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The purpose of this research is to examine the causes of delay in airport projects in general and the King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) of Saudi Arabia in particular. The KAIA is the most strategic and busiest airport of Saudi Arabia, which transports millions of pilgrims from two hundred countries to perform Hajj and Umrah in Makkah. In general, more than 50% of construction projects fail on one more area. Our method of research is empirical based on the analysis of responses received from seventy-one respondents to our survey questions. We shall also synthesize literature that utilizes previous research and case studies on aviation and public project failures. We believe that this research will be valuable in ascertaining and mitigating direct causes for the numerous project delays in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In the resource levelling problem (RLP) under uncertainty, existing studies focus on obtaining an open-loop activity list that is not updated during project execution. In project management practic...

Managing project scope, time, and cost in an agile project planning are considered to be key influencing factors for a project's success. A large quantum of work and literature shows how agile with its iterative project execution methodology has produced a large number of successful projects over the last two decades, especially in the IT sector. However, the concern regarding applicability of this highly successful project execution methodology in industrial sectors other than IT has been a question to which researchers are trying to find an answer. The solution to this problem would require covering all aspect of project management through which an answer for its applicability could be provided. This study identifies the possible issues and proposes an agile plus limited to scope, time, and cost knowledge area of project management. The results are obtained from the extensive empirical findings gathered using literature study, interviews, and surveys. Further, the empirical findings and proposed model are quantitatively validated, which came out to be in accordance with the literature and empirical findings.

Probabilistic Monte Carlo simulations are often used to determine a project's completion time given a required probability level. During project execution, schedule changes negatively affect the probability of meeting the project's completion time. A manual trial and error approach is then conducted to find a set of mitigation measures to again arrive at the required probability level. These are then implemented as scheduled activities. The mitigation controller (MitC) proposed in this paper automates the search for finding the most cost-effective set of mitigation measures using multiobjective linear optimization so that the probability of timely completion remains at the required level. It considers different types of uncertainties and risk events in the probabilistic simulation. Moreover, it removes the fundamental modeling error that exists in the traditional probabilistic approach by incorporating human control and adaptive behavior in the simulation. Its usefulness is demonstrated using an illustrative example derived from a recent Dutch construction project in which delay is not permitted. It is shown that the MitC is capable of identifying the most effective mitigation strategies allowing for substantial cost savings.

Due to a lack of suitable methods, extraction of reporting requirements from lengthy construction contracts is often completed manually. Because of this, the time and costs associated with completing reporting requirements are often informally approximated, resulting in underestimations. Without a clear understanding of requirements, contractors are prevented from implementing improvements to reporting workflows prior to project execution. This study developed an automated reporting requirement identification and time–cost prediction framework to overcome this challenge. Reporting requirements are extracted using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML), and stochastic simulations are used to predict overhead costs and durations associated with report preparation. Functionality and validity of the framework were demonstrated using real contracts, and an accuracy of over 95% was observed. This framework provides a tool to rapidly and efficiently retrieve requirements and quantify the time and costs associated with reporting, in turn providing necessary insights to streamline reporting workflows.

Currently, facility design standardization is a well-established and quotidian strategy, especially in the manufacturing and shipbuilding industries. Even so, the construction industry, spe...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to improve students’ problem-solving skills in civil engineering and construction management education. Design/methodology/approach The design includes structured role-playing as a pedagogical method in 21 project teams with a total of 82 undergraduate students at Chang’an University, China, in a nine-week Building Information Modeling (BIM) capstone course. The methodology is a teaching–learning experiment in a civil engineering education program with a detailed description of the empirical case and assessment instruments. The approach is to train project execution planning in a capstone course by role-playing with a real-world project using the procedures of the BIM Project Execution Planning Guide (PEPG) and process mapping. Findings The study finds that students can significantly improve their problem-solving skills through planning and role-specific communication during projects. Research limitations/implications The research sample needs to be expanded from senior-level undergraduate students to consider the different backgrounds and motivations of students. Practical implications This pedagogy is helpful to educators who are interested in group learning with a real-world project; the procedures of BIM PEPG; self-chosen responsibilities within a capstone course time framework; raising the awareness of the importance of planning; information exchange; and team cooperation. Originality/value This paper fulfills an identified need to study how role-playing in information and technology rich environments can be structured.

