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• 1. [Article] Applying Agile Project Management Principles to Pre-Silicon Hardware Design and Verification

  In today’s rapidly changing environments and uncertain markets, responding to change quickly and effectively is the key to success. There has been an increasing demand for iterative development process ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Applying Agile Project Management Principles to Pre-Silicon Hardware Design and Verification Author: Hee, Cho Yong, Monalisa, Mitali, Dash, Pranabesh, Ashraf, Rehman Year: 2010 In today’s rapidly changing environments and uncertain markets, responding to change quickly and effectively is the key to success. There has been an increasing demand for iterative development process for products. Agile development process has been successfully used application software development projects to respond to rapid customer requests. This paper explores the applicability of Agile Project Management approaches to the Hardware Design and Verification (DV) process. Pre-silicon hardware design and verification process has its deep roots in manufacturing. The process and culture for project management present in hardware design groups are closer to manufacturing than software development process. The common characteristics of absolute adherence to planning coming from manufacturing can clearly be seen in hardware design groups. A company’s corporate culture emanating from manufacturing background can be a barrier to adoption of any kind of software development process. For the purpose of our study, the authors conducted interviews with six different design groups at Intel ® Corporation. The interviewers explored the management aspects of the project, discussed the challenges and issues encountered with the longer development cycles in hardware design process. The paper analyzes the data gathered and discusses the patterns observed across the groups. Agile Project Management expects a shift in the “attitude” of the Program or Project Managers and requires organizational buy-in for adopting and successfully practicing it. The paper goes into recommendations to mitigate the existing issues by using Agile management principles and suggests behaviorial changes if project groups do move to an Agile development process at Intel, where majority of the groups follow traditional management principles. Title: Applying Agile Project Management Principles to Pre-Silicon Hardware Design and Verification Author: Hee, Cho Yong, Monalisa, Mitali, Dash, Pranabesh, Ashraf, Rehman Year: 2010 In today’s rapidly changing environments and uncertain markets, responding to change quickly and effectively is the key to success. There has been an increasing demand for iterative development process for products. Agile development process has been successfully used application software development projects to respond to rapid customer requests. This paper explores the applicability of Agile Project Management approaches to the Hardware Design and Verification (DV) process. Pre-silicon hardware design and verification process has its deep roots in manufacturing. The process and culture for project management present in hardware design groups are closer to manufacturing than software development process. The common characteristics of absolute adherence to planning coming from manufacturing can clearly be seen in hardware design groups. A company’s corporate culture emanating from manufacturing background can be a barrier to adoption of any kind of software development process. For the purpose of our study, the authors conducted interviews with six different design groups at Intel ® Corporation. The interviewers explored the management aspects of the project, discussed the challenges and issues encountered with the longer development cycles in hardware design process. The paper analyzes the data gathered and discusses the patterns observed across the groups. Agile Project Management expects a shift in the “attitude” of the Program or Project Managers and requires organizational buy-in for adopting and successfully practicing it. The paper goes into recommendations to mitigate the existing issues by using Agile management principles and suggests behaviorial changes if project groups do move to an Agile development process at Intel, where majority of the groups follow traditional management principles. Close

• 2. [Article] New Product Development: Amorphous Silicon Thin Film PV

  Q-Cells is a company founded in 1999 and is currently a global leader in manufacturing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels.[1][2] The current products use traditional crystalline Silicon (cSi) technology. Although ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: New Product Development: Amorphous Silicon Thin Film PV Author: Sheikh, Nasir Jamil, Bokka, Naresh, Rasiah, Rekha, Bourque, Greg, Natale, Rocco, Khamis, Rabah Year: 2010 Q-Cells is a company founded in 1999 and is currently a global leader in manufacturing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels.[1][2] The current products use traditional crystalline Silicon (cSi) technology. Although this is recognized as the industry leading technology, Q-Cells has set a goal to be the leader in next generation solar PV. We need to develop a process capability within our organization to support the design and development of industry leading second generation (2G) PV technology. The organization has created the Q-Cells NPI process, a modified stage gate phase model to support this new product development. The Q-Cells senior management has given their support to our defined product development lifecycle process. To achieve this goal of 2G solar PV, our new technology experts have been searching for new developments in research labs around the country. The rest of this report will document the process we propose for use by Q-Cells to insure a successful product development, from the idea generation stage, successively through definition, design, systems engineering and product engineering to full production manufacturing. Title: New Product Development: Amorphous Silicon Thin Film PV Author: Sheikh, Nasir Jamil, Bokka, Naresh, Rasiah, Rekha, Bourque, Greg, Natale, Rocco, Khamis, Rabah Year: 2010 Q-Cells is a company founded in 1999 and is currently a global leader in manufacturing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels.[1][2] The current products use traditional crystalline Silicon (cSi) technology. Although this is recognized as the industry leading technology, Q-Cells has set a goal to be the leader in next generation solar PV. We need to develop a process capability within our organization to support the design and development of industry leading second generation (2G) PV technology. The organization has created the Q-Cells NPI process, a modified stage gate phase model to support this new product development. The Q-Cells senior management has given their support to our defined product development lifecycle process. To achieve this goal of 2G solar PV, our new technology experts have been searching for new developments in research labs around the country. The rest of this report will document the process we propose for use by Q-Cells to insure a successful product development, from the idea generation stage, successively through definition, design, systems engineering and product engineering to full production manufacturing. Close

