Project Management Support Research Articles

Ambulatory redesign: Strategies for quality improvement in patient care.

85 Background: Growing outpatient volume poses patient flow challenges, making it difficult to accommodate the complexities of academic medical practice. Volume increases create operational inefficiencies like delays in lab turnaround time (TAT) and limited rooming capacity resulting in delays in patient access and reduced provider productivity. These bottlenecks negatively impact patient satisfaction. Methods: Four multidisciplinary teams assessed barriers to patient flow in the lab, rooming and scheduling process. We sought to maximize the Advanced Practice Provider (APP) role within clinical programs. Each team was led jointly by an MD and RN and included subject matter experts, advisors and facilitators. The groups met regularly for 2 months to evaluate operational data, national benchmarks and surveyed staff. Monthly progress was presented during the Ambulatory Clinic Committee (ACC) meetings. Number of labs not completed on time, wait-time and APP visit volume were tracked. Results: Recommendations included provider education on lab order process, purchasing a second instrument for chemistries, APP independent visits standards, and realistic scheduling times. Preliminary findings indicate that the lab reduced their average TAT defect rate by 52.3% (CBC) and 76.1% (CMP) compared to January 2014 (baseline) and January 2015 (post implementation). This difference was statistically significant at a 95% CI, with p < .001 for both CBCs and CMPs. In addition, APP total visit volume increased by 81% from FY 2014 to FY 2015. Finally, the overall Press-Ganey mean in patient satisfaction with physician wait time increased from 81.7 to 82.7 (2014 vs. 2015). Conclusions: Multidisciplinary teams recommended valuable process improvement changes to reduce the TAT in the lab and to promote that APPs work within the full scope of their license. Implementation requires extensive project management support and continuous tracking to evaluate outcomes. Opportunities exist to maximize space and room utilization and optimize the scheduling process as the outpatient volume continues to increase.

Methodical ICT Project Management

IntroductionThe contemporary reality is characterized by an increased number of problems and their interrelationship in all spheres of human activity, as well as management problems. This results in an increased risk within the organization's activity. To confine the risk, the problem solutions are more and more often \searched through establishing and management of the project [Spacek, Vacik 2016, pp. 14-30]. This results in an enhanced interest in professional methods of project management.The project management worked out a comprehensive and differentiated offer of management methods. The abundance of these methods results from the complexity and specificity of projects and from individual experiences and preferences of project managers and participants.On the one hand a comprehensive offer enables a choice of methods relevant to the projects specificity and conditions of their accomplishment, on the other hand it requires a good knowledge of a wide spectrum of existing methods, their limitations and possibilities [Trocki (ed.) 2011, p. 7].ICT projects, pursuant to a more comprehensive depiction used in the article, comprise all projects the final product of which is based on the Information and Communication Technology1 (ICT), connected with communication, collecting, processing and dispatching of information. These are projects devised to be used by external clients - public enterprises and institutions, combining the projects whose final product is mostly related to creation of software or services connected with its development, servicing and maintenance, the projects whose final product mostly comprises the hardware or services connected with it, telecommunication projects, as well as electronic and electro technical projects, or these are interdisciplinary projects in which we could hardly indicate a dominant specialty, e.g. corporation networks projects.Searching for a reply to the question how to improve implementation of ICT projects was a cause of the interest in methodologies of management of such undertakings.Until recently in Poland, to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of project management, universal methodologies such as PMBoK®, PRINCE2 or Project Cycle Management [Wyrozcbski 2010; Kaczorowska 2013; Trocki (ed.) 2015] were carried out. So studies on special, complex and detailed methods of ICT project management were undertaken with the aim to fill in the diagnosed research gap.As the projects are very often used as tools for accomplishment of the organization's objectives [Nowak, Trzaskalik, Twardoch 2013, pp. 49-64] and because of the multitude of project management methodologies, this subject should be discussed comprehensively.Selected for the analysis were MSF (Microsoft Solutions Framework) methods, RUP (Rational Unified Process) and SCRUM as representatives of ICT project management methodologies, i.e. involving the specificity of this type of undertakings. Furthermore, all methodologies selected for the analysis are based on a spiral approach to ICT project implementation (this facilitates their comparative analysis). Excluded from the analysis was the HERMES methodology - project management within ICT (worked out by the Swiss federal administration) because its scope comprises the management of single projects of ICT and ASAP Accelerated SAP - worked out by Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing because it focuses on one of the last phases of the information project lifecycle, i.e. implementation of the ready-made information system SAP R/3.The article consists of two parts - theoretical and empirical. The former comprises a survey of specialist literature. The most important results of empirical part include the general and personalized (taking into account the characteristics of organization from the ICT sector and the projects it implements) model of evaluation of the needs and selection of methodological support for ICT project management. …

Document Support of Cost Management in Underground Construction Projects

The article presents identification and aggregation of cost management processes in conjunction with project life-cycle in underground construction. For the purpose of improvement of the project effectiveness the article recommends the system of document support for cost project management. The article gives specification of the main types of documents, describes its assignment and the order of its inputting in respect to developers.

