Abstract: Defect prevention is the most vital but habitually
neglected facet of software quality assurance in any project. If
functional at all stages of software development, it can condense the
time, overheads and wherewithal entailed to engineer a high quality
product. The key challenge of an IT industry is to engineer a
software product with minimum post deployment defects.
This effort is an analysis based on data obtained for five selected
projects from leading software companies of varying software
production competence. The main aim of this paper is to provide
information on various methods and practices supporting defect
detection and prevention leading to thriving software generation. The
defect prevention technique unearths 99% of defects. Inspection is
found to be an essential technique in generating ideal software
generation in factories through enhanced methodologies of abetted
and unaided inspection schedules. On an average 13 % to 15% of
inspection and 25% - 30% of testing out of whole project effort time
is required for 99% - 99.75% of defect elimination.
A comparison of the end results for the five selected projects
between the companies is also brought about throwing light on the
possibility of a particular company to position itself with an
appropriate complementary ratio of inspection testing.
Abstract: During the last decade some long lasting changes and
developments are shaping the global society. The world is entering a
new society which is already named as information or knowledge
society. In the paper, information/knowledge society is elaborated
first. Starting in the year 2000, European Union has initiated some
special projects such as eEurope and eEurope+ and activities such as
Bologna Process and Socrates/Erasmus Program . The paper will
review these activites in relation with information or knowledge
society . Before paper ends with a conclusion, some views relevant
to the topic are also presented.
Abstract: Post-disaster reconstruction projects offer
opportunities to facilitate physical, social and economic development
and to reduce future hazard vulnerability long after the disasters.
Sustainability of post-disaster reconstruction project conducted in the
villages of Dinar following the 1995 earthquake was investigated in
this paper. Officials of the Government who were involved in the
project were interviewed. Besides, two field surveys were done in 12
villages of Dinar in winter months of 2008. Beneficiaries were
interviewed and physical, socio-cultural and economic impacts of the
reconstruction were examined. The research revealed that the postdisaster
reconstruction project has negative aspects from the point
view of sustainability. The physical, socio-cultural and economic
factors were not considered during decision making process of the
project.
Abstract: Time-Cost Optimization "TCO" is one of the greatest challenges in construction project planning and control, since the optimization of either time or cost, would usually be at the expense of the other. Since there is a hidden trade-off relationship between project and cost, it might be difficult to predict whether the total cost would increase or decrease as a result of the schedule compression. Recently third dimension in trade-off analysis is taken into consideration that is quality of the projects. Few of the existing algorithms are applied in a case of construction project with threedimensional trade-off analysis, Time-Cost-Quality relationships. The objective of this paper is to presents the development of a practical software system; that named Automatic Multi-objective Typical Construction Resource Optimization System "AMTCROS". This system incorporates the basic concepts of Line Of Balance "LOB" and Critical Path Method "CPM" in a multi-objective Genetic Algorithms "GAs" model. The main objective of this system is to provide a practical support for typical construction planners who need to optimize resource utilization in order to minimize project cost and duration while maximizing its quality simultaneously. The application of these research developments in planning the typical construction projects holds a strong promise to: 1) Increase the efficiency of resource use in typical construction projects; 2) Reduce construction duration period; 3) Minimize construction cost (direct cost plus indirect cost); and 4) Improve the quality of newly construction projects. A general description of the proposed software for the Time-Cost-Quality Trade-Off "TCQTO" is presented. The main inputs and outputs of the proposed software are outlined. The main subroutines and the inference engine of this software are detailed. The complexity analysis of the software is discussed. In addition, the verification, and complexity of the proposed software are proved and tested using a real case study.