• 3. [Article] Risk Management System for PMT Restaurant

  A risk management system (RMS) is being developed and offered to a soon-to-be open "PMT" restaurant specializing in Pan-Asian cuisine. The project focus here is on managing risks during the "implementation" ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Risk Management System for PMT Restaurant Author: Chotivanawan, Bundit, Hsieh, Yi-Lung, Lin, Yu-Hsiang, Mahaphol, Inthrayuth, Pathak, Ujjal, Tanatammatorn, Napong Year: 2010 A risk management system (RMS) is being developed and offered to a soon-to-be open "PMT" restaurant specializing in Pan-Asian cuisine. The project focus here is on managing risks during the "implementation" phase of the restaurant life-cycle. The concerned stakeholders are being provided with tools instrumental in identifying risks to the project, assessing their potential impact, and developing actions to mitigate them. The underlying outcome of this report from our team‟s perspective is to understand how we can employ risk management system in real-life scenarios. The report proposes the following risk management strategies for the PMT restaurant: Design, develop and implement a full-fledged risk management system (RMS) comprising of risk response plan and risk log Explain and integrate the use of a series of risk analysis tools such as SWOT analysis, Probability-Impact matrix, Network Diagram and Monte Carlo analysis Offer training and implementation steps for the above mentioned risk analysis tools Title: Risk Management System for PMT Restaurant Author: Chotivanawan, Bundit, Hsieh, Yi-Lung, Lin, Yu-Hsiang, Mahaphol, Inthrayuth, Pathak, Ujjal, Tanatammatorn, Napong Year: 2010 A risk management system (RMS) is being developed and offered to a soon-to-be open "PMT" restaurant specializing in Pan-Asian cuisine. The project focus here is on managing risks during the "implementation" phase of the restaurant life-cycle. The concerned stakeholders are being provided with tools instrumental in identifying risks to the project, assessing their potential impact, and developing actions to mitigate them. The underlying outcome of this report from our team‟s perspective is to understand how we can employ risk management system in real-life scenarios. The report proposes the following risk management strategies for the PMT restaurant: Design, develop and implement a full-fledged risk management system (RMS) comprising of risk response plan and risk log Explain and integrate the use of a series of risk analysis tools such as SWOT analysis, Probability-Impact matrix, Network Diagram and Monte Carlo analysis Offer training and implementation steps for the above mentioned risk analysis tools Close

