Concurrent Projects Research Articles

Ten years of CO2 storage and operations

The CO2CRC storage research site, in the Otway Basin (south-west Victoria), focuses on understanding fundamental mechanisms of geological carbon storage resources in saline aquifers. The world-leading project is demonstrating that carbon capture and storage is a technically and environmentally safe way to make deep cuts into global greenhouse gas emissions. Upstream Production Solutions (Upstream PS) are the nominated site manager and have provided ongoing project management, facilities engineering, construction, operations and maintenance services to CO2CRC from the project’s inception. Over the course of the last 10 years, the project has undergone well and facilities design, and drilling and construction phases, with separate injections of over 80000 tonnes of CO2 rich gas into the formation for research purposes. Unique and dynamic concurrent projects as at the time of writing are: designing a fifth well for the project; commissioning a carbon capture package to provide valuable research data on emerging membrane and adsorption technologies; maintaining and monitoring the overall non-operational site; and planning for a well abandonment. This sphere of project activity across the whole life cycle requires a robust and holistic focus on management of risk, planning, implementation of right sized solutions and strong stakeholder communications. This paper details the nature of projects executed and specific challenges encountered and met whilst still following lean practices for a safe yet cost-effective operation for this world leading CO2 research project.

MOSCOPEA: Multi-objective construction scheduling optimization using elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm

Abstract Managing multiple construction projects simultaneously involves sharing and allocating different types of resources, including cash, equipment, and manpower among different concurrent projects. Moreover, ensuring the availability of cash throughout the multiple projects' execution period increases the scheduling complexity. Accordingly, this paper presents the development of an automated system that optimizes the scheduling of multiple construction projects with respect to multiple objectives considering both financial and resource aspects under a single platform. The automated system is named Multi-Objective SCheduling OPtimization using Evolutionary Algorithm (MOSCOPEA). The system aims to help contractors in devising schedules that obtain optimal tradeoffs between different projects' objectives, namely: duration of multiple projects, total cost, financing cost, maximum required credit, profit, and resource fluctuations and peak demand. Moreover, it offers the flexibility in selecting the desired set of objectives to be optimized together. Finally, the developed system is tested and implemented using different case studies of different project sizes obtained from literature to demonstrate its capabilities in scheduling optimization.

Managing Concurrent Construction Projects Using Knowledge Management and Set-based Thinking

One key issue in construction industry is how well firms manage concurrent projects effectively and obtain required construction benefits. However, achieving this is not easy and challenging because several activities need tacit and explicit knowledge involved. The purpose of this research is to develop a generic knowledge management (KM) algorithm using ‘learning from’ and ‘sharing to’ (LXS) matrix. We discussed the main concepts and strategies for rapid learning through KM in construction projects. Some of the concepts discussed include set-based thinking, agile project management and planning, iteration management. Moreover, the research discussed these concepts in light of one of Norwegian construction project program. The research first looked at key literature in the field, identify the crucial issues in organizing KM in construction projects, and finally elaborate the case of E39 ferry-free highway construction proposed by Norwegian public road authority (NPRA). The result from the KM matrix showed smaller projects are better to learn from all of the project phases than the large projects. The vice versa is true from sharing perspective. The results instigate the roles of learning and sharing and urge to intervene systemic KM in concurrent construction projects management.

How many is too many? Multiple Team Membership in Agile Software Development

The goal of this research is to examine the effect of multiple team membership -that characterizes concurrent projects and fragmented work environment - on individual software development creativit...

Large-Scale Deployment of Performance-Related Specifications for Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement

For the 2015 construction season, the Illinois Tollway management awarded nine contracts that include performance-related specifications for jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) to be placed along the I-90 corridor between Chicago and Elgin, Illinois. Overall, the nine contracts have a total value of over $550 million, with more than $50 million of the JPCP subject to performance-related specification incentives and disincentives. Deployment of this volume of performance-related paving has required the development of specifications and special provisions as well as a more focused approach to monitoring the testing of the concrete materials as paving is proceeding. Enhanced communication and documentation processes have also been created to ensure that the flow of materials test data and the impacts that the data are having on the calculation of incentives and disincentives can be transmitted to the contractors as quickly as possible. The communication processes include contractor responses and feedback to the materials test data and the financial impact resulting from the test data, with electronic documentation of communication between the testing labs, the tollway and its quality contractors, and the paving contractors. This study documents the development of the current performance-related JPCP specifications, including the challenges encountered in trying to establish performance-related specifications for such a large number of concurrent projects, the solutions employed to overcome those challenges, and the impact on both the tollway and the contractors as a result of the deployment of performance-related JPCP.

