A Web Based Integrated Global Project Management
System for Large Scale A/E/C Projects
by
Ajit Kumar Sutar
B.Tech. (Hons), Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture, IIT Kharagpur, 1998
Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Master of Science
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
January 2000
@ 2000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved
Signature of A uthor ..........................................
...................
.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
January 14, 2000
Certified by ................
...........................
6 Feniosky Penla-Mora
Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Thesis Supervisor
A ccepted by ......................................
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY
LE
1 4 2000
LIBRARIES
ENG
.. .. ...... .. .............. ...
......... ......... ....
Daniele Veneziano
Chairman, Departmental Committee on Graduate Studies
A Web Based Integrated Global Project Management
System for Large Scale A/E/C Projects
by
Ajit Kumar Sutar
Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering on
January 14, 2000, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Science
ABSTRACT
The globalization of architecture, engineering and construction (A/E/C) industry has added new
dimensions to project management. A wide spectrum of tools and software are used by project
managers to manage these geographically distributed projects. PC or LAN based project
management software is already widespread and popular in A/E/C industry. However, the access
to the software is limited to the LAN and the server where they reside, and to use the software,
project managers have to undergo extensive training. Current practice in collecting latest progress
data for updating schedule is time consuming, and it is difficult to communicate this information
to all the participants involved, especially if they are in different companies and located in
different countries.
The goal of this thesis is to develop an Integrated Web based Global Project Management System
(IGPMS). IGPMS provides a web based graphical user interface that allows project managers to
view and update the projects online. IGPMS provides project managers with web-based analysis
and reporting tool for the project schedules. IGPMS also integrates the different information
systems used for project management through software interoperability and provides a "common
language" for product, process and resource information. IGPMS also introduces the concept of a
web based project repository where project managers can submit a new project to the server and
instantly view, update and analyze the project schedule through a web browser.
Thesis Supervisor: Feniosky Pefia-Mora
Title: Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am thankful to Professor Pefia-Mora for his valuable time and inexhaustible advice on my
research and thesis. Without his help and guidance this thesis would not have been a reality. It
was a great experience working with him.
I am indebted to my friends in IESL for their help and support. I had a nice time in IESL with
friends like Kiran, Paddu, JP, Vada, Petros, Tong, Abel, Jaime, Moonseo, Tamaki, Michael,
Emma, Ben, Jingsong, Julio, Justin, Kathy and Adriana. I would especially like to thank JP for
his help in my research. I would also like to thank my roommate Sahoo for his help and support. I
am thankful to Joannie and Cynthia Stewart for helping me out in the administrative matters. I am
also thankful to my non-IESL friends like Amit, Yogesh, Niranjan, Vinay, Ganti, Gangs and
Deepak.
I am thankful to my family for their love, patience and understanding. Even though they live on
the other side of the globe, they have been a constant source of inspiration and encouragement
during my studies at MIT. It has been almost two years since I left my home in India and I cannot
wait till I go back to meet my family.
Ajit
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
L IST O F F IGU R E S ..........................................................................................................................................
6
EXECUTIVE SUM MARY ...............................................................................................
8
CHAPTER 1 ....................................................................................................................
11
RESEARCH BACKG ROUND ......................................................................................
11
1.1
IN TR OD U C TION ..............................................................................................................................
1.2
1.3
OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH .......................................................................................
BENEFITS OF THE RESEARCH ............................................................................................
11
15
15
CHAPTER 2 ....................................................................................................................
16
WEB BASED PROJECT MANAGEMENT ................................................................
16
2 .1
2.2
2.2.1
2.2.2
2 .2 .3
2.2.4
2 .2 .5
2.2.6
2.2.7
2.2.8
IN TRO D UC TIO N ..............................................................................................................................
CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT .................................................................
PRIMAVERA PROJECT PLANNER...............................................................................................
RA AUTOMATION ENGINE.......................................................................................................
VISUA L C + +.................................................................................................................................
COMMON GATEWAY INTERFACE (CGI) PROGRAMMING ...........................................................
PER L ..........................................................................................................................................
MICROSOFT INTERNET INFORMATION SERVER (IIS) ...............................................................
ACTIVE SERVER PAGES (ASP)....................................................................................................
OPEN DATABASE CONNECTIVITY (ODBC) .............................................................................
16
16
16
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
CHAPTER 3 ....................................................................................................................
26
ENGINE M ODEL .........................................................................................................
26
3.1
3.2
EN G INE C O M PO NEN T .....................................................................................................................
TH E EN G IN E M O D EL ......................................................................................................................
26
26
3.3
THE ENGINE CORE MODEL ............................................................................................................
27
3.4
3.5
ENGINE COMPONENT ARCHITECTURE .........................................................................................
SUMMARY OF THE ENGINE COMPONENT ....................................................................................
31
32
CHAPTER 4 ....................................................................................................................
34
INTERFACE M ODEL ...................................................................................................
34
4.1
4.2
4.3
INTERFACE COMPONENT ...............................................................................................................
COMPONENTS OF INTERFACE.........................................................................................................
SUMMARY OF THE INTERFACE COMPONENT ...............................................................................
34
36
36
CHAPTER 5 ....................................................................................................................
38
ANALYZER M ODEL ....................................................................................................
38
5.1
5.2
ANALYZER COMPONENT ...............................................................................................................
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE OF ANALYZER COMPONENT ...................................................................
4
38
39
5.3
SUMMARY OF THE ANALYZER COMPONENT ..................................................................................
41
CHAPTER 6 ....................................................................................................................
42
INTEGRATED GPM S M ODEL ...................................................................................
42
6 .1
IG P M S ..........................................................................................................................................
42
6.2
6.3
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE ................................................................................................................
SUMMARY OF THE INTEGRATED SYSTEM....................................................................................
42
44
CHAPTER 7 ....................................................................................................................
46
IM PLEMENTATION ..................................................................................................
46
7.1
7.1.1
7.1.2
7.2
7.2.1
7.2.2
7.3
7.3.1
7.3.2
7.3.3
EN G IN E CO M PO NEN T .....................................................................................................................
PROJECT MANAGEMENT USING THE ENGINE COMPONENT......................................................
SCHEDULE RECOVERY ...............................................................................................................
INTERFACE COMPONENT ................................................................................................................
SCHEDULING WITH INTERFACE COMPONENT ...........................................................................
UPDATE ORIGINAL DURATION ..................................................................................................
ANALYZER COMPONENT ................................................................................................................
VIEW THE EVOLUTION OF A PROJECT .........................................................................................
ANALYZE TWO VERSIONS OF THE SAME PROJECT....................................................................
SUBMIT PROJECTS ONLINE ......................................................................................................
CHAPTER 8 ....................................................................................................................
46
46
57
61
61
65
67
68
70
72
76
CONCLUSIO NS..............................................................................................................76
8.1
8.1.1
8.1.2
8.1.3
FU TU RE R ESEA RCH .......................................................................................................................
W EB BASED ENGINE COMPONENT .............................................................................................
INTEGRATION OF IGPMS WITH MS PROJECT 2000 AND MS PROJECT CENTRAL ......................
INTEGRATION OF IGPMS WITH WEBSTER FOR PRIMAVERA ......................................................
76
76
77
77
REFERENCES................................................................................................................79
APPENDIX ......................................................................................................................
SOURCE CODES OF IGPMS........................................................................................................................
5
82
82
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
1: PRIMAVERA PROJECT PLANNER 3.0 INTERFACE [5]............................................................
2: RA CLASS DIAGRAM [3]................................................................................
..............................
3: VISUAL C++ 5.0 INTERFACE [37]..........
17
18
.... 19
4: COMMON GATEWAY INTERFACE ARCHITECTURE..............................................................
20
23
MICROSOFT MANAGEMENT CONSOLE [38]..........................................................................
24
6: ACTIVE SERVER PAGES ARCHITECTURE ..............................................................................
............ 25
7: ODBC ARCHITECTURE ............................................................................................
28
FIGURE 8: ENGINE CORE MODEL IN EXPRESS-G [3]..........................................................................
29
FIGURE 9: OBJECT REQUEST BROKER ARCHITECTURE [3] ..................................................................
31
FIGURE 10: COM-BASED AUTOMATION [3] ............................................................................................
32
................................................................
[3]
FIGURE 11: DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE
35
..................................................................
COMPONENT
THE
INTERFACE
FOR
MODEL
FIGURE 12: THE
39
FIGURE 13: SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE OF ANALYZER .................................................................................
43
FIGURE 14: SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE OF IGPMS ...................................................................................
47
FIGURE 15: ENGINE COMPONENT MAIN SCREEN [3]............................................................................
48
FIGURE 16: PROJECT TEMPLATE SELECTION [3] ..................................................................................
48
FIGURE 17: ENGINE COMPONENT MODEL IN AUTOCAD [3].................................................................
49
[3]............................................................................................
BROWSER
OBJECT
ENGINE
FIGURE 18:
49
FIGURE 19: ENGINE OBJECT EDITOR [3].................................................................................................
50
FIGURE 20: ENGINE ACTIVITY BROWSER [3]..........................................................................................
51
FIGURE 21: ENGINE ACTIVITY EDITOR [3]............................................................................................
52
FIGURE 22: ENGINE RESCHEDULING [3] ................................................................................................
53
FIGURE 23: ENGINE RESOURCE BROWSER [3].......................................................................................
54
[3}..............................................................................................
MoNTfOR
FIGURE 24:'ENGINE PROJECT
54
FIGURE 25: ENGINE CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE SIMULATOR [3]..........................................................
55
FIGURE 26: GANTT CHART [3]....................................................................................................................
55
FIGURE 27: CUMULATIVE CASH FLOW [3].................................................................................................
56
FIGURE 28: DAILY CASH FLOW [3]...................................................
56
FIGURE 29: DAILY RESOURCE ALLOCATION [3].....................................................................................
57
FIGURE 30: RESOURCE ASSIGNMENT [3].................................................................................................
58
FIGURE 31: SCHEDULE RECOVERY I [3].................................................................................................
59
FIGURE 32: SCHEDULE RECOVERY 11 [3] ................................................................................................
60
FIGURE 33: NEW DAILY CASH FLOW [3]....................................................................................................
60
FIGURE 34: NEW CUMULATIVE CASH FLOW [3]......................................................................................
61
FIGURE 35: GPMS HOME PAGE .................................................................................................................
62
FIGURE 36: INTERFACE COMPONENT HOME PAGE ..................................................................................
63
FIGURE 37: DISPLAYING A SCHEDULE IN INTERFACE COMPONENT .......................................................
64
.................................................................................
A
PROJECT
FOR
FILTERS
FIGURE 38: DISPLAYING
FIGURE 39: INTERFACE COMPONENT DISPLAYING PROJECT INFORMATION...........................................65
66
FIGURE 40: UPDATING A PROJECT SCHEDULE WITH INTERFACE COMPONENT....................................
67
FIGURE 41: INTERFACE COMPONENT SHOWING THE UPDATED SCHEDULE...........................................
68
FIGURE 42: ANALYZER HOME PAGE ........................................................................................................
5:
FIGURE 43:
FIGURE 44:
FIGURE 45:
FIGURE 46:
FIGURE 47:
FIGURE 48:
EVOLUTION REPORT OF A PROJECT ....................................................................................
ACTIVITIES FINISHED SINCE LAST REPORT ........................................................................
SELECTION OF THE FIRST AND THE SECOND TIME FRAMES AND A REPORT .....................
ANALYZE TWO DIFFERENT TIME FRAMES OF A PROJECT ....................................................
SECURITY FEATURE OF PROJECT SUBMISSION ...................................................................
PROJECT SUBMISSION HOME PAGE ......................................................................................
6
69
70
71
72
73
73
FIGURE 49:
FIGURE 50:
FIGURE 51:
FIGURE 52:
FIGURE 53:
FIGURE 54:
BROWSE PROJECT REPOSITORY BEFORE SUBMITTING A PROJECT ......................................
SUBMIT A ZIPPED PROJECT (E.G. FPS1)............................................................................