An Interval Parameter Two-Stage Stochastic Approach to Optimize Budget and Schedule in Construction Management

An interval parameter two-stage stochastic model for project budgeting and scheduling is developed to dealing with the uncertainties residing in the project management. The model focuses on the probability distribution in activity durations and the uncertainties expressed as intervals in costs. It minimizes the inexact costs (direct costs, indirect costs and penalties) with reference to the specified project completion time and the durations of activities estimated from two-stage stochastic programming. The proposed approach for budgeting and scheduling is a hybrid of two stage stochastic programming and inexact optimization. Solutions obtained from the model will provide a reasonable crashing time plan to accomplish given projects on specific time and come up a lowest cost plan for tardiness. This approach can effectively reflect the interactive relationships among all the uncertain system components. The plan provides useful decision support for project managers through these post-optimality analyses. The developed model is applied to a case study to illustrate its feasibility of dealing the actual project management decision problems. The paper implements the model to a gas pipeline construction project with specified completion time and milestone allocating tasks as the case study. The proposed model provides a systematic framework that facilitates the decision making process and enable project managers to justify the range of the solutions when the decision variables are intervals.

A Single DEA-based Indicator for Assessing the Multiple Negative Effects of Project Risks

Risk assessment is an important phase in project risk management. In general, the negative effects of project risk factors can be reflected in multiple aspects, such as cost overruns, schedule delays and poor quality. In this paper, we first explain why data envelopment analysis (DEA) can be used as the tool to rank the negative effects of project risk factors, and then propose how to use DEA to evaluate the negative effects of project risk factors and rank project risk factors by using a single indicator. It could be helpful to identify key risk factors for further risk response. A numeric example is employed to illustrate the proposed method. The results show that our method can be good used to measure the negative effects of project risk factors. It could provide decision making support for project managers in risk response decision.

A Conceptual Framework for a Navigational Support System for Construction Projects

In a globalized and dynamic world, the construction companies that survive are those able to adapt rapidly and successfully to new conditions. Measuring the performance of construction projects dynamically helps companies survive. Despite more than twenty years of research into project performance measurement, none has explained how important it is to navigate and visualize project performance dynamically in different dimensions. Normally project performance is measured in more than one dimension, such as cost, quality, time, customer satisfaction, safety etc. Unlike in physical spaces, the distance between the target and the current position cannot be measured using tools such as the Euclidian metric. In this research we propose a framework to create a navigational support system to measure project performance in relation to benchmark targets, and consider the correlation between critical success factors in supporting project managers to take appropriate action to reach their goals.

Choice of Agile Methodologies in Software Development: A Vendor Perspective

The purpose of this research was to develop understanding about how vendor firms make choice about agile methodologies in software projects and their fit. Two analytical frameworks were developed from extant literature and the findings were compared with real world decisions. Framework 1 showed that the choice of XP for one project was not supported by the guidelines given by the framework. The choices of SCRUM for other two projects, were partially supported. Analysis using the framework 2 showed that except one XP project, all others had sufficient project management support, limited scope for adaptability and had prominence for rules.

Support of Project Management Methods by Project Management Information System

Utilization of project management methods in practice in more extensive projects is, due to high demands, only possible with support of a Project Management Information System. Project managers can use a number of applications offering a wide range of functions in the areas of project planning, monitoring and continuous evaluation of project implementation, and final evaluation when it has finished. An important function offered by a Project Management Information System is the possibility of sharing data concerning the running projects across the project team and their surroundings. Project Management Information System applications are primarily designed to support project management, so it is worth considering how much the available applications support the project management methods defined in the project management theory, how much software applications make it possible to get support in individual stages of the project life cycle, and if this scope is sufficient from the point of view of quality project management. The evaluation involved selected project management methods suitable for individual project life cycle stages, and the scope of support of individual project management methods within the respective project life cycle stages was evaluated in selected software applications.

A multivariate approach for top-down project control using earned value management

Project monitoring and the related decision to proceed to corrective action are crucial components of an integrated project management and control decision support system (DSS). Earned value management/earned schedule (EVM/ES) is a project control methodology that is typically applied for top-down project schedule control. However, traditional models do not correctly account for the multivariate nature of the EVM/ES measurement system. We therefore propose a multivariate model for EVM/ES, which implements a principal component analysis (PCA) on a simulated schedule control reference. During project progress, the real EVM/ES observations can then be projected onto these principal components. This allows for two new multivariate schedule control metrics (T2 and SPE) to be calculated, which can be dynamically monitored on project control charts. Using a computational experiment, we show that these multivariate schedule control metrics lead to performance improvements and practical advantages in comparison with traditional univariate EVM/ES models.

