In the summer of 2008, two hurricanes made landfall along the Texas coast causing billions of dollars in damage. Texas received presidential disaster declarations, which resulted in the state receiving over $350 million in hazard mitigation funds. Over 500 requests for mitigation projects were submitted to the government from communities impacted. Not all requested projects could be funded. As a result, those communities that submitted requests for well-defined mitigation projects were the primary beneficiaries of the federal mitigation funds. To better understand the factors that characterize a “welldefined” mitigation project, this study developed an index to rate the completeness and quality of mitigation project definitions. The study incorporated concepts from research on quality community planning and from project definition rating methods. The rating tool consists of detailed descriptions of the project scope elements along with a scoring method for the completeness and quality of the project’s definition. The rating tool and the detailed descriptions help to develop a “well-defined” mitigation project definition as well as to evaluate it. / text

The present investigation looks at management consulting engagements through the project management lens, and explores what practitioners do in the initial stages of their projects. In the understanding that the front-end of the project is a very critical and important stage, this text begins by examining the literature on management consulting and on the definitional phase of projects, and demonstrates that the situations encountered in both domains are quite similar. For this reason, this study explores the project management practices that Swedish management consultants employ in the initial phases of the consulting projects. Particularly, it focuses on the practices that reconcile possible gaps in perspectives and expectations that often exist between client and consultant when this relationship is being formed.  The study had an inductive character and is cross-sectional in terms of time-horizon, focusing on the previous experiences of management consultants. In collecting the data, a survey strategy was usedwith semi-structured interviews involving nine Swedish management consultants from eight different consultancies. The process of analysis implied the use of template analysis, which provided researchers with enough flexibility to code, categorize, and interpret necessary findings. The results show that consultants favor practices that revolve around communication and interaction with the client, including interviews, workshops, and meetings, among others. In addition, they stress the importance of the use of documentation in order to reach an agreement on what the project is about. Moreover, these practices were often clearly connected to the issues that they, as project managers, must resolve at the front-end of projects. Interestingly, the results indicate that these challenges, identified by the management consultants, mostly match the ones identified in the project management literature. There is indeed a connection between project management practices and management consulting, from which both fields can benefit.

abstract: Front End Planning (FEP) is a critical process for uncovering project unknowns, while developing adequate scope definition following a structured approach for the project execution process. FEP for infrastructure projects assists in identifying and mitigating issues such as right-of-way concerns, utility adjustments, environmental hazards, logistic problems, and permitting requirements. This thesis describes a novel and effective risk management tool that has been developed by the Construction Industry Institute (CII) called the Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) for infrastructure projects. Input from industry professionals from over 30 companies was used in the tool development which is specifically focused on FEP. Data from actual projects are given showing the efficacy of the tool. Critical success factors for FEP of infrastructure projects are shared. The research shows that a finite and specific list of issues related to scope definition of infrastructure projects can be developed. The thesis also concludes that the PDRI score indicates the current level of scope definition and corresponds to project performance. Infrastructure projects with low PDRI scores outperform projects with high PDRI scores. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Built Environment 2010

abstract: Project teams expend substantial effort to develop scope definition during the front end planning phase of large, complex projects, but oftentimes neglect to sufficiently plan for small projects. An industry survey administered by the author showed that small projects make up approximately half of all projects in the infrastructure construction sector (by count), the planning of these projects varies greatly, and that a consistent definition of “small infrastructure project” did not exist. This dissertation summarizes the motivations and efforts of Construction Industry Institute (CII) Research Team 314a to develop a non-proprietary front end planning tool specifically for small infrastructure projects, namely the Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) for Small Infrastructure Projects. The author was a member of CII Research Team 314a, who was tasked with developing the tool in September 2015. The author, together with the research team, scrutinized and adapted an existing infrastructure-focused FEP tool, the PDRI for Infrastructure Projects, and other resources to develop a set of 40 specific elements relevant to the planning of small infrastructure projects. The author along with the research team supported the facilitation of seven separate industry workshops where 71 industry professionals evaluated the element descriptions and provided element prioritization data that was statistically analyzed and used to develop a corresponding weighted score sheet. The tool was tested on 76 completed and in-progress projects, the analysis of which showed that small infrastructure projects with greater scope definition (based on the tool’s scoring scheme) outperformed projects with lesser scope definition regarding cost performance, schedule performance, change performance, financial performance, and customer satisfaction. Moreover, the author found that users of the tool on in-progress projects agreed that the tool added value to their projects in a timeframe and manner consistent with their needs, and that they would continue using the tool in the future. The author also conducted qualitative and quantitative similarities and differences between PDRI – Infrastructure and PDRI – Small Infrastructure Projects in support of improved planning efforts for both types of projects. Finally, the author piloted a case study that introduced the PDRI into an introductory construction management course to enhance students’ learning experience. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Construction Management 2017