FPS1.zip UPLOADED TO THE PROJECT REPOSITORY .........................................................
UPLOADED PROJECT FPS1...................................................................................................75
PERSONAL GANTT VIEW IN MICROSOFT PROJECT CENTRAL [33] ..................
WEBSTER FOR PRIMAVERA [34]..........................................................................................
7
74
74
75
77
78
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Project management systems are computer programs designed to help project managers
successfully manage a variety of project activities. The beginning of these systems are usually
identified with the introduction of Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) [1] and
Critical Path Method (CPM) [1] in the 1950s. With the personal computer revolution starting
from the eighties, now there are many mature commercial packages of such project management
systems. These PC or LAN based project management systems such as PrimaveraTM [5],
TM
[36] and Timberline T M [18] have made
SureTrak T M [35], Microsoft Project TM [30], Expedition
life easier for project managers. However, the access to these software is limited and these
software are not easy to use for ordinary people without extensive training. Generally, once the
project has started with an original schedule, the actual field data about schedule and cost have to
be recorded on paper before they are passed through one office to another before reaching the
scheduler for updating the project schedule weekly or monthly. As modem construction projects
are dynamic and complex in nature, the changes that occurs during the construction process are
inevitable. It is not easy to notify all the participants who will be affected by these changes in a
timely manner, especially if they are in different companies and located in different countries.
Current practice in communicating and resolving these schedule and cost changes is far from
satisfactory therefore causing completion delays, cost increases as well as a lot of controversies
despite the help of computer project management systems. Thus, in the current practice the
information flow is not dynamic. Therefore there exists an information flow problem in project
management that needs to be solved.
The Information Super Highway offers a solution to this information flow problem. The Internet,
especially its most organized section: the World Wide Web, is one of the fastest growing, most
exciting technologies in today's world. With an easy to use graphical Web browser, a user can
access a wealth of information free or almost free (except for the fee for connection). One
8
distinguished characteristics of the Web is the fact that it is accessible at any time, from any
place, to any number of users, with no third party involvement necessary. It is this unique quality
that makes the Web such an ideal tool for the dissemination, gathering and analysis of
information. A user or an organization only needs to update any information on the Web once to
be accessible by all the people who are concerned with that information with no incremental
effort. For example, a person who is looking at the project schedule on the web browser will have
the confidence that he or she is looking at the latest, up to the minute project schedule, which is
impossible with traditional communication channels such as mail, fax, phone call or even email.
So a web based project management system with these functionality becomes a necessity in the
current scenario.
The other major problem with large and global projects is that a large number of information
systems are involved. So an information-sharing model for the integration of design and
construction product and process information is necessary. For example, a construction project
information may consist of drawings e.g. AutoCADTM [4], schedules e.g. Primavera Project
PlannerTM [5], reports e.g. Crystal Report TM [6] and databases e.g. MS AccessTM [7] or MS SQL
ServerTM [8]. Project planning tools must incorporate the product and process data, which may
involve a lot of these information systems. The systems deployed for different aspects of the same
project may be based on different algorithms and different data structures. Collaboration of a
wide array of information systems is needed for the management of large-scale engineering
projects. The thesis describes the attempt to solve this problem by developing a system that
provides a common language of communication between these information systems.
The other problem that project managers encounter while planning large-scale A/E/C projects is
that these projects may involve as many as 300 different multiple organizations [10]. The
complexity of these projects is likely to keep growing. The project information and the amount of
data transaction among project participants tend to expand substantially. Integration of project
information becomes a significant issue for the management of large-scale engineering projects.
The communications across the various sub-disciplines of an A/E/C project is inefficient and
ineffective due to the inflexibility of the current data exchange. The misinterpretation of
documents and drawings also leads contractors to employ inappropriate construction methods, set
up infeasible schedules, waste resources and misestimate project cost. An interoperable integrated
9
project management system for A/E/C product and process information, based on the system
developed by Yee-Sue Chiou [3], is also proposed in this thesis. This information-sharing model
augments the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) [11] and STEP [12] with object oriented
methodologies and software interoperability concepts, establishing a common language for the
product, process and resource information through the entire life cycle of a A/E/C project.
This thesis describes an Integrated Global Project Management System (IGPMS"). IGPMS has
an interface component that allows users to access the project schedule residing on a web server,
update the schedule, recover the schedule by reallocating resources and view the updated
schedule through a web browser at any time and from anywhere. IGPMS has an engine
component that allows the user to view the product, process, resource and cost information for a
project from a web browser. IGPMS also has a component called analyzer, which can analyze
two time frames or the whole evolution of a project allowing for the generation of reports by the
users and gives the user an insight on the actual performance of a project.
10
CHAPTER 1
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
1.1
INTRODUCTION
Project management is the planning, organizing, and managing of tasks and resources to
accomplish a defined objective, usually with constraints on time and cost. A simple project can
be as simple as a list of tasks and their start and finish dates written on a piece of paper. A
complex schedule, on the other hand, might deal with thousands of tasks and resources and a
project budget of billions of dollars. As the project becomes more complex, so are the
requirements of project management system.
The process of computerizing project management began in the 1950s. Dupont Corporation and
Remington Rand, in an effort to improve project-scheduling techniques, developed a scheduling
system called the Critical Path Method (CPM) [1]. CPM is a mathematical model that calculates
the total duration of a project based on individual task duration and logical relationships, and
identifies which tasks are critical to the on time completion of the project. This model is the
fundamental scheduling method used in project management software system today. During the
1950s, the United State Navy developed the Polaris Missile Project; a submarine based weapons
system. Lockheed, the primary contractor on the project, created the Project Evaluation and
Review Technique (PERT) [1], which uses statistical probabilities to calculate expected duration.
Three time estimates are required with PERT; most likely, pessimistic, and optimistic. However,
multiple time estimates required for PERT are cumbersome to use and estimates produced are
more difficult to manage, since project duration can be shown to be correct only 50 percent of the
11
time. Due to this difficulty, PERT is not as widely used as CPM.
In a separate development of project management system, the Gantt chart schedule was
developed by Henry L. Gantt about 1900 [13]. It is used to graphically represent activities across
a time scale. Initially called bar chart, these graphic representations have since been renamed
Gantt Charts in honor of the inventor of the system. Gantt chart has been widely used as a visual
aid in planning and scheduling. Project activities or tasks are shown graphically as bars against a
horizontal time scale. As progress is made, the bars can be updated to show the status of each task
and a vertical line can be drawn to show the current point in time. By comparing the progress
indicated on the horizontal bars to the line showing the current point in time, users can readily
visualize whether tasks are on schedule, ahead of schedule, or behind schedule. Most project
management system software packages on the market today integrate at least CPM method and
Gantt chart. The Primavera Project Planner 3.0 version also integrates PERT into scheduling
calculation. Most of these systems are designed for desktop computers, some have Local Area
Network (LAN) version. Since they are designed for personal computers, these systems do not
work on UNIX or Macintosh machines. This feature has limited the availability of the system to
certain machines, or certain office buildings that are not accessible from other geographical
locations. Each separate PC has to have a copy of the software, which occupies a sizabte hard
disk space on each machine. For updating a project schedule, all the copies on separate machines
have to be changed. Even if the system runs on a LAN system. The objective of this thesis is to
break this barrier, reduce the hardware and software requirements for project management system
and let more people have access to the latest project schedule and update it through Internet.
Design-build is a unique trend in the delivery strategy of civil engineering projects. It reduces
burden on the owner as in this case only one party is wholly responsible for the entire delivery
process of the project. But the delivery process, planning and coordinating activities become
more complex and difficult. Therefore a design evaluation criterion has to be established and the
available resource for construction is to be monitored constantly. Li and Pefia-Mora [14]
proposed a methodology to achieve robust planning and control where unforeseen changes can be
absorbed without major disruption in the plan. To develop this integration method, they have
combined the application of the concepts of axiomatic design, concurrent engineering, GERT and
system dynamics. While these techniques can achieve robust control on design-build projects, the
12
problem related to the vastness and the global nature of these projects still stands. When a designbuild project is large and globally based, it becomes very difficult to manage the different
installations. So in addition to robust control in planning, global management of such project
becomes highly necessary.
The Internet is a space, where you can gather, disseminate, and exchange all types of information.
WWW stands for "World Wide Web." The WWW project, started by Tim Berners-Lee while at
CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics), seeks to build a "distributed hypermedia
system." In practice, the web is a vast collection of interconnected documents, spanning the
world. The web was conceived so that, computer users could have a single, unified means of
accessing hypermedia documents from anywhere on the Internet. The WWW uses the Hyper Text
Transfer Protocol (HTTP). This protocol is the primary protocol for distributing information on
the web. It is a relatively simple, flexible, higher level protocol that runs on top of Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The browsers display documents that are typically in
Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) format. HTML is similar to many other markup
languages such as LATEX, RTF, and Frame. Markup languages define areas of text by special
"tagging" the specific formatting associated with those areas. When Viewing an HTML
document there are hightightedt text (Nyper Text) that wilt reroute the user to another section on
the same document or another document that can either residing in the same server or a different
web server thousands of miles away. The web server can be anywhere as long as there is a
connection to the Internet. The Hyper Text that the user clicks on to trigger the browser to jump
from one web location to another is called the Universal Resource Locator (URL).
The web
supports hypermedia and multimedia. Hypermedia is a combination of hypertext and multimedia,
where hypertext refers to the linking of related information and multimedia refers to using
different types of data to represent information. In the early stages of web most of the contents are
static HTML documents for publishing information purpose, that is why newspapers, magazines
are among the first commercial users of the web. With the introduction of the Common Gateway
Interface (CGI), computer users can fire up an application with resides in a remote web server
and receive dynamic results based on user input. This feature has enabled a new class of
specialized web applications that exploit the Internet's dynamic, interactive nature. Dynamic web
pages are not built from ordinary HTML text files; instead, small programs or scripts create the
HTML source text, which a web browser then displays to the user. Because scripts generate
13
HTML documents on the fly, they are capable of incorporating information which changes or
which cannot be determined in advance. They can also be used to solicit and interpret usersupplied data, retrieve requested information, or produce content, which has been customized for
a particular user. After new web browsers incorporate security features to protect transmitted
information and the introduction of firewall to block unauthorized access, banks and financial
institutions are moving onto Internet at an unprecedented rate.
In the present scenario, the globalization of construction industry has revolutionized the project
management system. When a project is large and various facilities and installations are located at
different parts of the world, it becomes difficult to notify all the participants about the change in
schedule or any other decision made on the project. The proliferation of World Wide Web offers
a solution in this context as through the internet a user can access a wealth of information any
time, any place with no third party involvement. One problem with such large and global projects
is that a large number of information systems are involved. So an information-sharing model for
the integration of design and construction product and process information is necessary. For
example, a construction project information may consist of drawings (e.g. AutoCAD), schedules
(e.g. P3) and databases (e.g. MS Access). Project planning tools must incorporate the product and
process data, which may involve a lot of information systems.
So, collaboration of a wide array of information systems is needed for the management of largescale engineering projects. The systems deployed for different aspects of the same project may be
based on different algorithms and different data structures. Large-scale A/E/C projects may
involve hundreds of multiple organizations. The complexity of these projects is likely to keep
growing. So the project information and the amount of data transaction among project
participants tend to expand substantially. So integration of project information becomes a
significant issue for the management of large-scale engineering projects. The communications
across the various sub-disciplines of an A/E/C project is inefficient and ineffective due to the
inflexibility of the current data exchange. The misinterpretation of documents and drawings also
leads contractors to employ inappropriate construction methods, set up infeasible schedules,
waste resources and misestimate project cost.
14
1.2
OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
This research attempts to achieve robust planning of A/E/C projects by introducing web based
project management tools and components to the existing project management technology. The
research also hopes to achieve software interoperability through object oriented approach
amongst different project management software. The research also aims at providing project
managers an analyzing and reporting tool for their projects.
