Measuring process interoperability and best practices conformance for capital projects

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Measurement is critical to improvement. For over two decades, we have made numerous attempts to measure capital projects performance and to measure the degree of conformance to the practices that may have led to that performance. Our partners and many researchers are intensely interested in what analysis of these measurements data can tell us. Metrics based on factors such as cost and schedule growth are used to measure performance. Metrics to measure degree of conformance have typically been based on weighted indices of factors for which the values are normally self-reported by organizations' representatives through interpretation of associated guidelines. Automation, integration and interoperability of information technologies are increasingly being measured based on self-reported index values as well. Subsequent statistical analyses of these data try to relate project performance with practice conformance, automation and process interoperability. Self-reported data have the advantage of low cost and the disadvantage of low accuracy and consistency. Analyses based on these data suffer accordingly. Thus the science suffers. However, it has now become possible with the emergence of information technology such as automated workflow engines to improve the accuracy and partially automate the measurement of process and practice conformance as well as interoperability. This is the objective of the proposed research. Building on developments in process mining, interface management and industry foundation processes, we propose to develop automated methods and general guidelines for lower cost and more accurate measurement of process interoperability and best practices conformance for capital projects. The impact will be more effective performance improvement programs for capital projects.