A generic online action tracking platform for project management in industry

Abstract

Effective Project Management (PM) is essential to the success of projects in industry. It is reported that approximately 68% of all projects fail due to ineffective PM. A further 15% of projects are deemed to fail from the start, where 10.9% of the final project’s cost is wasted. Only 58% of all businesses understand the importance of efficient PM. PM tools utilised for action tracking are widely used to improve efficiency; however, the current action tracking methods are not as efficient due to the activities being overlooked, not being dealt with in time, or having to be re-assessed. Present action tracking platforms are designed for single-system use, which means that they only consider the current state of projects and cannot be adapted for future purposes, thus limiting their implementations. User interaction with the current PM tools is also inefficient, as the information displayed is not consistently updated or readily available. Effective PM methods are key to the success of projects, and the currently implemented methods are not as effective in aiding with PM. A need, therefore, exists to develop a platform for action tracking to assist with increasing the effectiveness of PM. An in-depth literature study on the current methods used for PM in industry determined that a successful Action Tracking Platform needed to be generic, centralised, traceable, structured, scalable as well as having the ability to integrate its users. These requirements were used to evaluate the state of the art for PM. The literature review highlighted the importance of the development of a web-based action tracking platform implementing all the identified requirements. Web-based PM is one of the key underutilised platforms which can improve on communication, automation, and the standardising of processes. This created the foundation for the development of the method for the design of an Action Tracking Platform for use in industry. An Action Tracking Platform was designed and developed to provide a centralised interface for PM teams to contribute to effective PM. The platform was developed to be scalable and to use generically-implemented classes to create a structured backend. This provided each PM team with a configurable PM tool to track the actions on their projects with their clients. The platform provided traceability amongst its users, and was developed to integrate all users to ensure that all personnel are aware of the current actions and their progress. The platform was implemented for a multidisciplinary engineering company’s PM teams, their clients, and their common projects. Successful implementations were achieved across three case study PM teams within the company. The platform yielded an 84.16% decrease in the average completion rates (days) of projects across each case study, thereby ensuring faster results and, consequently, increasing PM within the company. At the platform’s inception, 38.08% of actions exceeded their planned completion rates. Following the evaluation period, actions were completed 17.33% faster than their planned completion rates. The results proved that the platform implementation successfully met the objectives of the study and motivated users to more effectively manage their current actions and prioritise their successful completion. The platform’s implementation successfully improved the PM of projects and their actions within the company and successfully illustrated the importance of effective PM within industry.