1.3
BENEFITS OF THE RESEARCH
This research will help project managers overcome the handicap of not being able to plan their
projects online. Project managers can submit the project schedules, view and update a schedule
from a web browser. They can also analyze the different schedules and view reports of the
desired category. Project managers can also view the product, process, resource and cost
informatiorr of theirprojects in a user frierrdty Graphical User Interface (GUI)'
rt
rmar
can also monitor their projects running a simulation and generating reports and charts based on
the simulation.
15
CHAPTER 2
WEB BASED PROJECT MANAGEMENT
2.1
INTRODUCTION
Project Management software has improved over the past decade and but the most important of
all problems is the communications of project plans and keeping the projects up to date. Various
solutions have been emerging over the years including client/server applications, email, fax but
nothing has shown a higher potential than the Internet. A great part of this research was devoted
to study these existing methodologies and different tools available for project management.
2.2
CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
The different existing technologies in Project Management were studied and evaluated before
designing the Integrated Global Project Management System (IGPMS) and its components. Each
component of IGPMS is described in detail in the following chapters. The different technologies
considered for this research are:
2.2.1
PRIMAVERA PROJECT PLANNER
Primavera Project Planner (P3) is the high-end market leader of professional project management
software product for more than 15 years. Primavera's Concentric Project Management products
16
address the specific project management requirements of project-driven industries such as
construction,
utilities
telecommunications,
engineering,
and
petrochemical
processing,
representing approximately $650 billion annually in U.S. construction project spending and $21
billion annually in U.S. research and development spending [15]. Primavera Project Planner helps
you manage resources, tasks and priorities across multiple-projects. P3 is ideal for managing
important, large, or complex projects in industries requiring significant planning and control. It is
designed specifically for project managers in environments that require multi-user and multiproject capabilities,
in-depth analysis, cost control, electronic mail communications
and
sophisticated reporting. To organize projects up to 100,000 activities, P3 provides unlimited
resources and an unlimited number of target plans. Massive data requires sophisticated, yet highly
flexible organization tools: P3 supports 24 activity codes, 16 custom data items, 19 levels of sort,
28 levels of selection criteria and 31 activity calendars. The Primavera Project Planner for
Windows Version 3.0 (P3 3.0) is used in this thesis. A typical project schedule in Primavera
Project Planner is shown in Figure 1.
0
ASI100 Define System Requirements 10
20
0
AS101 SystemDesign
0
10
AS204 PrepareDrawingsforTemp
3
10
AS216 Prepare Drawings for
a
15
AS102 Approve System Design
3
BA469 Assemble Technical Data for 13
10 10
BA470 Review TechnicalDataon
4040
CS300 System Design
15
CS310 Review and Approve Design 115
20
120
CS430 Prepare Drawings for
CS440 IReviewand Approve
1 51 51
100
100
100
70
100
0
0
0
0
0
0
ingAddition
Bull
toqiremeis
Syste Design
Prepal DrawlingsforTemp ControlEquipment
for System Controller
Proare
l
Al )rove System Design
Assemble TechnicalData for Heat Pump
P-V
_ ReiviewTechnicalDataon Heat Pumps
SystemDesign
Reviee andApproveDesign
Prepare Drawingsfor Conveyor
4T ReviewandApproveDrawing
Am Defie
M
V
7
Tn Evans-Program
Manager
5
AS0Rvew and Approve Temp
JAS217IReviewand Approve System 1101
AcmeMoDre-Own
14
BA501lRevew ad Approve
0
10
0
Re
0
100
0
-
Drawings
Equipment
andApproveTemp Control
-V
ReviewandApproveSyistemControler
Rei ew andApproveDesigns
V Review andApproveBrickSamples
aw-
Figure 1: Primavera Project Planner 3.0 Interface [5]
17
2.2.2
RA AUTOMATION ENGINE
RA is An OLE Automation Server and Scheduling Engine. RA is a significant step forward in the
development of interfaces to project management functionality, processes, and project data for
use in a wide range of business applications. As a server, RA enables access to Primavera Project
Planner's advanced scheduling, leveling, resource and activity data, and cost calculations through
an object-oriented automation server based on OLE 2.0 [16].
Legend
Current User
c
P3 Session
Entity
P3 Project
Supertype/Subtype
-0
Relationship
Resource
-c
Predecessor
Dee
e
Kt
Dr
[Account
Resource
r
Activity
Assignm
Relationship
_C Successor
ent
C
cI
Cost Account
Cost Accout
-aegr
-c
Calender
Figure 2: RA Class Diagram [3]
By using the RA Software Developer Kit (SDK), programmers can access, manipulate, and/or
create project data with industry-standard programming tools, such as Microsoft Visual Basic,
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, Microsoft Visual C++, Microsoft Test, Borland Delphi,
Oracle Power Objects, Powersoft PowerBuilder and SoftBridge Basic Language. RA offers the
flexibility and power to customize existing tasks, link existing applications, and build entirely
18
new applications around Primavera Project Planner's functionality, data integrity, and business
rule set. Corporate systems throughout the enterprise can utilize RA as a background process,
feed data to be run through the scheduling engine, and then use the subsequent results. Figure 2
shows the RA class diagram.
2.2.3
VISUAL C++
Visual C++ is a Windows-based programming language based on ANSI C++. It provides an
environment for creating Windows applications, a framework to begin with, and tools which
allow you to custom-build your application. At the heart of Visual C++ is a library of Microsoft
Foundation Classes (MFC) which are general-purpose classes of all types. Thanks to data
isolation, we can use code, which has been written by someone else to support our own
applications. The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Visual C++ is the Developer
Studio where the programmer can access all the templates, tools, libraries, and even on-line help.
In this thesis, Visual C++ 5.0 is used to write the code for accessing RA engine OLE functions.
Figure 3 is a typical Visual C++ environment for developing C++ program.
Figure 3: Visual C++ 5.0 Interface [37]
19
2.2.4
COMMON GATEWAY INTERFACE (CGI) PROGRAMMING
The CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is the standard by which external programs (often called
gateways or gateway programs) can interface with an HTTP (Web) server. Thus CGI programs
act as gateways between the HTTP server and databases, or between the server and local
programs or document generators.
Server
Client
Figure 4: Common Gateway Interface Architecture
Figure 4 illustrates the flow of data when a user accesses a CGI program. The solid line shows to
data flow using HTTP and CGI. HTTP transfers data from the client to the HTTP server, and
back again. The CGI mechanism controls the flow of data from the server to the gateway
programs (shown as the prism) and back again. These are called gateway programs because they
generally act as gateways between the World Wide Web and server-side resources such as
databases, feedback forms, click-able image-maps, and so on. CGI specifies how data are sent to
the gateway program, and how data can be returned by the gateway program, through the server
and back to the browser that originally sent the data. The basic mechanisms are:
*
Sending Data to the Gateway Program
The CGI specifies how data are sent to the gateway program (as environment variables or as data
read, by the gateway program, from standard input) and what data are sent (in general, all the data
20
sent by the client to the server, plus extra environment variables describing the status of the
server).
*
Returning Data to the Client
To return data back to the client program (the user's web browsers) the gateway program just
writes data to its regular (standard) output. These data are sent back the client, after some
processing by the server to ensure they have the correct message headers describing the data and
the state of the transaction. The gateway program must write to standard output, before anything
else, header messages explaining the MIME type of the data being returned by the program, this
is the only way that the server can know what type of data are being returned by the gateway
program.
2.2.5
PERL
Perl is the "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language." It was created by Larry Wall as a tool
for writing program in the UNIX environment and is cortimaafy beTg updated ant
maitained
by him [21]. Perl combines many features of shell, awk, sed, C, and Basic programming in a
easy-to-use scripting language that is ideal for text-file manipulation and general system
management tasks. It is designed to assist the UNIX users with common tasks that are probably
too heavy or too portability-sensitive for the shell, and yet too weird or short-lived or complicated
to code in C or some other UNIX tool language. Unlike C, Perl is an interpreter-based (and not a
compiler-based) language. Because of this, a Perl program does not need to be recompiled after a
modification. The Perl "script" contains the actual commands (as written by the programmer),
while the Perl "program" interprets these commands and executes the script. While the use of an
interpreter avoids the need for recompilation, it does result in slower execution times compared
with a similar program written in C. Since Perl is in the public domain, it may be obtained freeof-charge from the Internet such as ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu. Perl is available for UNIX, Mac, DOS,
Amiga, and several other platforms. Perl is an excellent tool for text and file processing, this is
why Perl has become the most popular programming tool for CGI scripts used on web servers.
21
The version used in this thesis is Perl 5.0 for DOS, installed in C:\PERL5.
2.2.6
MICROSOFT INTERNET INFORMATION SERVER (IIS)
Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is an Internet file and application server included with
the Microsoft Windows NT® Server operating system. IIS can be used alone as a Web server, or
in conjunction with compatible technologies to set up Internet commerce, to access and
manipulate data from a variety of data sources, and to build Web applications that take advantage
of server script and component code to deliver client-server functionality. Because of its tight
integration with Windows NT Server, IIS guarantees the network administrator and application
developer the same security, networking, and administration functionality as Windows NT
Server. Above and beyond its use of familiar Windows NT Server tools and functionality, IIS
also has built-in capabilities to help administer secure Web sites, and to develop and deploy
server-intensive Web applications.
The Microsoft
Management
Console (MMC)
(see Figure 5) provides
one utility for
administrators to manage the network environment. With- the Mmagement -cosAOe-, network
administration tasks can be customized for each administrator. Snap-ins for the MMC provide the
ability to administer specific server components. One of the snap-ins for the MMC is IIS's
Internet Service Manager, which gives administrators the ability to create Web and FTP sites,
change default settings of a site, assign operators to tasks, start and stop sites, manage
transactions, view statistics, manage tasks locally and remotely, and perform all other
administrative tasks for the Web server or servers.
22
mmim~~
,n Micfosoff Management Console
Iiis mse Console RootkIntemet n ofmation - ervel ' gpms
e au t
e
te
.1 a
Figure 5: Microsoft Management Console [38]
IIS also includes a Web-based administration tool that makes remote administration of Web
servers possible through use of a Web browser. One of the most exciting features of IIS 4.0 is its
powerful application development platform. Active Server Pages (ASP) technology, server
components, search and index features, and new transaction-processing capabilities are making
development of server-intensive Web applications one of the fastest growing components of Web
development. Web developers need access to features that enable commerce, database access,
personalization, and dynamic content generation on the Web. Intranet developers also need these
features along with the ability to full-text search across all documents on their networks.
2.2.7
ACTIVE SERVER PAGES (ASP)
Active Server Pages is an open, compile-free application environment in which you can combine
HTML, scripts, and reusable ActiveX server components to create dynamic and powerful Webbased business solutions. Active Server Pages enables server side scripting for IIS with native
23
support for both VBScript and Jscript [17]. An ASP script begins to run when a browser requests
a .asp file from a Web server. The Web server then calls ASP, which reads through the requested
file from top to bottom, executes any script commands, and sends a Web page to the browser. As
the scripts run on the server rather than on the client, the Web server does all the work involved in
generating the Web pages that is sent to browsers. The Web server does all the script processing,
transmitting standard HTML to the browser. Server-side scripts cannot be readily copied because
only the result of the script is returned to the browser. The users cannot view the script commands
that created the page they are viewing. Figure 6 displays the ASP architecture.
Server
Client
ere
Decoding~
ag
-
HTTP
J------
Page
Dynarni
Figure 6: Active Server Pages Architecture
2.2.8
OPEN DATABASE CONNECTIVITY (ODBC)
Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a widely accepted application programming interface
(API) for database access. It is based on the Call-Level Interface (CLI) specifications from
X/Open and ISO/IEC for database APIs and uses Structured Query Language (SQL) as its
database access language. The ODBC interface makes it possible for applications to access data
from a variety of database management systems (DBMSs). The ODBC interface permits
maximum interoperability-an application can access data in diverse DBMSs through a single
interface. Furthermore, that application will be independent of any DBMS from which it accesses
data. Database applications call functions in the ODBC interface, which are implemented in
database-specific modules called drivers. The use of drivers isolates applications from databasespecific calls in the same way that printer drivers isolate word processing programs from printer-
24
specific commands. Because drivers are loaded at run time, a user only has to add a new driver to
access a new DBMS. Figure 7 illustrates the ODBC architecture.
