Estimating Highway Preconstruction Services Costs - Volume 2: Research Report (2016)

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82 A P P E N D I X E Extract from Guide to Project Management Strategies for Complex Projects The Second Strategic Highway Research Program SHRP 2 Project R-10 Jennifer Shane, Kelly Strong, Douglas Gransberg, and David Jeong Construction Management and Technology Program, Institute for Transportation, Iowa State University TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD Washington, D.C. 2015 www.TRB.org

83 This flowchart is the road map for a public agency to implement 5-Dimensional Project Management principles to develop project delivery strategies for complex projects.

84 1. Project analysis: The project team verifies that the given project is complex and develops the initial complexity map. “As the results of the SHRP 2 research are deployed, we will see more ‘rapid renewal’ tools developed for owners of the transportation system. The tools will lead to a fundamental change in how we approach rehabilitating our transportation system.” Chair SHRP 2 Renewal Technical Coordinating Committee Section 1: Five-Dimensional Project Management 1.1 Philosophy of the Guidebook The guidebook’s objective is to assist public agencies develop project management plans for complex projects. It focuses on practical tools and techniques designed to be immediately beneficial to transportation professionals. The content comes from the in-depth study of eighteen U.S. and international complex projects that identified strategies, methods, and tools that led to the successful delivery of those complex projects. It complements rather than replaces an agency’s current project management practices, and as such, merely adds a different structure to the agency’s existing project management planning (PMP) processes. The major change from routine project management is the sequence in which PMP tasks are accomplished with a strong emphasis to frontloading the PMP to address critical issues that create complexity as soon as practical instead of later in the routine project delivery process. This section describes the five dimensions of complex project management, referred to as “5DPM” throughout the guide. To ensure a complete understanding, the reader must keep in mind that there are three primary components, to be explained in detail in the next section, to the 5DPM framework: • Five project management dimensions, • Five complex project planning methods, and • Thirteen complex project execution tools. The guide describes how the project team identifies, prioritizes, and quantifies the factors that create complexity in each dimension. The guide also provides instructions for developing complexity maps that visually represent the scope and nature of project complexity. Mapping complexity helps the project team rationally allocate available resources and determine requirements for additional or specialized resources. The maps also guide the application of the five complex project planning methods, as well as selection of complex project execution tools as shown in Figure 1.1, which shows three sequential phases:

85 3. Project implementation: Based on the PMP, the team selects appropriate project execution tools and details their application in PMP sections 10 through 22. Figure 1.1. Overview of complex project management and 5DPM process flow to develop the FHWA Major Project Management Plan The result is a complete PMP for the complex project. Figure 1.2 maps the contribution of 5DPM to the completion of the FHWA major project PMP development process and provides a graphical understanding of how the 5DPM process fits within the existing PMP process. The major addition to the current process is recognition that a complex project involves managing many more factors that are outside the project manager’s direct control. Therefore, the PMP must identify and address external factors, like public opinion and innovative financing, as early as practical, and the project team must regularly update the project’s complexity map to ensure that the tools chosen to manage complexity are performing as planned in the PMP. If they are, the area of the complexity map should shrink as complexities are successfully managed and the project will proceed as planned. The result is the successful integration of the project’s design and construction team from concept to completion. Integrated planning and execution is 5DPM’s key to manage complexity successfully across the complex project’s life cycle. 2. Project planning: Using the initial complexity map, the team applies the five complex project planning methods and develops the first nine sections of the PMP.