Sharareh Kermanshachi

Exploring and Assessing Project Complexity

AbstractThe term project complexity is not well understood in the construction industry by either scholars or practitioners. Project complexity, however, is a critical factor in project management ...

Project Scoping Process Model Development to Achieve On-Time and On-Budget Delivery of Highway Projects

Transportation agencies have significantly improved many aspects of project delivery, yet they continue to be challenged by cost increases and time delays that occur after a project is programmed and funded. An increase or a change in the scope of a project to improve facility performance is a common source of such cost increases and schedule delays. Therefore, this study focused on improvement in the project scoping process (PSP) to achieve on-time and on-budget delivery of highway projects. The thrust of this research was to develop a framework that could help transportation agencies improve their scope development processes and practices. A key effort in this study was to assess current project scoping practices. After a literature review, the research team developed a survey protocol, distributed questionnaires, collected survey data, and performed data analysis. Forty responses were received that represented 23 state transportation agencies (STAs). On the basis of the survey responses, six STAs were selected for face-to-face interviews. The intent of the interviews was to confirm survey results and delve into topics not covered in the survey. As a result of these tasks, the research team identified considerable variation in scope development processes across the agencies with respect to the definition of a PSP, formality of the process, timing of the PSP, and project maturity when a project is programmed. On the basis of what was learned from the literature review, surveys, and follow-up interviews, the research team developed a PSP definition and framework. This PSP framework contains three major actions, namely, to select the project, to analyze the project, and to advance the preferred alternative.

Development of the Project Complexity Assessment and Management Framework for Heavy Industrial Projects

ABSTRACT Complexity is a term applied throughout the project management field, and project complexity typically presents additional management challenges to achieving project objectives. Without an appropriate approach to assess and manage project complexity, project teams frequently face difficulties in executing their projects. This study provides a framework to develop a tool which can effectively measure and assess complexity levels of a project. This tool was designed with a “Complexity Measurement Matrix”, and is comprised of 37 complexity indicators (CIs) which have proven to be significant to describing project complexity. The complexity measurement scales were developed by normalizing data gathered from a survey of 44 completed projects. The weight factors of the 37 CIs were calculated based on three rounds of Delphi method. The developed tool generates a set of comprehensive reports and provides users with the overall project complexity level, a series of radar diagrams describing the most important indicators, and associated strategies to manage each indicator. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing a pioneering approach to assessing project complexity and aids practitioners in facilitating project complexity management processes identifying the most important complexity contributors and focusing on managing complexity-associated challenges.

Discovering the Impact of Late Change Orders and Rework on Labor Productivity: A Water Treatment Case Study Analysis Using System Dynamics Modeling

Most complex projects can expect some level of rework and minor changes that can be conceptually predicted and estimated during the bidding process. However, existing literature and practitioners’ experience indicate that the true impact of late change orders and rework on labor productivity behavior is often greater than expected, and the unintended side effects are very difficult to measure. This lack of knowledge and understanding leads to inaccurate calculations of the true impact of project changes and creates an incorrect ground for future decisions. Therefore, this research aims to develop a system dynamics model to understand and analyze the fluctuations in the field labor productivity rate and behavior in response to changes in the scope of the project. The other objective of this study is to formulate and discuss management policies that limit these undesirable side effects and their implications. Based on a large-scale design-bid-build water treatment project, this research conducts a case study to monitor the behavior of changes in productivity rate due to different scale change orders. The simulation results show that if a project falls behind schedule due to a change and the project deadline remains fixed, schedule pressure leads to an initial increase in productivity up to a certain level, but eventually may lead to major employee frustration. This frustration has the potential of increasing the project duration further and makes a bad situation even worse. Schedule pressure further exacerbates the problem by typically increasing the rework fraction or the errors on the built work packages. The outcome of this study helps practitioners to utilize the developed model to monitor and track labor productivity rate changes in each individual construction project and manage institutional overtime policies accordingly.

