Maantierumpujen kuntotietojen keruu, analysointi ja tiedonhallinta

Opinnäytetyössä selvitettiin maantierumpujen inventointien nykytilaa ja miten maantierumpujen inventointi on muuttunut uusien järjestelmien myötä. Liikennevirasto otti käyttöön ylläpidon ja hoidon raportointi- ja seurantajärjestelmä Harjan lokakuussa 2016. Tämä on muuttanut hieman käytäntöjä maantierumpujen inventoinnissa. Tämän työn tavoitteena oli selvittää rumpuinventointien nykytila ja löytää kehitysehdotuksia niiden inventointiin. Tarkoituksena oli helpottaa ja yksinkertaistaa työtä maantierumpujen inventoinnissa, joka helpottaa niin urakoitsijan kuin tilaajankin työtä. Näin resursseja voidaan siirtää kohteille, jotka sitä enemmän vaativat. Työssä haastateltiin alueurakan eri osapuolia, eli alueurakoitsijaa, tilaajaa, eli ELY-keskuksen edustajia sekä Liikenneviraston edustajaa. Kirjallisuuden avulla kerrottiin, miten tien kuivatus toimii, sekä selvitettiin ohjeistusta ja määräyksiä tien kunnossapitoon liittyen. Opinnäytetyön tuloksena oli muutama kehitysehdotus maantierumpujen inventoimiseen. Merkittävin kehitysehdotus koskee urakoitsijapuolta, jolle pitäisi kehittää maastotyökalu inventointia varten. Tämä työkalu vähentäisi yhden työvaiheen nykyisestä inventointitapahtumasta. Valokuvauksesta ei ole annettu ohjeistusta niin tilaajan kuin Liikennevirastonkaan puolesta. Valokuvia otetaan nykyään ainoastaan tarpeen vaatiessa. Kehitysehdotuksena on, että jokaiselta rummulta otetaan riittävä määrä valokuvia, joilla pystytään tarkastelemaan rummun kunto käymättä itse rummulla. Yhteinen inventointipohja kaikille helpottaa rumpujen vertailua ja yhdenmukaistaa inventointityötä. Maanteiden hoidon ja ylläpidon järjestelmä uudistukset ovat vielä niin tuoreita, että niiden suoria vaikutuksia on vielä mahdotonta sanoa.The purpose of this thesis was to examine how main road culverts have been surveyed and how the surveying has changed since the adoption of the latest systems came part of the inventory. The Finnish Transport Agency took a new system called Harja into use October of 2016. The system reformed reporting and surveillance of the culvert inventory. The objective of this thesis was to find out how inventories of the main road culverts are dealt with nowadays and to come up with development suggestions. The purpose was to make the process of inventorying easier and also simplify it. This would make the work easier for both constructors and clients. For this thesis, different participants of an area contract were interviewed. A literature review was conducted to find out how road draining works and to examine instructions and regulations related to road maintenance. As a result of this study, three development suggestions concerning the inventorying of main road culverts were made. The most important suggestion concerns an application which could be used on the field. Other suggestions are instructions on photography and a common inventory layout for all constructors

Research questions and approaches for computational thinking curricula design

Teaching computational thinking (CT) is argued to be necessary but also admitted to be a very challenging task. The reasons for this, are: i) no general agreement on what computational thinking is; ii) no clear idea nor evidential support on how to teach CT in an effective way. Hence, there is a need to develop a common approach and a shared understanding of the scope of computational thinking and of effective means of teaching CT. Thus, the consequent ambition is to utilize the preliminary and further research outcomes on CT for the education of the prospective teachers of secondary, further and higher/adult education curricula

Project Cost Estimation : Promoting quality of cost estimation to reduce project cost variance

One of the dimensions of evaluating project success is assessing whether the project has been completed within the assigned budget. However, it is unlikely that the actual costs will be exactly as planned, and historically, industrial projects are prone to cost overruns. Careful planning and a reasonable cost baseline are key to achieving project success. The cost baseline consists of the aggregated cost estimate and contingency reserve. Literature identifies various methods for increasing the reliability of the cost baseline via setting appropriate contingencies. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the other of the two components of the project cost baseline – the cost estimate. The objective of this thesis is to investigate and develop a method for reducing project cost variance by improving the quality of the cost estimation process in industrial project-based firms. The objective was achieved by observing the sales organization and the cost estimation procedure in the case company and identifying the underlying issue that results in the project cost variance. The method was developed by surveying the best available practices of cost estimation techniques and processes employed by industrial project organizations and synthesizing a holistic method for improving the quality of cost estimation and promoting knowledge management within an organization. From a practical perspective, the research offered the case company a new point of view on cost variances in terms of element-specific variances. This analysis revealed the need to update the cost estimation tools for specific elements in the company’s product portfolio. From a managerial perspective, the work emphasizes the information and procedural requirements of the cost estimation process. Furthermore, the work provides advice on employing alternative cost estimation techniques to balance resource utilization as well as making the process more lean. A new risk category that roots from within the organization was identified and the findings of the thesis suggest that this category should not be a part of the contingency reserve. The internal foreseen risks can be managed with procedural changes. The thesis proposes a stage-gate standardized model for cost estimation, that guides the organization to select an appropriate cost estimation technique corresponding to the stage of project preparation. The findings suggest that the cost estimation process should be followed systematically, and to proceed with the process, all milestone requirements should be met. In addition, the role of the historical information database was deemed central to the quality of the cost estimate, making it imperative to accentuate diligent high-quality reporting and knowledge management practices