DEVELOPMENT OF AN IT-BASED TOOL FOR PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY GÖZDE BİLGİN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN CIVIL ENGINEERING JANUARY 2019 Approval of the thesis: DEVELOPMENT OF AN IT-BASED TOOL FOR PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES submitted by GÖZDE BİLGİN in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Halil Kalıpçılar Dean, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Ahmet Türer Head of Department, Civil Engineering Prof. Dr. İrem Dikmen Toker Supervisor, Civil Engineering Dept., METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Beliz Özorhon Orakçal Co-Supervisor, Civil Engineering Dept., Boğaziçi Univ. Examining Committee Members: Prof. Dr. M. Talat Birgönül Civil Engineering Dept., METU Prof. Dr. İrem Dikmen Toker Civil Engineering Dept., METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Murat Tanyer Dept. of Architecture, METU Prof. Dr. Gökhan Arslan Civil Engineering Dept., Yalova Univ. Asst. Prof. Dr. Serkan Kıvrak Civil Engineering Dept., Eskişehir Tech. Univ. Date: 22.01.2019 I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Surname: Gözde Bilgin Signature: iv ABSTRACT DEVELOPMENT OF AN IT-BASED TOOL FOR PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES Bilgin, Gözde Ph.D., Department of Civil Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Dr. İrem Dikmen Toker Co-Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Beliz Özorhon Orakçal January 2019, 567 pages Development in the construction industry has leaded most of the construction companies to undertake more complex projects than before, which are generally executed concurrently. Therefore, project management routines of the companies may not support effective management of multi-projects. Project portfolio management approach has been suggested to meet requirements for coordinating multi-projects to meet strategic objectives under limited resources. Since project portfolio management requires a comprehensive multi-criteria evaluation process, tools and methods to facilitate decision-making at the portfolio level are needed; however, there have been limited studies responding to this need in the construction industry. This study aims development of a practical decision support tool for construction companies to enable them manage their projects as a part of a portfolio and conduct analysis at the portfolio level. A tool (COPPMAN) has been generated based on the requirements identified through literature survey on project portfolio management and explorative studies with construction company professionals in Turkey. It is capable of capturing and utilizing project knowledge, conducting analysis of portfolios considering interdependencies, enabling selection of the best portfolio considering strategic objectives of the company and facilitating decision- making by providing visual representations of alternative scenarios. The tool has been v validated by usability testing and case study with a portfolio of real projects in a construction company. COPPMAN may be beneficial in adoption of portfolio management perspective for especially medium and large-sized construction companies resulting in competitive advantage in international markets by effective management of multi-projects. Keywords: Construction Projects, Decision Support System, Project Portfolio Management, Project Dependencies, Risk Assessment, Strategic Management vi ÖZ İNŞAAT ŞİRKETLERİ İÇİN BİLGİSAYAR DESTEKLİ BİR PORTFÖY DEĞERLENDİRME VE YÖNETİM ARACININ GELİŞTİRİLMESİ Bilgin, Gözde Doktora, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. İrem Dikmen Toker Ortak Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Beliz Özorhon Orakçal Ocak 2019, 567 sayfa İnşaat sektöründeki gelişme, inşaat şirketlerinin çoğunun genellikle eş-zamanlı olarak yürütülen, eskisinden daha karmaşık projeler üstlenmesini sağlamıştır. Bu nedenle, şirketlerin proje yönetimi alışkanlıkları, çoklu-projelerin etkili yönetimini desteklemeyebilir. Proje portföy yönetimi yaklaşımı, sınırlı kaynaklar altında stratejik hedeflerin gerçekleştirilmesinde başarılı olmak için aynı hedeflere hizmet eden farklı projeleri koordine ve kontrol etme gereksinimlerini karşılamak için önerilmiştir. Proje portföy yönetimi kapsamlı bir çok-kriterli değerlendirme süreci gerektirdiğinden, portföy seviyesinde karar vermeyi kolaylaştıracak araçlar ve yöntemler gereklidir; ancak, inşaat sektöründe bu ihtiyaca cevap veren sınırlı çalışma yapılmıştır. Bu çalışma, inşaat şirketleri için projelerini bir portföyün parçası olarak