Resource-Based Exploratory Analysis of Project Complexity Impact on Phase-Based Cost Performance Behavior

In the field of construction engineering, practitioners frequently encounter uncertainties in the process of decision-making and management of complex projects. These uncertainties associated with project complexity, which vastly affect the project development and execution process, may cause favorable/unfavorable impacts on projects cost performance. Several scholars believe that project complexity may cause unintended consequences on project performance; however, some other researchers stated that complex projects might receive higher attention and more resources and as a result, may face less cost overruns. Therefore, this study initially aims investigate the impact of complexity on phase-based cost performance. For this reason, forty-four case studies consisting thirty high complexity projects and fourteen low complexity ones were collected. Then, Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) phase cost performance of high and low complexity projects were studied and compared. To analyze the collected data, Twosample t-test was utilized. Analysis indicated that complex projects have better EPC phase cost performance compared to low complexity ones. Finally, to find out the underlying causes of better cost performance of high complexity projects in comparison with low complexity ones, the allocated resources and implemented Best Practices (BPs) were studied. It was observed that highlevel of constructability, alignment, partnering, front-end planning, team building, and change management best practices were implemented in complex projects. The findings of this study can help project/program managers (PM) to better understand the phase-based behavior of cost performance in complex projects, and hence implement strategies and allocate resources effectively and efficiently in complex projects. ITRODUCTION Construction industry is inherently uncertain and complex due to the nature of industry itself. Practitioners and researchers have many challenges while facing uncertainties and complexity throughout construction projects. Scholars believe that with a proactive complexity management plan, a construction project may face less frequent and/or severe uncertainties. For many years, researchers did not agree on a single widely accepted definition of project complexity (Edmonds, 1999, Sinha et al. 2001). To address this issue, Dao et al. (2016) performed a comprehensive analysis on complexity and its impact on project. The same researchers (Dao et al., 2017) defined project complexity as “the degree of differentiation of project elements,

Development of Project Communication Network: A New Approach to Information Flow Modeling

In complex construction projects with numerous stakeholders, communication can be very challenging, and any miscommunication, i.e., faulty transfer of information, can negatively influence the project’s success. Although communication is one of the key success factors in the construction industry, a limited number of researchers have focused on internal communication of primary and secondary stakeholders. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to study the quality of communication among primary and secondary stakeholders, and develop a network for external communication of entities within a civil project. To achieve the mentioned objectives, this study initially utilized the earlier-identified internal CIs within primary stakeholders and then found CIs within secondary stakeholders through several statistical analyses, including the two-sample t-test, chi squared Test, and analysis Of variance (ANOVA). The indicators, which influence the quality of internal communication between more than one group of stakeholders, were considered as shared commination indicators (SCIs). Therefore, the overlaps in the various groups of stakeholders creates a new space for communication between these entities (eternal commination). We aimed to visualize and quantify an external communication network by utilizing Cohen’s d effect size weights. The outcome of this research study allows project participants’ to focus on project characteristics which impact communication between secondary stakeholders and allocate more human and financial resources to the identified sensitive communication areas which could remarkably increase the communication effectiveness and subsequently project success. INTRODUCTION Communication is essential for stakeholder’s support and commitment. Regular, planned, and effective communication is necessary for project success (Briner et al. 1996, Kermanshachi, 2010). Based on a another part of this study, we found effective communication indicators (ECIs) that affect owners’, designers’, and contractors’ internal communication (Kamalirad, 2018). In research for this paper, we found effective variables within subcontractors’ and vendors’ communiques. Analysis of these CIs shows some overlaps in the different entities and can be interpreted as issues that stakeholders will face. In other words, stakeholders in a project are involved in different areas, based on their responsibilities, authorities, and intervention level, and they communicate to bring the project to a successful conclusion. When a problem cannot be solved within one entity, other stakeholders need to be brought into the Citation: Kamalirad, S. and Kermanshachi, S. (2018). “Development of Project Communication Network: A New Approach to Information Flow Modeling,” Proceedings of ASCE Construction Research Congress, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 2-4, 2018.

