How to Build the Systems Architecture Project-Driven Organisations Need

A proper Information Systems setup and architecture is increasingly a major differentiating factor for organizations dealing with the execution of Large Complex Projects. The challenges of digitization increase the strategic importance of Information Systems. In a series of White Papers, based on our extensive experience in this area, we will cover challenges of Information Systems in project-driven organisations: from the overall architecture to systems implementation, development and ongoing management. In this first White Paper 2018-03 ‘How to Build the Systems Architecture Project-Driven Organisations Need’, we cover the overarching systems architecture.

Proper mapping the overall Information Systems architecture is needed to ensure that all the needs of project-driven businesses are satisfied. Specific aspects must be accounted for in the project business such as access from remote, less connected sites and interfaces with many third parties through secure gateways.
Standard data coding is an essential piece of the overall Systems architecture and often requires substantial effort to be developed.

Appropriate governance must then be setup to ensure that the Information Architecture evolves according to the expected roadmap.

For organizations that have not dealt previously with Large, Complex Projects, the investment to setup those systems properly is substantial. It needs to be anticipated several months prior to the start of the project. Setting up the right architecture to suit the project needs from the start is an essential part of the setup. Read our new White Paper 2018-03 ‘How to Build the Systems Architecture Project-Driven Organisations Need’ to get advice on the specific tricks and traps of project-driven systems architecture.

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2018-03_Systems_Architecture_v0b.pdf

How Project Governance Can Make or Break a Project

Through our numerous interventions we often find that Project Governance is decisive factor for Large, Complex Projects success or failure. Whatever the talent or level of effort of the project team, poor governance will often break a project. In our new White Paper 2018-01 ‘How Project Governance Can Make or Break a Project’ we detail what are the key success factor for project governance. In a second White Paper we will investigate more precisely specific governance issues in Owner organizations.

Project governance addresses those issues that cannot be tackled by the Project Manager. The absence of proper governance even in the case of a sound project will almost always lead to substantial failures. The only exceptions are often where the seniority and the leadership capability of the Project Manager or Project Director allows him or her to step in and compensate. A number of failure modes are listed in the paper.

Our research shows that Project Governance success factors can be grouped in four main success factors:

• Sufficient understanding of Project Management specifics needs to exist within the organization,
• The organization of Project Governance needs to be effective,
• The decision-making framework for governance needs to be effective and timely,
• The information reported from the Project needs to be accurate and relevant for proper decision-making.

Those success factors are developed in detail in our new White Paper 2018-01 ‘How Project Governance Can Make or Break a Project’.

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2018-01_governance_project_success_v0.pdf

Why Project Close-Out is a Process, and not a Time Period

Project Close-Out is actually a process that needs to start from the beginning of a Project. It is not something to bother only at demobilization stage. Successful close-out requires forethought and preparation, as well as continuous work throughout the Project. Unfortunately too many organizations don’t appreciate this approach, which leads to painful and costly closures of Projects and retention of moneys from the Clients. Our new White Paper 2017-08 ‘Why Project Close-Out is a Process, and not a Time Period’ explains in detail how Project Close-Out should be organized as a process.

A successful Project Close-Out is a process that needs to start at the beginning of the Project.
Project Close-Out importance is often too disregarded. We believe that a properly organized and driven close-out can be a substantial source of savings and can avoid substantial liabilities to the organization. It therefore needs to be executed properly and with the right level of urgency and focus.

In particular, some essential close-out planning and requirements are to be incorporated from the Project Start-up:

• Requirements to suppliers and contractors regarding format and timing of as-built drawings and provision of quality records,
• Policy regarding retention on suppliers’ and contractors’ payment linked to the provision of final documents,
• Organization of the archiving of the Quality Control certificates and activities in particular when activities happen in remote areas,
• Agreement with the Client on the as-built and final documentation lay-out, formatting and referencing,
• Organization of a separate document archiving centre according to the final documentation format.