Purpose Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of projects is a very important aspect of project execution and management. This is because proper M&E practices have a significant effect on the successful delivery of projects. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of project M&E practices on construction project success criteria. Design/methodology/approach Structured questionnaires were used to solicit the views of project professionals in the Ghanaian construction industry. The questions were developed through critical review of literature and complemented with a pilot interview on the subject. This paper utilized a partial least square–structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) to establish the impact of project M&E practices (constructs) on project success based on the hypothesis. Findings Results showed that M&E practices had a positive statistical significant relationship with construction project success criteria. In addition, health and safety performance and project scope showed a strong significant relation with M&E practice, implying that, in developing countries, these two main constructs should be given critical attention in achieving project success. Practical implications The findings of this study may be useful to organizations in determining M&E techniques that are relevant and contribute highly to project success. This may go a long way to increase productivity and accelerate the rate of successful project delivery. Originality/value The application of rigorous analysis, PLS–SEM, gives a more reliable information on M&E practices that can ensure successful delivery of construction projects.

The recent advancements in the project execution thinking and the growing levels of large capital-intensive investment projects in construction have led to increased attention to the ‘collaboration...

Recent surveys of major capital project performance conclude that most oil & gas major capital projects fail to meet their budget and schedule objectives. We describe a new technical framework for project execution, drawing upon principles originally applied in the fields of computer and telecommunications network systems design. The constraints and activity synchronization needed to successfully operate digital network systems have many similarities with, and arguably much greater complexity than, the constraints and activity synchronization required to seamlessly execute capital projects. We show the applicability of utilizing network engineering principles to improve capital project execution. The observation is not new – indeed other industries routinely apply network systems engineering to manage their complex project operations and associated supply networks. Companies successfully applying such principles include Amazon, Federal Express and Walmart. After giving a high-level introduction to the commonality between the fields of network systems engineering and project management and execution, we briefly compare our approach with related ones such as Lean Project Management. The latter approach draws from the operations research and industrial engineering fields, which are foundational in network and systems engineering. We close by describing case examples from recent oil & gas major capital projects and the superior performance obtained by using a network systems approach.

The main goal of project control is to identify project opportunities or problems during project execution, such that corrective actions can be taken to bring the project in danger back on track when necessary. In this study, we define different scenarios to allocate the limited budget used for the cost of activity execution, delays, and corrective actions, according to the timing and amount of the budget release. A large computational experiment is conducted on real-life project data to evaluate the performance of each scenario. The results show that both the timing and amount of the budget release have an effect on project performance.

In the same year that the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) celebrates 50-years since the Ekofisk discovery in 1969, which in earnest established Norway as an oil and gas nation, the start-up of the Johan Sverdrup development will extend profitable oil and gas production with lower carbon emissions from the NCS for another five decades. The third largest oil field on the NCS, after the Ekofisk and Statfjord fields, and with recoverable reserves estimated at 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Johan Sverdrup certainly has the resources to be a North Sea giant. However, being a giant is more than having the necessary resources in place, it is also about turning these resources into recoverable reserves that can be produced in a safe, profitable and – increasingly in today's context – carbon efficient way. This paper provides a high-level summary of the experiences and lessons-learned from the development of the Johan Sverdrup field, and has the objective of serving as an introduction to the technical session papers that follow. As such, the paper aims to highlight what it took to make Johan Sverdrup a true North Sea giant, fit for the 21st century: a safe and successful execution of a mega-project, with next-generation facilities adapted to a more digital way of working, with an ambition to profitably recover more than 70% of the resources, while limiting carbon emissions from production to a minimum. The Johan Sverdrup development has set a new standard for project execution in Equinor, the paper concludes with lessons-learned of relevance for both Equinor's future project portfolio and projects globally.

A robustness measure is an effective tool to evaluate the anti-interference capacity of the construction schedule. However, most research focuses on solution robustness or quality robustness, and few consider a composite robustness criterion, neglecting the bounded rationality of subjective weights and inherent importance and nonlinear intercriteria correlations of objective weights. Therefore, a construction schedule robustness measure based on improved prospect theory and the Copula-criteria importance through intercriteria correlation (CRITIC) method is proposed. Firstly, a composite robustness criterion is established, including start time deviation rs and structural deviation rp for measuring solution robustness from project execution and completion probability rc for measuring quality robustness from the project result. Secondly, bounded rationality is considered, using prospect theory to calculate subjective weights, which is improved by the interval distance formula. Thirdly, the Copula-CRITIC method is proposed to determine objective weights incorporating both inherent importance and nonlinear intercriteria correlations. Finally, an information-entropy-based evidence reasoning method is applied to combine subjective and objective weights together while identifying their validity. An underground power station in China is used for a case study, whose robustness is measured using the proposed methods, single robustness criterion, and composite robustness criterion using traditional weighting methods. The comparison results verify the consistency, representativeness, and advantage of the proposed criterion and methods.

