Project Scope Changes Research Articles

SU-E-P-01: Project Schedule for Commissioning of a Synchrotron Based Modulated Scanning Proton Therapy Machine

Purpose: The commissioning of a modulated scanning proton machine, CBCT imaging system, and robotic couch is a challenging project. A coordinated project plan can reduce the required time to commission the system and help facilitate the coordination of work both among physics and with other teams. We have proposed a schedule, listing underlying assumptions, which would accomplish this efficiently. Methods: We used Microsoft Project to create several alternative commissioning schedules for comparison. The commissioning team of five physicists was divided into multiple teams so that work could be accomplished either in parallel or staggered shifts as necessary. Alternative commissioning schedules included a full commissioning of all available energies and options as well as a project plan focused mainly for prostate treatments. Project subsections were grouped so that modifications for changes in project scope or other assumptions could be made easily. Results: The project schedule for full commissioning had a duration of approximately 85 working days while commissioning time for only prostate treatments was 57 days. Detailed beam time requirements and sub‐section completion dates provided necessary information for engineering and other related teams. Time savings in the project schedule was realized in several ways. Staggered shifts were utilized to increase the efficiency in beam measurement time while still allowing for extended working time, splitting shifts if increase in beam time is available. Conclusion: The creation of the project plan has allowed us to have a realistic estimate of the time required to complete the commissioning project along with a list of assumptions made in creating the schedule. This provides a means to track our progress towards completion, quickly assess the impact of any changes to the schedule or difficulties that happen during commissioning, and easily communicate these to interested parties.

Lessons in the Development of Large-scale CO2 Storage Projects

Significant reductions in CO2 emissions to atmosphere from established industrial processes such as power generation and also cement, iron and steel production require increased, widespread deployment of commercial-scale CCS projects. Large-scale integrated projects (LSIPs) face different challenges than do smaller pilot and demonstration projects that have contributed much toward technical research. LSIPs have a much larger spatial scale of operation and a much larger temporal scale as they are expected to be operational for many decades and will require on-going monitoring, performance assessments, and must satisfy regulated reporting requirements. Among the most significant factors required to move an LSIP forward is the need to provide confidence internally to the project proponents that the technical appraisal of the project and the prospective business case can justify a final investment decision (FID) of tens to hundreds of millions of dollars or more. Many non-geological factors also have major influence over CCS project success such as regulatory environment continued uncertainty around national and international policy development around greenhouse gas mitigation, and uncertain public support. Considering the large commitment in financial and technical resources required to reach FID, perhaps neither the slow progress in LSIP development nor the highly visible project cancellations and postponements in this nascent industry should be unexpected.Although all project proponents are confronted with unique geological and non-technical issues there are common aspects that may be recognized within projects achieving FID that may be broadly instructive. Storage exploration and site appraisal is a lengthy process that will take years and should not be underestimated. Industrial scale CCS requires a firm and large commitment and investment in human, technical, and financial resources. Recent LSIPs that have achieved FID have employed dedicated full-time subsurface teams for years to reduce uncertainties in the storage plan. Multi-faceted projects such as large-scale CCS require decisions be made even though uncertainties exist at various stages of project lifecycle. There is a critical need to manage these uncertainties in all aspects of the project, particularly when dealing with changes in project scope or framework in order to reach milestones and decision gates. Projects may not always proceed linearly through lifecycles and may need to recycle back to an earlier development phase if appropriate. Interface management around project integration is a critical process that must be actively managed to consider exploration and appraisal requirements. For example, capture requirements <remove-image>feed into storage requirements, and storage limitations may impact capture considerations and project feasibility. Focused stakeholder engagement is required: projects must provide transparency to the community and the regulator; public reviews and technical due diligence exercises such as independent peer reviews bring confidence to the government; environmental assessments bring confidence to the community all of the above build confidence in the project.

Knowledge sharing practices of project teams when encountering changes in project scope: A contingency approach

Prior studies indicate that undesired consequences may occur if knowledge cannot be effectively shared among members of a project team. Nevertheless, there are few studies that explore the knowledge-sharing (KS) mechanisms used and the contingency factors affecting their application in the context of managing new product development projects that encounter changes in project scope. Therefore, in this research the principles of the contingency approach were adopted in order to examine the KS mechanisms used and the contingency factors affecting their use in this context via an in-depth case study. Three key KS mechanisms and three contingency factors affecting their application were identified based on the research results. The relationship between the KS mechanisms and the contingency factors is formalized in five propositions. Future research that examines the interrelationships among these contingency factors and how they collectively influence KS practices in similar contexts is encouraged.

Scope Control Through Managing Changes in Construction Projects

Projects need to be performed and delivered under certain con - straints. Traditionally, these constraints are scope, time and cost. The Scope Control process influences the factors that lead to project scope changes and control the impact of those changes, which a key issue for project success. It ensures that all requested changes and recommended corrective actions are processed and that changes are reduced or eliminated if they result in negative impact on projects. The scope control is considered from the investor's point of view, as achieving the project goals is of primary importance for the investor. The theoretical basis for the research is Dynamic Planning and Con - trol Methodology (DPM). Practical implications and adjustments are obtained, to result in an efficient system for managing changes throughout a project. Research was conducted through question - naire and interviews. Findings include reasons for and consequences of changes from the point of view of various stakeholders in the pro - ject, as well as recommended procedures for objective and practi - cal management of the changes. The study discusses the basic con - straints: cost and time. Further research should focus on quantify - ing and determining the quality impact of changes and impact of the project manager's competencies on managing changes. The recom - mended procedures are applicable for any building construction pro - ject, but specific goals and constraints have to be incorporated into the calculation. Furthermore, a database of projects and changes could be created to facilitate preliminary assessments of the impact of changes on future projects.

