“Project Manager” is an invaluable tool allowing us to centralise, in real-time, all project data. Being able to track project performance in real time down to a granular level means we are able to reduce project downturns by 20% and address issues before they become a problem.

The system builds on our original, simple use case to create a game-changing solution for our industry. The ability to easily and accurately evolve means we were using Project Manager within one month.

Delivery of multi-million dollar construction projects on time and on budget requires timely and accurate reporting on all parts of the process; cost, governance, resourcing, scope, schedule and more.  Up until now, this has been a complex manual process subject to the interpretation and input of dozens of individual employees, each responsible for one part of the project and its associated tasks, employees and budget carried across from the bidding process.

Our global construction client relied on these individuals’ monthly spreadsheets in an attempt to keep track of whether things were going to plan.  But being individual meant that there was no uniform structure in assessing and valuing risk, individual assumptions on what was expected was varied, budgets were not linked to specific programme activities, alternate scenarios could not be easily generated and evaluated and there was no consistency regarding how to deliver the project which has a huge impact on resourcing.  It was like combining apples with oranges to try and extract an understanding of how things were tracking.

As a result of the disconnect between the parts of the project, its performance was effectively owned by one Project Manager with no ownership by each of the individuals that contributed to its success.  Latency and bias in the reporting cycle meant governance was often disregarded, inconsistencies were difficult to trace and so ultimately, management had no confidence in the monthly project report.

Project Manager allows projects to be broken into sub-projects with parent and child structures in order to manage revenue and costs at a detailed level. Project Management responsibility and ownership can now be defined down to a task level in order that budget and performance ownership and leadership is crystal clear. The system also captures the roles and responsibilities of project stakeholders with access and version control respecting this hierarchy.

Seven elements are now shared on the solution: Contract Summary, Scope, Plan, Resources, Schedule, Assumptions and Pricing.  All of these can be changed centrally during the project delivery but governance is enforced by the system, forcing stakeholders to follow corporate processes and delegated authority levels.

Because Project Manager is linked to all relevant data sources, information such as cost codes are linked directly to the Finance software of the organisation with all costs reconciled automatically. Cost curves are used to clearly track the project performance either overall, by package, task or discipline.  Similarly, the solution is linked directly to the CRM, HR and other relevant data sources.

Management now has a precise and real time view of how a project is performing.  It is able to integrate and collaborate with all stakeholders across geographies to make trusted decisions, predict outcomes and accurately forecast risk.