Current literature shows that poor cost performance in projects has become routine. Research on cost performance has mostly focused on one of the involved parties, either the client or the contractor. Not many research efforts discuss the cost contingency performance of projects. This research discusses the cost performance and cost contingency of projects in the execution phase from the perspective of a client as well as a contractor. Using a case study approach, 95 projects are investigated: 44 client projects and 51 contractor projects. The results show that depending on the perspective, projects can have cost overruns or cost underruns. Comparing the total realized and estimated costs, projects experienced on average about 16% underrun from a client perspective. From a contractor perspective, projects experienced on average up to 2% overrun. The estimated cost contingency in the client's projects was on average 2.64% more than the required cost contingency. The estimated cost contingency in the contractor's projects was on average 5.41% less than the required cost contingency. These differences are explained by pessimism bias and technical reasons on the client's side. On the contractor side, optimism bias and technical and political reasons play a role, resulting in opportunistic behavior. The findings help practitioners to enhance their cost estimates by avoiding both pessimistic bias and optimism bias behavior - for example, by using historical data from earlier projects. Further investigation into the influence of market conditions on cost estimates is suggested.

Energies : open-access journal of related scientific research, technology development and studies in policy and management / Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) 13(19), 5072 (2020). doi:10.3390/en13195072 special issue: "Special Issue "Underground Pumped Storage Plants" / Special Issue Editors, Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Elena Pummer, Guest Editor; Adjunct Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kaspar Vereide, Guest Editor; Prof. Leif Lia, Guest Editor;Prof. Andre Niemann, Guest Editor", Published by MDPI, Basel

With the emergence of digital engineering in the construction context, significant opportunities have arisen for safer project execution. Several studies in recent years have described various applications of digital engineering to improve safety performance. However, what is missing is a systematic review that shows the direct links between the potential of these approaches and how they address the causes of construction accidents. This study is an attempt to fill this gap by conducting a realist systematic review of the literature published since 2012. The study draws from the Loughborough Construction Accident Causation (ConAC) model to create a comprehensive list of accident causes and relates these causes to the identified digital engineering potential, as reflected in the literature. This approach identifies the research gaps and neglected research domains, particularly six endemic problems, within the current digital engineering literature pertaining to safety, while introducing future areas associated with the identified gaps. This study provides useful insights to investigators who gain direction towards the top priorities for future research. In practical terms, the study collates and presents various areas of potential within digital engineering to address the causes of accidents on construction sites, providing a concise source of knowledge for practitioners.

Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is a unique technique but remains relatively marginal. However, trials of MEOR in Chinese oil fields are still active. This paper briefly discusses the mechanisms of MEOR, then reports more than twenty MEOR field projects carried out in China since 2000. Those field cases were not well known due to language barrier. The cases were implemented over months or even years. According to field experiences in China, MEOR achieved good success rates, with around 70% of treated wells showing positive responses. Besides, all of the projects were profitable. Traditionally, high temperature and high salinity have been obstacles for field applications of MEOR, but the field cases in China extended the method to more challenging reservoir conditions. MEOR has been tried in tight formations, high-salinity reservoirs, high-temperature reservoirs, and heavy-oil fields. MEOR proved effective for challenging reservoir conditions with careful selection of microbes and proper project execution.

The purpose of this study is to develop the implementation of the framework of the government green building (GB) project in Malaysia. The research intended to investigate the factors involved in the development of the framework and significant relationships that exist among the factors. A total of 30 respondents were selected from Menara Kerja Raya (MKR) project team that included engineers, assistant engineers, technical assistant, stakeholders, contractors, and consultants. The pilot test analysis was conducted using the quantitative analysis and hypothesis testing through SPSS 22.0. In conclusion, the ‘types of project execution’ was the main factor to make the successful delivery of the GB projects followed by project management and policies guidelines, project staff perceptions, and the government policies. This framework would contribute to the existence of the GB implementation as well as serve as a basic platform for efficient and systematic execution of its projects in Malaysia. It is hoped that the implementation of this framework could promote the success of GB delivery, especially to the Malaysian government projects.