Time Performance Optimization and Resource Conflicts Resolution for Multiple Project Management

Time performance optimization and resource conflict resolution are two important challenges in multiple project management contexts. Compared with traditional project management, multi-project management usually suffers limited and insufficient resources, and a tight and urgent deadline to finish all concurrent projects. In this case, time performance optimization of the global project management is badly needed. To our best knowledge, existing work seldom pays attention to the formal modeling and analyzing of multi-project management in an effort to eliminate resource conflicts and optimizing the project execution time. This work proposes such a method based on PRT-Net, which is a Petri net-based formulism tailored for a kind of project constrained by resource and time. The detailed modeling approaches based on PRT-Net are first presented. Then, resource conflict detection method with corresponding algorithm is proposed. Next, the priority criteria including a key-activity priority strategy and a waiting-short priority strategy are presented to resolve resource conflicts. Finally, we show how to construct a conflict-free PRT-Net by designing resource conflict resolution controllers. By experiments, we prove that our proposed priority strategy can ensure the execution time of global multiple projects much shorter than those without using any strategies.

Digital Collections Are a Sprint, Not a Marathon: Adapting Scrum Project Management Techniques to Library Digital Initiatives

This article describes a case study in which a small team from the digital initiatives group and metadata services department at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) Libraries conducted a pilot of the Scrum project management framework. The pilot team organized digital initiatives work into short, fixed intervals called sprints—a key component of Scrum. Over a year of working in the modified framework yielded significant improvements to digital collection work, including increased production of digital objects and surrogate records, accelerated publication of digital collections, and an increase in the number of concurrent projects. Adoption of sprints has improved communication and cooperation among participants, reinforced teamwork, and enhanced their ability to adapt to shifting priorities.

Minimizing average project team size given multi-skilled workers with heterogeneous skill levels

Many firms face the challenging task of staffing concurrent projects such that the skill requirements of each project can be satisfied by the respective team of workers. We consider a staffing problem where each worker can be assigned to several projects at a time. A high total number of assignments implies large project teams and scattering of workers across projects. Large teams come along with productivity losses due to increased coordination effort and social loafing while scattering incurs losses due to frequent switching between projects. To curb these inefficiencies, we formulate a mixed-integer linear program that minimizes average project team size and, thus, scattering. The program accounts for multi-skilled workers with heterogeneous skill levels who must also fulfill duties within their departments. We prove that the problem is NP-hard in the strong sense and outline valid inequalities that accelerate the solution by a commercial branch-and-cut solver. For large-scale instances, we devise three construction heuristics, each of which is embedded in a multi-pass procedure. Our performance analysis reveals that a heuristic based on the drop principle offers the best compromise between solution quality and computation time. Limitations of the proposed approach, managerial insights, and areas of application are discussed.

Resource Planning in Engineering Services Firms

We develop a model to enable engineering professional services firms to improve the management of their competitive resources, i.e., skilled engineers, to be better able to respond to customer demand. The model was informed by semistructured interviews with senior executives from engineering, information technology (IT) services and technical consulting firms. As a result, we capture many of the complexities associated with the resource planning process in the professional engineering services sector. In the resulting model, the key attributes of supply, demand, and operations constraints are identified. Based on information obtained from the interviews, a number of test firms are created. We then use these test firms to study the impact of various resource planning policies on firm performance. These policies include the skill mix and profile of skilled employees, limits on the number of concurrent projects to which an employee can be assigned, and policies governing employee cross-training and hiring. The impact of these policies is evaluated in terms of business metrics, such as the project completion rate and net revenue. Finally, our model is extended to capture a multiphase rolling planning horizon, where projects may span multiple phases with the goal of ensuring consistency in employee assignment to projects.

Estimation of Work Transformation Matrices for Large-Scale Concurrent Engineering Projects

This paper presents an approach to estimating work transformation matrices of large-scale concurrent engineering projects with periodically correlated work processes. A mathematical model of cooperative work is formulated on the basis of the theory of stochastic periodic autoregressive processes. The model can capture not only the cooperative processing of the development tasks with short iteration length but also long-scale effects of withholding the release of information on purpose. This strategy aims at improving the implementation of the product architecture. The solutions of the least-square estimates of the work transformation matrices and the covariances are given. Finally, the estimation accuracy is investigated based on a simulated development of a door module of a vehicle door.

