Link to thesis. - Concept - NTNU

establish relevant objectives. Relevance is a prerequisite for sustainability, as the example above illustrates– willingness to pay is strongly linked to the extent that benefits exceed costs for the users.Table 1 highlights some of the key problems encountered in major projects and measures introduced bythe quality assurance regime to address these problems. It can be seen that the QA1 is designed to coverthe aspects that contribute to project success in an overall perspective, while QA2 is a control mechanismof the basic assumptions underlying the project before the final appropriation.In this paper we have shown that research reveals fundamental problems connected to projects, especiallythe large and complex ones. Much effort has been on the occurrence and causes of cost overrun. This isnatural seen in the perspective that cost overruns represent a waste of resources that is directly andimmediately linked to the project. The traditional response has been to use considerable resources tobetter control and management of the implementation phase.The control and management of projects are of course factors determining project success in anoperational perspective, but we argue that a focus on the initial phases is even more important.Guided by an example we demonstrate compliance to schedule, budget, and technical requirements are ofsecondary importance if the project does not perform well in terms of feasibility and long-term effects.These overall issues are determined in the initial phases of the project where focus should be put on theneeds it is meant to satisfy and the different approaches to fulfill those needs. This was the backgroundfor introducing a quality assurance scheme to secure sound choice of concept. It is a supplementperformed by external project management specialists to the political decision process and is supposed tobring independent analyses of the different alternatives and ultimately an advice on what alternative is bestto achieve the given objectives. Some experiences have been gained but there are many questions thatneed to be answered to get a picture of the effect of this initiative on long-term feasibility and profitabilityof public projects.10