PMFORUM Breaking News

Reported by Theofanis Giotis in Athens

PM-05: Advancing Project Management for the 21^st Century, the fifth Project Management Conference in Greece, with the theme "Concepts, Tools & Techniques for Managing Successful Projects" will be held during 29-31 May 2010 on the historic Mediterranean island of Crete. A major presentation will be made at the conference by Dean Kashiwagi, Professor of Project and Construction Management in the Del E Webb School of Construction at Arizona State University (ASU). Conference information at http://2010.pmgreece.gr.

Professor Kashiwagi (pictured right) will be presenting the "Project Management Model of the Future: A Performance Based PM Model" at the 2010 PM-05 Conference in a special session at Crete, Greece on May 30, 2010. Project managers from around the world will get to see the ongoing results of the leadership based structure "Performance Information Risk Management System" (PIRMS) which maximizes the project manager's performance and minimizes their risk. The development of PIRMS has exponentially increased, as funding is near at $1M/year.

According to Professor Kashiwagi, the new PM Model of the Future is different because:

1. It is based on what the project manager knows he doesn't know, rather than what the PM knows.
2. It minimizes the PM's decision making and risk.
3. It creates an environment of transparency and measurements which forces accountability.
4. It can assist the inexperienced vendor to get results of an experienced vendor without the management, direction, and control normally required by the PM.
5. It uses a proactive risk model that identifies the client as the major source of all project risk.
   

Dominant results of the PIRMS testing, to be revealed in Greece, include:

• 16 years of testing (806 tests delivering $2.8B of construction services).
• Testing in non-construction areas delivering $1B of services.
• 98% performance of vendors delivering services.
• Completely measured and transparent environment.
• Increases PM capability by ten times, minimizes transactions by up to 90%, and maximizes vendor profit without increasing cost to the buyer/client.
  

Dominant tests of the new PM model include:

1. The Dutch infrastructure group is testing PIRMS on the delivering of over $2B of fast track infrastructure.
2. Being tested on delivering a $200M Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform for the State of Alaska and a $30M state of the art Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) system for the State of Idaho.
3. The State of Idaho is also using the PIRMS to increase the performance of a correctional facility health care system.
4. The State of Oklahoma is using PIRMS to deliver commodities as well as more complicated services such as IT systems and construction.
5. Arizona State University has improved its food services, sports marketing, IT services (network and data storage systems), on-line help desks, distance education, document control, exercise equipment rentals, and the delivery of furniture delivery. Vendors have generated over $100M in cash for ASU by moving to this new PM model due to efficiencies, increase of product sales, and implementation of new technologies.
6. The largest contractor developer in Malaysia is planning to test PIRMS on their entire supply chain to sustain their quality and minimize risk on high end housing and futuristic living environments.
7. The General Services Administration (GSA), the largest buyer of non-military services in the United States, is into their first year of implementation of PIRMS, in the heartland region based in Kansas City.
   

Dean T. Kashiwagi, PhD, PE, Fulbright Scholar is also the Director of the Performance Based Studies Research Group (PBSRG) at ASU. Professor Kashiwagi is the author of the Information Measurement Theory (IMT) and the best value Performance Information Procurement System (PIPS). He was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Award in 2008 through which he is taking the PIPS management technology to the University of Botswana in Africa where he is helping transform a "research based" graduate program in project management. His work is also being tested in the Netherlands.


The PM-05 Project Management Conference will be held during 29-31 May 2010 at the Moevenpick Resort & Thalasso Hotel in Heraklion, Crete. Project management professionals and leaders worldwide are invited to attend the conference, to hear numerous presentations and speeches and to contribute their knowledge and experience to the success of the event. The conference is aimed at academics, researchers, industrialists, professionals, policy makers, assessors, and certification bodies concerned with projects and programmes in every economic sector. More information can be found at http://pmgreece.gr/content.php?cid=events:scpm5.

According to Professor John-Paris Pantouvakis, conference chair for PM-05, "Dean Kashiwagi was a keynote speaker at our conference two years ago. We are happy to have him return as a speaker and session chair this year. I am sure that he will bring new and interesting developments to share with the audience again."

PM-05 is being organized by the Centre for Construction Innovation, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), in cooperation with the Network of Project Managers in Greece (PM-Greece), the Scientific Association for the Advancement of Project Management in Greece. http://www.pmgreece.gr/.

Conference Chair is Dr. John - Paris Pantouvakis, Associate Professor, Director of the Department of Construction Engineering & Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering, NTUA, Athens, Greece. Pro Pantouvakis is also president of PM-Greece. Prof Pantouvakis can be contacted at jpp@central.ntua.gr.

PMForum is a Media Partner for this event. To see more news coverage, please visit http://www.pmforum.org/events/2010/PM-05_Advancing_PM_21stCentury.html.