{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/159102"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/159102","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Enhancing Coast Guard Infrastructure Management: A Multi-Criteria Framework for Prioritizing Maintenance Projects","abstract":"The United States Coast Guard is currently transforming its decision-making process for prioritizing shore infrastructure maintenance and repair projects. Current decision-making subjectivity appears to be generating inadequate project prioritizations. Stakes are high for an aging infrastructure portfolio in harsh coastal conditions, with increased national reliance on the Coast Guard in a fiscally constrained budgetary environment. Data availability, quality, and fidelity continue to increase, supporting the rationale for more robust and data-informed decision-making frameworks. The research begins with examining Coastal and Shore Operations (CSO) funding history, along with a thorough description of the current Centralized Planned Obligation Prioritization (C-POP) process. The complex, sociotechnical nature of the problem is highlighted by identifying all involved stakeholders and categorizing them through the leading view of stakeholder theory and salience. A detailed review of the governing asset management literature is conducted, gradually narrowing from a broad, international, and asset-type neutral perspective to more tailored infrastructure cross-asset prioritization material. Requisite framework data substance, collection, and analyses are described, and recommendations for data processing improvements are made. Two leading prioritization models are examined: the Importance and Urgency Quadrant Model and the Value Focused Multi-Criteria Decision Model. Their respective data visualizations are generated and analyzed. Using the multi-criteria analysis rooted in multi-attribute utility theory, four portfolios of measurably increasing value are constructed, compared with a baseline portfolio reflecting actual project selections in December 2023. These portfolio iterations include a linear programming solution to the Knapsack Problem of selecting projects that maximize overall portfolio utility within a budget limit while incorporating some of the more social and qualitative system properties. A traceable, adaptable, defendable, and objective data-informed multi-criteria framework is proposed, which aims to facilitate the effectiveness of the overall Coast Guard shore infrastructure portfolio in the long term.","abstract_html":"The United States Coast Guard is currently transforming its decision-making process for prioritizing shore infrastructure maintenance and repair projects. Current decision-making subjectivity appears to be generating inadequate project prioritizations. Stakes are high for an aging infrastructure portfolio in harsh coastal conditions, with increased national reliance on the Coast Guard in a fiscally constrained budgetary environment. Data availability, quality, and fidelity continue to increase, supporting the rationale for more robust and data-informed decision-making frameworks. The research begins with examining Coastal and Shore Operations (CSO) funding history, along with a thorough description of the current Centralized Planned Obligation Prioritization (C-POP) process. The complex, sociotechnical nature of the problem is highlighted by identifying all involved stakeholders and categorizing them through the leading view of stakeholder theory and salience. A detailed review of the governing asset management literature is conducted, gradually narrowing from a broad, international, and asset-type neutral perspective to more tailored infrastructure cross-asset prioritization material. Requisite framework data substance, collection, and analyses are described, and recommendations for data processing improvements are made. Two leading prioritization models are examined: the Importance and Urgency Quadrant Model and the Value Focused Multi-Criteria Decision Model. Their respective data visualizations are generated and analyzed. Using the multi-criteria analysis rooted in multi-attribute utility theory, four portfolios of measurably increasing value are constructed, compared with a baseline portfolio reflecting actual project selections in December 2023. These portfolio iterations include a linear programming solution to the Knapsack Problem of selecting projects that maximize overall portfolio utility within a budget limit while incorporating some of the more social and qualitative system properties. A traceable, adaptable, defendable, and objective data-informed multi-criteria framework is proposed, which aims to facilitate the effectiveness of the overall Coast Guard shore infrastructure portfolio in the long term.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ballard, Zachary N."],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":"Master","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"System Design and Management Program.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Rhodes, Donna H."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-02","date_published":"2025-02","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:51Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"],"rights_urls":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/159102","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Rhodes, Donna H."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["System Design and Management Program."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ballard, Zachary N."