Framework for Front-End planning of a small-scale project

Effective project management of sustainable infrastructure projects is critical for successful project delivery and improved project performance of construction projects. Coupling and integrating Front-End Planning (FEP) techniques and sustainability rating systems such as the EnvisionTM rating system in the curricula can equip our construction workforces with advanced skills in planning and managing such projects. Therefore, this study investigates the existing synergies between FEP and EnvisionTM and establishes the necessity of incorporating these concepts into the Construction Management (CM) curricula. The research methodology included (1) surveying infrastructure experts to investigate the nexus between EnvisionTM credits and FEP; (2) investigating the use of pre-project planning tools in the industry; and (3) implementing a Problem Based Learning (PBL) activity to enhance construction students’ knowledge of FEP and sustainability. The results highlighted that sustainability practices greatly align with FEP. Moreover, the knowledge improvement through the PBL activity demonstrates that such an active learning method can be a strong candidate for effective pedagogical design to teach these concepts. The novelty of this study encompasses highlighting the necessity to link and incorporate EnvisionTM with FEP in construction curricula to support CM students to become adept in both planning and delivering sustainable infrastructure projects.

Front end planning (FEP) is recognized by both academia and industry for its potential for improving project success. Despite wide acceptance of its value, the FEP process varies in its implementation throughout the construction industry and from one project to another. Diverse circumstances will require different human and financial resources for successful implementation. The Construction Industry Institute (CII) has captured the FEP implementation efforts of leading owners and contractors since 1996 through CII's Benchmarking and Metrics (BM&M) program. This paper quantifies several parameters for successful FEP implementation effort in terms of cost, schedule and project management (PM) team size. The paper also examines selected parameters in light of several project characteristics. Analyses show that FEP implementation efforts differ depending on project characteristics such as industry type and project nature, amongst others. The quantitative summaries presented in this paper will help practitioners plan for appropriate levels of implementation and resource utilization during front end planning.

This article highlights and discusses the critical role of leadership for effectively managing and achieving project results. As opposed to the conventional and once dominating thinking of project management which linked project success to project technicalities, this article considers project leadership a central issue for project success or failure. The article stipulates that, despite the strategic importance of robust project management techniques in effectively controlling and executing activities, at the absence of proper project leadership skills approaches may render a project to leadership related failures. To appreciate the role of leadership towards project success, this article highlights and discusses different elements of project leadership and management—including blueprint and adaptive approaches, similarities and differences between management and leadership—and how they interact towards effective project management; leadership theories, styles and skills required for effective project leadership and management. The article concludes that generally project leadership is a critical factor towards project success without undermining the importance of conventional project management methodologies, tools and software. Such understanding demonstrates clearly that, to be successful, project managers are obliged to employ holistic and integrative methodologies and approaches necessary for making their projects more relevant and sustainable; taking into account that there is no one single project management and leadership approach or style that is superior to the rest. Last but not least, as it is the case with management aspect, project leadership needs to be a continuous process to be employed at different stages of the project cycle management.

Introduction to the chapter This chapter introduces the concept of project management and its application in library and information services, and it considers the following topics: • different types of projects • project work and the library and information profession • professional development in project management • how to work as an effective project manager or team member. This is followed by an overview of the structure and contents in this book, No-Nonsense Guide to Project Management. . About this book This book provides a practical guide to project management in the context of library and information work. Project work is widespread across the sector and colleagues may work on relatively small-scale local projects, such as introducing family history workshops within a public library service, or large complex projects, such as developing shared services across a number of libraries. Small-scale and simple projects may be led by an individual who works on the project by themselves or with a small team. In contrast, complex or large-scale projects may involve people from different professions and organisations, and they may be managed by a team of professional project managers. This book introduces a wide range of tools and techniques used in project management within library and information services, and gives examples and case studies taken from a variety of projects from many different kinds of library and information services in the UK and across the world. Readers may use this book to gain an understanding of different approaches to project management and their suitability for different types of projects. The book also considers the people side of projects, including how to manage change (essential for strategic projects) and how to work in partnership. Introduction to project management What is a project? A simple definition of a project is that it is an activity that: • has a clear aim and set of outcomes • involves innovation and change • has limited resources, e.g. staff time, budget • has an agreed start and end date. These are some examples of common projects within library and information services: • moving a library • introducing a new service • developing shared services • digitising a collection

