A global manufacturer and installer of sub-stations required the implementation of a full project controls solution across their international business as part of a CEO lead corporate transformation initiative that had the stated purpose of improving on time delivery.
The Challenges
- Every project manager making up their own method for project planning and controls – in one case using MS powerpoint!
- Poor history of on time delivery due to coordination issues.
- Lack of resource sharing across countries leading to over demand in some locations while other locations had very low demand.
Our Solution
We developed processes for planning, cost control, and document control by tailoring approaches from the Project Management Institute (PMI) body of knowledge to the particular business demands.
Adoption was supported across the geographies by designing and delivering training and workshops for project managers and providing ongoing support to project managers.We certified adoption through an audit process and provided coaching in areas where there was failure to conform to the processes.
Key Outcomes
- Effective management of resources across geographies through more accurate forecasting.
- Highlighted under-performance by integrating cost and schedule for automated earned value reporting.
- Standardisation of approach across all geographies meant that everyone spoke the same language and their information could be rolled up to sector reports more efficiently.
Final Thoughts
Implementations in such large organisations can can be extremely challenging due to entrenched ways of working as well as diverse cultures and demands across geographies. Project managers who have never seen these new ways of working are very suspicious and skeptical of their value in helping them deliver. It isn’t as simple as delivering a training course and them suddenly getting it and doing it. These changes require strong management support not just from the very top but also at the local operational level, they also need to have regular check-ins by the implementation champions and support provided where people are struggling.
