Link to thesis. - Concept - NTNU

40consultants prior to the decision to build, the cost reductions in actual outcomes are, as indicatedin paper 8 (Magnussen (2009a)), negligible if the whole picture of the cost development isconsidered. This shows that the most crucial decisions take place early in the project life cycle.Consequently, a contribution of this work to practical planning is that it demonstrates that anyresponse aimed at affecting the accuracy of estimates must be implemented at an early stage inthe project life cycle.However, the search for explanations of differences in estimates has shown that a quantitativecomparison of estimates could turn out to be a misleading simplification in the examination ofhow up-front assessment and quality assurance may influence planning. The study, which aimedat making use of the ample contextual information available, illustrated that projects may beaffected even if this is not reflected in changes to cost estimates. Important, though, was that anattempt was made to shed light on possible answers to the detailed level questions by using casestudies. It was shown that the impact of the QA2 was less significant in the two analysed cases,described in greater detail in paper 7 by Williams, Klakegg, Magnussen and Glasspool (2008).However, one observation illustrated aspects of the issue. The process of QA2 gave reassurancethat the project was well planned, so a key benefit of the procedure was legitimating the project,and reassuring the project owner.The selected aim to influence more fundamental issues connected to the project is of increasingmounting concern at the introduction of a particular approach. In paper 1, Magnussen andSamset (2005) show that the Quality Assurance 1 (QA1) is established to achieve substantialimprovements of project performance by analyzing project concepts, not just to be a specifiedalternative, as it is in the QA2. Its purpose is to identify the most adequate project based onrelevant needs and priorities. In paper 4, Olsson and Magnussen (2007) assert that the QA1clearly includes elements from the social science tradition. The quality assurance regime can beseen as an attempt to combine optimal solutions from two different approaches at differentstages of the project life cycle. In the early stages of development, social science approaches areemployed, and whenever the emphasis is on the implementation of a specified alternative,engineering approaches are used. It should be underlined that due to lack of data, inquiriesspecifically involving the QA1 were not addressed. This is an important area that requires moreresearch.This research represents a first, small step in an evolving area of study, so some thoughts on theway forward are appropriate. First, I argue, due to the diverse contextual backgrounds of theprojects involved, further studies may benefit from segmentation of data. The segmentationmight be based on a number of parameters, but the most amenable are perhaps project type, size,and complexity. In this way, factors not observable in the data presented in this thesis mayemerge and shed light on important unanswered questions. Second, changes in the set-up of themethodologies applied may also be required, such as a more extensive use of methods such as indepthinterviews with actors involved to better capture essential contextual information. Anotherway of approaching may be to carefully look at more individual cases. In this manner, even moreimportant questions might arise, and may persuade us to view issues from other perspectives.Finally, a shift of focus from efficiency to effectiveness issues is crucial, so that the influence ofmore principal aims of improvement measures related to feasibility and sustainability of projectsmay be examined.Overall, I believe that the work presented in this thesis has provided some useful insights andlessons. In summary, I feel that the main contribution from this work is that a measureintroduced in the front-end to reduce the problem of cost overrun has for the first time beenstudied empirically. The principal finding is that any action aimed at affecting the accuracy of