Abstract: Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is an essential tool before an information system project implementation. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects definitely require the standardization and fixation of business processes from customer order to shipment. Therefore, ERP implementations are well proven to be coupled with BPR, although the extend and timing of BPR with respect to ERP implementation differ. This study aims at analyzing the effects of BPR on ERP implementation success. Basing on two Turkish ERP implementations in pharmaceutical sector, a comparative study is performed. One of the ERP implementations took place after a BPR implementation, whereas the other implementation was without a prior BPR application. Both implementations have been realized with the same consultant team, the case with prior BPR implementation going live first. The results of the case study reveal that if business processes are not optimized and improved before an ERP implementation, ERP live system would face with disharmony problems of processes and processes automated by ERP. This suggests a definite precedence relationship between BPR and ERP applications
Abstract: Success is a European project that will implement several clean transport offers in three European cities and evaluate the environmental impacts. The goal of these measures is to improve urban mobility or the displacement of residents inside cities. For e.g. park and ride, electric vehicles, hybrid bus and bike sharing etc. A list of 28 criteria and 60 measures has been established for evaluation of these transport projects. The evaluation criteria can be grouped into: Transport, environment, social, economic and fuel consumption. This article proposes a decision support system based that encapsulates a hybrid approach based on fuzzy logic, multicriteria analysis and belief theory for the evaluation of impacts of urban mobility solutions. A web-based tool called DeSSIA (Decision Support System for Impacts Assessment) has been developed that treats complex data. The tool has several functionalities starting from data integration (import of data), evaluation of projects and finishes by graphical display of results. The tool development is based on the concept of MVC (Model, View, and Controller). The MVC is a conception model adapted to the creation of software's which impose separation between data, their treatment and presentation. Effort is laid on the ergonomic aspects of the application. It has codes compatible with the latest norms (XHTML, CSS) and has been validated by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). The main ergonomic aspect focuses on the usability of the application, ease of learning and adoption. By the usage of technologies such as AJAX (XML and Java Script asynchrones), the application is more rapid and convivial. The positive points of our approach are that it treats heterogeneous data (qualitative, quantitative) from various information sources (human experts, survey, sensors, model etc.).
Abstract: To coop with urbanization issues and the economic need for expansion, the city of Jakarta is planning to reclaim more land in the Jakarta Bay. However, the reclamation activities of some islands have barely started and already the developers are facing difficulties in finding sufficient quantities of sand as fill material. When addressing the problem of sand scarcity in the case of Jakarta where, an excess of waste production, an inadequate solid waste management system and a lack of dumping ground pose a major problem, it is hard not to think of the use of waste as alternative fill material. This paper analyses the possibilities of using waste in the land reclamation projects, considering the governmental, social, environmental and economic context of the city. The results identify types of waste that could be used, ways of using those types of waste and implementation conditions for the city of Jakarta.
Abstract: This paper analysis performance of disbursement
procedure of public works project in Thailand. The results of
research were summarised based on contracts, submitted invoice,
inspection dated, copies of disbursement dated between client and
their main contractor and interviewed with persons involved in
central and local government projects during 1994-2008 in Thailand.
The data collection was to investigate the disbursement procedure
related to performance in disbursement during construction period
(Planned duration of contract against Actual execution date in each
month). A graphical presentation of a duration analysis of the
projects illustrated significant disbursement formation in each
project. It was established that the shortage of staff, the financial
stability of clients, bureaucratic, method of disbursement and
economics situation has play major role on performance of
disbursement to their main contractors.
Abstract: In this study, an inland metropolitan area, Gwangju, in Korea was selected to assess the amplification potential of earthquake motion and provide the information for regional seismic countermeasure. A geographic information system-based expert system was implemented for reliably predicting the spatial geotechnical layers in the entire region of interesting by building a geo-knowledge database. Particularly, the database consists of the existing boring data gathered from the prior geotechnical projects and the surface geo-knowledge data acquired from the site visit. For practical application of the geo-knowledge database to estimate the earthquake hazard potential related to site amplification effects at the study area, seismic zoning maps on geotechnical parameters, such as the bedrock depth and the site period, were created within GIS framework. In addition, seismic zonation of site classification was also performed to determine the site amplification coefficients for seismic design at any site in the study area. KeywordsEarthquake hazard, geo-knowledge, geographic information system, seismic zonation, site period.
Abstract: Three-dimensional geometric models have been used
to present architectural and engineering works, showing their final
configuration. When the clarification of a detail or the constitution of
a construction step in needed, these models are not appropriate. They
do not allow the observation of the construction progress of a
building. Models that could present dynamically changes of the
building geometry are a good support to the elaboration of projects.
