BIM MATURITY ASSESSMENT AND CERTIFICATION IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECT TEAM SELECTION

Abstract: To implement BIM in a construction project successfully, all the project participants as BIM users must have minimum BIM capabilities. Before any project starts, assessing BIM capabilities of project stakeholders is a concern for construction clients. The main problem of public clients regarding BIM is that they have no mechanism to ensure that the key participants, they hire for a BIM project, have the minimum capabilities (i.e. BIM Infrastructure, processes and qualified resources) to participate in design and delivery of the project. The high variability of firms' readiness to work with BIM may impose a high cost for the client and other mature members of the supply chain. Therefore, construction clients need a way to ensure minimum BIM maturity of participants, such as a maturity audit to assess BIM competency of potential project team members. From a client's perspective, "minimum BIM qualification" means "minimum capability to use BIM". The current BIM maturity models try to assess BIM capabilities level of firms, but lack BIM uses assessment. This research proposes a prototype that focuses on capability of firms in specific BIM uses, while measuring their general BIM capabilities. The research methodology is based on an iterative literature review followed by focus group discussions. Through literature review, the researchers propose BIM platform maturity model. Then, BIM experts discuss on possible improvements. It is expected that by using this model, construction clients may achieve more BIM benefits, i.e. reduced cost, time, and increased quality of project, through selection of BIM-qualified project team members

BIM maturity assessment and certification in construction project team selection

To implement BIM in a construction project successfully, all the project participants, as BIM users, must have minimum BIM capabilities. Before any project starts, assessing the BIM capabilities of project stakeholders is a concern for construction clients. The main problem however is that they have no mechanism to ensure that the key participants they hire for a BIM project have the minimum capabilities (BIM infrastructure, processes and qualified resources) to participate in the design and delivery of a BIM project. The high variability of a firms’ readiness to work with BIM may impose a high cost for the client and the most mature members of the supply chain. Therefore, construction clients need a way to ensure a minimum BIM maturity, such as a maturity audit to assess the BIM competency of potential project team members. From a client’s perspective, “minimum BIM qualification means “minimum capability to use BIM”. The current BIM maturity models try to assess the BIM capability level of firms, but do not focus on BIM Uses. This research proposes a maturity model that focuses on the capability of firms for specific BIM Uses, while measuring their general BIM competencies. The research methodology is based on a review of literature and focus group discussions. Through literature review, the researchers proposed a BIM uses maturity model. Then, BIM experts discussed possible improvements. After an analysis of the discussion, the author proposed the resulting model. It is expected that by using this model, construction clients may achieve more BIM benefits through the selection of BIM qualified project team members, i.e. reduced cost, time, and increased quality of project

Harmonizing CMMI-DEV 1.2 and XP Method to Improve The Software Development Processes in Small Software Development Firms

Most software development organizations are small firms, and they have realized the need to manage and improve their software development and management activities. Traditional Software Process Improvement (SPI) models and standards are not realistic for these firms because of high cost, limited resources and strict project deadlines. Therefore, these firms need a lightweight software development method and an appropriate SPI model to manage and improve their software development and management processes. This study aims to construct a suitable software development process improvement framework for Small Software Development Firms (SSDFs) based on eXtreme Programming (XP) method and Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development Version 1.2 (CMMI-Dev1.2) model. Four stages are involved in developing the framework: (1) aligning XP practices to the specific goals of CMMI-Dev1.2 Key Process Areas (KPAs); (2) developing the proposed software development process improvement framework based on extending XP method by adapting the Extension-Based Approach (EBA), CMMI-Dev1.2, and generic elements of the SPI framework; (3) verifying the compatibility of the proposed framework to the KPAs of CMMI-Dev1.2 by using focus group method coupled with Delphi technique; and (4) validating the modified framework by using CMMI-Dev1.2 questionnaire as a main item to validate the suitability of the modified framework for SSDFs, and conducting two case studies to validate the applicability and effectiveness of this framework for these firms. The result of aligning XP practices to the KPAs of CMMI-Dev1.2 shows that twelve KPAs are largely supported by XP practices, eight KPAs are partially supported by XP practices, and two KPAs are not-supported by XP practices. The main contributions of this study are: software development process improvement framework for SSDFs, elicit better understanding of how to construct the framework, and quality improvement of the software development processes. There are possible avenues for extending this research to fulfil the missing specific practices of several KPAs, examining other agile practices and using CMMI-Dev1.3 to improve the framework, and conducting more case studie

Managing maturity in process-based improvement organizations: a perspective of the Romanian companies

Building upon various models from the literature which assess the maturity level achieved by an organization at one moment in time, the paper introduces a model which helps organizations, interested in remaining competitive and achieving sustainability, to monitor and evaluate their process performance. Such as, the paper analyzes the relationships that exist among the critical components of an organization's management system at the strategic and operational level so that key drivers will become the heart of sustainable development. In particular, the paper focuses on how the organizational system influences process maturity profile of the Romanian companies. Data were collected in face-to-face structured-questionnaire interviews from 1302 public and private organizations from Romania. The dearth of empirical research examining organization process maturity in emerging countries constitutes a critical gap in the business process management literature that needs much more attention from scholars. For the purpose of this paper, a factor analysis was employed to explain the pattern of correlations within a set of observed variables that determine the process maturity profile of the Romanian companies. The research results show that there are strong positive correlations between the variables examined that account for a higher level of maturity and performance of organization's processes

SPQmm : a software product quality maturity model using ISO/IEEE standards, metrology, and sigma concepts