Poor planning of building projects is observed to definitely increase both time consumption and costs. Limitations of existing studies about contrast between BIM 4D methodology and conventional graphic planning, focus on comparing them from a qualitative point of view, without quantifying their real performance. The present paper is aimed at performing a quantitative analysis on BIM 4D methodology as compared to conventional graphic planning. Provided this novel methodology accounts for building elements including technical and visual information, subsequent construction operations would be carried out in a more controlled and a more accurate environment. In particular, a balance between suitable construction data management included in the BIM model and appropriate use of task planning information was analysed. The results show that the integration of BIM in the project execution planning ensures greater control over the model, thus preventing time- and cost-inefficiencies along the project development. Although traditional planning proves to be 20% shorter than 4D simulation, the latter is observed to be 40% more efficient regarding visual monitoring of time progress and also 40% more efficient in the data update process.

Resource levelling aims to obtain a feasible schedule to minimise the resource usage fluctuations during project execution. It is of crucial importance in project scheduling to ensure the effective...

Growing complexity is one of the main reasons behind the failure of many projects. Thus, identifying and measuring complexity is crucial to the success of any project. Various schedule complexity i...

Agile methodologies changed the way of software development in the last decades. However, there is still struggling with the implementation of agile methods in environments such as the telecommunications industry with its long lasting projects in complex and large system set-ups. In this paper, we present a survey on agile software projects in telecommunications and comparable organizations and a case study of a multi-year software integration project and its transition from traditional project execution to agile methods at an Austrian mobile network operator. Including all pitfalls and failures.

In 2016 the Subsea Integration Alliance (SIA) was awarded the industry's first deepwater integrated subsea engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning (EPCIC) multiphase boosting system contract. The scope of the contract called for the supply and installation of a subsea multiphase boosting system in the Dalmatian Field in the Gulf of Mexico and represents the world's longest deepwater subsea boosting tieback. Several studies were conducted to look at increased oil recovery (IOR), with subsea boosting yielding the best economic benefits and lowest overall risk profile. The subsea boosting system has now been installed and has significantly improved the operator's ultimate recovery. The Dalmatian Field was developed in deepwater Gulf of Mexico by Murphy and partners and commenced production in April 2014. The field was developed as a subsea tieback in water depths of approximately 6,000 ft, with a record tieback distance of 22 mi to the Petronius Field compliant tower platform in shallower waters of approximately 1,800 ft. The challenge of increased recovery in subsea fields has driven the advancement of subsea processing technologies, especially in the subsea boosting domain. The successful operation of subsea multiphase boosting systems on a global scale, coupled with the significant added value these systems generate, has driven technological advances in terms of higher differential pressures and longer step-outs. The subsea boosting system was installed in October 2018 and significantly improving the operator's ultimate recovery. Working in close collaboration with the operating company, the SIA has demonstrated that this type of project execution, also referred to as a supplier-led-solution (SLS), can be an effective way to accelerate project completion, reduce schedule and installation risk, and improve overall project economics. This project was completed in a very short execution time of less than 23 months from contract award to pump startup. This was achieved using mature technology in combination with a novel integrated contract model. In addition, a front-end engineering design (FEED) study was performed to define the project scope that included integrated asset modeling to fully explore the potential of the system that enabled the project to be sanctioned. The Dalmatian subsea boosting system represents a game changer in the subsea processing domain because it is an important leap forward in the efforts to improve recovery and enable long deepwater tiebacks. For field developments in remote, deep, and hostile locations, this technology represents a key enabler. This paper explains the application of the subsea boosting system in the Dalmatian Field and discusses how the Alliance's SLS approach to project delivery using fit-for-purpose solutions based on existing design ensured a seamless delivery and installation of a deepwater boosting system for the operator.

Technology has transformed the energy industry over the last 60 years. It has made processes more efficient, employees more productive and crucially, it has improved the safety of both workers and facilities. In a mature industry, such as oil and gas, operators and owners are faced with the challenge of safely and efficiently managing their ageing plant and assets. This challenge is compounded by poor historic records and information, and the potential loss of knowledge as the current workforce retires. Coupled with the increasing requirement for high levels of design assurance and confidence in solutions, and the constant pressure to deliver value, faster and cheaper; companies are constantly looking at the latest technological advances, and to other industry sectors, for possible solutions. This paper explores, through case studies, how the latest digital modelling and visualisation techniques are being innovatively deployed to enhance design, delivery and operations in the oil and gas sector. SNC-Lavalin have been uniquely deploying these technologies into the nuclear sector, where access time is highly-limited due to nuclear radiation. This learning has been brought to the oil and gas sector, and is an exemplar of cross-industry working and knowledge transfer.