yönetebilmelerini ve portföy düzeyinde analiz yapabilmelerini sağlayacak kullanışlı bir karar destek aracının geliştirilmesini amaçlamaktadır. Proje portföy yönetimi ile ilgili literatür taraması ve Türkiye temelli inşaat şirketi çalışanları ile yapılan keşif çalışmaları sonucunda belirlenen gereksinimler doğrultusunda bir araç (COPPMAN) geliştirilmiştir. Araç, proje bilgisini kaydetme ve kullanma, ilişkileri göz önünde bulundurarak portföylerin analizini yapma, şirketin stratejik hedefleri göz önünde bulundurularak en iyi portföyün seçilmesini sağlama ve alternatif senaryoların görsel sunumunu sağlayarak karar vermeyi kolaylaştırabilme yeteneğine sahiptir. Aracın vii kullanılabilirlik testi ve bir inşaat firmasında gerçek proje portföyü ile vaka çalışması ile geçerliliği sınanmıştır. COPPMAN özellikle orta ve büyük ölçekli inşaat şirketlerin çoklu-projelerin efektif yönetilmesini sağlayarak uluslararası pazarda rekabet avantajı kazanmasını sağlayacak portföy yönetimi perspektifini benimsemesinde faydalı olabilir. Anahtar Kelimeler: İnşaat Projeleri, Karar Destek Sistemi, Proje İlişkileri, Proje Portföy Yönetimi, Risk Değerlendirmesi, Stratejik Yönetim viii To My Family ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, and to the coordinator of the research project funded by TUBITAK, Prof. Dr. İrem Dikmen Toker for guiding and supporting me with my all studies and for the chances she has given to me over the years. I would like to thank my co-supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Beliz Özorhon Orakçal for her vital suggestions and comments throughout the research project and development of my thesis. I would also like to thank my lifelong mentor, Prof. Dr. M. Talat Birgönül, as my underlying motivation for the academic life. I am extremely thankful for his invaluable support, enthusiasm and encouragement during both this research and my years at Construction Engineering and Management Division, METU. I am grateful to my friends Görkem Eken and Beste Özyurt for their every effort and continuous support in this long-termed research project, we have drawn a great example of teamwork. I wish you all the best for your PhD studies. I would like to express my gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Murat Tanyer, as my thesis committee member, for all of his guidance and feedback throughout this process. I would like to thank Asst. Prof. Dr. Güzide Atasoy Özcan, Prof. Dr. Rifat Sönmez, Hilal Yiğitbaşı, Aslı Yücel Alpdoğan, Dr. Gülşah Fidan Dağkıran, Kıvanç Karakaş, and Dr. Açelya Ecem Yıldız for their active participation and input in different stages of this research study. Açelya, I am especially thankful for the couple of days that we have laid the foundations of the proposal. I would also thank to my friends Hüseyin Erol and Bartuğ Kemal Akgül for their early participation in the project, which has built up a constant support for the rest. Supports provided by Murat Altun, Meltem Tangüler Bayramtan, Saman Aminbakhsh, Alican Tatar, Makbule Ilgaç, Gülsüm Çağıl Köseoğlu Balta, Maryam Daneshvar, Berk Demir, and Mehmet As are also x appreciated. I would also like to thank Dr. Emre Caner Akçay, who has implicitly motivated me with his success in academic studies. I would like to thank for the technical support provided for tool development by Gökberk Hamurcu and Anıl Sevim from Bilişim Aktörleri Co. Ltd. I would also thank to Veysel Pınar and Meriç Akay for their invaluable support for the development process. Additionally, supports as initial discussions on tool development provided by the firms listed are also gratefully acknowledged: Kısayol Bilişim Teknolojileri Co. Ltd., YD Yazılım Co. Ltd., KUASOFT Information Technologies Inc., Kağıtsokağı Ar-Ge Bilişim Co. Ltd., Siren Bilişim Yazılım Co. Ltd., Portakal Yazılım Co. Ltd., and GUI Bilişim Co. Ltd. I would also thank for the technical assistance provided for usability testing by the staff of Human-Computer Interaction Research and Application Laboratory of METU. This research was funded by a grant from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), Grant No. 213M493. TUBITAK’s support is gratefully acknowledged. I would especially like to thank my family for their endless love and support. In particular, I would like to thank my parents Nimet Nurhayat Bilgin and Abdullah Bilgin, my brother Mehmet Bilgin and his lovely wife Gamze Bilgin, and the cutie, Arya Bilgin. I could not have done anything without you. I would also like to thank my secondary family, all my friends, who will always stand by me. Finally, I would like to express my endless