Keywords: decision making, pre-project planning, scope definition, project success.

Pre-project planning is a major phase of the project life cycle. This phase begins after a decision is made by the business unit to proceed with a project concept and continues until the detailed design is developed. The research team in the Construction Industry Institute (CII) defined pre-project planning as "the process of developing sufficient strategic information with which owners can address risk and decide to commit resources to maximize the chance for a successful project" [1].

It is during this early planning stage that significant project decisions are made by the project team. Several studies focusing on the project performance and success suggest that poor decision-making in the early planning phase is one of the primary causes of unsuccessful projects [2,3]. According to these studies, cost growth and inaccurate estimates, as well as schedule slippage on most of the process plant projects are due to inadequate pre-project planning. In general, industry practitioners also perceive that early planning efforts in the project life cycle have a greater influence on project success than planning efforts undertaken later in the project delivery process.

The industry decision making practice during this early planning phase of the capital facility projects is the main focus of this research. Nevertheless, the pre-project planning practices vary significantly throughout the industry from one organization to another. In order to investigate the pre-project planning practices in the construction industry, a scope definition tool, project definition rating index (PDRI) is incorporated in this research.

Research conducted by the Construction Industry Institute (CII) has developed the PDRI to address scope definition [4,5] in pre-project planning for both the industrial and building sectors. The PDRI is a comprehensive, weighted checklist of crucial scope definition elements that have to be addressed and decided in pre-project planning process. It provides the project team with a simple and easy-to-use tool to objectively evaluate the current status of a project during pre-project planning. Since its development, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and CII have been collecting pre-project planning information using the PDRI.

Several studies have been conducted to measure project success [6,7,8,9]. There does not seem to be a universally accepted definition or measurement based on published literature. Nevertheless, a mechanism for measuring the success of the sample projects was required for this research effort. For this research, the project success measurement method used to evaluate the sample projects is adopted from previous research by the Construction Industry Institute's Pre-Project Planning Research Team. Project success variables (budget achievement and schedule achievement) were used to measure project success for this research.

Data from sixty-two industrial projects and seventy-eight building projects, representing approximately $5 billion in total construction cost, were collected and used to conduct an investigation of the pre-project planning practices in the industrial and building industry. The similarities and differences of the pre-project planning practice will be compared between the two industry sectors. Important decisions that have greater impact on project success will be identified. In addition, the pre-project planning practices among successful and less-than-successful projects will be compared.

1

The Construction Industry Institute, "Pre-Project Planning Handbook", Special Publication 39-2, 1995

2

E.W. Merrow, "Understanding the Outcomes of Megaprojects: A Quantitative Analysis of Very Large Civilian Projects", R-3560-PSSP, 1998.

3

J.A. Broaddus, "Managing Inputs to Design for Project Success: Participant Handbook", CII Education Module EM-9, 1995.

4

The Construction Industry Institute, "Pre-Project Planning Handbook", Special Publication 39-2, 1995

5

The Construction Industry Institute, "Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) - Building Projects", Implementation Resource 155-2, 1999

6

D. Ashley, E. Jaselskis, and C.B. Lurie, "The Determinants of Construction Project Success", Project Management Journal, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 69-79, 1987

7

M. Freeman, and P.Beale, "Measuring Project Success", Project Management Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 8-16, 1992

8

A.F. Griffith, G.E. Gibson, M.R. Hamilton, A.L. Tortora and C.T. Wilson, "Project Success Index for Capital Facility Construction Projects", ASCE J. Performance of Constructed Facilities, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 39-45, 1999. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0887-3828(1999)13:1(39)

9

R.R. Tan, "Success Criteria and Success Factors for External Technology Transfer Projects", Project Management Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 45-56, 1996

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