DEFINITION AND FORMAL REPRESENTATION OF THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

Project management information systems are used to support project management processes. The typical project management processes are defined by the project management methodologies, such as PMBOK. It is necessary to formalize representation of these processes to use them in modelling, analysis and implementation of the project management information systems. The purpose of the article is defined key processes of project management and to identify appropriate techniques and tools for their formal representation. In the article groups of the project management processes are listed and representation techniques such as UML, XPDL and YAWL are evaluated. The comparison of process representation techniques is shows that the most appropriate is XPDL. Guidelines for project management process definition using XPDL are formulated. These formalized processes further will be used in configuration of the project management information systems.

Sistema de inferencia borroso basado en redes adaptativas para la evaluación de proyectos

In this article, a set of key management indicators related to performance of execution, planning, costs, effectiveness, human resources, data quality, and logistics, are considered for the evaluation of a project. Several automated tools support project managers in this task. However, these tools are still insufficient to accurately assess projects in organizations with continuous improvement management styles and with presence of uncertainty in the primary data. An alternative solution is the introduction of soft computing techniques, allowing gains in robustness, efficiency, and adaptability in these tools. This paper presents an adaptivenetwork- based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) to optimize projects evaluation made with the Xedro-GESPRO tool. The implementation of the system allowed the adjustment of fuzzy sets parameters in the inference rules for the assessment of projects, based on the automatic calculation of indicators. The contribution of this research lies in the application of ANFIS soft computing technique to optimize the evaluation of projects integrated with the management tool. The results contribute to the improvement of existing decision-making support tools into organizations towards project-oriented production.

Selecting the Best Reliability Model to Predict Residual Defects in Open Source Software

A proposed method evaluates eight popular software reliability growth models and selects the one that can best predict the software's remaining faults, providing practical support for project managers who are considering an open source component.

Persuasion and management support for IT projects

This study assesses the effectiveness of an IT project team's direct persuasion behaviors in obtaining management support. The literature typically suggests that obtaining management support is critical for IT project success. The literature also generally prescribes cognition-based approaches to obtaining such support, ignoring the potential effect of emotion on influencing management. We employ organizational influence theory to identify direct persuasion strategies and posit that both cognitive involvement and emotional involvement mediate the effectiveness of influence strategies on management support. Our argument was tested on a survey of non-MIS managers who recently undertook large IT projects. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of two persuasion behaviors applied by the project team to obtain management support. Both persuasion behaviors encourage management support by increasing management's cognitive and emotional involvement in the project. We find that emotional involvement has a stronger effect than cognitive involvement on management support. Important implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The Project Office as Project Management Support in Complex Environments

In the academic sector, most engineering research funding presupposes collaborative projects. Collaboration between academia and industry is encouraged. This approach creates successive complexity in most Research and Development (R&D) projects in many ways. Projects funded by the European Commission or jointly funded by national agencies are often encouraged to become large, competing companies may become partners, objectives are unclear, and overall vagueness usually increases with consortium size. Many companies and some research organizations have created project management offices (PMO) to deal with project complexity. Typically, project managers in research organizations are excellent researchers but less skilled or interested in project management. To help researchers stay focused on research and not get side tracked by project management, the PMO provides professional project management services to researchers and research projects. The combination of excellent research and professional project management is a success factor when handling a large portfolio of complex projects. We surveyed the directors of PMOs in Sweden to determine how PMOs cope with complexity in different organizations. This paper presents the results of that small survey and compares them with similar efforts at one Swedish university in a brief case study.

Using a Systemic Perspective to Support Engineering Change Management

Engineering change management (ECM) is an important enabler for the overall success of engineering projects. Engineering changes (ECs) occur because engineering projects are exposed to internal and external dynamic influences. The implementation of ECM supports project managers involved in coordinating EC processes, which results in more efficient operations. There are, however, many challenges related to ECM because of the need for internal and external stakeholders to collaborate during the EC process. Many existing approaches that support ECM adopt a reductionistic perspective. This paper takes a novel approach by adopting a systemic perspective. The self-organizing nature of complex systems is of particular interest because efficient ECM is a learning process that requires constant adaptation on different organizational levels. This paper describes how self-organization can be incorporated in ECM processes. A case study at a large construction project illustrates how ECM can facilitate self-organization. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.