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2025-04-14T14:05:45Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-04-14T14:05:45Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025-02"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master","Master of Science in Engineering and Management"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/159102"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The United States Coast Guard is currently transforming its decision-making process for prioritizing shore infrastructure maintenance and repair projects. Current decision-making subjectivity appears to be generating inadequate project prioritizations. Stakes are high for an aging infrastructure portfolio in harsh coastal conditions, with increased national reliance on the Coast Guard in a fiscally constrained budgetary environment. Data availability, quality, and fidelity continue to increase, supporting the rationale for more robust and data-informed decision-making frameworks. The research begins with examining Coastal and Shore Operations (CSO) funding history, along with a thorough description of the current Centralized Planned Obligation Prioritization (C-POP) process. The complex, sociotechnical nature of the problem is highlighted by identifying all involved stakeholders and categorizing them through the leading view of stakeholder theory and salience. A detailed review of the governing asset management literature is conducted, gradually narrowing from a broad, international, and asset-type neutral perspective to more tailored infrastructure cross-asset prioritization material. Requisite framework data substance, collection, and analyses are described, and recommendations for data processing improvements are made. Two leading prioritization models are examined: the Importance and Urgency Quadrant Model and the Value Focused Multi-Criteria Decision Model. Their respective data visualizations are generated and analyzed. Using the multi-criteria analysis rooted in multi-attribute utility theory, four portfolios of measurably increasing value are constructed, compared with a baseline portfolio reflecting actual project selections in December 2023. These portfolio iterations include a linear programming solution to the Knapsack Problem of selecting projects that maximize overall portfolio utility within a budget limit while incorporating some of the more social and qualitative system properties. A traceable, adaptable, defendable, and objective data-informed multi-criteria framework is proposed, which aims to facilitate the effectiveness of the overall Coast Guard shore infrastructure portfolio in the long term."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["S.M."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Enhancing Coast Guard Infrastructure Management: A Multi-Criteria Framework for Prioritizing Maintenance Projects"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Rhodes, Donna H."],"dc:contributor.department":["System Design and Management Program."],"dc:creator":["Ballard, Zachary N."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2025-04-14T14:05:45Z"],"dc:date.available":["2025-04-14T14:05:45Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-02"],"dc:description.abstract":["The United States Coast Guard is currently transforming its decision-making process for prioritizing shore infrastructure maintenance and repair projects. Current decision-making subjectivity appears to be generating inadequate project prioritizations. Stakes are high for an aging infrastructure portfolio in harsh coastal conditions, with increased national reliance on the Coast Guard in a fiscally constrained budgetary environment. Data availability, quality, and fidelity continue to increase, supporting the rationale for more robust and data-informed decision-making frameworks. The research begins with examining Coastal and Shore Operations (CSO) funding history, along with a thorough description of the current Centralized Planned Obligation Prioritization (C-POP) process. The complex, sociotechnical nature of the problem is highlighted by identifying all involved stakeholders and categorizing them through the leading view of stakeholder theory and salience. A detailed review of the governing asset management literature is conducted, gradually narrowing from a broad, international, and asset-type neutral perspective to more tailored infrastructure cross-asset prioritization material. Requisite framework data substance, collection, and analyses are described, and recommendations for data processing improvements are made. Two leading prioritization models are examined: the Importance and Urgency Quadrant Model and the Value Focused Multi-Criteria Decision Model. Their respective data visualizations are generated and analyzed. Using the multi-criteria analysis rooted in multi-attribute utility theory, four portfolios of measurably increasing value are constructed, compared with a baseline portfolio reflecting actual project selections in December 2023. These portfolio iterations include a linear programming solution to the Knapsack Problem of selecting projects that maximize overall portfolio utility within a budget limit while incorporating some of the more social and qualitative system properties. A traceable, adaptable, defendable, and objective data-informed multi-criteria framework is proposed, which aims to facilitate the effectiveness of the overall Coast Guard shore infrastructure portfolio in the long term."],"dc:description.degree":["S.M."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/159102"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"],"dc:rights.uri":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"dc:title":["Enhancing Coast Guard Infrastructure Management: A Multi-Criteria Framework for Prioritizing Maintenance Projects"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master","Master of Science in Engineering and Management"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:51Z"}