Resource allocation in multi-class dynamic PERT networks with finite capacity

In this paper, the resource allocation problem in multi-class dynamic PERT networks with finite capacity of concurrent projects (COnstant Number of Projects In Process (CONPIP)) is studied. The dynamic PERT network is modeled as a queuing network, where new projects from different classes (types) are generated according to independent Poisson processes with different rates over the time horizon. Each activity of a project is performed at a devoted service station with one server located in a node of the network, whereas activity durations for different classes in each service station are independent and exponentially distributed random variables with different service rates. Indeed, the projects from different classes may be different in their precedence networks and also the durations of the activities. For modeling the multi-class dynamic PERT networks with CONPIP, we first consider every class separately and convert the queueing network of every class into a proper stochastic network. Then, by constructing a proper finite-state continuous-time Markov model, a system of differential equations is created to compute the project completion time distribution for any particular project. The problem is formulated as a multi-objective model with three objectives to optimally control the resources allocated to the service stations. Finally, we develop a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm to solve this multi-objective problem, using the goal attainment formulation. We also compare the SA results against the results of a discrete-time approximation of the original optimal control problem, to show the effectiveness of the proposed solution technique.

A large-scale study on the usage of Java’s concurrent programming constructs

In both academia and industry, there is a strong belief that multicore technology will radically change the way software is built. However, little is known about the current state of use of concurrent programming constructs. In this work we present an empirical work aimed at studying the usage of concurrent programming constructs of 2227 real world, stable and mature Java projects from SourceForge. We have studied the usage of concurrent techniques in the most recent versions of these applications and also how usage has evolved along time. The main findings of our study are: (I) More than 75% of the latest versions of the projects either explicitly create threads or employ some concurrency control mechanism. (II) More than half of these projects exhibit at least 47 synchronized methods and 3 implementations of the Runnable interface per 100,000 LoC, which means that not only concurrent programming constructs are used often but they are also employed intensively. (III) The adoption of the java.util.concurrent library is only moderate (approximately 23% of the concurrent projects employ it). (IV) Efficient and thread-safe data structures, such as ConcurrentHashMap, are not yet widely used, despite the fact that they present numerous advantages.

Project Manager Assignment: A Strategic Perspective

As projects are important to business success and the success or failure of a project partly depends on who manages it, assigning a project to a project manager is therefore among the strategic decisions in project management. Despite its importance, literature on project manager assignment is rather limited. In practice, with the resource constraints faced by a typical organization, making appropriate assignment decisions can be challenging. This challenge is even more paramount in a setting where project managers lead multiple, concurrent projects. Strategically speaking, management should assign projects to project managers in such a way that the assignments enhance the accomplishment of the organization's strategic objectives. This paper introduces a strategic aspect of project manager assignment. It starts with the discussion on the significance and challenges of making assignment decisions. Based on extensive research, a process including the criteria for project manager assignment is discussed. The paper also provides an overview of an optimization-based methodology for project manager assignment. Future research is suggested.

Economic impacts and effects on communities of the CSG industry in Queensland

Social licence to operate is a key issue in the eastern Australian gas market as it transitions to liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporting and relies on unconventional gas to satisfy this new demand. Although there is a large body of research on the environmental, social and economic effects attributable to unconventional gas activities, more knowledge is needed about the economic impacts of the coal seam gas (CSG) industry and the effects of the various stages in the CSG value chain experienced by communities. The Department of Industry has undertaken a study on Queensland’s experience with CSG development. A synthesis of existing economic impact studies relating to the CSG industry in Queensland finds that while there are economic benefits, a greater understanding of how the benefits and costs are spread among and in communities is needed. It also finds that there is little knowledge of the cumulative impacts of multiple concurrent projects in addition to the impacts of existing land usage. An assessment of effects from CSG activities that may directly or indirectly affect the economic welfare of communities in the Bowen and Surat basins highlights that while health impacts, land access and usage, water impacts, transport nuisance and noise pollution are all perceived to be significant, community perceptions about these effects change in time along with changes in the nature and scale of underlying activities. Opportunities for specific economic analysis on specific CSG activities and their associated consequences are also identified in this extended abstract, which may assist in addressing existing information and regulatory gaps.

Global agenda, local health: including concepts of health security in preparedness programs at the jurisdictional level.

The Global Health Security Agenda's objectives contain components that could help health departments address emerging public health challenges that threaten the population. As part of the agenda, partner countries with advanced public health systems will support the development of infrastructure in stakeholder health departments. To facilitate this process and augment local programs, state and local health departments may want to include concepts of health security in their public health preparedness offices in order to simultaneously build capacity. Health security programs developed by public health departments should complete projects that are closely aligned with the objectives outlined in the global agenda and that facilitate the completion of current preparedness grant requirements. This article identifies objectives and proposes tactical local projects that run parallel to the 9 primary objectives of the Global Health Security Agenda. Executing concurrent projects at the international and local levels in preparedness offices will accelerate the completion of these objectives and help prevent disease epidemics, detect health threats, and respond to public health emergencies. Additionally, future funding tied or related to health security may become more accessible to state and local health departments that have achieved these objectives.

