Project title: A Support Tool for Assessing the Impact of a Structural Design Change
Other PhD projects in Management of Projects in Engineering
| PhD student: | Helen Hindmarch |
| Qualification: | MSc |
| Country: | UK |
| Sponsor: | EPSRC, Ove Arup and Partners |
| Expert group: | Management of Projects |
| Research group: | Manufacturing and Management |
| Collaboration: | Ove Arup and Partners |
| Awards: |
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| Personal page: | |
| Email: | helen.hindmarch-2@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk |
| Supervisor: | Prof Andrew W Gale, Dr Robert Harrison (Arup) |
professional Biography: Helen Hindmarch is an engineering doctoral (EngD) candidate in the school of Mechanical, Civil and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Manchester. Her research program is co-funded by EPSRC (UK government) and Ove Arup and Partners. She received her B.Sc. degree in Mathematics from the University of Leeds and her M.Sc. degree in Applied Numerical Computing from the University of Manchester. Knowledge gained during her time studying numerical computing has influenced her current doctoral work. She is a graduate member of ICE and working towards becoming a Chartered Member of the ICE.
Research interests: Field of construction design change management. The focus of the doctoral research is producing a software support tool to enable construction design practitioners to make better informed decisions regarding the impact of a proposed design change, in terms of cost and time.
Project abstract
Design changes during the detailed design phase, of a built environment project, are inevitable but tend to have a negative impact on the design programme. The consequence of design changes often rattle through various engineering disciplines, making the impact difficult to predict.
Current practice has shown that design teams use their personal experience to calculate the effect of a design change in terms of additional cost and duration. There is risk in relying solely on a practitioner’s knowledge, in that they could make an inaccurate assessment or they may leave the business, resulting in a lack of decision-making expertise.
An accurate impact assessment of a proposed design change is essential, to enable an informed decision of whether it is worth implementing the change. This research is concerned with mitigating the risk associated with a practitioner making a judgment disproportionate to the true impact of a design change.
A software based support tool has been proposed as a possible solution, facilitating practitioners to make a better informed impact assessment.
The support tool incorporates a Design Structure Matrix (DSM) and process map generation to create a checklist of rework. It also records the reason for deviation if the true impact is different to the assessed impact. The cost, resource, deviation, and reason for deviation are stored in a database and are available when a similar change is required on a similar project, allowing compensation to be applied to the predicted impact. The schematic diagram of the proposed support tool is shown below.
| Fig 1. Construction Design Change Management Support Tool |  |
Click to Enlarge
Publications
Conference Papers
- Hindmarch H, Gale AW, Harrison RE. A Support Tool for Assessing the Impact of Design Changes during Built Environment Projects. Procs IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, 7-10 December, Macao, Hong Kong, 2010
- Hindmarch H, Gale AW, Harrison RE. Incorporating Design Management Tools and Knowledge Capture to Aid in Assessing the Impact of Structural Design Changes. Procs. ASEM 31st Annual Conference, 13-16 October, University of Arkansas, 2010
- Hindmarch H, Gale AW, Harrison RE. A Proposed Construction Design Change Management Tool to Aid in Making Informed Design Decisions. Procs. 26th Annual Conference. Leeds, September 2010. Reading: ARCOM
- Hindmarch H, Gale AW, Harrison RE. A Proposed Construction Design Change Management Tool to Aid in Assessing the Impact of Design Changes. PMI Research and Education Conference, Washington DC, 11-14 July 2010
- Hindmarch H, Gale AW, Harrison R. A Support Tool for Assessing the Impact of a Proposed Design Change. 5th Annual BEAN Conference 18-19 May 2010, Liverpool John Moores University, 2010
- 6. Hindmarch H, Gale AW, Harrison R. Structural Design Change Support Tool Methodology. PGR-MACE09 Conference, the University of Manchester, Vol. 1, pp. 24, 11th June 2009
Poster presentations
- Hindmarch H, Gale AW, Harrison RE. A Support Tool for Assessing the Impact of Proposed Design Changes. PGR-MACE09 Conference, the University of Manchester. 1st July 2010
- Hindmarch H, Gale AW, Simpson M, Harrison R. A Design Process for Stadia. Case Study: Changing the Raker Beam Material. Engineering for Manufacture, EngD Conference, the University of Manchester. September 2008
- Hindmarch H, Gale AW, Simpson M, Harrison R. Process Mapping for the Design of Sports Stadia. PGR-MACE08 Conference, the University of Manchester. 27st June 2008
Other contributions
- Hindmarch H, Gale AW, Harrison R. A Proposed Construction Design Change Management Tool to Aid in Making Informed Design Decisions. ARCOM Research Workshop, 10 February 2010, the University of Manchester. 2010