Digital library of construction informatics and information technology in civil engineering and construction
Digital library
Paper: w78-2001-75
| Paper title: | User survey on a wan portfolio M.I.S. used for porfolio/project management in Hong Kong. |
| Authors: | Futcher K G |
| Summary: | This paper presents the results of recent research into the user expectations for a Management_Information_System (MIS) for the project/portfolio-managed delivery of a large and diverse range of projects. In 1998, the Works Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong undertook objective measurement of the extent that an MIS, called the PW_MS, contributed to the successful project and portfolio management of its large and diverse portfolio of more than two thousand public works projects. This rolling-programme of projects includes up to 72 types of public infrastructure. The delivery process depends on a highly differentiated organisation in which each of the public works departments has different staffing levels, workloads, locations, and each undertake different types of work. The objective of the assessment was to determine: · the extent that the PW_MS was successfully used for the management of individual projects; · the extent that the PW_MS was successfully used to help manage the portfolios-of-projects overall; · the extent that other means of data collection and reporting that are otherwise used for both of these functions; and, · to identify the requirements for an improved MIS. This paper presents the results of this postal survey of a population of five hundred and eighty-four authorised users of the PW_MS. It is a complex WAN system, with 168 terminals in the client and public works offices for operational access to the MIS. It has routines for the planning, reporting and monitoring of the cost, time and scope aspects of each project in the PWP. It establishes a fixed plan for each project and provides an audit trail of progress towards completion. The data in the system is combined to provide summary reports of portfolios of projects. A random selection from the User-population was used to form a population-sample for the postal questionnaire survey. The sample frame was constrained to ensure a 95% confidence limit that the response was statistically indicative of the population; and that it included sufficient numbers of the primary classes of users to also ensure a 95% confidence limit that the response was indicative of these strata of the population. This methodology is described in the paper. A sixty-five percent response was achieved. The results show that the User satisfaction with the PW_MS is not high. The results state a range of User dissatisfactions but they do not call for a fundamental change in approach: they validate the exploitation of proven, readily available, information technology for the management of portfolio-of-projects. Portfolio-management and project management is enabled by these techniques although the survey results indicate that more can be done to improve the man-machine interface. The results identify key-areas for such improvement. These findings are presented in the paper. |
| Type: | |
| Year of publication: | 2001 |
| Series: | w78:2001 |
| ISSN: | 2706-6568 |
| Download paper: | /pdfs/w78-2001-75.content.pdf |
| Citation: | Futcher K G (2001). User survey on a wan portfolio M.I.S. used for porfolio/project management in Hong Kong.. Coetzee G, Boshoff F (ed.); IT in construction in Africa 2001; Mpumalunga, 30 May - 1 June, South Africa; ISBN 0-7988-5531-2 (ISSN: 2706-6568), http://itc.scix.net/paper/w78-2001-75 |
hosted by University of Ljubljana
includes:
W78
includes:
W78
inspired by SciX, ported by Robert Klinc [2019]