steve elliott programme & project controls have we lost our way ? october 2013
TRANSCRIPT
Outline
Introduction -- SE & Crossrail
A simple view of Project Controls
What is success for Project Controls
Some observations
Summary & Conclusion
Discussion
Introduction
35 years in engineering & construction projects
Chartered Engineer & Certificated PM – FIMechE, FAPM
First experienced Project Controls in Petrochem with Exxon/Esso
Project Experience
Heavy Engineering & Power, Oil & Gas, Petrochem, Pharmaceuticals
Infrastructure (Airports, Rail, Water)
Worked for contractor, consultant and client organisations
Last 2.5 years - Programme Controls Director at Crossrail
Concept of a railway in large diameter tunnels – 1941
Current scheme has its origins in 1943 – London Plan
1974 term “Crossrail” emerged – London Rail Study
1989 - proposal of standard (BR) gauge tunnels
2001 CLRL formed, 50/50 JV between DfT and TfL
2005 the Crossrail Bill put before Parliament
July 2008 – Crossrail Act 2008 received Royal Assent
Construction commenced in May 2009 at Canary Wharf
Crossrail on track to open for business in December 2018
Station mock up at Leighton Buzzard
Europe’s largest construction project
£14.8bn funding
37 stations
8 new sub-surface stations
21km twin-bored tunnel
19 Boroughs
140 main works contracts
10,000 suppliers
4,340 commitments
Crossrail route
Why build Crossrail Crossrail will cut journey times and provide additional capacity – increasing London’s rail capacity by 10%
Passengers will be able to travel from Heathrow to Tottenham Court Road in under 30 minutes,
Paddington to Canary Wharf in around 16 minutes, Whitechapel to Canary Wharf in 4 minutes
Generates ~ £42 billion in economic benefits
One of, if not the the most economically attractive rail developments in recent history.
Enables the regeneration of areas around the stations along its route
Improved accessibility likely to attract new private sector development.
Current Status
Almost 50% complete
Spent (& Earned) to date – circa £5 bn
£800m spent of property aquistions
Around 9000 people working on the programme
On schedule and within the Sponsors funding envelope
Only rolling stock left to procure – contract award in Spring 2014
Spent all my career on projects – large, small, simple, complex
Across numerous different sectors – and after 35 years I often see:
A poor grip of the fundamentals of Project Management & Controls
Too much time looking backwards – driving analogy
Too many specialisms and too few rounded controls professionals
An obsession with detail that obscures the wood from the trees
Slow take up of IM technology in some sectors – eg construction
So what am I going to talk about
We cannot change the past
It’s too late to change the present
So we are only left with the future
Isn’t that what Controls is really about ?
What is Project Controls – a simple view
Baseline
Plan
Physical
Progress
Measure
Analysis &
ForecastsCourse
Correction
Review
Knowing what has to be done(Integrated Scope, Cost, Time)
Knowing what has been done(Earned Value)
Knowing how performancecompares to the plan(So What & looking forward )
Recommendingcorrective action(Doing something to make a change)
Reviewing to checkcorrective actions have had an impact(Follow up)
What is Project Controls – a simple view
Risk &Change
What is success for Project Controls
Knowing what has to be done – the plan
Understanding the risks and opportunities in that plan
Knowing what has been done
Knowing what has NOT been done and why
Knowing how performance compares to the plan
Recommending corrective action to achieve the plan
Communicating the above - at the right time, in the right format
All at an APPROPRIATE level of detail
Observations
No 1 -- Lack of appropriate effectiveness models and structures
No 2 -- Dis – integrated Project Controls
No 3 -- Inappropriate levels of detail and unnecessary accuracy
No 4 -- A need to better exploit emerging IM/IT technology
Observation No. 1
Programmes & Projects often lack an Organisational Effectiveness framework
There is no agreed simple, robust structure – much more than a WBS
Scope and structure alignment is left uncontrolled and silo working is rife
Controls professionals need to be at the core of projects to drive this
Culture & Values
Programme Controls Effectiveness Framework
Vision &Objectives
Processes &Procedures
InfrastructureSystems &
Tools
People &Resources
Structure
Client/Sponsors
CorporateStrategy
The 7 Levels of Effective Strategy, Governance & Control
ControlsStrategy
GovernanceModel
Programme & Projectsrequired to fulfil Strategy
Risk Management
Governance
Risk Appetite
En
sure
ali
gn
men
tTo
Str
ateg
y
Crossrail Structure
Client/ Sponsors
1 - Programme
7 - Areas(Projects)
35 - Projects(Contracts)
140 - Contracts(of Control Accounts)
Several Hundred - Control Accounts(of Work Packages)
Thousands of Work Packages(of Activities, where the work gets done)
Bo
ard
/Ex
ec
uti
ve
Pro
jec
t M
an
ag
em
en
t
Tas
k
Ma
na
ge
me
nt
Pro
gra
mm
e
Ma
na
ge
me
nt
Str
ateg
y &
Go
vern
ance
Co
ntr
ol &
Rep
ort
ing
Fundamental – usually not given the attention it requires
• If not well developed and controlled – control will be virtually impossible
• Challenging in early phases – teams prefer flexibility and will resist
• Different specialisms want different structures
• Misalignment occurs vertically and horizontally
• Its for ALL the programme – i.e. not just a WBS (Typically focused at Levels 5,6 & 7)
Its all about being in control – NOT – being controlled
Structure
Observation No. 2
Lack of integrated controls
Commercial, Planning, QS’s – not joined up
Often each discipline has it’s own structure, processes etc.
