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

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-

Improving productivity through variability reduction of process inputs in manual assemblies

El control de las entradas y del proceso para mejorar la productividad de los sistemas industriales de fabricación son conceptos ampliamente conocidos pero llevados a la práctica con poca efectividad. Dicha falta de efectividad es una fuente de variabilidad en el resultado. El caso de estudio, tomado de una fábrica de ensamble de automóviles, refleja como la identificación y control adecuado de las entradas del sistema tiene un impacto importante en la calidad del producto terminado y como se puede integrar este concepto al modelo de gestión de la fábrica.Controlling inputs and process to improve a system result is a widely known concept but not taken into practice with effectiveness on assembly operations. This lack of effectiveness is a source of variation that affects the output. The study case, based on a vehicle assembly plant, shows, in practice, how identifying and controlling system inputs has a relevant impact on end product quality and how this concept can be integrated to the assembly plant management model

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

La selección de variables a través de componentes principales : estudio de un caso

En muchas ocasiones la aplicación de análisis de componentes principales a un número elevado de variables puede dificultar la interpretación de los componentes principales como combinaciones lineales de las variables originales. Este trabajo describe varios métodos de selección de variables e investiga, a partir del estudio de un caso real, qué método es preferible para este objetivo según diversos indicadores de eficiencia. A pesar de que algunos métodos son mejores que otros, el mensaje principal de este trabajo es que la metodología más prudente es confiar en uno o dos métodos, considerando que tanto la relación existente entre las variables como la elección del indicador de información son aspectos importantes en la selección del mejor método

El análisis funcional como herramienta de diseño de sistemas regionales de innovación en la Unión Europea

Una de las prioridades de la Unión Europea es el desarrollo de políticas que contribuyan a acortar las diferencias entre las distintas regiones, siendo el Análisis Funcional (AF) una interesante metodología de diseño en el planteamiento de los Sistemas Regionales de Innovación (SRI). Según la definición de la Norma UNE-EN 1325-1:1996, el AF es el proceso que describe en su totalidad las funciones y sus interrelaciones, y que sistemáticamente las caracteriza, las clasifica y las pondera. El fin último del AF es el cálculo de los índices de valor(IVf). Para el cálculo de los IVf, deberán seguirse los pasos establecidos por la metodología del análisis del valor (UNE EN 12973: 1996), identificando las funciones del SRI y, utilizando las matrices adecuadas, calcular la importancia porcentual de los conceptos que integran la fórmula de los IVf.. El valor óptimo se dará para índices de valor próximos a la unidad. En base a los objetivos iniciales del proyecto y a la interpretación de los índices de valor obtenidos, se seleccionará el criterio de partida para proceder a la fase de innovación y mejora, concentrando los esfuerzos en aquellas funciones que presentan mayor desequilibrio

Prioritizing Water Distribution and Sewer Network Maintenance Activities

Asset management in water supply and sewerage infrastructures seeks correct planning and prioritization of the maintenance activities on their network elements. To determine the replacement priority for each network asset, an original priority model is utilized. It is based on a risk index that integrates both the probability and consequences of failure. Besides, when designing and performing work programs, water companies generally abide by the street’s topography and other urban elements, such as complete streets or street sections. This work considers street sections between the two nearest intersections as the operational unit

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

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

Framework for the use of official occupational accident investigations as a learning tool: analysis of a public programme for accident investigation in the manufacturing sector

Accident investigation is a useful tool for safety science. The use of accident investigation as a learning tool at the macro level necessitates specific requirements quite different from the usual needs at the company level. A proper codification system and information on the accident scenarios are needed to let safety practitioners identify if the information is useful for the organisations they are assessing. In the same way epidemiological tools have been applied to the analysis of circumstances of accidents, the epidemiological statistical tools can help to draw conclusions for a set of investigated accidents. Our case study includes the description of the dataset used in a programme for learning from accidents in Andalusia: ‘Pudo haberse evitado’ (this can be translated as ‘This could have been prevented’). This paper covers the requisites for a macro-level learning programme and the possibilities of analysis of the dataset in a ‘research to practice approach’