Configuration Management in Complex Engineering Projects

AbstractDigital technologies are radically transforming project delivery, breaking the mould of 1960s approaches to enable more rapid and agile forms of organizing. Yet the use of large digital data-sets also requires new forms of control. This study compares the leading practices of managing change in digitally-enabled projects in Airbus, CERN and Crossrail. It focuses on configuration management, the process of maintaining system integrity while handling change to both the digital data-set and the related real- world engineering systems. The contribution is to explain: first, why configuration management has become more, rather than less, important in complex engineering in an era of ‘big data’; and second, how approaches to configuration management are shaped by these industrial contexts of civil engineering, nuclear research and aerospace. The paper concludes by considering the implications for managing digitally-enabled projects

Managing change in complex projects: configuration management, asset information and big data

As we enter an era of ‘big data’, asset information is becoming a deliverable of complex projects. Prior research suggests digital technologies enable rapid, flexible forms of project organizing. This research analyses practices of managing change in Airbus, CERN and Crossrail, through desk-based review, interviews, visits and a cross-case workshop. These organizations deliver complex projects, rely on digital technologies to manage large data-sets; and use configuration management, a systems engineering approach with mid-20th century origins, to establish and maintain integrity. In them, configuration management has become more, rather than less, important. Asset information is structured, with change managed through digital systems, using relatively hierarchical, asynchronous and sequential processes. The paper contributes by uncovering limits to flexibility in complex projects where integrity is important. Challenges of managing change are discussed, considering the evolving nature of configuration management; potential use of analytics on complex projects; and implications for research and practice

A Critical Examination of Change Control Processes

AbstractThis paper reviews studies on change control processes in construction to inform future research. It starts by defining and distinguishing change, variations, change orders, change management processes and control. The review then identifies two streams in the existing literature: the first empirically describes change order causes and effects on projects, and the second seeks to develop new models for managing change processes. The review is timely as major construction projects, such as Crossrail, are implementing configuration management principles to manage change. While the extant model-building work by researchers provides a useful starting point for further research, this paper argues that there is important work to do, that is less high-level and more empirically grounded, to examine, test and extend established principles of configuration management