Earthquake risk management of civil infrastructure: integrating soft and hard risks - Seismic Risk Analysis and Management of Civil Infrastructure Systems - page 240

although it can be simplifi ed down to each of these if required. In this
methodology, each process is seen as a holon, i.e. it is both a whole and a
part at one and the same time. The relationships between processes are
captured in a process map and then each process is used as a 'peg' on which
we can attach all other data and information. The process map therefore
sets out the basic structure of a project and all of the data associated with
it. The traditional separation of process from product is changed, because
by this view a process can be the 'doing of an activity' or the 'performing
of a physical system' - the structuring of the information is the same for
both. Of course a product is the output of a process and it is useful to keep
the distinction because it defi nes what the client perceives he/she is buying.
However, it is important to understand, from this wider perspective, that
the client is paying for all of the processes and because products do things
and exist through time, then products are also processes.
In order to use this idea, the map of the interconnections has to show
how processes relate to each other. This is the purpose of a project progress
map (PPM). It enables us to integrate various data, such as risk registers,
structural calculations including fi nite element analysis, and project prog-
ress measures. As stated above, the processes in the PPM form a central
spine or skeletal structure on which we attach all data and attributes.
The process holons are arranged hierarchically and vertically in layers of
defi nition - but this must not be mistaken for rigid ordering of power or
subordination as would be typical of a military or oligarchic organisation.
It is, however, an ordering of scope and responsibility (Fig. 9.1) that have
to be addressed even in the most heterarchical or responsibly autonomous
organisations and societies - from the processes with widest scope at the
top to the processes with the narrowest scope at the bottom. We start by
describing the whole system as one process - this is the 'top' process and
the top layer. Obviously to achieve success of this top process many sub-

Managing
a project

Monitoring &
accountability

Delegated
responsibility

Objectives &
performance
measures

Role
responsibility
document

Reviewing
the contract

9.1 Responsibility and accountability between layers of a process
model.