Techniques of geometric modeling and virtual reality were used to
obtain models that could visually simulate the construction activity.
The applications explain the construction work of a cavity wall and a
bridge. These models allow the visualization of the physical
progression of the work following a planned construction sequence,
the observation of details of the form of every component of the
works and support the study of the type and method of operation of
the equipment applied in the construction. These models presented
distinct advantage as educational aids in first-degree courses in Civil
Engineering. The use of Virtual Reality techniques in the
development of educational applications brings new perspectives to
the teaching of subjects related to the field of civil construction.
Abstract: Over the years, there is a growing trend towards
quality-based specifications in highway construction. In many
Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QC/QA) specifications, the
contractor is primarily responsible for quality control of the process,
whereas the highway agency is responsible for testing the acceptance
of the product. A cooperative investigation was conducted in Illinois
over several years to develop a prototype End-Result Specification
(ERS) for asphalt pavement construction. The final characteristics of
the product are stipulated in the ERS and the contractor is given
considerable freedom in achieving those characteristics. The risk for
the contractor or agency depends on how the acceptance limits and
processes are specified. Stochastic simulation models are very useful
in estimating and analyzing payment risk in ERS systems and these
form an integral part of the Illinois-s prototype ERS system. This
paper describes the development of an innovative methodology to
estimate the variability components in in-situ density, air voids and
asphalt content data from ERS projects. The information gained from
this would be crucial in simulating these ERS projects for estimation
and analysis of payment risks associated with asphalt pavement
construction. However, these methods require at least two parties to
conduct tests on all the split samples obtained according to the
sampling scheme prescribed in present ERS implemented in Illinois.
Abstract: In this paper is being described a possible use of
virtualization technology in teaching computer networks. The
virtualization can be used as a suitable tool for creating virtual
network laboratories, supplementing the real laboratories and
network simulation software in teaching networking concepts. It will
be given a short description of characteristic projects in the area of
virtualization technology usage in network simulation, network
experiments and engineering education. A method for implementing
laboratory has also been explained, together with possible laboratory
usage and design of laboratory exercises. At the end, the laboratory
test results of virtual laboratory are presented as well.
Abstract: Author presents the results of a study conducted to identify criteria of efficient information system (IS) with serviceoriented architecture (SOA) realization and proposes a ranking method to evaluate SOA information systems using a set of architecture quality criteria before the systems are implemented. The method is used to compare 7 SOA projects and ranking result for SOA efficiency of the projects is provided. The choice of SOA realization project depends on following criteria categories: IS internal work and organization, SOA policies, guidelines and change management, processes and business services readiness, risk management and mitigation. The last criteria category was analyzed on the basis of projects statistics.
Abstract: Renewable energy systems are becoming a topic of
great interest and investment in the world. In recent years wind
power generation has experienced a very fast development in the
whole world. For planning and successful implementations of good
wind power plant projects, wind potential measurements are
required. In these projects, of great importance is the effective choice
of the micro location for wind potential measurements, installation of
the measurement station with the appropriate measuring equipment,
its maintenance and analysis of the gained data on wind potential
characteristics. In this paper, a wavelet transform has been applied to
analyze the wind speed data in the context of insight in the
characteristics of the wind and the selection of suitable locations that
could be the subject of a wind farm construction. This approach
shows that it can be a useful tool in investigation of wind potential.
Abstract: Software development has experienced remarkable progress in the past decade. However, due to the rising complexity and magnitude of the project the development productivity has not been consistently improved. By analyzing the latest ISBSG data repository with 4106 projects, we discovered that software development productivity has actually undergone irregular variations between the years 1995 and 2005. Considering the factors significant to the productivity, we found its variations are primarily caused by the variations of average team size and the unbalanced uses of the less productive language 3GL.
