Most developers we know have good planners and a scheduling standard. Where we usually find room is in schedules across the portfolio sharing one structure, in modelling the dependencies that really drive the date, such as permitting, main supplies and the construction window, and in each update flagging a delay while it can still be recovered. We work with Primavera P6, Microsoft Project or whichever tool the company already has.
Our view
- 01
Each technology and each country has its master plan, with reference durations and dependencies, and every project starts from it. The portfolio becomes comparable and each finished project recalibrates the next.
- 02
The schedule shares its WBS with the budget, so that time and cost are read on the same structure.
- 03
The milestone trend tells management more than the percentage complete. A commissioning date that slips a little in every update is often the first sign of a major delay.
What we deliver
We propose the deliverables in this order, and the company decides how far it wants to go.
- The master plan by technology and country, built with the team from its past projects.
- The scheduling standard, with the WBS, level of detail, calendars, codes and update rules.
- The control cycle and its reports, with the milestone trend, the critical path and the actions.
- Probabilistic forecasting of milestones, based on the company's own history.
- Training for the team, and the indicators and meetings the company uses to follow the process, with our support if needed.
Agents and tailored tools
Where there is enough volume, and if the company wishes, an agent checks each schedule update against the company's history and flags the activities that depart from the pattern. It can also read site reports, propose the progress of each activity and prepare the variance analysis for the monthly cycle. The planner validates the update and the Project Manager decides the actions.
What it connects to
The master plan starts from the feasibility schedule assumptions, the standard durations corrected by lessons learned and the owners in the RACI. The schedule spreads the CAPEX control budget over time, takes in the schedule effect of the risks and sets the dates of each readiness checklist and each handover. The schedule takes the data that already exists in other processes instead of asking for it again, and that is what a connected PMO comes down to.