The ODBC architecture has four components:
"
Application. Performs processing and calls ODBC functions to submit SQL statements
and retrieve results.
*
Driver Manager. Loads and unloads drivers on behalf of an application. Processes
ODBC function calls or passes them to a driver.
*
Driver. Processes ODBC function calls, submits SQL requests to a specific data source,
and returns results to the application. If necessary, the driver modifies an application's
request so that the request conforms to syntax supported by the associated DBMS.
*
Data source. Consists of the data the user wants to access and its associated operating
system, DBMS, and network platform (if any) used to access the DBMS.
Application
ODBC API
Driver Manager
ODBC API
eDriv
Driver
Driver
Data
Data
Data
Source
Source
ource
Figure 7: ODBC Architecture
25
CHAPTER 3
ENGINE MODEL
3.1
ENGINE COMPONENT
Engine component (originally called "SCHEREC") was developed by Yee-sue Chiou and
Feniosky Pefia-Mora [3] with aim to achieve interoperability among software components and
establish a common language for information exchange among project management systems. In
this research the Engine component was studied and integrated with the Interface and Analyzer
model, which will be discussed in the following chapters. Some of the modures in Engine
component (SCHEREC) were also modified to make SCHEREC run on any computer where the
software components like P3, RA, MS Access, MS Excel and AutoCAD are installed. Initially
SCHEREC could be only run on a specific server and this research removed this handicap and
integrated the Engine component with the other components of Integrated Global Project
Management System (IGPMS), namely Interface and Analyzer.
3.2
THE ENGINE MODEL
The Engine model aims to integrate information used in the design and construction processes for
better management of large scale engineering systems (LSES). Different disciplines use
individual software tools to create, manipulate and maintain their product and process
information. For example, architects use Autodesk AutoCAD [4] for representing the physical
characteristics of a project. Schedulers use Primavera Project Planner [5] for capturing the logic
26
and time needed to build the project. Estimators use Timberline [18] for developing the cost
associated with the project. Accountants use special accounting systems, such as J.D. Edwards'
Financial Suite [19], or customized database systems to track the expenditures on a project. As a
result, diverse LSES models and software tools are being used by each individual specialty in the
current community.
Object-oriented modeling technology can be used to encapsulate and manage these different types
of entities in the product and process models. Thus the object-oriented modeling processes, which
follow the standards of ISO STEP [12], ISO Building Construction Core Model (BCCM) [20],
IAI [11] and Industry Foundation Classes [11], are used to develop the Engine model for
integrating these diverse product and process models in infrastructure projects.
3.3
THE ENGINE CORE MODEL
The major role of the Engine core model is to integrate project information into the product,
process and resource models. The foregoing section defines an applicable process for the
integration among the product, process and resource models. Figure 8, in EXPRESS-G [22],
gives an illustration of the interconnectivity among them.
First, top-level abstract entities, such as product, process, and resource are identified. In the
second level, the entity groups, which are aggregated from individual domain elements, are
derived from these abstract entities. Meanwhile, the entangled nature of A/E/C abstract entities
are represented by the relationship between entity groups. Furthermore, three subtypes of
resource usage object keep track of the resources consumed by entities of the product and process
models; the cost account, in connection with the resource model, will perform the model-driven
takeoff. After the creation of the Engine Core Model, any change to the original design will
generate new construction schedules and estimate the equitable cost.
27
[1:?]
Legend
Entity
Supertype/Subtype
Relationship
cardinality
[1:?]
Figure 8: Engine Core Model in EXPRESS-G [3]
Implementation the Engine Component uses AutoCAD14TM
[4] as the graphical engine,
Primavera RATM [5] as the scheduling engine, MS AccessTM [7] and MS Excel
9 7 TM
[23] for cost
and resources. Since the Engine Model does not deliberately overhaul the original design cycles
to accommodate the computer-based information flow, A/E/C project participants need to adjust
their discipline as little as possible. For instance, as the design team, which is composed of
architects and engineers, finishes the schematic design in AutoCAD, all of the components within
the design work will be systematically organized into the building component hierarchy of the
28
product model. As the construction team, following the scheme, completes the construction plan
in Primavera Project Planner, the construction task hierarchy of the process model is formed at
the same time. Then, the resource objects are created from the resource database according to the
resource class template. Afterwards, all mappings among the Engine product, process and
resource entities are generated in accord with the predefined object-oriented diagram in Figure 9.
The concept of the Engine model sheds new light on the integration of data and knowledge of an
infrastructure project through the entire project life cycle. The three Engine sub-models manage
the product, process and resource information for different aspects of project management. The
Engine core model presents a systematic way, which conforms to the IAI IFC [11] development
process, to integrate these three sub-models. As a result, the integration of project information
among project team members and their computer systems can be achieved through the
implementation of the Engine model.
Engine
Model
CAD
Application
Model
Scheduling
Application
Model
Other Object Services
Database
System
.
Figure 9: Object Request Broker Architecture [3]
The attempt to integrate different A/E/C systems has been proposed since the 1980s [24], but the
main integration mechanisms were limited to file exchange and shared software libraries. Due to
29
the lack of a generic A/E/C information representation mechanism, their information-sharing
levels have been confined to geometrical
and text-based
information. Furthermore, the
consistency of A/E/C information is hard to maintain and the synchronization of these systems
needs a great deal of labor.
The
evolution
of object-oriented
technology
has
promoted
the
evolution
of software
interoperability. The Object Management Architecture (OMA), defined by Object Management
Group (OMG), provides a high level of abstraction [25] to allow the integration of a wide variety
of objects. The core of the OMA is the Object Request Broker (ORB), which delivers requests to
server objects and returns the result to the client objects. The software interoperability enables an
object-oriented system to take advantage of a variety of software products through the standard
software interfaces. A number of software developing tools, such as IONA Orbix [26], IBM
DSOM [27] and Microsoft COM [28], allow the interoperability of different systems. Due to the
current availability of interoperable software components, the Engine component has been
implemented in Microsoft Component Object Model (COM). Unlike traditional application
programming interfaces (API), a COM-based application, which is also known as Automation
Engine, exposes its interfaces precisely and completely through COM. That is, COM defines a
common way for software components to access software services [281.
The responsibility of an Automation Engine, which is deployed in a COM-based object model, is
to describe its methods grouped by its COM interfaces and to maintain data of activated COM
objects. As a result, other COM-based objects can navigate the internal COM model, retrieve
data, and perform any internal methods of an Automation Engine. Figure 10 shows two kinds of
automation methods:
*
In-Process Automation, in which service objects are in the same process as the client
application. Usually an In-Process server is implemented in a dynamic-link library (DLL).
For example, the service of RA Engine to the Engine component is launched through this
kind of automation [5].
*
Local Automation, in which COM services are provided in a separate process running on the
same machine. For example, AutoCAD provides its function to the Engine component
30
through such a mechanism.
Legend
IMyinterface
Reference1
Interface
COM
Object
Reference2
In-Process Server
COM Application
COM
Object
IUnknown
Reference
System
Process
COM
Object
Onterface2
Reference
...........
Local Server
Figure 10: COM-based Automation [3]
3.4
ENGINE COMPONENT ARCHITECTURE
The Distributed Computing Architecture is illustrated at Figure
11. The user interface
components and specific engineering components can be deployed on the client machine.
Meanwhile, the middle-tier machines construct the application servers and the database servers
are running on the back-end machines. Thus, it can be estimated that the interoperability will
evolve into a fundamental underpinning for the integration of a full array of engineering software
components. As a result, the collaboration of project team members will also be supported in a
distributed computing environment. The implementation of the Engine Component demonstrates
the cooperation of engineering design
systems and project
management
systems. The
interoperability among AutoCADTM, Primavera Project PlannerTM, RATM Automation Engine,
Microsoft Access 97 TM and Microsoft Excel 9 7 TM promotes the functionality of integrated project
management system. Moreover, the deployment of the product, process and resource entities of
Shimizu Smart Tower proves the feasibility of the interoperable integrated project management
31
system for the real world project.
Client
Middle-tier
Back-end
Client
COM
User-Interface
Component
DCOM/ORB
Validation
Component
Database
COM
COM
__CEYDDCOM/R
Engineering
Component
DCOM/OR
Design and
Construction Rule
DCOM/
ORB
Database
Dtbs
Component
Figure 11: Distributed Computing Architecture [3]
3.5
SUMMARY OF THE ENGINE COMPONENT
Engine component integrates the product, process, cost and resource information and provides a
common language of communication between the respective information systems. Engine allows
project managers to visualize the project from a user friendly GUI. A user can look at the
different drawings essential to a project. The user can also edit any part of the drawing by
clicking on the object. Engine also allows users to access the schedule information of the project.
The user can either update the schedule or take help of the in-built recovery strategies of Engine
for example, crashing of activity duration, hiring of new resources or assigning overtime. Engine
enables users to view the resource information of a project and allows the user to update this
information. The most interesting feature of Engine Component is that it also allows the user to
run a simulation of the project and view different kind of project reports and sequence of
construction. Engine thus integrates physical, schedule and resource information of a project
while planning and simulating a project.
Engine will be used mostly by project managers who make important decision with respect to
32
product, choice of process, cost and resource allocation. Project managers also can simulate the
progress of a project and view the product, process, cost and resource information as a function of
time and take decisions accordingly. Also, project managers who wish to recover a schedule can
do so with the help of the Engine's different schedule recovery strategies. Thus Engine
Component caters mostly to high-level project managers. A project schedule is maintained and
updated by on-site contractors and schedule managers who do not take the high-level decisions
regarding process, cost and resource but play an important role in the schedule of a project. They
require that the schedule information is available to them in an interface where they can visualize
the schedule and also make changes instantly to the schedule from the visual interface. The
Interface Component caters to this need by providing schedule information in a visual interface
through the web and also tools to update the schedule from the web based interface. The Interface
Component is described in detail in the next section.
33
CHAPTER 4
INTERFACE MODEL
4.1
INTERFACE COMPONENT
Interface component (originally called "GPMS") was developed by Hong Chen and Feniosky
Pefia-Mora [2] with aim to develop a web based interface component by combining the power of
existing project management system with the World Wide Web, making the project schedule
available to anyone from anywhere. With the GPMS system, a very small management team will
able to manage many projects in one office, running a single copy of this system on a single
computer with the live field data coming in through Internet. The schedule will be updated
instantaneously instead of weekly or monthly. In this research the Interface component (originally
called "GPMS") was studied and integrated with the Engine and the Analyzer model. Analyzer
model will be discussed in the following chapter. Initially GPMS could only open a specific
Primavera project (e.g. "APEX") and show only 18 activities of the project. This research
removed this handicap and now the Interface component can open any Primavera project and
show all the activities for the project. Now with the new Interface component, project managers
will be able to view filters defined in the Primavera project as well.
The Interface model is based on client/server architecture on the Internet. At the client side, the
users can access the project schedule by going to the web page of the project through a web
browser, update the duration of the activities, and recover the delayed activity by making existing
resource work over time or hiring new resource. After the changes are made, this information is
sent in HTML form input to CGI gateway programs on the server side. Then CGI scripts call
34
Visual C++ program to access the project schedule in Primavera Project PlannerTM through the
RA Engine T M to update the project schedule and reschedule all activities based on activity
relationships and the user input. The latest schedule progress in HTML format is sent through
C++ interface and CGI gateway program to be shown on the web by Java applets. In other words,
the project schedule can be updated from anywhere at anytime by any authorized people from any
machine that has a web browser running. The latest schedule is immediately available to all those
who has a web browser such as Netscape NavigatorT M or Internet ExplorerT M by a single click,
whether the machine he or she uses is a UNIX, or Macintosh or Windows PC. Since Primavera
Project PlannerTM only runs on PC, this alone is a big step forward for those who don't use PC.