Assessing supplier performances under partnership in project‐type procurement

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of a commercial partnership in a project‐type supply chain. The research focuses on the performance of suppliers who develop a partnering mechanism for procurement of complex manufacturing projects. In total, four supply chain metrics are evaluated: project scope change, ratio of actual‐to‐estimated project costs, gross profit margin, and delay in deliverable shipments. Hypotheses are formulated to contrast partnerships and arms‐length relationships for industrial procurement. Statistical results support the conclusion that supplier performances improve under partnership.Design/methodology/approachFour supply chain metrics were generated through review of literature and in‐depth field study. The authors utilized the supply chain management, project management, and principal‐agent theory literature to develop hypotheses to examine effects of instituting a partnership agreement. A case study approach was employed to collect financial and operational data from 167 projects among a manufacturing supplier and a group of customers that purchase industrial analyzer systems. Statistical techniques were employed for hypothesis testing.FindingsThe findings from the authors' empirical work support the prediction in partnership literature that suppliers' operational and financial performances improve after they and manufacturing customers jointly implement partnerships. A supplementary finding also suggests that a manufacturer should develop partnering mechanisms with suppliers to achieve higher performance for both the individual firms and the entire supply chain.Research limitations/implicationsThis study, like other “before and after” analyses, encounters limitations on causality. Advanced techniques, e.g. cause‐effect investigation with richer data, are hence necessary to validate the causal relationships between performance metrics and their drivers. This study focuses only on the supplier's side of the supply chain and its partnership in a specific industrial setting. Future research may consider studying the joint performance by supplier‐customer dyads in commercial partnerships with variations of partnering agreements.Practical implicationsPartnerships motivate trading partners to engage in higher level of coordination. Transactional hazards can be reduced and performance may improve under the partnering mechanism. The manufacturer may design the procurement partnership as a collaborative mechanism, thus helping a partnering supplier and itself to obtain increased mutual gains.Originality/valueThe paper provides detailed information of a unique case study of the partnership in a project‐type supply chain, which is relatively new in the literature. Research streams on supply chain management, project management, and principal‐agent theory are integrated to evaluate supplier performance. Empirical results confirm partnership impacts on suppliers' business performance.

Valuation of project portfolios: An endogenously discounted method

Real options analysis (ROA) has been developed to value assets in which managerial flexibilities create significant value. The methodology is ideal for the valuation of projects in which frequent adjustments (e.g. investment deferral, project scope changes, etc) are necessary in response to the realization of market and technological uncertainties. However, ROA has no practical application when valuing portfolios of multiple concurrent projects sharing resources, as the size of the problem grows exponentially with the number of projects and the length of the time horizon. In this paper an extension of ROA suitable for the valuation of project portfolios with substantial technological uncertainty (e.g. R&D portfolios) is proposed. The method exploits the distributed decision making strategy encountered in most organizations to decompose the portfolio valuation problem into a decision-making sub-problem and a set of single project valuation sub-problems that can be sequentially solved. Discrete event simulation is used for the first sub-problem, while a tailored ROA based strategy is used for the set of valuation sub-problems. A case study from the pharmaceutical industry is used to compare the decision tree analysis (DTA) method and the proposed method.

Data Preprocessing–Based Parametric Cost Model for Building Projects: Case Studies of Korean Construction Projects

For construction to progress smoothly, effective cost estimation is vital, particularly in the conceptual and schematic design stages. In these early phases, despite the fact that initial estimates are highly sensitive to changes in project scope, owners require accurate forecasts which reflect their supplying information. Thus, cost estimators need reliable estimation strategies. In practice, parametric cost estimation, which utilizes historical cost data, is the most commonly used method in these initial phases. Therefore, compilation of historical data pertaining to appropriate cost variance governing parameters is a prime requirement. However, data mining (data preprocessing) for denoising internal errors or abnormal values must be performed before this compilation. To address this issue, this research proposes a statistical methodology for data preprocessing. Moreover, a statistically preprocessed data–based parametric (SPBP) cost model is developed based on multiple regression equations. Case studie...

Petroleum pipeline construction planning: a conceptual framework

A cross-country pipeline construction project is exposed to an uncertain environment due to its enormous size (physical, manpower requirement and financial value), complexity in design technology and involvement of external factors. These uncertainties can lead to several changes in project scope during the process of project execution. Unless the changes are properly controlled, the time, cost and quality goals of the project may never be achieved. A methodology is proposed for project control through risk analysis, contingency allocation and hierarchical planning models. Risk analysis is carried out through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) due to the subjective nature of risks in construction projects. The results of risk analysis are used to determine the logical contingency for project control with the application of probability theory. Ultimate project control is carried out by hierarchical planning model which enables decision makers to take vital decisions during the changing environment of the construction period. Goal programming (GP), a multiple criteria decision-making technique, is proposed for model formulation because of its flexibility and priority-base structure. The project is planned hierarchically in three levels—project, work package and activity. GP is applied separately at each level. Decision variables of each model are different planning parameters of the project. In this study, models are formulated from the owner's perspective and its effectiveness in project control is demonstrated.