A flow-shop construction scheduling – especially for a higher number of tasks projected – requires the use of metaheuristic algorithms to find the optimal schedule. The criteria of optimality may vary as well as constraints assumed for the schedule. The paper presents base rules of the flow-shop scheduling as well as the methods of making the work of engaged brigades continuous. When the cost of work execution is analyzed, it can occur that the optimal schedule understood as providing the shortest total time of project execution or the shortest total slack times of working brigades is not the cheapest solution. The following cost generators are taken into account: a daily cost of each brigade (working or waiting for the work), the technology applied to work execution, penalties for not keeping the milestones. The model of a time-cost evaluation of the flow-shop time schedule is formulated, analyzed and discussed. For the illustration of the presented model, the exemplary flow-shop time schedule with some constraints assumed is analyzed with and without the lowest cost as a criterion of optimality.

Context. Among the static analysis tools available, SonarQube is one of the most used. SonarQube detects Technical Debt (TD) items—i.e., violations of coding rules—and then estimates TD as the time needed to remedy TD items. However, practitioners are still skeptical about the accuracy of remediation time estimated by the tool. Objective. In this paper, we analyze both diffuseness of TD items and accuracy of remediation time, estimated by SonarQube, to fix TD items on a set of 21 open-source Java projects. Method. We designed and conducted a case study where we asked 81 junior developers to fix TD items and reduce the TD of 21 projects. Results. We observed that TD items are diffused in the analyzed projects and most items are code smells. Moreover, the results point out that the remediation time estimated by SonarQube is inaccurate and, as compared to the actual time spent to fix TD items, is in most cases overestimated. Conclusions. The results of our study are promising for practitioners and researchers. The former can make more aware decisions during project execution and resource management, the latter can use this study as a starting point for improving TD estimation models.

The capability to develop a reliable 'Estimate at Completion' from the earliest stage of project execution is essential in order to develop a proactive project management. In order to accomplish this aim, a model to formulate estimates at completion is presented which integrates through a Bayesian approach three knowledge sources: experts' opinions, data from past projects and the current performance of the ongoing project. The model has been applied to three Oil and Gas projects in order to forecast their final duration and cost. These projects are characterized by a high level of size, uncertainty and complexity representing a challenging test for the model. The results obtained show a higher forecasting accuracy of the Bayesian model compared to the traditional Earned Value Management (EVM) methodology.

A review of the literature identifying the critical success factors (CSFs) of project execution revealed two research gaps: a too subjective selection of CSFs rather than an objective selection and too many critical factors, resulting in doubts about their criticality. To overcome these two research gaps, this study proposed a hybrid method that uses the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) to obtain weightings of factors and ranks their importance. The meaning of criticality, in combination with the concept of acceptable advantage of VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR), was then used to objectively identify the CSFs of project execution, using the environmental consultancy service industry in Taiwan as an example. Finally, six CSFs were found and five management implications were identified, and these findings can serve as a valuable reference for project execution in the environmental consultancy service industry. This combined method can also be used to identify the CSFs of ...

This paper focuses on the development of trust in temporary inter-organizational relations. One specific form of such relations is public construction projects established by competitive tendering. In this context, previous studies have suggested that the shadow of the future only moderates behavior to a limited extent and trust may seem hard to come by. The present in-depth case study adds to the theorizing of trust dynamics by demonstrating that reciprocal norms at the industry level, as well as reciprocal norms developing during project execution, contribute to the development of trust. The study connects trust, reciprocity, and actions, giving insight into the interplay between trust and reciprocity, the interplay between reciprocal norms at the industry level and the project level, and the role of small and large actions in the trust process.

While project management success focuses upon the processes and the successful accomplishments of cost and time objectives, product success deals with the quality of the final product. Recently, quality of the constructed highway has been considered highly important reason for the pavement response and its design life. The main objective of this paper is to improve the management of highway projects in Egypt by determining the most important factors influencing the quality performance of this industry. In total, 39 factors that may influence the quality of highway projects have been defined through a detailed literature review. The factors are tabulated in a questionnaire form, which is sent out to 13 owners of divided highways, 27 owners of regional roads, and 15 consultants. The analysis of the respondents’ perspectives using fuzzy triangle approach shows that the most important factors affecting the quality are availability of experienced staff in the owner’s and contractor’s teams during the project execution; efficiency of the owner’s inspection team; clarity of responsibilities and roles for each owner, consultant, and contractor; pavement which is not designed according to the regional conditions (e.g., soil type, temperature, and traffic volume); and asphalt quality and type used in the construction process.