Better communication is achieved with less direct contact with all the participants in the project.
The cost savings in fewer management personnel, few computers and software purchases and
fewer offices to accommodate them are enormous let alone there is no long distance
communication charge.
Client
Middle-tier
Figure 12: The model for the Interface Component
35
Back-end
4.2
COMPONENTS OF INTERFACE
The Interface component is a web based project management system by combining the power of
existing project management system with the World Wide Web. The Interface component will
allow users to access the project schedule resided in a web server, update the schedule, recover
the delay of the schedule by reallocating resources and view the updated schedule through a Web
browser at any time from anywhere. The following section is a description of all the components
involved in developing the Interface Component, including both server side and client side
software.
Primavera Project PlannerTM
(P3) is the high-end market leader of professional project
management software product for more than 12 years with an installed user base of more than
50,000. The Primavera Project PlannerTM for Windows Version (P3) is used in the Interface
component. RATM is An OLE Automation Server and Scheduling Engine from Primavera Inc. As
a server, RATM enables access to Primavera's advanced scheduling, leveling, resource and activity
data, and cost calculations through an object-oriented automation server based on OLE. On the
server side; Peri scripts and Java applets are aso corn pnvents of the Intefface. Onre of the. most
obvious advantages of the Interface component over other project management system is that no
special proprietary software is required at the client side. All the user needs is a web browser
running on any UNIX, Macintosh or Intel machine. The web page acts as the user interface to
pass user input to the web server for processing.
4.3
SUMMARY OF THE INTERFACE COMPONENT
The Interface Component helps on-site project managers and contractors to view and update the
schedule information from the web. The information is instantly updated and made available to all
the participants of the project irrespective of their location. Interface also helps users to update a
schedule in order to recover a schedule by adopting different strategies such as hiring new
resources or increasing overtime. The Interface Component is user friendly and does not require
extensive training on computers especially Primavera Project PlannerTM. An on-site contractor
36
need not know Primavera tools to update a schedule through the interface component. Interface
thus helps in faster and efficient schedule access to the people who are more concerned with the
scheduling part of a project.
While the current schedule is very important while updating or recovering a schedule by hiring
new resource or increasing overtime, project managers also take into account the past
performance,
trends, anomalies, patterns and evolution of the schedule. While Interface
component helps project managers and on-site contractors to view and update the schedule in real
time, it does not have the functionality of displaying the evolution of a schedule over time and
analyses of different time frames. Analyzer component caters to this need by providing a
schedule analysis engine integrated with a web interface. The analyzer component is discussed in
detail in the next section.
37
CHAPTER 5
ANALYZER MODEL
5.1
ANALYZER COMPONENT
Schedules of a project can be analyzed from a browser with the help of the Analyzer component.
The Analyzer Component allows users to access schedules for which they have permissions. The
Analyzer requires users to log on and a list of projects is then displayed to the user. The user can
select any project for analysis. The user can view the reports based on the changes made to the
schedule from one time period to the other. For example, the activities finished after the first time
period. The user also has an option of viewing all the changes made to project on a category
which he can select at run time.
The basic building blocks of Analyzer are Active Server Pages (ASP). An Active Server Page is
basically an html file along with VB script and/or Java script codes. An active server page is used
for server side database interactions from the web. A client can interact with the server database
by sending requests to the active server pages, which reside on the server. The user sends the
requests through a web browser. The active server page processes the request and then the active
server page interacts with the database on the server side. The active server page sends the user
security information and the query to be processed to the database. The results are then fetched by
another active server page, which displays the results to the user through the web browser.
The Analyzer can be used for comparing different schedules of a project. Based on the
comparison several reports can be generated by the Analyzer. The following types of reports
38
generated by the Analyzer.
5.2
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE OF ANALYZER COMPONENT
The basic components of Analyzer are Primavera Project PlannerTM, RA Engine T M , ODBCTM and
ASP TM.
Client
Middle-tier
Back-end
Figure 13: System Architecture of Analyzer
Primavera projects are incorporated to the Btrieve database by updating the DDF files (File.ddf,
Index.ddf and Field.ddf) in the primavera project directory (typically C:\P3WIN\PROJECTS).
After the DDF files are setup for the projects, an ODBC data source is created. For the System
DSN, a suitable name for the data source, an appropriate driver (Pervasive ODBC-32) is selected.
In the Pervasive driver menu the location of the DDF files and the Primavera projects are
specified. After the ODBC System DSN is setup, SQL queries can be run from the web through
Active Server Pages.
39
The building block of the reports that the Analyzer Component generates is a SQL query. When
the user selects a particular type of report, a corresponding query is run in the server. The first and
second time frames or versions of the same project schedule are passed as arguments. For
example, the corresponding query for "Activities Added since Last Report" looks something like
this.
"SELECT DISTINCT" + Second + "ACT.Actld," + Second + "ACT.ActivityTitle, "+ Second +
"ACT.ES" + Second + "ACT.EF," + Second + "ACT.TotalFloat," + Second + "ACT.OrigDur
FROM" + Second + "ACT WHERE " + Second + "ACT.Actld not in (SELECT DISTINCT" +
First + "ACT.Actld FROM" + First + "ACT)"
"First" and "Second" are two arguments specifying the first and second version of the schedule
respectively. A typical report request may look something like this:
http://gpms.mit.edu/12.asp?First=ASPN&Second=CONT
Here 12.asp corresponds to the ASP page that contains the query for the report category
"Activities Added since Last Report". The fiFS time -frame is the schedule "ASPN" and the
second time frame is the schedule "CONT". Both these schedules are versions of the same project
(Edge Hill Continuing Care Community Project). For the queries to run successfully, it is
absolutely necessary that these projects are incorporated into the Btrieve database. The projects
can be incorporated into the Btrieve database by updating the DDF files from Primavera Project
Planner.
This query is run on the server by the corresponding ASP script when the user requests a
particular category of report and specifies the first and the second time frames. After the query is
run on the Primavera ODBC data source, the result of the query is displayed in the form of an
HTML table.
40
5.3
SUMMARY OF THE ANALYZER COMPONENT
The Analyzer component helps users to analyze the schedules of a project and generate reports
that help plan the subsequent modifications to the project schedule. The user also gets an idea
about the trends and patterns of changes made to a schedule in a given category. The user can
also study the activities and recognize the activities which might influence the project schedule
more than other insignificant activities. The Analyzer component generates reports, which can be
used for administrative purposes and also could be used by individual contractors to estimate the
duration of the activities in the next revision. The Analyzer component is thus a necessary tool in
the decision making process while scheduling a project.
41
CHAPTER 6
INTEGRATED GPMS MODEL
6.1
IGPMS
The integration of the three Components is achieved through the design of an architecture, which
integrates the three without any major changes in their existing architecture. The architecture uses
CGI technology for integrating all the three components into a single web based system. The
product information for example, AutoCADTM drawings is incorporated by ActiveXTM technology.
The simulation results in the form of ExcelTM charts and graphs are supported Internet Explorer TM
and can also be viewed in Netscape TM
after downloading required plug-ins. The system
architecture of Integrated Global Project Management System is discussed in detail below.
6.2
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
The basic components of IGPMS are Primavera Project PlannerTM, RATM, AutoCAD T M,
Excel TM, MS Access TM, Visual
C++TM
programs, CGI scripts, ODBCTM and
MS
ASPTM.
IGPMS integrates all the three components discussed before in a common framework rather than
treating each of the architecture as different units. Figure 14 shows the integration framework for
IGPMS. The Engine component is a Visual Basic program, which integrated the product, process,
cost and resource information. The Visual Basic program interacts with Primavera the same way
as the Interface component. In addition, it also interacts with AutoCAD, MS Excel and MS
42
Access using the COM technology.
Client
Middle-tier
Back-end
ODBC
Web Browser
ASP
CGI
P3
C++ Program
UeVisual
00RA
Engine
MS Access
Visual Basic Program
.MS Excel
AutoCAD
Figure 14: System Architecture of IGPMS
The Interface component interacts with RA Engine through CGI and publishes project
information to a web browser. The project information is displayed on a JAVA applet, so any
JAVA enabled browser can access the project information and also can update projects through
the web using the Interface component.
The Analyzer component interacts with Primavera Project Planner through Pervasive ODBC
driver for Btrieve and publishes HTML reports to the web by analyzing different time frames of
43
the same project and also the analysis of the evolution of a project. The user can view the reports
on a web browser and does not need to install any special software for this purpose.
6.3
SUMMARY OF THE INTEGRATED SYSTEM
The Engine Component presented in this thesis has demonstrated a conceptualized framework to
improve the integration of project information. The underlying Engine model brings a new level
of
openness
to
A/E/C
domain
practitioners
through
object-orientation
and
software
interoperability. The software interoperability of an integrated project management system allows
the estimation of the project cost, the creation of new schedules and the analysis of design
alternatives beyond the capability of a single A/E/C application. The project management practice
across specific engineering or managerial areas reinforces the evaluation of the construction plan
and supports the decision making process. Hence, the quality and efficiency of current project
management are improved. Besides the concept of integrated project management, this thesis also
sheds a new light on the development of collaborative computing systems. As distributed
computing and interoperability technologies become mature, more dedicated A/E/C software
components are likely to burgeon. Thus, a new computing system can easily be assembled, that
allows the collaboration of architectural, engineering and construction information system, by a
variety of software components through their standard object-oriented interfaces in a distributed
computing environment [25].
The Interface component presented in this thesis has demonstrated that it is possible to manage a
project schedule through Internet without disregarding legacy schedules, with a scheduling engine
running in a web server, and Java applets within web browser as user interface. This would
eliminate the need to install multiple copies of scheduling software on many computers while
making the project schedule accessible to all people who have a web browser in their computer,
whether it is a UNIX, Macintosh or Intel machine. The interactive nature of the web makes it
possible for the users to update the schedule in the web server from any where at any time, thus
greatly facilitate the collaboration among participants involved in a project who are located at
different geographical locations. Interface allows users to access the project schedule resided in a
Web server, update the schedule, recover the delay of the schedule by making the exiting resource
44
to work over time or hiring new resource, view the updated schedule and review the cost changes
through a Web browser at any time from anywhere. With this functionality, schedule will be
updated instantaneously instead of weekly or monthly.
The Analyzer Component presented in this thesis has demonstrated that it is possible for a project
manager to analyze project schedules and view evolution of a project schedule through the web
and take decisions based on the analysis. The analysis reports are in Industry Standard form and
can help in the decision process. The Integrated Project Management System (IGPMS) presented
in this thesis integrates the three components in a seamless manner. To the user IGPMS appears
as a single system with three powerful project management tools.
45
CHAPTER 7
IMPLEMENTATION
7.1
ENGINE COMPONENT
The engine component can be downloaded from http://gpms.mit.edu/scherec/scherec.zip
and
should be unzipped to C:\SCHEREC directory. The Engine program can be launched by running
the executable file C:\SCHEREC\SCHEREC01 14.exe. The Engine program requires that Visual
Basic, AutoCAD, Primavera Project Planner, RA Engine, MS Excel and MS Access are properly
installed.
7.1.1
PROJECT MANAGEMENT USING THE ENGINE COMPONENT
Once the project starts, project managers will launch Engine component to perform the project
management tasks. Figure 15 shows the main screen of the system, and users are asked to select
the geometrical engine, scheduling engine, accounting engine or dynamically loading according
to their specific needs.
46
Figure 15: Engine Component Main Screen [3]
After the initialization of the selected automation engines, the Engine component will ask user to
select the project template for different types of project as Figure 16 shows. In current
implementation, there are three different project templates available. The project manager may
choose a 4F, 6F or 8F project template, whose construction plan and architecture design conform
to the Shimizu Smart Tower project. The constructions of Engine classes follow the IAI IFC
standard in the current version of the Engine component. In future version, the Engine component
may allow users to create ISO STEP and BCCM based classes. As a result, different
implementations, which follow the same modeling format, will be able to share project data.