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the role of soft skills, particularly emotional intelligence, in resolving conflicts and addressing task interdependency within multidisciplinary teams in the aviation sector. While project management has traditionally emphasized hard skills like technical expertise, the significance of soft skills has often been overlooked. This research focuses not only on defining small-scale projects and their characteristics, but also on understanding the contribution of soft skills to project success. Additionally, we introduce the variable of task interdependence into our model, recognizing its heightened relevance in time-constrained small-scale projects compared to larger infrastructure projects. Design/Methodology – Quantitative research technique with cross sectional survey design was used in the study. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to collect the responses. Survey questionnaires were distributed to suitably qualified project employees working in selected airports of Pakistan. Multiple regression analysis was done to test the hypotheses based on data collected from 275 participants involved in small-scale aviation projects. Findings – The results depicted the relationship between emotional intelligence and project success, mediated by the task interdependency; however, contrary to the claims made in past researches, conflict modes did not mediate the relationship between EI and PS, hence paving way for novel insights into the project management field with specific application in the small-scale projects where this was not explored earlier. The positive relationship between emotional intelligence and project success did not allow conflict modes to affect project outcome. Originality/Value – This study is the first of its kind to be conducted in the aviation industry of Pakistan. The study adds value by reiterating the role of emotional intelligence on influencing project success and not enabling conflict modes to negatively affect the project outcome in projects conducted by small teams in the aviation sector.

Extreme programming (XP) is one of the widely used software process model for the development of small scale projects from agile family. XP is widely accepted by software industry due to various features it provides such as: handling frequent changing requirements, customer satisfaction, rapid feedback, iterative structure, team collaboration, and small releases. On the other hand, XP also holds some drawbacks, including: less documentation, less focus on design, and poor architecture. Due to all of these limitations, XP is only suitable for small scale projects and doesn’t work well for medium and large scale projects. To resolve this issue many researchers have proposed its customized versions, particularly for medium and large scale projects. The real issue arises when XP is selected for the development of small scale and low risk project but gradually due to requirement change, the scope of the project changes from small scale to medium or large scale project. At that stage its structure and practices which works well for small project cannot handle the extended scope. To resolve this issue, this paper contributes by proposing a scaled version of XP process model called SXP. The proposed model can effectively handle such situation and can be used for small as well as for medium and large scale project with same efficiency. Furthermore, this paper also evaluates the proposed model empirically in order to reflect its effectiveness and efficiency. A small scale client oriented project is developed by using proposed SXP and empirical results are collected. For an effective evaluation, the collected results are compared with a published case study of XP process model. It is reflected by detailed empirical analysis that the proposed SXP performed well as compared to traditional XP.

Abstract— Due to their aging, refinery facilities face the threat of suffering from incidents and accidents. Even fatal injury may be caused if running without proper maintenance planning. The revitalization project is performed intended to replace, repair, or increase production capacity at an existing refinery. Like other projects in the construction sector, the revitalization project tends to experience the same common flaws in their performance; project delay, cost overrun, scope creeping, operational mishaps, and canceled or stopped. The best time for a project to experience idea development, conduct scope changes, prepare excellent project engineering, etc., is at the Front-end Planning stage. This paper focused on project selection and prioritization at the Front-end Planning. The focus is then zoomed in to the sub-stage of Front-end Planning (initiation, conceptual, and basic engineering design). The aim is to eliminate the infeasible and unpromising projects that cannot meet the requirement. This focus is necessary before more resources are expended, which can ignite catastrophic events in the organization, primarily financial.The literature reviews have been done on the references to develop a comprehensive framework that decomposes the front-end planning into three sub-phases, providing the platform for project selection in each stage with its different focus and objectives. The new framework is proposed emphasizing the gate review and decision gates for those three sub-stages under the Front-end planning phase. The framework also provides the windows of having different selection criteria at each stage; hence the proper criteria will be efficiently used at the right time. Project proposals must go through a prioritization process since the organization's resource is not unlimited. Project proposals would experience the evaluation and selection as an individual project and, at a subsequent level, would be evaluated as part of the project proposals pool where the Project Management Office will prioritize the suitable projects worth execution.