• 4. [Article] Review of R&D Project Selection Models

  Evaluation and selection of new projects is vital to the health of an organization. For many firms, especially those that depend on technology innovation to stay in business, the key to continued competitiveness ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Review of R&D Project Selection Models Author: Boemo-Mokhawa, Nametsegang, Gomez, Fredy, Hsieh, I-Hsuan, Lotfi, Theodore Nyma Year: 2010 Evaluation and selection of new projects is vital to the health of an organization. For many firms, especially those that depend on technology innovation to stay in business, the key to continued competitiveness lies in their ability to develop and implement new products and processes. For these organizations, research and development (R&D) is an integral function within the technology strategic management framework. There are two related sub-problems to selection of R&D projects: to access the evaluation of individual projects and to build a portfolio of the most promising projects among all submitted to a certain call for projects. Finally what really matters is the portfolio, which contains only the projects to be funded and amounts assigned to each project. This paper reviews some of the frequently used models and tools by different governmental and nongovernmental firms to select their R&D projects and briefly explore, based on literature reviews, the contribution of each model to the firm‟s strategies down the organizational hierarchy (Top-Down); from the institutional strategy down to the R&D strategy. Conclusions and suggestions for future research are also provided. Title: Review of R&D Project Selection Models Author: Boemo-Mokhawa, Nametsegang, Gomez, Fredy, Hsieh, I-Hsuan, Lotfi, Theodore Nyma Year: 2010 Evaluation and selection of new projects is vital to the health of an organization. For many firms, especially those that depend on technology innovation to stay in business, the key to continued competitiveness lies in their ability to develop and implement new products and processes. For these organizations, research and development (R&D) is an integral function within the technology strategic management framework. There are two related sub-problems to selection of R&D projects: to access the evaluation of individual projects and to build a portfolio of the most promising projects among all submitted to a certain call for projects. Finally what really matters is the portfolio, which contains only the projects to be funded and amounts assigned to each project. This paper reviews some of the frequently used models and tools by different governmental and nongovernmental firms to select their R&D projects and briefly explore, based on literature reviews, the contribution of each model to the firm‟s strategies down the organizational hierarchy (Top-Down); from the institutional strategy down to the R&D strategy. Conclusions and suggestions for future research are also provided. Close

• 5. [Article] Project Selection for New Product Development utilizing a Hierarchical Decision Model

  Evaluation and selection of new projects is vital to the health of an organization. This paper explores the background of new project selection and the methodologies to evaluate new projects for selection. ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Project Selection for New Product Development utilizing a Hierarchical Decision Model Author: Gomez, Fredy, Lai, Ho-Min, Ball, Larry, Alawini, Abdussalam Year: 2010 Evaluation and selection of new projects is vital to the health of an organization. This paper explores the background of new project selection and the methodologies to evaluate new projects for selection. To illustrate the process, a new product selection evaluation is performed for North African Food Products (NAFP) using a Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM). NAFP is the pseudonym for an existing confidential food products company in North Africa. Two improved existing and eight new products were evaluated using the pair wise comparison method. HDM experts were consulted for construction of the model. Five products were selected for consideration by NAFP managers. The research methodology is discussed and appendixes for the data and interviews are provided. The new products selected for development were either improved existing or new products from NAFP‟s existing production lines. The results were validated by post survey interviews with the NAFP managers. Conclusions and suggestions for future research are also provided. Title: Project Selection for New Product Development utilizing a Hierarchical Decision Model Author: Gomez, Fredy, Lai, Ho-Min, Ball, Larry, Alawini, Abdussalam Year: 2010 Evaluation and selection of new projects is vital to the health of an organization. This paper explores the background of new project selection and the methodologies to evaluate new projects for selection. To illustrate the process, a new product selection evaluation is performed for North African Food Products (NAFP) using a Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM). NAFP is the pseudonym for an existing confidential food products company in North Africa. Two improved existing and eight new products were evaluated using the pair wise comparison method. HDM experts were consulted for construction of the model. Five products were selected for consideration by NAFP managers. The research methodology is discussed and appendixes for the data and interviews are provided. The new products selected for development were either improved existing or new products from NAFP‟s existing production lines. The results were validated by post survey interviews with the NAFP managers. Conclusions and suggestions for future research are also provided. Close