47
Figure 16: Project Template Selection [3]
Then, project managers may click the object browser tab to create instances of objects in the
Engine component model as demonstrated in Figure 17. The Engine component uses different
colors to denote different types of class in AutoCADTM.
Figure 17: Engine Component Model in AutoCAD [3]
48
Thereafter, the two arrow buttons are employed to navigate the Engine's building component
hierarchy and the object editor helps users to modify the attributes of the located entity as Figure
18 and Figure 19 show.
Figure 18: Engine Object Browser [3]
Figure 19: Engine Object Editor [3]
49
After the establishment of the Engine product model in AutoCAD, project manager can click the
activity browser to load the project level construction schedule, which is in Primavera Project
Planner format as Figure 20 shows. Meanwhile, the Engine Component will organize the
activities in the schedule into the Engine construction task hierarchy as discussed before. Since
the Engine building component hierarchy has been created in AutoCAD, the process entities in
the Engine construction task hierarchy are mapped to the corresponding product entities in the
same position in the Engine building component hierarchy.
C
Syste
I
Figure 20: Engine Activity Browser [3]
Project managers may highlight a specific activity and press the "Edit Activity" button to launch
the activity editor. As Figure 21 illustrates, the activity editor allows users to redesign properties
of activities, such as CPM/PERT, resource assignment and schedule recovery parameters.
Afterwards, user my recalculate the updated schedule by pressing the "Reschedule" button as
illustrated in Figure 22.
50
~~ij
~~1
Figure 21: Engine Activity Editor [3]
Once the Engine product and process model has been created, the resource browser instantiates
cost account, resource and resource use objects according to the product and process model,
which have been created by the object and activity browser. Then, project managers can monitor
resource and cost account information as shown in Figure 23.
51
Figure 22: Engine Rescheduling [3]
Moreover, after the establishment of the product, process and resource models, the Engine Object
Editor enables users to monitor the corresponding activity in the Engine Activity Editor by
pressing the "Edit Activity" button in Figure 22.
Thus, this functionality allows project managers to specify, create, monitor and modify the
connections between the product entity and its corresponding activities.
52
Figure 23: Engine Resource Browser [3]
At last, the project monitor tab enables project managers to select the types of progress reports
that he/she may want as shown in Figure 24. When project proceeds, the construction sequence
simulator help user control the speed of progress and monitor the project at any specified time as
Figure 25 illustrates. The Gantt chart of the project is displayed in Figure 26 to present the
graphical schedule information. The daily cash flow diagram estimates the project expenditure on
a daily basis as Figure 28 shows.
Similarly, the cumulative cash flow diagram, as Figure 27
shows, demonstrates the spent budget so far. The daily resource allocation diagram is illustrated
in Figure 29, displaying the percentage of each resource in a specific project time. The resource
assignment diagram is helpful in the analysis of resource availability and resource leveling as
Figure 30 shows.
53
3
ERCSstr
LC;:
-s
Figure 24: Engine Project Monitor [3]
IX ConstFUCtion Sequence SIMUIatOF
-------7
Figure 25: Engine Construction Sequence Simulator [3]
54
Figure 26: Gantt Chart [3]
Figure 27: Cumulative Cash Flow [3]
55
Figure 28: Daily Cash Flow [3]
Figure 29: Daily Resource Allocation [3]
56
Figure 30:. Resource Assignment [3}
7.1.2
SCHEDULE RECOVERY
The Critical Path Method (CPM) was designed to control both the time and cost aspect of a
project [29]. However, the current CPM tools do not define a clear mechanism to update the
change in the costs. The trade-off between time and cost is usually established by the experience
of project managers.
Project delay, caused by differing site conditions, unknown subsurface condition, insufficient
resource or the breach of contracts by subcontractors, is not uncommon in an A/E/C project.
Thus, the estimation of cost to recover the schedule becomes one of the most important project
management tasks. The Engine component, which is built on an integrated model, defines two
functions to expedite a construction activity to recover the schedule and help project managers to
57
monitor the increased project cost.
The first method is to make existing resources work overtime, which allow project managers to
specify the normal working hours per day, the overtime percentage of existing resource, the
overtime salary ratio and overtime productivity.
Figure 31: Schedule Recovery I [3]
The other method is to hire more new resources. These parameters of new hire and overtime are
outlined by the attributes of an activity object. Thereafter, the project monitor of the Engine
Component can present the new daily cash flow diagram and cumulative cash flow diagram after
58
the product, process and resource model incorporate these schedule recovery attributes.
Figure 32: Schedule Recovery II [3]
Here the following scenario is provided to demonstrate the schedule recovery functionality of the
Engine Component. During the excavation of the foundation, the underground conditions at the
test borings are materially different from that shown in the construction documents. As Figure 31
shows, both the free float and total float of the "Excavation" activity are zero. That is, this activity
is in the critical path and the differing site conditions may delay the entire project.
59
Figure 33: New Daily Cash Flow [3]
Figure 34: New Cumulative Cash Flow [3]
As Figure 31 illustrates, the Engine activity editor allow project managers to hire 5% more new
resource with salary ratio 0.9 and make existing resource 10% overtime with salary ratio 1.20 for
the activity, "excavation". After pressing committing, the duration of the activity will be
shortened to 4.45 days as Figure 32 shows. Figure 33 and Figure 34 illustrate that the additional
$45,000 is in need to crash the activity for 0.55 day.
60
7.2
INTERFACE COMPONENT
The Interface component (GPMS) resides at the "gpms.mit.edu" web server. A user can go to the
GPMS web site by typing the URL http://gpms.mit.edu/ in a web browser. Figure 35 is the home
page of GPMS, which functions as a global project management system on the web.
7.2.1
SCHEDULING WITH INTERFACE COMPONENT
Figure 35 shows the homepage of GPMS. The user is prompted for a login and password. These
information are the same as that of Primavera Project Planner.
Figure 35: GPMS Home Page
The user provides the login and password information and submits this information to the server
and this information is validated by Primavera Project Planner through the RA automation engine
and then valid users can log in to the GPMS. The following page loads after the login and
61
passwords are verified.
[3Global Piolect Management System Homepage -Miciosoft I ntemnet Exploice"F
S&,
Select Project Name from all the Available Projects IAG21
Select Project Name from allthe Available Projects to Filter: AG21
,eLL!
]
There is a big scheduling engine running in the server,please bepatient....
Figure 36: Interface Component Home Page
The user has two options to choose from (see Figure 36). First option is to select any project from
the drop down menu and view the schedule. The second option allows the user to view the
different filters according to the different activity codes defined for the project.
When the user selects the first option, the following page loads, which shows the information for
the first 18 activities of the project. The information is shown in tabular as well as graphical form.
The table in Figure 37 shows the details of the different activities such as "Activity ID",
"Description", "Early Start", "Early Finish", "Duration", "Percent Complete", "Total Float",
"Resource", "Budgeted Quantity", "Quantity to Date", "Units per Time Period", "Budgeted Cost"
and "Cost to Date".
A Gantt chart shows in a graphical form the start and finish dates of each activity. The user can
62
view the next 18 activities or previous 18 activities by clicking on the appropriate button at the
bottom of the page.
'Global PFoiect Magement System -Micuosoft Internet E xplo ei
ID jecriptisn
I
LetterOfAuthorizaton
3
Submittals
S
GneraRedements
jEarlyStait
JUN11997
JUN
2 1997
tEarlyFn
MAY31
MAR12
JUL 221997
SEP it
3
JUL111
JUN21997
M.AY
271998 OCT12
AUG2
APR15199
]JUL251
1JUN
21997
SEP111
AUG11997
Masonry
MAY27 1998 AUG26
Pavers
AUG11
JUL11997
Stone
OCT17Struct.StLJoists &Deck JUN21997
SEP101
N
UN11998
Misc.Mt
AUG21
DEC221997
Carp.&Trusses
AUG21
MAY11998
Millwork
JUL111
JUN2 1997
Damp.&Waterproof
JUL111
JUN2 1997
Insu
SEP121
AUG41997
ExteriorFiish System
3
Rooting &SheetMetal
5
S
3
S
2
3
I
5
3
7
I U June
July
August
September
October
Nt
03
)14
skewek
f Landscaping
Fence&uardrais
Concrete&Ret.
1108
)15
)16
)17
)17
)19
119
)119
IJUL11
JJUN 21997
Change the durations of selected activities
Get Activity Details
Analyzer
in the table (hit returnkey after each entry).
Next 18 Activities
Click Here
To recalculate the schedule, click
Previous 18 Activities
uil
IUpdate
to Launch Analyzer
DDF for this Project
Figure 37: Displaying a Schedule in Interface Component
When the user selects the second option the filters defined for the project are shown in the form
of a drop down menu. The user can select any of the filters for the project and view the activities
in that filter category by clicking on the "Display Schedule" button.
63
Please Select a Filter
Filter by Building E
[interim Milestone
OipeSubmittals
Site Work
Building B/E
/
Building C
Building A
Building D
Envelope
Rouqh-In
±1
Figure 38: Displaying Filters for a Project
Figure 38 shows the different filters defined for project AG21. The user can select any of the
filters and click on the "Display Schedule" button to view the activities that belong to this
category. Figure 39 shows that "Building E" is selected from the drop down menu for the project
"AG21".
64
~oiut
1 -3Glo~al
Intrne Exlore
dnagmen Sytem
icrsof
Ceramictile
Woodtrim
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
SEP221998
Doors&hardwate
OCT161998
Miok
OCT161998
Specialties
NOV201998
MEP
tw es&tNm
MEPinspections
DEC211998
OCT231998
Virylfloor
1998
Carpet
Shafts
SIAUG241998
'LobbyAreaElevator
PrimeandTouchup
Paint
Finish
Kitchen
cabinets
Kitchen
equipment
JUL271998
AUG171998
SEP151998
OCT2 1998
OCT161998
NOV6 1998
October
September
August
E
E
'AE
E
IE
E
F
SEP14
SEP911
SEP21
OCT15
November
IP,
December
a ssamelarillma
OCT
22
miniI
NOV19
1OCT11
NOV51
OCT29
DEC18
1DEC18
NOV51
NOV27
AUG28
Change the durations of selected activities
Get Activity Details
Analyzer
in the table (hit return key after each entry).
Next 18 Activities
Click Here to Launch Analyzer
ro recalculate the schedule, click:
Previous 18 Activities
jUpdate DDF for this Project
Figure 39: Interface Component Displaying Project Information
Figure 39 shows the activities for the selected filter "Building E". The user can browse the next
18 or the previous 18 activities in this category ("Building E") by clicking on the appropriate
buttons.
7.2.2
UPDATE ORIGINAL DURATION
The duration of each activity can be changed by typing directly into the Original Duration column
in the schedule table shown on the web page, followed by hitting the return key on the keyboard
after each entry. Users can make multiple changes. Every time when return key is hit, Java applet
Schedule.java catches the Activity ID and the new Original Duration on the row where return key
has been hit, passes the information to the system for updating.
Figure 40 displays the first 18 activities for the project "APEX". The duration for the activity
65
before update was 30 days. The user can changes the duration to a new value (e.g. 10 days) and
can view the updated schedule by clicking on the "Submit" button at the bottom of the page.
Change the durations of selected activities
Get Activity Details
A1nalyzer
n the table (hit return key after each
Next 18 Activities
Click Here to Launch Analyzer
Previous 18 Activities
Update DDF for this Project
lo recalculate the schedule, click:
entry).
Figure 40: Updating a Project Schedule with Interface Component
Figure 41 shows the updated schedule after the schedule is recalculated according to the changed
duration(s).
The Interface component does not allow the duration of completed activities and activities with
constraints to be changed arbitrarily by the update option. Also, the Interface component does not
allow the modification of the original duration of the activities, which have already started.
