Abstract
M.Ing. (Engineering Management)
South Africa’s power utility distribution division executes numerous projects every financial year.The utility utilises project-management processes to execute these projects. Numerous projects in the organisation are found to have succeeded; while various other projects appear to have barriers. Projects are also delayed at the execution of the project life-cycle stage. As a result of delayed projects, reviews of the Capital expenditure (Capex) show inconsistency, as from the years 2012 to 2015. Delayed projects have caused an under expenditure of the approved budget. There are numerous times when the capital expenditure was overspent due to pressure by management for completion of the backlog of projects and critical projects within the year. This leads to a requirement for critical analysis of the utility’s distribution-project successes and failures.
The objective of the research is to critically review and understand what leads to the utility distribution projects’ successes and failures. The literature was gathered to build up information on the topic. The literature from published articles, books and organisation reports is reviewed.
The research makes use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. A comprehensive questionnaire is selected as the instrument for the data collection. The questions are guided by the literature review’s findings on the topic. Based on the clear correlation found between the literature’s findings and questionnaire’s results, the following summarised project success factors at distribution division were found:
Management support
Proper planning
Scope management
Competency of the project manager
Effective communication
Competent contractor
The respondents also revealed budget and material issues, as contributing to project failure. Furthermore, organisation-specific, results analysis and recommendations are detailed in the dissertation.