (ADM) have become a widely implemented project management approach in Information Systems (IS). Yet, along with its growing popularity, the amount of concerns raised in regard to human related challenges caused by applyingADMare rapidly increasing. Nevertheless, the extant scholarly literature has neglected to identify the primary origins and reasons of these challenges. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine if these human related challenges are related to a lack of Emotional Intelligence (EI) by means of a quantitative approach. Froma sample of 194 agile practitioners, EI was found to be significantly correlated to human related challenges in agile teams in terms of anxiety, motivation, mutual trust and communication competence. Hence, these findings offer important new knowledge for IS-scholars, project managers and human resource practitioners, about the vital role of EI for staffing and training of agile managed IS-projects.

Yes / Information systems (IS) project failure has been a recurring problem for decades. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine the key factors that influence project failure and an analysis of the major areas that can have a significant impact on success; and second, to explore some of the key aspects that have an impact on project management performance from the practitioner perspective and discusses the problems faced by organizations in the closer integration of change and project management. Design/methodology/approach: This study critically reviews the IS failure literature developing a synthesized view of the key issues and common reasons for projects to fail. The approach taken in this study is one that focuses on a number of key questions that pull together the relevant themes in this genre of research whilst highlighting many of the implications for practitioners and organizations alike. Findings: Key questions remain on the underlying causes of instances of poor project management as an IS failure factor. The literature has omitted to develop a deeper analysis of the associations between failure factors and the potential causal relationships between these factors. The realization of project benefits relies on the success of both change and project management yet the formal integration of these two disciplines is constrained by separate standards bodies and an immature body of research. Research limitations/implications: This study is limited by its theoretical nature lacking an empirical element to provide a deeper analysis of IS failure factors and their interrelationships. This specific area is a recommendation for future research, where causal relationships between failure factors could be developed via a mathematic-based method such as interpretive structural modeling. Practical implications: With failure rates of IS projects still unacceptably high after decades of attempts to significantly change outcomes, a deeper analysis of this topic is required. The research gaps and recommendations for practitioners highlighted in this study have the potential to provide valuable contributions to this topic of research. Originality/value: The intent of this study is to present a new perspective of this genre of IS research that develops the main arguments and gaps in the literature from the practitioner viewpoint.