Front-End Planning (FEP) is a crucial part of project management that ensures successful project delivery and improved project performance of construction projects. With the increasing demand for sustainable development, particularly for infrastructure projects, diligent FEP is required for such projects to ensure achieving sustainability goals while improving project outcomes. This paper investigates the use of an infrastructure sustainability rating system, i.e., the Envision™ rating system in FEP of sustainable infrastructure projects by developing pragmatic frameworks that combine Envision™ credits, and a widely used FEP tool for infrastructure projects, Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI). This research conducted a manual comparison between 59 Envision™ credits and 46 PDRI elements to develop Envision-PDRI frameworks for small and large infrastructure projects. The study validated the frameworks by surveying 109 construction stakeholders. The frameworks conclude that linking the Envision™ credits with FEP can support stakeholders to improve the decision-making process of infrastructure projects.

Practitioners involving in construction industry frequently encounter uncertainties during the management of complex projects. These uncertainties related to project complexity have considerable impacts on project success. To increase the success of project and reduce the undesirable outcomes of the stated challenges, Construction Industry Institute (CII) has suggested multiple construction best practices (BPs). Although adopting all BPs would be useful for construction projects, it might not be a cost-effective approach. Therefore, this study aimed at selecting the appropriate best practice strategies to reduce the complexity level in construction projects. To collect data, a structured questionnaire was developed and distributed among experts and professionals involved in complex projects. Thirty-nine professionals completed the survey. To analyze the collected data, various statistical analysis methods such as Kruskal-Wallis test were conducted. The results revealed that adoption of constructability, front end planning, partnering, alignment, change management, and team building are the most impactful approaches to reduce the complexity level of construction industry. It was concluded from the results that for the complexity issues due to bureaucracy in an organization, implementing front end planning would be the most beneficial solution. Additionally, adoption of partnering would be efficient to reduce the complexity level when multiple external agencies were involved in a project. The results also demonstrated that front end planning (31.43%) and change management (24.42%) covered the highest weights associated with complexity indicators (CIs) and complexity categories. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to facilitating the decision making process by project managers and to allocate resources effectively and efficiently in complex projects.

Hospital project front-end planning: Current practice and discovered challenges

The governments in Africa implement various development projects to improve livelihoods. The projects are both large and small scale. Large-scale projects include construction of dams, railway lines, roads, industrial complexes, expanding cities and new mines. Small-scale ones include establishing new residential houses and maintenance of roads linking administrative divisions. Both large- and small-scale projects involve land disturbance and have the potential to destroy archaeological heritage particularly when not accompanied by salvage studies. Unfortunately, archaeological salvage studies largely focus on large-scale projects. Only a handful of studies may have investigated the impact of small-scale projects. This paper focuses on small-scale projects and investigates the seven-hectare archaeological site of Bweni in NE Tanzania. The project to build fishing ponds on an area of only 350 m2 destroyed archaeological heritage including human remains and ceramics of the early Swahili period, ceramics and beads of the Swahili ‘golden age’ period, and archaeological records of the post-Swahili period.