An Optimal Preventive Maintenance Model for Natural Gas Transmission Pipelines

Although pipeline systems are the most economical and safest way of oil and gas transportation, there have been an increasing number of incidents. Therefore, pipeline operators need to constantly evaluate and update their Preventive Maintenance (PM) strategies. This paper performed economic analysis of PM strategies based on the cost of internal and external corrosion-related failures and developed optimal PM mathematical cost and time models for natural gas pipelines. The data used for this study was collected from eleven largest natural gas transmission pipelines. This study developed a method to calculate the optimal replacement time for potential failures based on the ratio of preventive replacement cost to corrective replacement cost. Moreover, this study developed a model to calculate cost of PM strategies based on the optimal replacement time. The results of this study helps decision-makers in the oil and gas industry to select the proper PM strategies for corrosion-related failures. INTRODUCTION Pipeline systems are the most popular method for transporting natural gas. Pipelines distribute almost 70 percent of oil and gas products worldwide (Mohitpour et al., 2010). In addition, pipeline networks are growing every year due to new pipelines’ construction in new areas. However, pipelines require the highest level of reliability due to safety concerns. In fact, pipeline systems are becoming more complex and being located excessively near high-density populated areas (“high-consequence areas” (HCAs)). Any release of hydro-carbon in HCAs could have adverse consequences and great environmental impacts. Therefore, safety is the highest priority for governments and the operators (Hernandez-Rodriguez et al., 2007). Pipelines represent a dominant means of transporting gas from their upstream location to the downstream. While the oil and gas industry uses other transportation methods such as oil-gas tankers and tank trucks/railroad tank cars, pipelines are known as the preferred choice since (1) pipelines are capable of transporting large amounts of gas and liquid over long distances, and (2) pipelines carry oil and gas products faster, safer, and more cost-efficient compared to other forms of transportation. The purpose of the Preventive Maintenance (PM) activities is to minimize the cost of system operation and to maximize the reliability of the system. Maintenance actions can be divided into two major classes: preventive maintenance and corrective maintenance. Corrective maintenance occurs as a result of failures. However, preventive maintenance improves the overall system reliability. Pipelines 2017 517

Statistical Modeling of Corrosion Failures in Natural Gas Transmission Pipelines

Natural gas pipelines are critical component of U.S. energy infrastructure. The safety of these pipelines plays a key role in the gas industry. Therefore, understanding pipeline failure characteristics and consequences is a very important criterion in decisions making process associated with future design and maintenance of natural gas pipelines. The oil and gas industry spends billions of dollars annually for the corrosion-related issues due to aging and deterioration processes in pipeline networks. Therefore, pipeline operators need to constantly evaluate and update their corrosion prevention strategies. The loss due to corrosion failures is the main motivation for the oil and gas industry to develop accurate maintenance models based on failure frequency. Statistical pipeline failure models and proper maintenance decisions play a significant role in reducing the failure rates of the pipelines and ultimately enhance the cost effectiveness and safety of the pipelines. This paper fulfilled the following two objectives: (1) failure mode characteristics identification, and (2) model development to address the failure rate and reliability. The pipeline failure incident data used for this study was collected from eleven largest natural gas transmission pipeline operators’ data from 2001 to 2011. The pipeline networks were divided into two major modes: internal and external corrosion. Internal corrosion refers to the failure inside the pipe due to the liquid characteristics and operating conditions whereas external corrosion refers to the failure due to surrounding environment outside the pipeline. Two major applied stochastic models, Homogeneous Poisson Process (HPP) and Non-Homogeneous Poisson Process (NHPP), were tested to analyze the reliability trend within categorized installation times. The outcome of the tests on the reliability models shows that the reliability should be modeled with NHPP and the trend is dominantly deteriorating for external and internal corrosion with a few exceptions on stationary and improving. It was also shown that decades of installation and the number of previous failures are the two significant pipeline failure characteristics. The result of this study assists decision-making process in the oil and gas industry to predict the expected number of failures in future transmission pipeline operation more accurately and facilitates the utilization of proper preventive maintenance strategies. Pipelines 2016 195

Effective Project Scoping Practices to Improve On-Time and On-Budget Delivery of Highway Projects

This guidebook demonstrates how a state transportation agency (STA) can improve its project scoping process (PSP) and practices to produce a project cost estimate and schedule that facilitate programming decision making and accountability. It illustrates the effort needed to develop a robust cost estimate and then manage to a baseline budget and scope throughout the project delivery cycle. The guidebook consists of two parts. Part 1, “Research Results about the PSP,” addresses the following issues: why STAs should formalize the PSP; current practices for PSP; and how agencies can implement an effective PSP. Part 2, “Implementation Guidelines,” provides an easy-to-understand layout and describes how to implement the PSP. The guidelines are divided into three sections. Each section details one of the three major activities of the PSP—develop the project, analyze the alternatives and document findings, and develop the recommended alternative. The guidelines also have two appendices. The first appendix summarizes the tools that can be used while performing different activities in the scope development process. The second appendix is the list of online links to various resources and tools to support the PSP, as referenced in this guidebook.