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Jun 29, 2023 · Control systems have surpassed previous limits, offering unmatched precision and intelligent features. This progress has ushered in an era of automation, machine learning and interconnected intelligence, shaping a world of new possibilities.
- Shawn Cox
- Project Success Defined
- Controls Systems General Guidelines
- Specific Controls Systems
- Summary
The most basic judgment of project success is whether the project achieved its goals within the established budgets. In a world where an organization performs many small projects, an adequate indicator of a project's success, and process integrity, might be a simple count of conformance to goals in key areas such as cost, schedule, and quality. In ...
With regard to all of these areas of project controls systems, we can enunciate some general guidelines and identify some common traps. These ideas will be explored generally, and then specific comments will be offered in each area. A list of universal controls guidelines would look like this: 1. Our project controls must be responsive to project s...
Budgets
Budgets often become the target of gamesmanship. Budget limits are set unrealistically and become the basis for a straightjacket on project management. Too many budgets are established on the basis of top down imposition without any cross check with reality. We forget sometimes that budgets are predictors based on many assumptions, and, when those assumptions change, we need to reassess the budgets. The idea that controlling the rate of money flow will ultimately control the total money requi...
Schedule
If cost budgets are often set arbitrarily and optimistically, schedules are often set with an overabundance of safety. Eli Goldratt suggests that the typical construction activity duration is set with an 80% probability of being accomplished in the time allowed. In effect we build in excuses to extend the schedule and still assert our being on time. (Goldratt, 1997). Goldratt further suggests that this is a self proving analysis that leads to projects running over schedule. The most common pr...
Quality
Project quality controls systems too often become excuses to prevent the performance of work. At the other extreme, they become platitudes that no one is expected to live by. Quality controls based on estimates of requirements can become holy writ without any reality check. All three approaches are destructive. In one example my firm realized that skilled welders did not have a strong understanding of the quality standards to which their welds were being examined. We purchased a set of plasti...
Project controls can be a key to project success. Effective controls provide a core means of communication about the metrics of project success and a means to facilitate that success. Well designed controls systems are relevant to the project management and scalable to the needs of the project. To be used in successful projects, controls systems mu...
- Communicate before a visit. Develop a visit plan and communicate it to all involved before the visit. For example, does the client expect a demonstration of data passed to SAP modules?
- Emphasize operator-friendly graphics. Plant operators spend more time with the control system than anyone else. Apart from shifts outside or in the field, much or all of an operator’s time is spent in front of a screen, dealing with faceplates and graphics.
- Test software intelligently. Try to break the software: exception handling is key. For example, when testing dialog boxes, try to enter nonsense symbols instead of valve tags or setpoints.
- Let customers own the documents. Turnkey projects have certain advantages, but can cost the end customer more if not managed properly. Without customer ownership, the control system programmer must interact with multiple points of contact to try to resolve changes and clarify questions.
Jan 13, 2021 · Looking at the limits of artificial intelligence (AI) and controlling based on complexity and system-theoretical deliberations, the authors aimed to derive a future outlook of the possible applications and provide insights into a future complementary of human–machine information processing.
- Heimo Losbichler, Othmar M. Lehner, Othmar M. Lehner
- 2021
Sep 1, 2021 · Using survey data of 316 project managers and product owners across different industries, this study reveals that the impact of control on innovation project performance depends on the design of control systems and the emphasis on different control levers used by top managers.
- Philipp A. Lill, Andreas Wald
- 2021
Jan 9, 2024 · Levers of control enable you to manage tension, guide strategy execution, and achieve business goals and objectives. The four levers are: Belief systems. Boundary systems. Diagnostic systems. Interactive control systems.
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Feb 18, 2021 · Control systems now encompass a great deal more analytics and decision support to help operators make better decisions across a wider area of responsibility. Technologies such as APL enable a cost-effective interface to field devices.
