PDRI: Project Definition Rating Index -- Small Industrial Projects

Welcome to the first edition of the PDRI: Project Definition Rating Index – Small Industrial Projects. CII Research Team 314, PDRI–Small Industrial Projects, developed this resource to address a critical industry need. Past work by CII, published in 1991 and 2003, described the difficulty of defining the term “small project.” The RT 314 research investigation defined small projects as those generally valued at less than $10 million (U.S. dollars) in expenditure, with construction durations of between three and six months, and of less overall complexity than large projects, based on several indicators; these projects annually comprise more than 70 percent of all completed projects by number in most organizations’ portfolios. In addition to producing this publication, the team created a macroenabled spreadsheet to help project teams assess their projects. This Excel-based file is available as a download or on CD.

With this publication, CII has filled a gap in its front end planning body of knowledge. This document and the Excel-based tool will help project teams develop scope definition on small industrial projects, whether they involve new construction or renovation. It is complementary to CII Implementation Resource (IR) 113-2, PDRI–Industrial Projects, which was developed specifically to assess the scope definition of large, complex industrial projects. Two other PDRI tools also focus on large, complex projects. They include IR 155-2, PDRI–Building Projects, and IR 268-2, PDRI–Infrastructure Projects. (Note that at publication, no small-project PDRI versions exist for the building or infrastructure sectors.)