This research develops three new models for the project portfolio selection problem with multiple periods. To reflect some real situations, three loss assumptions are considered for the interruption of project execution for the first time. The mathematical representations of the loss assumptions are provided and proved. Besides, the workload constraint, capital flow constraint, cardinality constraint, and precedence relationship are incorporated into the models. One benchmark example and one real-world application case are used to demonstrate the capability and characteristics of the proposed models.

Why do projects fail? This is a question that has been researched across various project disciplines, including that of Business Process Re-engineering (BPR). This paper introduces a different angle on why BPR projects fail. An analysis of a case study conducted within a financial institution revealed new factors that could influence BPR project outcomes, but that have not been identified in the literature. The Organisation Ring of Influence model was developed to indicate the impact that organisation behaviours and structures had on the outcome of an executed BPR project. This model also helps to highlight which factors were more influential than others. Waarom misluk projekte? Dit is 'n vraag wat oor verskeie projek-dissiplines nagevors is, insluitende dié van besigheidsproses-herontwerp. Hierdie artikel stel 'n nuwe hoek bekend om die oorsaak vir projekmislukking te bepaal. 'n Analise van 'n gevallestudie, wat by 'n finansiële instansie geloods is, het nuwe faktore wat die besigheidsprosesherontwerp beïnvloed, onthul. Hierdie faktore is nie in bestaande navorsing geïdentifiseer nie. Die Organisasie-Ring-van-Invloed model is ontwikkel om die impak wat die organisatoriesegedrag en -strukture op die eindresultaat van 'n voltooide besigheidsprosesherontwerp projek gehad het, aan te dui. Die model help ook om die faktore wat meer invloed uitoefen uit te lig.

Since the mega construction project, typically defined as a contract that exceed $1 billion, requires a large scale financial investment, there exists a high possibility of having a budget constraint and limitation during the project execution stage as well as the planning stage. The previous studies were limited to analyzing the resource-constrained scheduling problems in the case of a budget constraint during the initial stage with smaller-scale projects and have never presented comprehensive approaches for rescheduling during the implementation stage and calculating its overall cost impact, especially on mega projects. As such, this study aimed to examine the methodologies and limitations of the previous studies and to analyze solutions to solve their shortcomings, thereby presenting a better methodology to practically apply to mega projects. Specifically, this study assessed the heuristic method that is the most applicable to mega projects and applied it to a real mega project, thereby suggesting a new method of construction process adjustment. The suggested method is expected to be appropriately used as a solution to similar issues with no restrictions to the size of the project.

The need for basic infrastructure for economic development in developing countries has made megaprojects popular, in such parts of the world. Megaprojects can be very important to a host country: the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Project has contributed about four percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product. However, due to the complexity involved with megaprojects, project failure rate is high around the world, especially so for upstream oil and gas projects. This paper recommends a systems approach to megaprojects analysis, for a better understanding of these projects: from the pre-final investment decision (FID) stage through project execution. This author believes that a system approach to megaprojects analysis should provide better decision quality for decision makers.

Earned value project management (EVPM) is an effective tool for managing project performance. However, most studies on extensions and applications of EVPM concentrate on improving final cost and duration estimates rather than improving upon the use of planned value (PV) to predict earned value (EV) and actual cost value (AC). This study proposes a straightforward modeling method for improving the predictive power of PV before executing a project. By using this modeling method, this study develops EV and AC forecasting models for four case projects. Out-of-sample forecasting validation using mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) demonstrates that the proposed method improves forecasting accuracy by an average of 23.66% and 17.39%, respectively, for EV and AC. This improvement on PV's predictive power prior to project execution provides management with more reliable predictive information about EV and AC performance, allowing for effective proactive action to ensure favorable performance outcomes.

This paper addresses the current oil & gas industry need for awareness and how to accelerate use of international standardization efforts, with focus on multi-disciplinary ISO standards and business governance. Qualified compliant use of ISO standards can unlock necessary business value and is a means to achieve cost-efficiency, HSE objectives, and minimize climate impact. The user domain encompasses regulatory bodies, oil and gas companies, drilling companies, engineering companies, equipment manufacturers, research & consultancies. The ISO/TC67 Working Group "Reliability engineering and technology" has responsibility for reliability and cost related ISO standards within the Petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries. The portfolio of the multi-disciplinary ISO standards is internationally acknowledged and has recently been updated by many new standards that the global user domain can benefit from to achieve cost reducing technologies. Reliability and cost is part of the equation in innovative technology development processes to enforce quality and minimize risk, and enable new technology meets overall business performance objectives. This paper will give highlights of the following ISO standards and a roadmap for their application: ISO 14224 - Collection and exchange of reliability and maintenance data for equipment ISO 20815 - Production assurance and reliability management ISO 19008 - Standard cost coding system to gas production and processing facilities Company applications are presented to show examples in technology development, project development, and oil & gas field operations. Standards relation to digitalization of oil and gas industry will also be addressed, e g. how "reliability communication" between oil company and supplier can benefit from use of the latest ISO standard 14224. Contractual framing of reliability and Key Performance Indicators will also be presented. This ISO standardization work is based on international expert team efforts by many countries, and in collaboration with IOGP. The work supports the ISO/TC67 Mission: "To create value-added standards for the oil and gas industry", and the ISO/TC67 Vision: "International standards used locally worldwide."

