Performance Assessment in Complex Engineering Projects Using a System-of-Systems Framework

In this paper, a system-of-systems (SoS) framework is proposed for bottom-up assessment of complex engineering projects. Two principles of SoS analysis (i.e., base-level abstraction and multilevel aggregation) are used to develop the proposed framework. At the base level, complex engineering projects are abstracted as various entities (i.e., human agents, resources, and information) whose attributes and interactions influence the dynamic behaviors of project systems. The performance of project systems at higher levels (i.e., activity level, process level, and project level) is then determined by aggregating entities at the levels below. Through the use of the proposed SoS framework, new dimensions of analysis for better understanding of the performance of engineering projects were explored. One application example of the proposed framework was demonstrated in a case study of a complex construction project. The findings highlight the capability of the proposed framework in providing a novel approach for bottom-up assessment of performance in engineering projects.