Abstract: We introduce an extended resource leveling model that abstracts real life projects that consider specific work ranges for each resource. Contrary to traditional resource leveling problems this model considers scarce resources and multiple objectives: the minimization of the project makespan and the leveling of each resource usage over time. We formulate this model as a multiobjective optimization problem and we propose a multiobjective genetic algorithm-based solver to optimize it. This solver consists in a two-stage process: a main stage where we obtain non-dominated solutions for all the objectives, and a postprocessing stage where we seek to specifically improve the resource leveling of these solutions. We propose an intelligent encoding for the solver that allows including domain specific knowledge in the solving mechanism. The chosen encoding proves to be effective to solve leveling problems with scarce resources and multiple objectives. The outcome of the proposed solvers represent optimized trade-offs (alternatives) that can be later evaluated by a decision maker, this multi-solution approach represents an advantage over the traditional single solution approach. We compare the proposed solver with state-of-art resource leveling methods and we report competitive and performing results.
Abstract: Value engineering is an efficacious contraption for
administrators to make up their minds. Value perusals proffer the
gaffers a suitable instrument to decrease the expenditures of the life
span, quality amelioration, structural improvement, curtailment of the
construction schedule, longevity prolongation or a merging of the
aforementioned cases. Subjecting organizers to pressures on one
hand and their accountability towards their pertinent fields together
with inherent risks and ambiguities of other options on the other hand
set some comptrollers in a dilemma utilization of risk management
and the value engineering in projects manipulation with regard to
complexities of implementing projects can be wielded as a
contraption to identify and efface each item which wreaks
unnecessary expenses and time squandering sans inflicting any
damages upon the essential project applications. Of course It should
be noted that implementation of risk management and value
engineering with regard to the betterment of efficiency and functions
may lead to the project implementation timing elongation. Here time
revamping does not refer to time diminishing in the whole cases. his
article deals with risk and value engineering conceptualizations at
first. The germane reverberations effectuated due to its execution in
Iran Khodro Corporation are regarded together with the joint features
and amalgamation of the aforesaid entia; hence the proposed
blueprint is submitted to be taken advantage of in engineering and
industrial projects including Iran Khodro Corporation.
Abstract: Customer-supplier collaboration enables firms to
achieve greater success than acting independently. Nevertheless, not
many firms have fully utilized the potential of collaboration. This
paper presents organizational and human related success factors for
collaboration in manufacturing supply chains in casting industry. Our
research approach was a case study including multiple cases. Data
was gathered by interviews and group discussions in two different
research projects. In the first research project we studied seven firms
and in the second five. It was found that the success factors are
interrelated, in other words, organizational and human factors
together enable success but not any of them alone. Some of the found
success factors are a culture of following agreements, and a speed of
informing the partner about changes affecting to the product or the
delivery chain.
Abstract: In today-s economy plant engineering faces many
challenges. For instance the intensifying competition in this business
is leading to cost competition and needs for a shorter time-to-market.
To remain competitive companies need to make their businesses
more profitable by implementing improvement programs such as
standardization projects. But they have difficulties to tap their full
economic potential for various reasons. One of them is non-holistic
planning and implementation of standardization projects. This paper
describes a new conceptual framework - the layer-model. The model
combines and expands existing proven approaches in order to
improve design, implementation and management of standardization
projects. Based on a holistic approach it helps to systematically
analyze the effects of standardization projects on different business
layers and enables companies to better seize the opportunities offered
by standardization.
Abstract: Buildings are one of the valuable assets to provide
people with shelters for work, leisure and rest. After years of
attacks by weather, buildings will deteriorate which need proper
maintenance in order to fulfill the requirements and satisfaction of
the users. Poorly managed buildings not just give a negative image
to the city itself, but also pose potential risk hazards to the health
and safety of the general public. As a result, the management of
maintenance projects has played an important role in cities like
Hong Kong where the problem of urban decay has drawn much
attention. However, most research has focused on managing new
construction, and little research effort has been put on maintenance
projects. Given the short duration and more diversified nature of
work, repair and maintenance works are found to be more difficult
to monitor and regulate when compared with new works. Project
participants may face with problems in running maintenance
projects which should be investigated so that proper strategies can
be established. This paper aims to provide a thorough analysis on
the problems of running maintenance projects. A review of
literature on the characteristics of building maintenance projects
was firstly conducted, which forms a solid basis for the empirical
study. Results on the problems and difficulties of running
maintenance projects from the viewpoints of industry practitioners
will also be delivered with a view to formulating effective
strategies for managing maintenance projects successfully.