Measuring progress and productivity in model-driven engineering for capital project delivery

A key underlying challenge in today's model-driven approach to engineering is how progress and level of effort are being measured and reported. Recent definitions such as level of development enable project teams to track completeness of information in building information modeling (BIM)-driven processes; yet, there are no established processes or metrics to reliably measure progress or track productivity of a model-driven engineering process as a function of the maturity of the model and/or the data that supports the engineering process. To address this gap in knowledge, this paper presents a discrete set of model maturity index (MMI) definitions to measure progress in engineering work, per modeling discipline. Using these MMI definitions, a model maturity risk index (Model MRI) toolkit was created to track maturity of an engineering process at the granularity of work breakdown structure locations. The MMI toolkit also reports risk in achieving certain MMI levels per modeling discipline. To benchmark maturity of the modeling work per project milestone or model review session and to establish workflows for tracking progress, an addendum to the modeling execution plan (ModelXP) is presented. New productivity and project controls metrics for tracking modeling work are also introduced. The developed definitions, toolkit, and addendum to ModelXP were validated through exhaustive surveys and charrette tests with project stakeholders involved in capital projects. The role of the MMI definitions and Model MRI toolkit in providing project controls insight and proactive management opportunities in real-world projects is discussed in detail.