In November 2017, ExxonMobil Canada Properties (EM) started production from the world-class Hebron development located approximately 340 km offshore St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada. The Hebron Platform is a standalone concrete single shaft Gravity Base Structure with an Offshore Loading System, Single Integrated Drill Rig, and Topsides production facilities capable of handling 150,000 barrels per day of crude oil.The Hebron Project was developed from Pre-FEED to Start-Up over the course of eight years in more than a dozen work sites. The project has achieved schedule commitments and liquidated more than 60 million work hours. A large contributor to success was the effective integration and management of engineering, fabrication and commissioning organizations at all work locations. This paper will explore the execution techniques which enabled the organization to successfully manage a complex scope divided amongst diverse work locations and contractors as well as describe some of the leadership and management techniques employed to create productive work behaviors across teams and work locations.

In order to enhance students’ individual and team competency in building information modeling (BIM) project execution, this research adopts the team-based learning (TBL) pedagogy and aligns...

For deepwater developments involving floating platforms in harsh environmental conditions which lie beyond well-established industry practices, model tests are usually required. The paper describes the different types of model tests and their respective objectives, scopes, and requirements. Different types of testing facilities are also described. The objective is to give an overview of various aspects of model testing, so the reader will come away with a better understanding of how and why model tests are performed and how they can best be used in projects. The timing of tests and their interaction with the project schedule is also described. For example, model tests may be carried out early in the design for concept selection studies, or sometimes at the end of FEED for a specific concept application. Project tests are often performed at the beginning of detailed engineering to resolve any outstanding design issues or sometimes near the end of the project to confirm the effects of certain changes. These different test types have different methods, requirements, procedures and results. Model tests may address installations, operations or performance of deepwater systems such as mooring and dynamic riser interactions or may generate benchmarking data for CFD. Depending on the type of tests, certain key aspects must be carefully controlled. Required test data and the cost-benefit trade-offs of different test objectives are discussed. Results and observations are given for several model testing applications of deepwater developments in Asia Pacific region and elsewhere. Examples of different types of tests are used to draw conclusions about the role of tests. Looking ahead to the future, several deepwater testing basins are under development in different parts of the world. Limitations such as scale effects and basin boundary truncations are discussed. Ongoing research into novel model testing methods currently being carried out and their potential to improve the accuracy and reliability of full-scale predictions are pointed out. CFD or so-called numerical wave tank is a relatively mature tool which is gaining use in offshore projects and promises to overcome some of these limitations. Fortunately, improvements in available computing power and software are continually reducing the required computation time and cost. Both physical tests and complementary CFD simulations are required to obtain a complete picture of the full-scale performance of deepwater platforms. The need for full-scale measurements and design feedback is often over-looked but benefits future projects by closing the design loop to reduce future conservatism.

Companies invest countless hours in planning project execution because it is a crucial component for their growth. However, regardless of all the considerations taken in the planning stage, uncertainty inherent to project execution leads to schedule disruptions, and even renders projects unfeasible. There is a vast amount of studies for generating baseline (predictive) schedules, yet, the literature regarding reactive scheduling for the Multi-Mode Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (MRCPSP) is scant with only two previous studies found at the time of writing. In contrast, schedule disruption management has been thoroughly studied in the mass production environment, and regardless of the difficulties encountered, they will almost certainly be required to meet the levels planned. With this in mind, this study proposes an integrative (proactive and reactive) scheduling framework that uses the experience and methodologies developed in the production scheduling environment and apply it to the MRCPSP. The purpose of this framework is to be used on further empirical research.