The diploma thesis focuses on implementation of ERP solution produced by SAP, especially on implementation methodology and project definition, in a company environment. The main aim of this thesis is to devise methodology based on ASAP methodology using experience from previous projects of the company I work for. This company specializes in software implementation. This text reveals phases of a project in great details, defines it and describes implementation methodology including outputs and aims. The text also includes a brief description of not only ERP system, but also SAP HANA system. SAP HANA (at the time of writing this text) is an innovative product. Finally, SAP HANA installation is briefly described along with ERP, considering the previously created methodology.

Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is an enterprising systems engineering methodology, which in replacing traditional, document-centric systems engineering methods, has the potential to reduce project costs, time, effort and risk. The potential benefits of applying MBSE on a project are widely discussed but are largely anecdotal. Throughout the System Engineering and Project Management industries, there is a strong desire to quantify these benefits, particularly within organizations that are looking to apply it to their complex, system of systems projects. The objective of this thesis was to quantify the benefits that model-based systems engineering presents, particularly in terms of project cost estimates. In order to quantify this qualitative data, statistical analysis was conducted on collected perceptions from industry experts and professionals. The results of this work led to identifying future research that should be completed in order to make MBSE an industry-wide standard for the development and estimation of projects.

Values and concerns of project participants have influence on design quality as well as on the design process itself. These determine the functional, social and &aelig / sthetic characteristics of the project that are necessary to achieve client satisfaction. The issues of value and quality are compared within the context of architectural programming, including their theoretical and philosophical ground as well as current management techniques. Value and quality can be misunderstood and confused with each other / therefore, it is vital for project participants to have a common understanding of terminology and meaning. This study includes a comprehensive literature survey on architectural programming and design quality. The current approaches to the construction project process in Turkey were observed through analyzing an hotel project in Turgutreis, Turkey. Supporting tools like Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) and Design Quality Indicators (DQI) were studied in detail and discussed by the project participants who involved in and affected the design of the project. This study on architectural programming aimed to explore opportunities for identifying and delivering values into the current process of construction projects. It attempted to claim due recognition for designers in that they had an important role to play in developing better quality buildings and that they designed buildings within pertinent social, political and cultural contexts. It was expected that analysis of participants&amp / #8217 / values would provide an understanding of the elaborate decision-making that architects have to perform in order to produce added value in designs, and of how architects resolve design problems.

abstract: The construction industry generates tremendous amounts of data every day. Data can inform practitioners to increase their project performance as well as the quality of the resulting built environment. The data gathered from each stage has unique characteristics, and processing them to the appropriate information is critical. However, it is often difficult to measure the impact of the research across project phases (i.e., planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance, and end-of-life). The goal of this dissertation is to present how industry data can be used to make an impact on construction practices and test a suite of methods to measure the impact of construction research across project phases. The dissertation provides examples of impactful research studies for each project phase to demonstrate the collection and utilization of data generated from each stage and to assess the potential tangible impact on construction industry practices. The completed studies presented both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The first study focuses on the planning phase and provides a practice to improve frond end planning (FEP) implementation by developing the project definition rating index (PDRI) maturity and accuracy total rating system (MATRS). The second study uses earned value management system (EVMS) information from the design and construction phases to support reliable project control and management. The dissertation then provides a third study, this time focusing on the operations phase and comparing the impact of project delivery methods using the international roughness index (IRI). Lastly, the end-of-life or decommissioning phase is tackled through a study that gauges the monetary impact of the circular economy concept applied to reuse construction and demolition (C&D) waste. This dissertation measures the impact of the research according to the knowledge mobilization (KMb) theory, which illustrates the value of the work to the public and to practitioners. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2020

Project preparation of operating program of competitive advantage education. Create new bachelor honours plan of Metrology and quality assurance testing. Project management. Preparing documents for project formation. Process of working projects. Summary of reguired documents to create projects.