The Project Close-Out phase itself is an important moment for Project Control. It is the moment where all the good work carried out during Project execution should bear fruit, in particular in the area of contract management (Claims and Change Orders final negotiation), cost control (cost close-out and final reconciliations) and documentation preparation (as-built and quality records).

Do not forget also the soft power side and organize a proper celebration and community building event so that people keep fond memories of the Project!

Read our new White Paper 2017-08 ‘Why Project Close-Out is a Process, and not a Time Period’

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2017-08_Project-CloseOut_v0.pdf

How to Organize Supply Chain Processes in Project-Driven companies

In our consulting activities, we are often requested for advice regarding the organization of the Supply Chain processes, the development of associated systems and of the Supply Chain department in project-driven organizations. The proper approach to support projects is always quite different from other industries such as manufacturing organizations. In our new White Paper 2017-16 ‘How to Organize Supply Chain Processes in Project-Driven companies’ we examine what are the key processes for project-driven organizations, why they are distinct, and how to best segregate supply chain activities.

Supply-Chain in project-driven companies requires a different structuring from manufacturing or operating businesses. It is important to recognize  three distinct categories of procurement and have identify distinct processes and organization to address them properly. The systems used by the organization to track these during the supply chain cycle also need to be adapted to each type of procurement.

Those three categories are:

• Standard material and equipment
• Engineered equipment
• Services (contracting)

Too many project-driven organizations do not distinguish properly between the different procurement types. This leads to dramatic consequences. The structure we propose is pragmatic and proven and should be more widely implemented.

Our new White Paper 2017-16 ‘How to Organize Supply Chain Processes in Project-Driven companies’ describes in minute details the reasons for this split and why those categories of procurement are so distinct. They even often warrant different departments.

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2017-16_SCM_suppliers_contractors_v0.pdf

How to Check the Project Team Health, and Why the Role of the Project Control Manager is Essential

The key success factor in any Large and Complex Project lies in the health of the Project Team. The ability to really work effectively as a team is essential, as well as the ability to avoid blame – in particular when things do not develop as expected. The Project Control Manager is often the key person to implement a Project Team Health monitoring. In our new White Paper 2017-07 ‘How to Check the Project Team Health And Why the Role of the Project Control Manager is Essential in that Respect’ we give a framework to check the Project Team Health.

The success of Project execution is very much related to the health of the Project Management Team as a team. Essentials include:

• The effectiveness of the team in coordinating their priorities and efforts (including meetings),
• The capability for team members to compensate the weaknesses of others and go out of their way to support the Project in critical moments,
• The capability for open debate before decision-making, and a clear execution discipline after decision-making,
• Consistent behavior on important values such as quality and safety,
• A strict no-blame structure even when things do not work out as expected,
• At the same time, the capability to take immediately action directly and to the point, without blame, when people do deviate from the expected norm of behavior or from the established values. This will reinforce progressively values and behavioral norms.

Because at the end of the day, a Project is a human adventure (refer to our White Paper 2013-01 Projects are First of All a Human Adventure: Why You Can’t Manufacture Projects on a Standardized Assembly Line’, it is on the team health aspect that a Project will or not be successful. For a Project Control Manager, being a ‘trusted advisor’ to the Project Manager also requires to be able to seize the subtleties of Soft Power and help shape a winning Project team.

Apprehension of the cultural issues at stake, the ability to conduct effective workshops, monitoring the Project team’s health and acting in case of an issue, are essential capabilities of the successful Project Control Manager.

Read our new White Paper 2017-07 ‘How to Check the Project Team Health And Why the Role of the Project Control Manager is Essential in that Respect’ !