The mission of Project Half Double is to develop a project methodology that can increase the impact and speed of projects. Overall, the goal is to deliver "Projects in half the time with double the impact" where projects in half the time should be understood as half the time to impact (benefit realization, effect is achieved) and not as half the time for project execution. Implement Consulting Group is running Project Half Double in collaboration with a number of companies as well as The Danish Industry Foundation that supports the project financially. Aarhus University is engaged in the project with the overall task of evaluating the implementation of the new Half Double Methodology and document its potential impact in a number of pilot projects.In this booklet, the research team briefly presents the high level reseach findings of Project Half Double.

Construction project scheduling and monitoring is challenging in today's very dynamic business environment. In this study, a project execution tracking system in a medium‒sized construction company was studied. Two different methods were proposed as problem solution for project scheduling and monitoring. Traditional CPM and PERT methods, and Monte Carlo simulation as risk analysis tool were used in this case study. The results show that 186 working days (which is optimistic estimate) is required to finish a luxury villa is determined by CPM method, while Monte Carlo simulation implies that there is 50% of chance that the luxury villa will be done in 205 days, but still there is a risk of 50% that the villa construction may be delayed.

Part 5: Operations Management in Engineer-to-Order Manufacturing; International audience; The planning process in Engineer-To-Order (ETO) projects is challenging due to: global network of participants within a project, dynamic iterations on design and engineering activities as well as the need for completing activities in a concurrent manner that shorten the delivery time. Moreover, managerial decisions on what and where to outsource disturbs the planning process due to lack of integration between different working methodologies or systems. In this article, we present some of the challenges faced during the planning process and connect them to the project execution strategy applied by ETO companies when managing their projects.

Pipe jacking plays a vital role in project execution by providing an economical, practical, and environmentally responsible approach to installing buried pipeline systems. Effectively calcu...

The professional consultancy services provided by construction management consultants (CMC) are important supplements to clients’ management of project execution. However, CMCs’ services, i...

Many organisations have adopted outsourcing for delivering critical IT services to their clients. Organisations need to identify the potential security threats of outsourced IT projects as early as possible to avoid or mitigate security incidents. Existing threat classification approaches suffer from limitations such as the lack of exhaustive threat classification criteria. In this paper, we propose a threat classification approach for outsourced IT projects. This approach aims to allow organisations to identify, minimise, mitigate, or eliminate security threats at the early stages of project execution.

Project Half Double has a clear mission to succeed in finding a project methodology that can increase the success rate of our projects while increasing the speed at which we generate new ideas and develop new products and services. Chaos and complexity should be seen as a basic condition and as an opportunity rather than a threat and a risk. We are convinced that by doing so, we can strengthen Denmark’s competitiveness and play an important role in the battle for jobs and future welfare. The overall goal is to deliver “projects in half the time with double the impact”, where projects in half the time should be understood as half the time to impact (benefit realisation, effect is achieved) and not as half the time for project execution. The purpose of Project Half Double is to improve Danish industrial competitiveness by radically increasing the pace and impact of the development and innovation activities carried out within the framework of the projects. The formal part of Project Half Double was initiated in June 2015. We started out by developing, refining and testing the Half Double methodology on seven pilot projects in the first phase of the project, which will end June 2016. The current status of responding to the above overall Project Half Double goal for the seven pilot projects can be summarised as follows: - The Lantmannen Unibake pilot project was able to launch the first stores after 5 months, which is considerably shorter lead time than comparable reference projects, which have had a lead time of 10 months or more. This is in line with the overall goal of Project Half Double of delivering impact faster. - Four pilot projects have the potential to deliver impact faster, but it is too early to evaluate. Some results might be evaluated in the second half of 2016, while other results take longer to evaluate (Coloplast, Novo Nordisk, GN Audio and VELUX). - Two pilot projects will probably not be able to deliver impact faster, although it is too early to evaluate them. The evaluation of these pilot projects takes place over a longer period of time as it will take years before many of the key performance indicators associated with them can be evaluated (Grundfos and Siemens Wind Power). In addition to the current status of delivering impact faster for the seven pilot projects, it is important to highlight that Project Half Double phase 1 has planted many seeds in the pilot organisations concerning project methodology and beyond. The many learning points from each pilot project show that Project Half Double has left its clear footprint in the pilot organisations, and that the Half Double methodology has evolved and developed very much during Project Half Double phase 1.

Software project success has various facets and definitions ranging from customer satisfaction over software quality to the degree of implemented vs. not implemented requirements. Customers, developers and project leaders strive for project success. During the development process, they try to pay attention to aspects which are perceived to be important for a satisfying project execution from their individual point of view. These aspects may vary according to the underlying definition and understanding of project success. Different views on the importance of aspects like communication can cause problems and complicate the collaboration due to different expectations and misunderstandings.