Ad hoc Articles

05 November 2011

H.K. Mittermaier & H. Steyn

Despite the current economic climate, the South African mining and engineering industry is experiencing a very promising future, with a large number of capital projects in the offing. It is inevitable that pilot plant development will form part of this future as a risk mitigation technique. This study found that, even though the terms pilot plant and project management maturity are familiar within the industry, no link between these two could be found in the literature. A number of maturity models exist; and one developed by PMSolutions was selected to perform an assessment of the current level of project management maturity within the South African mining and engineering industry pertaining to the development of pilot plants.
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05 November 2011

J.T. Labuschagne & H. Steyn

This paper describes the characteristics of a project management methodology that is currently used in the consulting engineering industry in South Africa. Based on currently-used methodologies in other industries, and on a Delphi survey conducted in several consulting engineering companies, guidelines for a project management methodology for the consulting engineering industry are proposed. Respondents of the survey were in full agreement on typical project life cycle phases.
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05 November 2011

E. Beukman & H. Steyn

This paper describes appropriate phases and review points (or ‘gates’) for South African projects aimed at transferring technology for socio-economic development. Data gathering was done through a Delphi survey supplemented by a focus group session. A total of 42 knowledgeable respondents participated. The most significant phases of projects under consideration were confirmed, and relevant activities per phase and criteria for reviewing at the ‘gates’ between phases were identified.
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07 September 2011

H. Steyn

The implications of overspending on capital projects and of late delivery by such projects can hardly be overemphasized. One mining corporation, for example, budgeted US$ 6,9 billion to be spent on projects during 2007 and the profitability and even the feasibility of these endeavours obviously depend on executing the projects on time and within budget. Yet, it cannot be disputed that many major projects are late and/or over-spent when measured against estimates and commitments made early in the project lifecycle. Figure 1, for example, illustrates the cost performance on major transport projects completed during the previous century.
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17 November 2009

M.L. Barry, Herman Steyn & Alan C Brent

The supply of sustainable energy is crucial for sustainable development in Africa. The aim of the study summarised in this paper is the identification, and prioritisation, of the factors that must be taken into account when selecting the most sustainable technological systems in the African context, by applying the Delphi technique. The questionnaire of the first round was based on factors already identified during a focus group exercise with energy experts. The Delphi participants were required to comment on the factors, add new factors, and rate all the factors. The results were fed back during the second round where respondents were again asked to rate the factors for feasibility, desirability, and importance.
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01 January 2009

M.C. Bekker & H. Steyn

Project governance has become part of the project management vocabulary. As a formal definition of the term lacked, it has been used in various contexts that caused confusion and misunderstanding. This paper provides a formal definition for ‘project governance’ based on a Delphi study. Combining the results from the Delphi study with existing corporate governance principles led to a concept project governance framework that was validated and developed further by means of two primary case studies and 15 secondary case studies. The end result is a final project governance framework that provides a practical checklist for the governance of major capital investments.
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01 January 2009

M.L. Barry, H. Steyn & A.C. Brent

Quantitative management research on the African continent is often hampered by the lack of large data sets and the unreliability of electronic as well as conventional communication. This paper advocates the use of qualitative methods, in particular the focus group technique, to overcome these difficulties. The focus group technique has been extensively used in social sciences research and in this paper its use in management research is investigated and applied. The paper further advocates the use of triangulation to improve the reliability of qualitative management research. An example of the selection of renewable energy technology in Africa is used as basis for this investigation..
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27 July 2008

H. Steyn

While project performance is generally evaluated in terms of the “iron triangle” of schedule, cost and quality performance, guidelines for project quality management are lacking. Practitioners developing complex engineering systems employ several techniques to manage quality but project management literature merely emphasizes quality management processes and provides few guidelines regarding appropriate techniques. Where these techniques are addressed, they tend to be borrowed from high-volume production and statistical quality control, while providing few guidelines for the management of quality on non-repetitive project endeavors such as system development.
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27 July 2008

Michiel C. Bekker & Herman Steyn

Since the turn of the 20th century the use of the concept ‘project governance’ has gained popularity in both practical application and academic research. With the principles of ‘corporate governance’ firmly and successfully established in the corporate environment the diversification of these principles into other areas of organisational interaction, notably project management, was eminent. This paper provides a brief overview of how ‘project governance’ was defined, how a Concept Project Governance Framework (CPGF) was derived and how the principles were applied and evaluated.
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01 October 2006

K-H Rutsch, P.J. Viljoen & H. Steyn

Project selection and the development of a portfolio of projects in line with corporate strategy is an important task of managers of research units. The projects selected have to meet the appropriate time frame for completion and delivery, a suitable risk profile and other distinct factors in order to pursue corporate objectives successfully. The authors believe that R&D project portfolio selection approaches required or applied in the process industry differ from the approaches used for selecting new product development projects, on which most literature is focused.
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01 September 2005

C.J. Pretorius & H. Steyn

Knowledge management is widely acclaimed to be a source of considerable financial advantage for organisations. Various authors realise that project environments could also benefit from the creation and re-use of knowledge, including from the lessons learned that should be documented during project close-out. Projects face specific challenges (limited time spans, changing and dispersed teams) and the reduction of project risk, time and cost through knowledge management, may well prove worthwhile.

This paper reviews the literature on knowledge management, both in organisations in general and in project environments specifically. A framework for knowledge management is derived from literature. The paper also reports on an investigation of knowledge management practices in four cases within a single South African business environment.
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01 November 2003

Herman Steyn

In this paper traditional project management methods such as PERT and CPM as well as fast tracking and systems approaches viz. concurrent engineering and critical chain are reviewed with specific reference to their contribution to reduce the duration of the execution phase of engineering projects. Each of these techniques has some role to play in the acceleration of project execution. Combinations of approaches are evaluated by considering the potential of sets consisting of two different approaches each.
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