Do project managers use indicators for measure performance in their projects?

Gran número de autores reconocen que el uso de indicadores de rendimiento de los proyectos es un factor clave de éxito en los mismos, que además permite obtener retroalimentación y adelantar comportamientos futuros. En esta línea, hemos realizado un estudio exploratorio en una muestra no probabilística de expertos y profesionales de gestión de proyectos para conocer el grado de uso de esta herramienta. Se han obtenido 798 respuestas procedentes de distintos países y sectores, que señala un uso mayoritario de dicha herramienta, pero con ciertos matices como la regularidad en su uso, qué tipo de indicadores son los más usados o como los relacionados con el análisis del valor ganado no tienen un uso tan frecuente como podría esperar.Many authors acknowledge that use of project performance indicators is a key factor for its success, and allows to get a feedback and brings forward future behaviors. In this sense, we performed an exploratory survey in a non-probabilistic sample of project management experts and professionals to know the degree of use of this tool. 798 responses were obtained from different countries and sectors, which indicates a majority use of metrics, but with certain nuances such as the regularity in its use, what type of indicators are the most used or those related to earned value analysis that do not have as frequent use as we might expect

Un hombre mira la lluvia

"Las ventanas de invierno". XXI Premio de Poesía Cáceres Patrimonio de la Humanidad, 200

Use of discrete choice to obtain urban freight evaluation data

The ex-ante evaluation of urban freight solutions is a complex task, due to the interference of different stakeholder groups with different views and objectives. The multi-actor multi-criteria methods have developed as a response to this scenario, but the determination of the weights required by them remains an unclear and controversial task. We propose the use of discrete choice methods as a powerful tool to confront these multi-faced evaluation problems, since the resulting surveys are flexible and easy to respond, and do not give away the final quantitative results. We have applied this methodology to the selection of urban freight solutions in the city of Seville, in Spain, followed by the determination of the relative weights associated to different objectives, both analyses carried out from the side of the carriers stakeholder group.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2013-47286-C3-3-

Implementation of performance indicators for project control

Muchos estudios consideran que la medición del rendimiento de un proyecto es un factor crítico del éxito del mismo. Utilizando un "cuadro base" de indicadores se desarrolla una metodología para implementarlo en cualquier tipo de proyecto. Se ha aplicado la sistemática a distintos tipos de proyectos validando los indicadores de rendimiento de la gestión de proyectos, su caracterización e identificando indicadores propios del proyecto.Many studies consider that measuring a project's performance is a critical factor in its success. Using a "base table" of indicators a methodology was developed to implement in any kind of project. The systematics was applied to different types of projects validating the performance indicators for project management, their characterization and after identifying the specific project's indicators

Real-time predictive maintenance for wind turbines using Big Data frameworks

This work presents the evolution of a solution for predictive maintenance to a Big Data environment. The proposed adaptation aims for predicting failures on wind turbines using a data-driven solution deployed in the cloud and which is composed by three main modules. (i) A predictive model generator which generates predictive models for each monitored wind turbine by means of Random Forest algorithm. (ii) A monitoring agent that makes predictions every 10 minutes about failures in wind turbines during the next hour. Finally, (iii) a dashboard where given predictions can be visualized. To implement the solution Apache Spark, Apache Kafka, Apache Mesos and HDFS have been used. Therefore, we have improved the previous work in terms of data process speed, scalability and automation. In addition, we have provided fault-tolerant functionality with a centralized access point from where the status of all the wind turbines of a company localized all over the world can be monitored, reducing O&M costs

Design of general-purpose sampling strategies for geometric shape measurement

Quality inspection is a preliminary step for different further analyses (process monitoring, control and optimisation) and requires one to select a measuring strategy, i.e., number and location of measurement points. This phase of data gathering usually impacts on inspection times and costs (via sample size) but it also affects the performance of the following tasks (process monitoring, control and optimisation). While most of the approaches for sampling design are specifically presented with reference to a target application (namely, monitoring, control or optimisation), this paper presents a general-purpose procedure, where the number and location of measurement points are selected in order to retain most of the information related to the feature under study. The procedure is based on principal component analysis and its application is shown with reference to a real case study concerning the left front window of a car. A different approach based on multidimensional scaling is further applied as validation tool, in order to show the effectiveness of the PCA solution

The teaching of Spanish as a second language at the South Korea universities: handicaps and didactic proposals for Hankuk University of foreign studies (Seoul)

Cada vez es mayor el número de profesores de español que se demanda en el extranjero, más concretamente en los países asiáticos. A partir de nuestra experiencia como profesores de español en Corea del Sur, concretamente en Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, destacaremos en este artículo cómo se enseña el español a nivel universitario en el país. Para ayudar a mejorar la enseñanza del idioma recomendaremos al Departamento de Español de dicha universidad que reforme o modifique ciertas costumbres y prácticas que dificultan enormemente la labor del profesorado extranjero de español.The number of Spanish instructors that are being demanded abroad is increasing every day, especially in the Asian countries. From our experience as Spanish instructors in South Korea, concretely in the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, in this article we want to highlight how to teach Spanish at the university level in the country. To help in the improvement of the language teaching, we will recommend the Spanish Department reform or change certain habits and experiences that make the work of the Spanish foreign instructors more difficult.peerReviewe

A satellite navigation system to improve the management of intermodal drayage

The intermodal transport chain can become more efficient by means of a good organization of the drayage movements. Drayage in intermodal container terminals involves the pick up or delivery of containers at customer locations, and the main objective is normally the assignment of transportation tasks to the different vehicles, often with the presence of time windows. The literature shows some works on centralised drayage management, but most of them consider the problem only from a static and deterministic perspective, whereas the work we present here incorporates the knowledge of the real-time position of the vehicles, which permanently enables the planner to reassign tasks in case the problem conditions change. This exact knowledge of position of the vehicles is possible thanks to a geographic positioning system by satellite (GPS, Galileo, Glonass), and the results show that this additional data can be used to dynamically improve the solution