• 6. [Article] PMT² Unveils New PMTablet

  In order to continue its streak of successful high tech devices, PMT2 has decided to dive into the world of electronic tablets and develop the first generation of a product called PMTablet. With heavy ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: PMT² Unveils New PMTablet Author: Colon, Rafael, Jovanovic, Stevan, Justice, Jay, Thirumalai, Mukundan, Tibbot, Paul Year: 2010 In order to continue its streak of successful high tech devices, PMT2 has decided to dive into the world of electronic tablets and develop the first generation of a product called PMTablet. With heavy competition from iPad and Amazon‟s Kimble, it is imperative that PMT2 reach the market as soon as possible with a quality product with all features necessary to keep it in the battle with the competition. If the features list for this new product was not enough of a challenge for this project, the company has decided to finish the project in record time. There is a lot of pressure in respect to time-to market. The combination of risk due to technical complexity of the project is multiplied by the time-to-market pressure. In order for PMT2 to increase its chances of success on this project, the company has tasked the authors of this report to create a company wide Risk Management System (RMS) in order to identify, monitor and mitigate risk. This report details the structure of the RMS created by the project management gurus of PMT2. With their arsenal of latest and greatest PM tools, this report will take you through the detailed Scope assessment of the project using WBS; followed by a thorough Risk Analysis procedure resulting in a PI Matrix; naturally backed by a bulletproof Risk Response Plan; scrupulously simulated by a Monte Carl analysis; all combined to successfully mange the risk of a project of this magnitude. Title: PMT² Unveils New PMTablet Author: Colon, Rafael, Jovanovic, Stevan, Justice, Jay, Thirumalai, Mukundan, Tibbot, Paul Year: 2010 In order to continue its streak of successful high tech devices, PMT2 has decided to dive into the world of electronic tablets and develop the first generation of a product called PMTablet. With heavy competition from iPad and Amazon‟s Kimble, it is imperative that PMT2 reach the market as soon as possible with a quality product with all features necessary to keep it in the battle with the competition. If the features list for this new product was not enough of a challenge for this project, the company has decided to finish the project in record time. There is a lot of pressure in respect to time-to market. The combination of risk due to technical complexity of the project is multiplied by the time-to-market pressure. In order for PMT2 to increase its chances of success on this project, the company has tasked the authors of this report to create a company wide Risk Management System (RMS) in order to identify, monitor and mitigate risk. This report details the structure of the RMS created by the project management gurus of PMT2. With their arsenal of latest and greatest PM tools, this report will take you through the detailed Scope assessment of the project using WBS; followed by a thorough Risk Analysis procedure resulting in a PI Matrix; naturally backed by a bulletproof Risk Response Plan; scrupulously simulated by a Monte Carl analysis; all combined to successfully mange the risk of a project of this magnitude. Close

• 7. [Article] New Technology Introduction Process: RFID for groceries

  The high level process consists of three major funnels and two key parts. The first funnel is “Discovery” in which the new strategic goals are communicated company wide at an all hands meeting. In this ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: New Technology Introduction Process: RFID for groceries Author: Artiga, Roberto, Intarode, Nuttavut, Lotfi, Theodore Nyma, Praechareonwatana, Nuttavut, Osman, Osman, Sell, Vera Year: 2010 The high level process consists of three major funnels and two key parts. The first funnel is “Discovery” in which the new strategic goals are communicated company wide at an all hands meeting. In this stage, the company starts identifying major opportunities available in the market, having as its outcome a prioritized project list. As an example, in the grocery market, different opportunities had been observed and RFID was selected as a potential opportunity in the prioritized projec list to use as a substitute for the traditional bar code. Based on our estimate it can create an emerging market worth 6 billion USD in 5 years. The second funnel is “Technology.” It starts with identification of core competencies needed to transfer technology from laboratory to factory and will end with a technology transfer plan which contains how to close the gap between what is required and what Paru currently has in-house. The third funnel is “New Product Implementation.” It is a hybrid process which will go for simultaneous product and process concept development. These processes are carried out with proactive integration and collaboration so by the time the engineering release is approved, everything is in place to go into large-volume manufacturing without any further delays. Paru will go through the above mentioned steps to produce and sell RFID tags. After the three major funnels, the next stage of the process is volume production. This stage does not only includes manufacturing but also all the activities for continuous improvement that result to solve problems identify during volume production as well as those activities to optimize costs, quality, and yield until a second generation product is released or a product goes into obsolescence. The following sections describe the details of each part of the development process; all diagrams are included in the appendix of this report. Title: New Technology Introduction Process: RFID for groceries Author: Artiga, Roberto, Intarode, Nuttavut, Lotfi, Theodore Nyma, Praechareonwatana, Nuttavut, Osman, Osman, Sell, Vera Year: 2010 The high level process consists of three major funnels and two key parts. The first funnel is “Discovery” in which the new strategic goals are communicated company wide at an all hands meeting. In this stage, the company starts identifying major opportunities available in the market, having as its outcome a prioritized project list. As an example, in the grocery market, different opportunities had been observed and RFID was selected as a potential opportunity in the prioritized projec list to use as a substitute for the traditional bar code. Based on our estimate it can create an emerging market worth 6 billion USD in 5 years. The second funnel is “Technology.” It starts with identification of core competencies needed to transfer technology from laboratory to factory and will end with a technology transfer plan which contains how to close the gap between what is required and what Paru currently has in-house. The third funnel is “New Product Implementation.” It is a hybrid process which will go for simultaneous product and process concept development. These processes are carried out with proactive integration and collaboration so by the time the engineering release is approved, everything is in place to go into large-volume manufacturing without any further delays. Paru will go through the above mentioned steps to produce and sell RFID tags. After the three major funnels, the next stage of the process is volume production. This stage does not only includes manufacturing but also all the activities for continuous improvement that result to solve problems identify during volume production as well as those activities to optimize costs, quality, and yield until a second generation product is released or a product goes into obsolescence. The following sections describe the details of each part of the development process; all diagrams are included in the appendix of this report. Close