The article explores modern approaches to the effective management of IT projects in a dynamic digital environment. The importance of applying innovative tools and digital technologies to achieve strategic enterprise goals is substantiated. The classification and analysis of useful instruments in IT management are provided, including project management systems, team collaboration platforms, analytical tools, and decision support systems. The essence of flexible project management methodologies is revealed, in particular Agile, Scrum, Lean, and Kanban, which enhance flexibility and adaptability in the face of constant change. The article focuses on the practical use of managerial decision-making models (SWOT, DECIDE, Decision Tree, DSS) in combination with digital analytics. Considerable attention is devoted to change management in IT projects, specifically the use of the ADKAR, Kotter’s, and Lewin’s models. Emphasis is placed on the importance of internal communication, supporting digital culture, and building organizational learning capabilities. Digital tools and stages of effective IT project management are classified. Innovative IT project management methodologies are highlighted, and it is proven that they provide flexibility in responding to changes and increase team adaptability. A classification of change management models is provided, the main IT project management tools are described, and it is argued that change management is a key component of successful IT initiative implementation. The article concludes with the necessity of an integrated approach to IT project management that combines instrumental, methodological, and strategic dimensions. It is substantiated that effective management of IT projects is essential for enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises in the context of digital transformation. The key characteristics of IT project management tools are summarized, including functional, technological, and analytical components aimed at enhancing the efficiency of planning, monitoring, and performance control processes. The main features of such systems include integration flexibility, workflow automation, team collaboration support, real-time data analytics, and cybersecurity assurance. The identification of these parameters made it possible to develop a structural and logical model of IT project management focused on achieving the organization’s strategic goals in the context of digital transformation.

The issue of providing information needs of project manager requires special attention. The choice of the optimal software tool is very important in IT project management systems. Over time, projects are becoming more complex, performed in different parts of the globe. Project manager analyzes a huge amount of information and makes decisions. It is proposed to evaluate and select the software tools of modern information technology project management systems based on the substantiation and study of quality criteria, such as crossplatform, reliability, versatility, interface intuition and price. The basic stages of the formation of integrated criterion of evaluation of software are presented. The effective management of a project in the field of information technology depends on the organization and planning of processes in projects, including the presentation of information in a userfriendly form of guidance. The choice of software for IT project management systems is based on the study of software evaluation criteria that are interconnected. When choosing a software tool in the IT management system, it is necessary to consider quality indicators from the point of view of a user, that is, project manager. This approach ensures effective management of IT project and reduces overutilization of resources in the project as well as time. The given research gives an opportunity to provide the choice of the optimum software in the systems of management of IT project. Conclusions are made about the possibility of improving the management of the project in terms of resource, budget and time constraints.

In our globalizing world the competition among firms producing the same goods and services have intensified, every organization now seeks to maximize funds and resources while delivering the best results for projects embarked on towards the overall profitability of said organization. Consequently, understanding the relationship between effective resource budgeting and project management is a necessity. The main purpose of this study was to determine if there is a significant relationship between effective resource budgeting and project management. In this research paper, a literature review in the field of resource budgeting and project management was presented, and the papers were discussed for a deeper understanding of state of the art. This research made use of quantitative method to gather data due to the nature of the topic. Survey was used as a method of data collection. It was concluded that resource budgeting is a tool for project management, hence effective resource budgeting goes a long way in ensuring the success of a project. It was recommended that a more comprehensive research covering other states in Nigeria should be carried out so as to contribute to existing knowledge on project management. Keywords: Resource Budgeting, Budgeting, Resource Management, Tools, Project Management

Teaching the usage of Project Management (PM) tools is an important part of Software Engineering education. In this context, instructors often adopt some professional PM tool, such as MS-Project, GanttProject or dotProject. However, as such tools lack instructional features, some studies propose the adoption of educational PM tools. Yet, even these tools may be insufficient, due to their limited content coverage, and/or not support the learning of prominent professional PM tools. Attempting to improve this situation, this paper presents the enhancement of a professional open-source PM tool --- dotProject - for educational purposes. The enhancements include the completion of the support for project initiating and planning, and the reorganization of the tool's interface to assist its adoption in the classroom. Results from applying the enhanced tool in a series of case studies in PM courses, indicate that dotProject+ contributes to the students' learning and facilitates the teaching of the usage of a PM tool in alignment with the PMBOK.