Related read: our White Paper 2013-14 ‘How a Diverse, Effective Team is the Only Way to Overcome Complexity’

If you can’t access the links to the white papers, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2017-07_Project_Team_Health_v0.pdf and http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2013-14_Overcome_Complexity_Team_v0.pdf

How to Make Project Supply Chain Management Successful

Effective Supply Chain Management is a key success factor in Projects. From our observations, we have identified several best practices that help make Project Supply Chain a success. Some may be counter-intuitive. In our new White Paper 2017-15 ‘Project Supply Chain Management Best Practices and Success Factors’ we examine in detail those specific practices that make Supply Chain successful in Projects.

Logistics risks materialized

Key best practices include:

Organizational best practices

• Embed Supply Chain as part of the Project Team
• Budget properly all Supply Chain positions (in particular for post-award activities)
• Recognize the difference between supplier and subcontractor

Pre-award best practices

• Implement a proper procurement planning and schedule
• Deal properly with long-lead items
• Implement a tight interface with Engineering
• Do not seek the lowest bidder – seek the bidder with the highest delivery reliability

Post-award best practices

• Avoid losing time before the start of manufacturing doing paperwork
• Do not mix expediting and inspection responsibilities and accountability
• Implement proper package management on complicated purchases and subcontracts
• Implement proper timely receipt at site
• Focus on logistics to avoid losing items
• Preserve properly
• etc.

Supply Chain success in a project mainly lies in planning properly and then keeping the schedule. This often means to be careful with promises regarding delivery dates, and taking the safe road of proven suppliers and subcontractors that have a track record of keeping schedule.

Working as a project team is also a key success factor, requiring the Supply Chain team to be deeply embedded within the project team to address as a team the daily challenges of project execution.

Get more detail for successful Supply Chain in projects in our new White Paper 2017-15 ‘Project Supply Chain Management Best Practices and Success Factors’, our second white paper in a series of five on Project Supply Chain!

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2017-15_Project_SCM_Success_Factors_v0.pdf

How Project Control Managers Can Step Up To Their Strategist Role

In complex Projects, strategy is about taking a medium/long term view and devising long-term action plans. Strategy is all about making sense of current events with sufficient perspective so as to respond adequately to what is happening. This capability builds on a systemic understanding of all the key drivers of Project success. In large Projects, the Project Control Manager is the only Project Team Member apart from the Project Manager that has the time and the means to develop that strategic capability. In our new White Paper 2017-06  we explore how Project Control Managers can step up to the necessary strategist role.

The keys to success include making sufficient time and keeping sufficient resources for the strategist role:

• Spend sufficient time on forecasting apart from actuals gathering and reporting,
• Always look for the root-cause beyond the obvious,
• Exploit inconsistencies from different functions as signals for evaluation.

There are three levels at which the Project Control Manager can operate in his role as Project strategist:

• A basic level, where after the initial setup period the Project Control Manager positions himself as the go-to person of the Project Manager for any kind of analysis, scenario planning and forecast,
• An intermediate level where the Project Control Manager proactively raises to the Project Manager those deviations which appear after analysis to have possible significant consequences, as well as any evidence of a dysfunction in processes applied by the Project team,
• An advanced level where the Project Control Manager will propose creative, not immediately obvious strategies to enhance the value of the Project, taking a long term strategic view. These strategies often require a very long consistent implementation to be effective. At this level, the Project Control Manager acts effectively as a deputy Project Manager.

The Project Control Manager must develop into a trusted advisor to the Project Manager. He must make the time after Project start-up to play an indispensable role of taking systematically a medium to long term view and help the Project Team respond rather than react to external events. Further, the Project Control Manager must be a key contributor and primary implementer of the Project strategy, in particular regarding Contract management. The full availability of Project data must enable him to develop fine analysis of events, identify Weak Signals and propose improvements and alternatives for the benefit of the Project.
Being relatively sedentary the Project Control Manager should also act as the reliable delegate of the Project Manager when he is on the road.

Read our new White Paper 2017-06 ‘How Project Control Managers Can Step Up To Their Strategist Role’!

