Abstract
Purpose: Development of a practitioner oriented diagnostic framework and health check tool to support the robust assessment of engineering and technology projects. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on a literature review that draws together insights on project assessment and critical success factors to establish an integrated systems view of projects. This is extended to allow a comprehensive diagnostic framework to be developed along with a high-level health check tool that can be readily deployed on projects. The utility of the diagnostic framework and health check tool are explored through three illustrative case studies, with two from Canada and one from the United Kingdom. Findings and Originality/value: The performance of engineering and technology projects can be viewed through a systems perspective and being a function of six sub-systems that are: process, technology, resources, impact, knowledge and culture. The diagnostic framework that is developed through this research integrates these sub-systems to provide a comprehensive assessment methodology for projects, which is linked to existing best practice for project reviews, performance management and maturity models. The case studies provide managerial insights that are related to the diagnostic framework but crucially also position the approach in the context of industrial applications for construction engineering and technology management. Research limitations/implications: The case study approach includes two case studies from the construction and facilities development sector with the third case study from the research and technology sector. Further work is required to investigate the use of the diagnostic framework and health check tool in other sectors. Practical implications: The health check tool will be of practical benefit to new projects managers that require access to a robust and convenient project review methodology for assessing the status and health of a given portfolio of projects. The tool can also be used periodically and throughout the project lifecycle in order to track the performance of projects. Originality/value: This paper provides a unique view and supporting management framework to help project managers assess the status and health of projects. Value can be associated with an extension to the literature on diagnostic tools for engineering project management as well as the insights provided in the international case studies, which explore the scope for the health check tool to be used in support of projects that have encountered difficulties and which require implementation of project recovery strategies.
Highlights
On the first day at work, new engineering project managers are presented with a plethora of different challenges
The framework and supporting tool will be applied to three case study investigations, which highlight the types of challenges that engineering project managers may encounter as well as the scope for the health check tool to identify underlying issues and thereby help formulate project recovery plans when required
Conclusions and future work The management of engineering and technology projects can be dependent on a wide range of critical success factors, including those related to process adoption, technology availability, resource configurations, broader impact, knowledge-based drivers and cultural considerations
Summary
On the first day at work, new engineering project managers are presented with a plethora of different challenges. Project maturity models (Crawford, 2007) focus on the level of adoption of a project methodology and corresponding procedures within an organisation as part of understanding the overall status of capabilities to support effective project management Such tools do not readily allow a newly appointed project manager to rapidly and efficiently assess a portfolio of projects in order to gain a robust view on the health of the projects. This paper explores project performance assessment through providing details of a new diagnostic framework and health check tool developed to help project managers assess the status and health of projects This framework will incorporate an integrated systems view that positions projects in a broader context in order to capture the full complexities of the project environment and contributing factors that influence project performance. The framework and supporting tool will be applied to three case study investigations, which highlight the types of challenges that engineering project managers may encounter as well as the scope for the health check tool to identify underlying issues and thereby help formulate project recovery plans when required
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