They could be working on different projects
Controls professionals need to get a grip of this
Dis - integrated Controls
What happened to Cost & Schedule Engineering – Ingegneria Economica
Oil & Gas vs. Construction vs. IT -- Worlds apart in approach & capability
Procurers, Planners, Estimators, Contract Administrators, Cost Engineers.
The UK is too focussed on developing specialists
In fact the various Institutions promote this – it’s in their interests to do so
We produce professionals who know more and more about less and less
We need Project Controls professionals – rounded, experienced, multi-skilled
We need standards to drive and ensure skills and competence
Glaxo -- Stevenage versus Glaxo – North Carolina
One facility cost twice the other – guess which one!
Same Client, similar approach:Client Team + PAE + Management Contractor with LS Subs.
TypicalProjectMeeting
Observation No.3
Three parts to this and each feed of the other and create a spiral which is difficult to stop
1 --- A drive for more and more detail – does it mean better control – NO!
e.g. the 10,000 activity costed programme > 1 million activities in Crossrail – P6
2 --- An unnecessary quest for decimal point accuracy
e.g. Anticipated Final Cost £10,925,863,253 --- HS2 – Budget £42.6 bn
CPI and SPI 0.957, CPI 0.893 – 3 decimal places - who is fooling who?
3 --- Reports with pages and pages of data and detail – but little analysis
Clients and Sponsors, usually persuaded by consultants and government
departments often request excessive levels of information and metrics.
Which they then do very little with.
Greater levels of
detail
Create an illusion of greater
control and accuracy
More data to manipulate & information
to report
Leads to more
resources
Observation No. 4
We must exploit the full power of emerging information technologies
BIM and 4, 5 D models – real integrated Project Controls software/tools
Portable devices -- still too much paper
Simple to use software – the days of PM tool experts are numbered
There are some really good examples, but they are few and far between
The petrochem/oil & gas/IT sectors are way ahead of construction
What could it be like in the future
• BIM and 4, 5D -- the virtual project world
• Automated progress measurement using intelligent components
• Smart handover of projects to operators and users
• The capture, cataloguing and Intelligent use of life cycle data
• Realtime reporting instead of month end snapshots
• Clients will expect much more automation and less resources
Summary --- Need to focus on the fundamentals & move forward
The application of a robust Strategy, Governance and Control model
Need to develop more rounded Project Controls Professionals
Need to constantly remind ourselves what the real purpose of controls is
Need to develop standards for competency and excellence
Really embrace BIM/4 & 5D technology to improve efficiency
So what should we be doing to address these issues
Ensure that Planning and Controls is at the CORE of projects & programmes
not an add on function or a support function or a PMO
The pilot/navigator analogy
Carefully consider the level of detail you are getting into
Challenge – why do you need this – remember the first slide – plan/measure/recover
We cant change yesterday or today – too long in the rear view mirror causes crashes
We can and should all develop and broaden our skills
Get involved in other disciplines – planners in cost; QS’s in schedules – radical!
To conclude --- Have we lost our way?
In some areas, I think we have – but we can easily find it again if
we focus on what matters -- the fundamentals
Put more effort in developing rounded PC Professionals
Fully exploit information technologies and emerging devices
And stop wasting precious time, resources and money creating
overly complex, too detailed, fragmented control models which don’t
provide Sponsors, Project Directors, Managers and colleagues what
they NEED. Which is :
Knowing what has to be done – the plan
Understanding the risks and opportunities in that plan
Knowing what has been done
Knowing what has NOT been done and why
Knowing how performance compares to the plan
Recommending corrective action to achieve the plan
Communicating it all at the right time, in the right format