In the software engineering literature, there are numerous maturity models for assessing and evaluating a set of software processes. By contrast, there is no corresponding maturity model for assessing the quality of a software product. The design of such a model to assess the quality of a software product therefore represents a new research challenge in software engineering. Our main goal is to make available to industry (and consumers) a maturity model for assessing and improving the quality of the software product. This Software Product Quality Maturity Model (SPQMM) consists of three quality maturity submodels (viewpoints) that can be used not only once the software product has been delivered, but also throughout the life-cycle: • Software Product Internal Quality Maturity Model- SPIQMM, • Software Product External Quality Maturity Model - SPEQMM, and • Software Product Quality-in-Use Maturity Model- SPQiUMM In this thesis, we introduce the Software Product Quality Maturity Model (SPQMM), which could be used from three different viewpoints: the software product internal quality, the software product external quality, and the software product quality in-use. This quality maturity model is a quantitative model, and it based on the ISO 9126(software product quality measures), ISO 15026 (software integrity levels), IEEE Std. 1012 (software verification and validation) and on six-sigma concepts. To build such a quality maturity model, we have combined the set of quality measures into a single number for each quality characteristic by assuming that all the measures for a single quality characteristic have an equal weight in the computation of a single value for that quality characteristic (they all make an equal contribution), yielding a quality level for that quality characteristic. The resulting quality level is then transformed based on the software integrity level into a sigma value positioned within a quality maturity level

Streamlining Internal Supply Chain, based on mapping processes

Context Background Globalisation, increasing product complexity, volatile demand, and financial crisis all put strains on the supply, processing, and distribution of goods. That’s why supply chain management has become the area to focus on to gain competitive advantages and reduce costs. Saint-Gobain Sekurit Scandinavia (SGSS) is part of a large global French enterprise, Saint-Gobain that’s a world leader in its markets. SGSS also operates globally in three markets and manufactures windshields for the automotive and transportation industries. SGSS’s overall a high performing company that over the years has conducted numerous improvement projects and is both ISO/TS 16949 and ISO 14001 certified. It currently has several employees that have world class manufacturing belts and are continuously managing projects to improve performance. SGSS currently uses a balanced score card type of measurement system and puts a lot of effort on maintaining and improving quality. Problem SGSS’s supply chain processes are not currently defined which makes overview of the supply chain not optimal from management point of view and raises thoughts about the supply chain processes potential for improvements. Distribution of responsibilities is not fully clarified and creates a platform for conflicts and communication problems. That in turn increases the risk for delays of delivery to customers as a result. Other perceived problems are long lead-time, increasing complexity, and high WIP. Purpose Identify and recommend improvements and/ or how to eliminate bottlenecks in information flows within the internal supply chain, based on mapping processes. Improvements are supposed to address the operationalization of strategy and have the purpose to create a sustainable solution Methodology The study assumes systems approach to research and attempts to create a solution that’s greater than single components of analysis. The study begins inductively with the process map, in the second phase it becomes deductive when analysing challenges, the measurement sysVIII tem is a result of both methods iterating and cannot really be defined. The measurement system that is the final result of the study attempts to be normative and the study is therefore considered to be normative as well. Credibility has been important to this study for several reasons, partly because it attempts to be normative; triangulation has been used extensively to ensure credibility. It’s overall a qualitative study even if some quantitative aspects exist. Data is an even mixture of primary and secondary nature. The collection of data is executed through interviews, observations, and archive analysis. Findings Recommendations are separated into three types: primary, secondary, and tertiary recommendations, depending on estimates of required time, dedication and size of investment. SGSS should use the process map and measurement system to improve communication related issues and the measurement system to communicate the relation between operations and strategy so that employees better understand the purpose of their work. Delays can be decreased by restricting forecast changes to the different safety stocks in the supply chain and by using the appended fault tree analysis to understand root causes to delays. SGSS should give supply chain management more attention to take advantage of the on-going market trends and define their value proposition to better align operations. Reorient to the process view in order to reduce hierarchy, i.e. delegate responsibility and authority by empowering process owners, involving employees into decisions, and creating systems that allow employees to get their ideas realized. This also means that SGSS should map the remaining core processes and integrate them with each other. Companies in general and Saint-Gobain Sekurit in Eslöv should take the outside in perspective to strategy. To do that they should benchmark the frame of reference in the performance management system. This will better align strategy with reality

Fitness Assessment, Athlete’s Monitoring Cycle and Training Interventions in Team Sports

Team sports training are progressively growing, and thus challenging strength and conditioning coaches and head coaches. As part of a well-prepared training strategy, it is important to establish a functional relationship among fitness assessment, load, and well-being monitoring and readiness analysis to identify the consequences of training stimulus for players. Each of these topics has already been isolated in research; however, it is important to bridge the gap between them and establish a greater and more comprehensive approach among fitness adaptations, training monitoring, and specific interventions performed. This may help us to achieve a clearer view of the big picture in terms of the consequences for players, such as, considering their exposure to successful biological adaptations or less successful cases, including illness or injuries. As it is clear that more research should be performed on the relationship among these dimensions and topics, the aim of the Special Issue on "Fitness Assessment, Athlete’s Monitoring Cycle and Training Interventions in Team Sports" was to publish high-quality original investigations, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis in the research field of team sports. We have published 22 articles that cover the topics of performance assessment and relationships between fitness measures; training load monitoring, well-being, and readiness in team sports;training interventions; complementary strategies for performance (e.g., nutrition, supplementation, psychology, injury preventions, and recovery); and determinants of illness and injuries in players