• 8. [Article] Vizio Inc. Product Development Process

  Vizio Inc., which started with only 3 people in 2002, has become the number one shipper of LCD HDTVs to the U.S. consumer electronics market of 2009. They have achieved their fast growth by concentrating ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Vizio Inc. Product Development Process Author: Lim, Donggyu, Krampits, Mark, Letts, Matthew, Katarya, Nitin, Shott, Tom Year: 2010 Vizio Inc., which started with only 3 people in 2002, has become the number one shipper of LCD HDTVs to the U.S. consumer electronics market of 2009. They have achieved their fast growth by concentrating on their target segment and market. The founder started in the TV sale business and thought that he could sell to a niche market in the consumer electronic market, especially LCD TV. Therefore, he began to make an inexpensive, but high quality LCD TVs. Another key to his success is that he formed strong relationships with overseas TV manufacturers. While his competitors are selling the same products worldwide, Vizio focuses on the U.S. market. Vizio has developed a solid sales network and has established brand power. It has over 170 employees and over $4 billion in sales in 2009. Vizio is going to introduce a new technology, 3D TV, into their product line. It has been decided that a new process, a Phase Gate Product Life cycle will be followed for this new technology and others that will be produced in the future. Title: Vizio Inc. Product Development Process Author: Lim, Donggyu, Krampits, Mark, Letts, Matthew, Katarya, Nitin, Shott, Tom Year: 2010 Vizio Inc., which started with only 3 people in 2002, has become the number one shipper of LCD HDTVs to the U.S. consumer electronics market of 2009. They have achieved their fast growth by concentrating on their target segment and market. The founder started in the TV sale business and thought that he could sell to a niche market in the consumer electronic market, especially LCD TV. Therefore, he began to make an inexpensive, but high quality LCD TVs. Another key to his success is that he formed strong relationships with overseas TV manufacturers. While his competitors are selling the same products worldwide, Vizio focuses on the U.S. market. Vizio has developed a solid sales network and has established brand power. It has over 170 employees and over $4 billion in sales in 2009. Vizio is going to introduce a new technology, 3D TV, into their product line. It has been decided that a new process, a Phase Gate Product Life cycle will be followed for this new technology and others that will be produced in the future. Close

• 9. [Article] Legit Widget: Risk Plan Proposal

  The intention of this project is to develop and present a Risk Management System (RMS) for a fictitious company in effort to use the tools taught in the EMT 546 Project Management Tools course. Members ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Legit Widget: Risk Plan Proposal Author: Barzanji, Alyaa, Millward, Helen, Natale, Rocco, Pamintuan, Karen, Villanueva, Maribel, Wendt, Stephanie Year: 2010 The intention of this project is to develop and present a Risk Management System (RMS) for a fictitious company in effort to use the tools taught in the EMT 546 Project Management Tools course. Members of Team One are now associates in a company called Legit Widget. We have provided background as to what our company does and how we make money, which will assist in communicating our company’s experience, operation and quality of work. The Project Management practices that Legit Widget uses in this project will demonstrate and enlighten our board members as to the quality that we bring to the challenge of implementing a necessary RMS. We will also explain some of our Project Management best practices to further add confidence in our preparation of our new Risk Management System. Title: Legit Widget: Risk Plan Proposal Author: Barzanji, Alyaa, Millward, Helen, Natale, Rocco, Pamintuan, Karen, Villanueva, Maribel, Wendt, Stephanie Year: 2010 The intention of this project is to develop and present a Risk Management System (RMS) for a fictitious company in effort to use the tools taught in the EMT 546 Project Management Tools course. Members of Team One are now associates in a company called Legit Widget. We have provided background as to what our company does and how we make money, which will assist in communicating our company’s experience, operation and quality of work. The Project Management practices that Legit Widget uses in this project will demonstrate and enlighten our board members as to the quality that we bring to the challenge of implementing a necessary RMS. We will also explain some of our Project Management best practices to further add confidence in our preparation of our new Risk Management System. Close

