Project management maturity: An assessment of maturity for developing pilot plants

 

 

H.K. Mittermaier; H. Steyn

Graduate School of Technology Management, University of Pretoria, South Africa herman.steyn@up.ac.za

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Despite the current economic climate, the South African mining and engineering industry is experiencing a very promising future, with a large number of capital projects in the offing. It is inevitable that pilot plant development will form part of this future as a risk mitigation technique. This study found that, even though the terms 'pilot plant' and 'project management maturity' are familiar within the industry, no link between these two could be found in the literature. A number of maturity models exist; and one developed by PMSolutions was selected to perform an assessment of the current level of project management maturity within the South African mining and engineering industry pertaining to the development of pilot plants. The Delphi technique was used to determine the views of experts in the South African mining, mineral processing, petrochemical, nuclear, and mechanical sectors regarding this maturity. A significant difference was observed between the current level of maturity and the required level of maturity in all but one of the nine knowledge areas defined by the Project Management Institute. The two knowledge areas of project time and risk management showed significant differences between current and required maturity levels, and were identified as key areas for improvement.

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OPSOMMING

Ten spyte van die huidige ekonomiese klimaat ondervind die Suid-Afrikaanse mynbou- en ingenieursbedryf 'n baie bemoedigende toekoms, met 'n groot aantal kapitaalprojekte in die vooruitsig. Ten einde risiko's te verlaag, sal die ontwikkeling van loodsaanlegte noodwendig deel van hierdie toekoms uitmaak. Daar is gevind dat, alhoewel die terme 'loodsaanleg' en 'projekbestuur volwassenheid' in die nywerheid bekend is, geen skakeling van hierdie twee terme in die literatuur opgespoor kon word nie. 'n Aantal volwassenheid modelle bestaan; en een wat deur PMSolutions ontwikkel is, is gekies om die huidige vlak van projekbestuur volwassenheid in die Suid-Afrikaanse mynbou- en ingenieursbedryf ten opsigte van loodsaanlegte te bepaal. Die Delphi tegniek is gebruik om die sienings van deskundiges in die Suid-Afrikaanse mynbou-, mineraalprosessering-, petrochemiese-, kern-, en meganiese sektore oor die genoemde volwassenheid te bepaal. 'n Beduidende verskil is waargeneem tussen die huidige en die gewensde vlakke van volwassenheid in agt van die nege kennisareas soos gedefinieer deur die Amerikaanse Project Management Institute. Beduidende verskille tussen huidige en gewensde vlakke van volwassenheid is veral in die twee kennisareas projek tydbestuur en projek risikobestuur gevind, en dui op areas vir verbetering.

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1 The author was enrolled for an M Eng (Project Management) in the Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM), University of Pretoria.