Volume 2 Issue 4
Authors: Amnon Gonen
Abstract: In this study,we concentrate on a very common project management problem, called estimatingthe project makespan. The literature usually uses the Central Limit theorem to estimate the project makespan. Here, we show that in multi-critical paths projects, the project’s makespan behaves differently with the regular estimates. We analyzed project makespan using both the analytic approach and simulation. Our results show that, in many cases, it is biased to use the critical path length when attempting to estimate project makespan. The current study presents the distribution of the project makespan for cases where there are several critical paths. It shows the results for common probability distributions of the critical path duration. The results of the current study provide users with better estimates and upper bound in regard to project completion time.
Keywords: PERT; Central Limit Theorem; Project Makespan; Simulation; Project Completion Time
Authors: Jarvis Jane; Giselle Rampersad
Abstract: Innovation skills are an asset for engineering managers as innovation has become a key competitive driver for technology oriented industries. Increasing attention is being placed on designing course offerings that help develop innovation skills and particularly, creating suitable contexts in which innovation can flourish. This study investigates factors influencing the development of innovation skills through work-integrated learning. Moving beyond a single viewpoint to a dyadic perspective involving students and industry supervisors, this qualitative study contributes to a conceptual framework for fostering the development of innovation skills through industry placements. Implications are discussed for engineering and technology managers for developing innovation capacity and skills.
Keywords: Innovation; Work-integrated Learning; Engineering Management Education
Authors: Shivanand M. Handigund; Kavitha H. B
Abstract: The success rate of the software development projects is pathetically very low. The main causes of low success rate are attributed to i) Lack of knowledge of the project management activities; ii) Non availability of automated tools for most of the project activities; iii) Ignorance of understanding the differences between software project management and other project management activities. Thus, there is a great need to streamline the software project management activities [1]. In this paper an attempt has been made to abstract the needy components through automated methodology for the design of Project Data Flow Diagram (PJDFD). This avoids the use of arbitrary human skills in the component abstraction process. The Data Flow Diagram (DFD) components are abstracted through the design of Project work break structure (PJWBS). PJWBS is designed through the decomposition of the project work. The entire work of the project is represented as a single node and then a tree structure is generated using the designed node as the root node and then decomposing the entire work of the project randomly in three consecutive levels based on Knowledge areas (KA), Project life cycle (PLC), Software development life cycle (SDLC). The leaf nodes obtained after three tier decomposition contain the activities, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The output of these activities (the attributes defined in these activities) forms the deliverables / milestones. Some of these deliverables / milestones may have been referenced (input) to other activities. Each of these deliverables thus form the data store between the predecessor and ancestor activities. The rest of the deliverables which are not referenced in any of the activities may form intermediate or final products, results or services. Another level of datastores is identified during the pipelining process of activities. The identified activities are to be trimmed as per the semiotics of DFD [2]. During this process if the data flows in a pipelining way, then the activities are merged to form a process. Similarly if the flow of data from an activity is stacked (set of data is processed) and then flowed, we consider the stacking point as the data store and the target activities themselves as the processes. This paper discusses our proposed 22 steps methodologies. In our proposed PJDFD, we considered software requirements specification (SRS) as input and the products, results or services as output and referenced / defined attribute set as data flows.
Keywords: Software Requirements Specification (SRS); Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF); Organizational Process Assets (OPA); Knowledge Areas (KA); Project Life Cycle (PLC); Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Authors: Philip Huysmans; Jan Verelst
Abstract: In volatile and customer-driven markets, the ability to innovate is a key success factor. However, the innovation process is only poorly understood. Therefore, many organizations and governments have difficulties stimulating and managing innovation. Enterprise architecture frameworks allow the modeling of different layers of an organization. The ability to apply changes to these different layers should enable the implementation of innovations. However, few organizations can be considered to have completely decoupled organizational layers. Consequently, changes to one layer will impact other layers as well. In this paper, we use modularity theory to make this coupling explicit, and discuss a case study to illustrate issues and solutions related to the coupling between enterprise architecture layers.
Keywords: Organizational Modularity; Enterprise Engineering; Enterprise Architecture
Authors: Minoru Aoyagi; Takefumi Hiraguri; Takahiro Ueno
Abstract: Lamination is an effective way to protect and preserve materials from destruction or deterioration. In this paper, a method for determining the quality of bonding between a laminate pouch film and paper is described. In this method, rapid heating of the surface of the laminate film bonded to paper by a light flash was followed by thermographic observation of the dynamic changes in surface temperature. The method exploits the differences in dynamic heat transport caused by poor bonding between the laminate and the paper. We carried out verification experiments on test pieces constructed to simulate poor bonding and found that the temperatures in regions of poor bonding were lower compared to regions of good bonding. Here, we outline the theoretical basis of the detection of the poor bonding, and also describe different types of insufficient bonding characterized by a temperature higher than the surrounding material. Finally, we discuss the applications and limitations of the observation method.
Keywords: Laminate Pouch Film; Poor Bonding Detection; Thermography; Non-destructive Testing