Implementing BIM on Infrastructure: Comparison of Two Bridge Construction Projects

AbstractThis research provides comparative analysis of the impacts and benefits associated with using building information modeling (BIM) on accelerated bridge construction in the Denver metropolitan area. To date, BIM remains a relatively underutilized tool in horizontal construction. BIM has the potential, however, to significantly increase efficiencies, minimize waste, and increase sustainability across infrastructure projects throughout their life cycles. This research studies the impacts of the first implementation of BIM processes on one of two structurally similar concurrent bridge construction projects by comparing metrics related to substructure costs, requests for information, change orders, rework, and schedule. Findings suggest that negative cost impacts of approximately 70% may be associated with the first implementation of BIM during construction. However, additional findings suggest that the use of BIM may facilitate otherwise infeasible complex projects and reduce requests for information ...

Comparing quantifiable methods to measure complexity in assembly

In order to measure complexity and stay competitive, manufacturing companies need to be able to quantify production complexity. For this reason, two methods were developed within the context of two concurrent research projects are compared: the Belgian Complexity Calculator, CXC, measures objective complexity and the Swedish Complexity Index, CXI, focuses on subjective complexity, as experienced by operators in the stations. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the two methods by comparing them to seven relevant existing quantitative methods and by examining results from case studies. It is observed that the two methods can be used as a compliment to one another, where CXC can be used for scanning data automatically CXI can be used for in-depth analysis. In addition, the comparison of existing methods provides insight on how to measure complexity depending on need and scope.

Implementing collaboration moderator service to support various phases of virtual organisations

Research into moderators, which support collaborative teams by proactively making team members aware of actions or potential problems which may affect them, began in the 1990s, in the context of supporting collaborations during concurrent engineering projects. This paper provides a background to the evolution of moderators and explores their role in supporting virtual organisations. A collaboration moderator (CM) is an evolution of earlier moderators and is capable of behaving differently for different types of users and therefore caters for the varying requirements of individual users depending on the roles they have in the collaborations. This paper describes the architecture and components of a CM from an implementation perspective. Prototype CMs have been developed during the EU-funded SYNERGY project, and two use cases for which the prototype CMs were implemented as a service (a Pre-Creation use case and an Operational use case) are also discussed in this paper.

Weather forecasting and dynamic scheduling for a modern cm/mm wave radiotelescope

In order to maximize the productivity of a state of the art scientific instrument, concurrent projects that will be performed by the instrument itself should be scheduled and prioritized appropriately. In the case of radioastronomical facilities, the precedences are set on the basis of many parameters amongst which meteo-climatic variables play a fundamental role. The Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) is nearly completed, and soon it will start performing radioastronomical observations in the 0.3–100 GHz frequency range. It is known that centimeter and especially millimeter wavelengths are affected by the atmospheric water vapor content and weather conditions. In order to increase the performances of observations at higher frequencies, detailed knowledge of the climatology of the telescope site is needed, moreover, accurate weather predictions that range several days ahead are particularly useful. Such information is mandatory for the implementation of a dynamic scheduling system through which the observations are scheduled according to the oncoming weather conditions. In this paper we compare the forecasts produced by a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model, provided by the local weather service, to the measurements conducted at the SRT site with ground-based instruments. The comparisons are used to validate the NWPs in order to understand if they could be used for scheduling radioastronomical observations.Our analysis, clearly indicates that the model predictions are representative for the radiotelescope site. Indeed, the forecasts of water vapor and brightness temperatures, made up to 36 hours ahead, are consistent with the on-site measurements; wind forecasts are also correlated to the ground level measurements. In the score analysis we have deducted that the NWP model, on average, is consistent with the measurements more than 65 % of the time, implying that the majority of the radioastronomical observations would be performed in weather conditions which are appropriate to the frequency that is being used. By using the available NWP model and the on-site instrumentation, it is feasible to implement a dynamic scheduling system for the SRT.

A Study of Social Sports Scheduling Based on Genetic Algorithm

With the con tinuous develop ment of social s ports, a comp rehensive soc ial s ports project tends to face multiple concurrent projects which will inevitably induce co mpetitions for some of the resources of social sports. This thesis deals with how to reasonably arrange the start time of these activities while meeting various constraint conditions to obtain the entire project scheduling and to minimize the total duration of t he proj ects’ occupancy for social sp orts resources. Comb ined with the simula ted annealing a lgorithm, sche duling a lgorithm for t he s ocial sports project i s desi gned to study t he problem of social sports scheduling. It is confirmed through practice that the genetic algorithm enjoys a g ood application prospec t in t he ac tual work an d i t can be widely a pplied b ecause of its fast calculation and its easy integration into the software system.