66
q,Global Project Management
escription
00
Systemn
MICrooI
EarlyStart
UL21 1993
DefineSystem
Requirements
EarlyFinish
Dutatior
AUG6 1993
AUG311993
SEP131993
OCT121993
10
20
15
UG41993
ystemDesign
Design SEP11993
A prove System
SEP291993
stalRobotBase
A, andWaterFSEP291993
OCT
151993
04 RunSealant,
DEC 11993
05 InstallTemperature ControlE4tNOV21993
DEC281993
DEC21993
06
S et &ConnectRobots
FEB 9 1994
07 I stal System Misc. Compo DEC 29 1993
MAR41994
Controler FEB101994
stalSystem
MARt161994
FEB101994
09
Test&DebugLineA
FEB101994 MAR161994
10 Test &DebugLne B
MAR171994 MAR171994
lotStartLineA
MAR171994 MAR171994
12 Start-UpLine B
APR41994
13 In stal Processo /Software/DAPR11994
APR 51994
51994
5P
14 CalibrateRobot Controler &P
:1MAY
31994
4APR 61994
15 Load System Software
MAY24 1994
MAY
4 1994
16 Progar
01S
02
mr3
Internet LI0e
August
S100
September
rNovember
m
-
S101
S102
kS103
13
20
m
5104
F
30
S109
24
24
1
kSi11
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115
Change the durations of selected activities
Get Activity Details
Analyzer
in the table (hit return key after each entry).
Next 18 Activities
Chck Here to Launch Analyzer
To recalculate the schedule, click:
Previous 18 Activities
it1YE
11.1
1
11
t
Update DDF for this Project
iiT
Figure 41: Interface Component Showirg teUpdate&Schtedle
7.3
ANALYZER COMPONENT
The analyzer component resides at the "gpms.mit.edu" web server. A user can go to the GPMS
web site by either typing the URL http://gpms.mit.edu/analyzer.html in his web browser or
clicking on the link "Click Here to Launch Analyzer" from the Interface Component.
The Analyzer component loads in the same window as the Interface component. Figure 42 shows
the Analyzer component home page.
67
Please Select a Project Group
Project Group Ver-12345678 -D - 8/22/1998- DESC-Edgehill August 21. 1998Status
Please Select a Report Actites Finished Since Last Report
Please Select a Project Group
Project Group
[yer-
- DESC-Edgehill August 21 1998Status
12345678-DD 8/22/1998
Figure 42: Analyzer Home Page
Figure 42 shows the main menu of the Analyzer Component. The user has two options to choose
from. The first option enables the user to view the evolution of a project and the second option
allows the user to analyze two different versions of the same project.
7.3.1
VIEW THE EVOLUTION OF A PROJECT
The user can select any of the project group listed in the drop down menu and any type of report
category and view the evolution of the project in that category. For example when you select the
Project Group "Edgehill Continuing Care Community", a report category "Activity Finished
Since Last Report" and click on the "Submit" button, an project evolution report page loads.
68
Schedule
From: ASPN ..
To:CONT
From: CONT
6/1/1997
....................
..............
.. -... ..
6/1/1997
6/1/1997
...........
Edgehil August 21, 1998 Status
1.1-.
1
.1 ..
,Edgehdl August 4, 1998 Status
IEdgehil August 4, 1998 Status
4/23/1998
4/23/1998
5/18/1998
From: MY18
To:JN15
6/15/1998
From: JN15
To:JL1 1
From: JL11
6/15/1998
7/10/1998Edgehil
7/10/1998
To:JL24
7/24/1998
From: JL24
7/24/1998
8/4/1998
8/4/1998
T......
.. :AG21 8/2/99
8/22/1998
Edgehil December 4, 1998 Status
Edgehil December 4, 1998 Status
December 11, 1998 Status
Edgehdl December 11, 1998 Status
Edgehlt December 18, 1998 Status
Edgehdl December 18, 1998 Status
Edgehl February 5, 1999 Status
Edgehil February 5, 1999 Status
Edgh. Feb
12, 1999 Status
Edgehil February 12, 1999 Status
8/22/1998
822/1998
EdgehUl February 12, 1999 Status
'Edgehili February 19, 1999 Status
8/22/1998
9/18/1998
9/18/1998
Edgehl February 19, 1999 Status
Edgehi February 26, 1999 Status
Edgehil February 26, 1999 Status
From: SE10
To:SE18
From: SE18
-.
5/18/1998
.01
IEdgehil Continuing Care Retirement
Edgehl Continuing Care Retirement
Edgehil Continuing Care Retirement
Edgehtl Continuing Care Retirement
To:MARG
From: MARG
To:MY18
To:A004
From: A004
rTo:AG21
Trom: A 21
To:5E10
ViewPeriod
Description
Data Date
i
6-7
--8
Figse43:, EvoLatin Report of a Project,
Figure 43 shows the project evolution report. The report is in HTML format and can be printed or
saved for future reference.
The user can view the different data dates, descriptions for the various versions of the project. By
clicking on the appropriate link the user can also view the report that shows the analysis of the
two time periods chosen by the user.
69
Activities finished since last report
ACTIVITY
TITLE
ASSTARTED
ASFINISIED
PT
RD)
0001
Letter Of Authonzation
.6/1/97
6/1/97
100
0
0004
General Requirements
7/22/97
9/1/97
'100
0
0005
0008
Sitework
Concrete &Remnf
6/2/97
6/2/97
7/11/97
7/25/97
100
0
100
0
0009
Masonry
Stone/1/97
8/1/97
9/11/97
8/11/97
100
100
0
0
0012
IStruct. Sel, Joists, & Deck
6/2/97
10/17/97
0016
0017
:0018
Darnp &Waterproof
Insul.
Exterior
Finish System
6/2/97
6/2/97
8/4/97
7/111/97
7/11/97
/1^2/97
100
100
0
0
100
0
100
0
0019
0020
0021
Roofing & Sheet Metal
6/2/97
7/11/97
100
0
Fireproof
Caulk &Seal
8/4/97
6/2/97
9/12/97
7/11/97
100
100
0
0
Hardware
6/2/97
6/2/97
8/4/97
7/11/97
7/11/97
9/12/97
100
100
0
9/12/97
17/11/97
7/11/97
0022
0023
0024
IHollow Mtl
0025
|Special Doors
0026
.0028
'Skylights
8/4/97
6/2/97
Chimneys
6/2/97
Wood Doors &Windows
100
100
100
0
0
0
-
0
0
7,11M107
Figure 44: Activities Finished since Last Report
Figure 44 shows the activities that were finished between the first version (e.g. ASPN) and the
second version (e.g. CONT) of the schedule for the project "Edgehill Continuing Care
Community".
7.3.2
ANALYZE TWO VERSIONS OF THE SAME PROJECT
The second option enables the user to select two different versions of the schedule and view
reports. The following page loads when the user selects a project group and hits the "Submit"
button.
70
-
- --
- -
--
1,Ittk-/gin-niteu/ gi bin iunpe
epdnd-plVe
ion=
Mlosu
intelne
- --
-.
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q
- ;.wc.
xpllel
Please Select Two Different Time Frames
Select the First Time Frame PN - ASPN - DD - 6/1/1997 - DESC - Edgehill Continuing Care Retirement
Select the Second Time Frame PN- AG21 DD - 8/221998 -DESC- Edgehill August 21,1998 Status
Please Select a Report jActivities Finished Since Last Report
|Et'iirl
Figwre 46 Selection of the First an4 the Semd Time FFame and a Report
Figure 45 shows the drop down list boxes for First Time Frame, Second Time Frame and Report
Category. The user can select the appropriate first and second time frame and a report category
and hit "submit" button to view the report.
Figure 46 shows the report generated by the Analyzer. The report is in HTML format and can be
printed or saved for future reference.
71
9
[ 3 hitp //gpms mil edulprocess asp - Mimosolt Intemet Explovei
1-1E3
Activities finished since last report
ACTIVITY
00[Ltter
TITLE
Of Authorization
:AS STARTED
AS FINISEED
PCT
:6/11/97
q5131197
100
D
0i
0
9/1/9710
17/22/97
'General Requirements
0004
.0
.....
........
7.............11/97....................
............... 100.............
2 7
te...................................................................................6
...
....
......
0005.........................
00605fwrA,
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.~tn
.....
.0
[............719
0012St59S
0011~~~~...
De.........
G u t &......
...............
:as.
0014
--
100
17 9
100
:100
:7/2/97
Cnr6/2/97
Cone ltert& rsion
0008
7/1/977/22/97
7~:/1/977/2910
7.1 9
____
i n ra
006
00254lio./2/7728910
./.
1/9
07//97 ....
6:/2197
10
.......
100
8/722/97
0
10
5/1/9318/1/97
0016ocrt
[bm
:6/2/97
:7/11/97
:100
.7/111/97
19/12/97
100
:8/4/97
Ikiu:6/2/97
ilr Finshl System
10018
0019
..
..
...
......
.
-looin
& he Metal
0.....
0
:100
1/2297
[D___
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0
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:100
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0
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:0
:100
:7/11/97
.6/2/97
.... ... .
. .. ...............................
-..........
.......
.
.......
.....
Figure 46: Analyze Two Different Time Frames of a Project
7.3.3
SUBMIT PROJECTS ONLINE
The user can submit zipped P3 Projects to the server using the Project Submission Page
(http://gpms.mit.edu/upload.asp). Figure 47 shows the login and password window that opens up
when a user sends a request for the project submission page. The login and password are verified
by the Windows NT authentication program. Figure 48 shows the Project Submission Home Page
after the login and password entered by the user are verified. After the user uploads the zipped
projects to the server, he/she can unzip the projects by clicking on the appropriate link
(http://gpms.mit.edu/cgi-bin/runperl.exe/unzip.pl) on the Project Submission Page. The user can
also
view
the
existing
projects
listing
by
clicking
on
the
appropriate
link
(http://gpms.mit.edu/p3win/) on the Project Submission Page. Figure 49 shows the P3WIN
directory content before project submission.
72
campus life -acvties, personal home pages
map - how to get around MIT.virtual tour
search -I
.MIT C
Duttr
1
C
M
ers:
Pgo
77 Massachusetts Avenue -Cambodge. MAC2139437 USA - 672
100
.
Figure 47: Security Feature of Project Submission
oad.F.m.crosIo...nteme..Ex.lore
RFC.1..7.U..
...
Upload your project (zipped) here.
File to process:
Fie to process
7
eP
Fie to process:
Destnation URL: httpj/gpms mitedup3wir
Browse Pewm before uploadmg
Uneo Pro jects after uploadsg
Figure 48: Project Submission Home Page
73
J3gp-m
-/p3-m/
Itedu
tIntemet
Miceosot
Exploret
gpms.mit.edu - /p3win/
[ToParent
Dirctor
12/23/99 11:32 AN
8/24/98 7:55 AN
12/23/99 12:38 AN
12/21/99 4:52 PH
11/18/99 2:34 PH
8/24/98 7:55 AN
12/23/99 12:38 AN
8/24/98 7:55 AN
12/21/99 4:52 PH
8/24/98 7:55 AN
7:55 AN
12/15/99 3:34 PH
8/24/98 7:55 AN
11/12/96 12:14 AN
11/12/98 12:13 AN
11/12/98 12:13 AN
11/12/98 12:13 AN
11/12/98 12:13 AN
11/12/98 12:14 AN
11/12/98 12:13 AN
7:55 AN
11/18/99 2:34 PH
8/24/98 12:24 PH
12/8/99 11:33 AN
12/23/99 12:38 AN
12/21/99 4:52 PH
8/24/98 7:55 AN
12/23/99 12:38 AN
5120 AG21AC2.P3
3072 AG21ACC.P3
405504 AG21ACT.P3
6144 AG21AIT.P3
12268 AG21AUD.P3
12274 AG21CAL.P3
7680 AG21DIR.P3
688 AG21DST.P3
12288 AG21DTL.P3
5120 AG21HOL.P3
10240 AG21ITN.P3
40960 AG21LAY.P3
6144 AG21LOG.P3
132096AG21ACY.NC
12274 AG2ICAL.NC
6144 AG21NDIR.NC
427 AG21MGPH.MC
5120 AG21HOL.IIC
13312 AG21HLS3T.HC
331972 AG213PRJ.NC
81920 AG21PLT.P3
6144 AG21PPA.P3
305152 AG21REL.P3
168960AG21REP.P3
284672 AG21RE5.P3
6144 AG21RIT.P3
20480 AG21RLB.P3
6144 AG21SPR.P3
8/24/98
8/24/98
IftftIff-m I
-i&
-*
---
- - MOM.-W.