• 10. [Article] Essential Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering in the Context of Engineering and Technology Management (ETM)

  According to PSU’s ETM brochure for the Master’s degree program, there are two obvious course options in the core courses for direct cost and financial knowledge, which include Advanced Engineering Economics ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Essential Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering in the Context of Engineering and Technology Management (ETM) Author: Villanueva, Maribel, Tanatammatorn, Napong, Colon, Rafael, Ashraf, Rehman Year: 2010 According to PSU’s ETM brochure for the Master’s degree program, there are two obvious course options in the core courses for direct cost and financial knowledge, which include Advanced Engineering Economics (ETM 535) and Financial Accounting (Actg 511) [4]. While the first course is currently being offered by the department and available to all ETM students, the latter is being provided by the School of Business Administration and is unavailable to non-business school students. All other ETM courses emphasize on management of technology process and knowledge with moderately limited coverage on the cost and financial aspects. With the stated importance of the cost and financial perspectives, the ETM department of Portland State University (PSU) realizes that there is a knowledge gap in the cost and financial perspectives in the department’s curricular spectrum. As an educational institution aiming to prepare successful engineering and technology managers since 1987, the department has an initiative to develop a new course to provide the cost and financial skills and knowledge that will be important for engineering and technology managers. Since the knowledge relating to cost and financial aspects in business environment is very broad, the ETM department at PSU is particularly interested in developing a new course that offers a set of cost and financial knowledge and skills that is highly relevant to the ETM context. This study is then initiated to assist the department in exploring the content for this new course. During the initial scoping effort of this study, it was recommended by the research project advisor to conduct this research based on the paper published by the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACE International) titled ‘Required Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering’ (AACE International Recommended Practice No. 11R-88) [5]. The skills and knowledge of cost engineering relevant to the ETM context will be identified from two different perspectives, the industry and the ETM academia. The use of these two sources in identifying contents for academic curriculum or courses is not new. It has been proven to be a useful framework by a couple studies ([6] and [7]) for identifying ETM related knowledge and is considered applicable to this study. The ETM identified skills and knowledge of cost engineering will then be assessed with respect to the current list of available courses by the ETM department at PSU. Title: Essential Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering in the Context of Engineering and Technology Management (ETM) Author: Villanueva, Maribel, Tanatammatorn, Napong, Colon, Rafael, Ashraf, Rehman Year: 2010 According to PSU’s ETM brochure for the Master’s degree program, there are two obvious course options in the core courses for direct cost and financial knowledge, which include Advanced Engineering Economics (ETM 535) and Financial Accounting (Actg 511) [4]. While the first course is currently being offered by the department and available to all ETM students, the latter is being provided by the School of Business Administration and is unavailable to non-business school students. All other ETM courses emphasize on management of technology process and knowledge with moderately limited coverage on the cost and financial aspects. With the stated importance of the cost and financial perspectives, the ETM department of Portland State University (PSU) realizes that there is a knowledge gap in the cost and financial perspectives in the department’s curricular spectrum. As an educational institution aiming to prepare successful engineering and technology managers since 1987, the department has an initiative to develop a new course to provide the cost and financial skills and knowledge that will be important for engineering and technology managers. Since the knowledge relating to cost and financial aspects in business environment is very broad, the ETM department at PSU is particularly interested in developing a new course that offers a set of cost and financial knowledge and skills that is highly relevant to the ETM context. This study is then initiated to assist the department in exploring the content for this new course. During the initial scoping effort of this study, it was recommended by the research project advisor to conduct this research based on the paper published by the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACE International) titled ‘Required Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering’ (AACE International Recommended Practice No. 11R-88) [5]. The skills and knowledge of cost engineering relevant to the ETM context will be identified from two different perspectives, the industry and the ETM academia. The use of these two sources in identifying contents for academic curriculum or courses is not new. It has been proven to be a useful framework by a couple studies ([6] and [7]) for identifying ETM related knowledge and is considered applicable to this study. The ETM identified skills and knowledge of cost engineering will then be assessed with respect to the current list of available courses by the ETM department at PSU. Close