Generating project risk response strategies based on CBR: A case study

Risk response is an important work in project risk management (PRM). To generate project risk response strategies, retrieving and reusing information and knowledge of the similar historical cases is important, while research concerning this issue is still relatively scarce. Taking the risk response of the subway project in S city, China as a case problem, this paper proposes a pragmatic method for generating project risk response strategies based on the case-based reasoning (CBR). The procedure of the method include the five parts: first, representing the target case and the historical cases; second, retrieving the available historical cases by judging whether the risks involved in each historical case cover or are the same as those in the target case; third, retrieving the similar historical cases by measuring the similarity between each available historical case and the target case; fourth, revising the inapplicable risk response strategies involved in the similar historical cases by analyzing the response relation between each strategy and each risk of the current project; and generating the desirable risk response strategies by evaluating each candidate risk response strategy set. To illustrate the use of the proposed method, an empirical analysis of generating the risk response strategies for the subway station project is given. The proposed method can support project managers to make the better decision in PRM.

Implementing a regional oncology information system: approach and lessons learned.

Paper-based medical record systems are known to have major problems of inaccuracy, incomplete data, poor accessibility, and challenges to patient confidentiality. They are also an inefficient mechanism of record-sharing for interdisciplinary patient assessment and management, and represent a major problem for keeping current and monitoring quality control to facilitate improvement. To address those concerns, national, regional, and local health care authorities have increased the pressure on oncology practices to upgrade from paper-based systems to electronic health records. Here, we describe and discuss the challenges to implementing a region-wide oncology information system across four independent health care organizations, and we describe the lessons learned from the initial phases that are now being applied in subsequent activities of this complex project. The need for change must be shared across centres to increase buy-in, adoption, and implementation. It is essential to establish physician leadership, commitment, and engagement in the process. Work processes had to be revised to optimize use of the new system. Culture change must be included in the change management strategy. Furthermore, training and resource requirements must be thoroughly planned, implemented, monitored, and modified as required for effective adoption of new work processes and technology. Interfaces must be established with multiple existing electronic systems across the region to ensure appropriate patient flow. Periodic assessment of the existing project structure is necessary, and adjustments are often required to ensure that the project meets its objectives. The implementation of region-wide oncology information systems across different health practice locations has many challenges. Leadership is essential. A strong, collaborative information-sharing strategy across the region and with the supplier is essential to identify, discuss, and resolve implementation problems. A structure that supports project management and accountability contributes to success.

Assessment of a biomarker-based developmental toxicity screen using human induced pluripotent stem cells

Analysis of possible risks in the process of implementing a specific project has been carried out, measures to reduce their negative impact on the project have been developed and proposed. The object of study is a wind energy project, namely a wind farm working as part of the national energy system. The implementation of the project is related to both external and internal risk factors that are characteristic to such projects in the real economy sector under the current conditions. Such risks have been classified and the fractional structure of risk adjustment has been analysed taking into account the properties of the particular wind energy project, which consists of three main components. A description has been given of the innovative technology selected for project implementation, power generation using wind, which is used to limit the negative influence of the above-mentioned risks. The current strategic management tools, such as SWOT analysis and McKinsey matrix, which are useful for the identification of project risks, have been examined. For the wind energy project that is being implemented, the project dot location coordinates were determined in the McKinsey matrix on axes: Advantages against competitors and Market attractiveness. Also, a sector characterising the project development prospects was established to be subsequently used as a tool for risk identification. Following the identification of risks, specific measures of state support and special project management measures were developed and proposed to be implemented with the aim of limiting the negative influence of the possible project risks.

A project management improvement program according to ISO/IEC 29110 and PMBOK®

ABSTRACTThis paper describes the results obtained and the lessons learned from the implementation of the ISO/IEC 29110 standard in four small software development companies, clustered in a joint process improvement program. The main results of this initiative have been, on the one hand, the definition of a standardized set of processes and procedures and, on the other, the development of a Process Asset Library to support project management good practices within the participant organizations. The PMBOK® Guide was used to complement the ISO/IEC 29110‐5‐1‐2 standard, in order to provide detailed knowledge about project management inputs, outputs, and best techniques. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An indicator for superfluous iteration in offsite building design processes

Enhancement of iteration management in the design phase is important for successful offsite building projects. Design iteration has two aspects. Although iteration is necessary to deal with design requirements when solving complex problems (i.e. increasing quality through iteration), it has also been identified in numerous studies to be one of the main causes of design errors and time and cost overruns (i.e. superfluous iteration), as it increases scheduling and design complexity. Current building project management tools do not provide a means to control the reduction of superfluous iteration. One problem is that existing research has difficulty precisely relating the effects of specific management actions to superfluous iteration. The idea of this study is to develop an indicator, the sequence deviation quotient (SDQ), which reflects the amount of superfluous design iteration in a project. It can be thought of as a tool supporting project managers to make systematic and continuous (from project to project) design process improvement. A premise is that the impact of varying project conditions on the process structure of design processes, i.e. the precedence relationships between the design activities, is only small. In this paper, we provide a definition of superfluous iteration. We tested the feasibility of the SDQ by subjecting it to project variation and input perturbation by means of a Monte Carlo simulation. The simulations are based on the data from a real offsite design building process, the designing of a 1100 m2 residential building in Sweden.