Figure 49: Browse Project Repository before Submitting a Project
Upload your project (zipped) here.
File to process
432TA\al 1989
|DopP\1
File to process
...
File to process |
ls
.. ..
A
--
DestuationURL. htp/gpms.mt .edu/p3wr
Browse P3wm before uploac.
Uinnp Proiects after uploa3
C?
t1~2 <Vt) Vt%>
Figure 50: Submit a Zipped Project (e.g. FPS1)
74
Figure 50 shows a zipped Primavera project (e.g. FPS1.ZIP) being submitted to the Project
Repository through a web browser. Figure 51 shows the upload status of the project. Figure 52
shows the recently uploaded project FPS 1 in the Interface component's "Display Schedule" option
list box. Interface component dynamically loads the projects from the P3WIN directory.
Welcome
Here is your upload status:
Destmatiohttp://gpmsmit.edu/p3ir
/
Uploaded File FPS1.zip
PhysicalPath F:\P3WIN\PROJECTS\
Size 100228
Figure 51: FPSI.zip tTploaded to the Project Repository
SelectProject Name from al the AvailableProjects
Select Project Name from all theAvaiable Projectsto Filer- AG21
There is a big scheduling engine runnng
in the server,pleasebe patient
Figure 52: Uploaded Project FPS1
75
CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSIONS
The Integrated Global Project Management System described in this thesis has demonstrated that
Project Management is poised to take a leap in the Internet Age. Robust Project Planning can be
achieved through a medium such as the Internet and an interface such as the web browser.
IGPMS achieves the goal of planning projects through the web. IGPMS achieves software
interoperability through its object-oriented approach. IGPMS provides users with a powerful web
based project analyzer and reporting tool. IGPMS also achieves online viewing and updating
projects thus facilitating Robust Project Planning.
8.1
FUTURE RESEARCH
There is a plenty of scope for further research as the technology in web based project
management is evolving at a faster rate. Software vendors are announcing new web based project
management tools and with Microsoft launching its Project 2000 [30] and Project Central
software [9] with the new Windows 2000 Operating System [31], we will see a revolution in the
area of web based project management.
8.1.1
WEB BASED ENGINE COMPONENT
TM
Engine component can be made web based through ActiveXTM [32] technology. AutoCAD ,
AccessTM and MS ExcelTM can be integrated to the web through ActiveXTM.
76
MS
8.1.2
INTEGRATION OF IGPMS WITH MS PROJECT 2000 AND MS PROJECT
CENTRAL
and Project
Recently Microsoft announced its web based project planning tools Project
2 0 00
CentralTM [9] with the release of its new operating system Windows
Since Project 2000
2 0 00
TM.
TM
and Project Central are Windows based and use Internet Information Server as the prime web
server, it will be possible to integrate Project 2000 with IGPMS.
Figure 53: Personal Gantt view in Microsoft Project Central [33]
Figure 53 shows a personal Gantt chart in a web browser through Microsoft Project Central.
8.1.3
INTEGRATION OF IGPMS WITH WEBSTER FOR PRIMAVERA
Primavera Inc. has launched a new web based project management tool Webster for PrimaveraTM
[34] designed specifically for team members and resources to see their assignments across
multiple projects using only a Web browser. Figure 54 shows the GUI of Webster for
77
PrimaveraTM 2.5. Webster is the web-based interface to Primavera Project Planner. Individuals
without formal project management training working on projects can report their work hours and
progress on assignments directly to the project through Webster.
3
Webster for Primavera v2. 5 - Microsoft Internet Explore
.. ....
ig1
Figure 54: Webster for Primavera [34]
Webster and IGPMS both use Primavera Project Planner and so it would be possible to integrate
Webster to IGPMS. Webster does not support online submission of projects and online analysis
of project schedules. Webster integrated with IGMPS will have a robust interface to Primavera
Project Planner and also tools like Engine, Analyzer and Online Project Submission. Webster will
replace the Interface component of IGPMS in this new scheme of integration.
78
REFERENCES
1. Moder, Joseph J., Phillips, Cecil R., Davis, Edward W. (1995), "Project management with
CPM, PERT, and Precedence Diagramming", Blitz Pub. Co., 1995.
2.
Chen, H. (1996),
"Web Based Project Management System," Master Thesis, MIT,
Cambridge, MA.
3. Chiou, Y. (1998), "An Interoperable Integrated Project management System for Architecture,
Engineering and Construction Product and Process Information," Master Thesis, MIT,
Cambridge, MA.
14",
Release
"AutoCAD
1999),
(December,
Inc.
4. Autodesk,
http://www.autodesk.com/products/acadr14/
5. Primavera, Inc. (1999), "Primavera Project Planner", http://www.primavera.com
6.
Seagate
Software
Crystal
"Seagate
1999),
(December,
Inc.
Reports",
http://www.seagatesoftware.com/products/crystalreports/
7. Microsoft
1999),
(December,
Corporation
Access
"Microsoft
97",
http://www.microsoft.com/office/access/default.htm
8. Microsoft
Corporation
(December,
1999),
"Microsoft
SQL
Server
6.5",
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/
9.
King, N. (2000), "Projects Your Plans Online", PC Magazine, January 4, 2000.
10. Pefia-Mora, F., Sriram, D. and Logcher, R. (1995),
"Design Rationale for Computer-
Supported Conflict Mitigation," Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, American
Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 57 - 72.
11. International Alliance for Interoperability (1997), "IFC Object Model For AEC Projects,"
Industry Foundation
Classes Release 2.0, International Alliance
for Interoperability,
Washington D.C.
12. International
Organization
for
Standardization
79
(1997),
"Introduction
to
ISO,"
http://www.iso.ch
13. Shtub, Avraham, Jonathon Bard, and Shlomo Globerson (1994), "Project Management:
Engineering, Technology, and Implementation," Prentice Hall, Englewoods Cliff, NJ, 1994.
14. Li Michael (1999), "A Robust Planning and Control Methodology for Design-Build FastTrack Civil Engineering and Architectural Projects", Master Thesis, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
Product
15. P3eTM
Page
http://www.primavera.com/news/press/p3e
16. RA
Overview
P3eTM",
Automation
Engine",
"ASP
Overview",
0629.html
"RA
1999),
(December,
Delivers
"Primavera
1999),
(December,
Primavera
http://www.primavera.com/products/ra.html
17. Microsoft
Developer's
Network
Web Workshop
Online
(1999),
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/server/asp/ASPover.asp
18. Timberline Inc. (December, 1999), "Timberline Software", http://www.timberline.com/
19. JD Edward's Enterprise Software Inc. (December, 1999), http://www.jdedwards.com/
20. Wix, Jeffrey (1997) "Purpose of a Core Model", Computerised Exchange of Information in
Construction Project, UK Department of the Environment, London, UK.
21. Till, D. (1995), "Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days", Sams Publishing, 201 West 103rd Street,
IN, 1995.
22. Wix, Jeffrey (r996) "The EXP1MSS*Data Definition Language introduction"; CEC=/I,
International Alliance for Interoperability, Washington D.C.
23. Microsoft
Corporation
2000),
(January,
"Microsoft
Excel
97",
http://www.microsoft.com/office/excel/default.htm
24. Bjork, B. C. (1992) "The Topology of Spaces, Space Boundaries and Enclosing Structures In
Building Product Data Models." CIB W78 workshop on Computer-Integrated Construction,
Montreal, Canada.
25. Object Management Group (December, 1999), "CORBA: Non-Standardized ApplicationSpecific Interfaces", http://www.omg.org
26. IONA (December 1999), "IONA Orbix", http://www.iona.com
27. IBM (December, 1999), "IBM DSOM", http://www.ibm.com
28. Microsoft
Corporation
(December,
1999),
"COM
Home
Page",
http://www.microsoft.com/com/default.asp
29. Meredith, J. R., and Mantel S. J. (1995), "Project Management: A Managerial Approach,"
John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1995.
80
30. Microsoft
Corporation
(January,
2000),
Project
2000
Home
Page",
Windows
2000
Home
Page",
"Microsoft
http://www.microsoft.com/office/project/default.htm
31. Microsoft
Corporation
2000),
(January,
"Microsoft
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/default.asp
32. Microsoft
Controls",
"ActiveX
1999),
(December,
Corporation
http://www.microsoft.com/com/tech/activex.asp
33. Microsoft
Corporation
(January,
"Microsoft
2000),
Project
White
Paper",
PrimaveraTM
2.5",
SureTrakTM
3.0",
Expedition TM
6.4",
Central
http://www.microsoft.com/office/project/MicrosoftProjectCentral.doc
34. Primavera
Inc.
(December,
for
"Webster
1999),
http://www.primavera.com/products/webster.html
35. Primavera
Inc.
1999),
(December,
"Primavera
http://www.primavera.com/products/st.html
36. Primavera
Inc.
1999),
(December,
"Primavera
http://www.primavera.com/products/exp.html
37. Microsoft
Corporation
2000),
(January,
"Microsoft
Visual
C++",
Console
(MMC)",
http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/
38. Microsoft
Corporation
(January,
"Microsoft Management
2000),
http://www.microsoft.conm/MANAGEMENT/MMCdefautt.htm
81
APPENDIX
SOURCE CODES OF IGPMS
For all the code used in this thesis please contact Prof. Feniosky Peha-Mora for further
information. You can also download a zipped file containing all the source codes from the
following URL.
http://gpms.mit.edu/igpms.zip
Visual C++ Projects
analyzer
compare
evofproc
evolution
expand
extract
filter
filterragetfirst
filterragetnext
filterragetprev
filterraup
raup
unzip
updateddf
CGI/Perl scripts
login.pl
updateddf.pl
unzip.pl
ragetfilter.pl
filter.pl
expand.pl
analyzer.pl
evolproc.pl
82
evolution.pl
compare.pl
extract.pl
prev.pl
next.pl
raget.pl
raup.pl
raupdateall.pl
table.pl
chart.pl
but.pl
butl.pl
but2.pl
but3.pl
Java Applets
Schedule.java
Schedule2.java
HTML files
index.html
raout
unzip
anaylze.html
analyzer.html
table.html
chart.html
but.html
butl.html
but2.html
but3.html
ASP Scripts
login.asp
process.asp
upload.asp
1.asp
2.asp
3.asp
4.asp
5.asp
6.asp
7.asp
8.asp
9.asp
83
10.asp
11.asp
12.asp
13.asp
14.asp
15.asp
16.asp
Visual Basic codes
BcActivity.cls
BcEntity.cls
frmActvityEditor.frm
frmCashFlow.frm
frmConstructionSequenceSimulator.frm
frmCumulativeCashFlow.frm
frmDailyCashFlow.frm
frmDataLoader.frm
frmLoad.frm
frmObjectEditor.frm
frmObjectLoad.frm
frmSchedule.frm
frmShowSchedule.frm
frmSplash.frm
Main.frm
UserForml-frm
HierarchyOperation.bas
Frm4Dmain.dsr
AutoCAD Drawings
1F.dwg
ansi.dwg
bea.dwg
col.dwg
elev.dwg
flo.dwg
ObjectBuilding.dwg
ObjectBuilding2.dwg
ObjectBuilding3.dwg
ObjectBuilding4.dwg
Site.dwg
STEELFRAME.dwg
StructureFrame.dwg
Microsoft Office Files
Resource.mdb
84
CashFlow.xls
CumulativeCashFlow.xls
DailyCashFlow.xls
Schedule.xls
85