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2017-06_PCM_strategic_role_v0.pdf

How Different Supply Chain Management is in Project-Driven Organizations

Supply Chain Management in projects is different. This is not obvious and not always identified by procurement specialists who stem from other industries such as manufacturing or operations. The main issues are the uniqueness of the purchases due to the specifics of the project deliverables, Client unique specifications/requirements and the driving delivery time factor relating to actual project progress. In our new White Paper 2017-14 ‘How Different Supply Chain Management is in Project-Driven Organizations’ we detail the reasons for these differences and what particular activities need to be emphasized in projects.

Procurement departments in other industries such as manufacturing or facility operations are generally heavily weighted towards pre-award activities. Their central concern is developing category strategy, supplier networks and get the best deals. The items and services procured are generally repetitive and commoditized, which allows for clear codification, strong benchmarks and continuous improvement initiatives, as well as initiatives to benefit from series effect, volume savings and discounts. Post-award is often not too much a concern, because some storage buffers often exist at the point of utilization. In some extreme cases such as lean manufacturing, the supplier takes the responsibility of adequate logistics, based on repetitive cycles, and the establishment of close-by production facilities justified by the volumes.

On the contrary in Projects, because the items or services bought are unique, pre-award activities cannot be so well optimized. On the other hand, availability at the right moment on site to allow the project to proceed is extremely critical. This is compounded by the fact that many industrial projects happen in remote or difficult to reach places, or involve inter-continental transportation of large equipment. Therefore, post-award management should be the focus of Project Supply Chain.

Supply Chain Management in projects encompasses some specific aspects that need to be considered. There is much more focus on post-award management that in most other industries and this needs to be fully understood by the Supply Chain Managers. Also, it requires more and stronger interfaces with other project disciplines and working as team is essential. Read our our new White Paper 2017-14 ‘How Different Supply Chain Management is in Project-Driven Organizations’ for more details!

This is a first Paper in a series of 5 papers on Supply Chain Management on Projects. Don’t forget to register to get those delivered directly on your email!

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2017-14_How_SCM_different_in_projects_v0.pdf

Why the Contractor Should Own the Float in Lump Sum Projects

One of the most controversial issues in Project scheduling is the question of float ownership. Opinions vary in this respect and it also greatly depends on the format of the contract. The uncertainty on the outcome of the debate leads to float being hidden in Project schedule. As a result it is not really controlled by the Project Manager and this leads to significant performance issues. We firmly believe that the Contractor should own its float, and that it should be made visible in the schedule in the form of a buffer to constraint delivery and measure performance. Discover why and how in our new White Paper 2016-10 ‘Why the Contractor Should Own the Float in Lump Sum Projects, and Why The Float Should Be Made Visible’.

In contractual discussions related to schedule, the respective responsibility of the Owner and of the Contractor is always a matter for debate. These issues have created a large jurisprudence which evolves constantly, and is the subject of many contract management books.

One such subjects is the ownership of the float, i.e. the time lapses between activities or at the end of the project, which allow some buffer, and which can be used to cushion delays without impacting completion dates.

We believe that for lump sum contracts or equivalent, a general rule should be that the Total Float should belong to the contractor up to the point of showing it plainly in the Project schedule, in order to protect it.

Explicit buffers can then be used to protect the Contractor against consequential impacts of Client delays, as shown in an example in the White Paper and below.

Float ownership is a serious issue and ideally an understanding should be reached between Client and Contractor that should allow the Contractor to materialize explicitly a Project Buffer in the schedule. This practice has the benefit of increasing Project delivery reliability, gives a much better handle on the Project Manager about the usage of its resources, and potentially induce easier demonstrations of Extensions of Time. Read our new White Paper 2016-10 ‘Why the Contractor Should Own the Float in Lump Sum Projects, and Why The Float Should Be Made Visible’ to understand better the issue.

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2016-10_Float_Ownership_v0.pdf