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CII Instantaneous Project Controls

Organizational strategies are needed for instantaneous project controls to support timely decision-making. Instant project data on key metrics like cost and schedule allows for better risk mitigation and improved performance. While instant data delivery offers benefits, it requires significant resources. Organizations must weigh benefits against investment and prioritize efforts, focusing on highly variable metrics during construction that impact outcomes if not addressed promptly. Strategies include changing behaviors, improving controls, and using advanced technologies to facilitate continuous data feeds and prioritized reporting. New tools can help organizations implement strategies and optimize project execution.

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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
528 views

CII Instantaneous Project Controls

Organizational strategies are needed for instantaneous project controls to support timely decision-making. Instant project data on key metrics like cost and schedule allows for better risk mitigation and improved performance. While instant data delivery offers benefits, it requires significant resources. Organizations must weigh benefits against investment and prioritize efforts, focusing on highly variable metrics during construction that impact outcomes if not addressed promptly. Strategies include changing behaviors, improving controls, and using advanced technologies to facilitate continuous data feeds and prioritized reporting. New tools can help organizations implement strategies and optimize project execution.

Uploaded by

sergio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 36

Construction Industry Institute®

Organizational Strategies for


Instantaneous Project Controls

Research Summary 316-1


Construction Industry Institute
Abbott AECOM
Ameren Corporation AMEC Foster Wheeler
American Transmission Company AZCO
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Aecon Group
Anheuser-Busch InBev Affiliated Construction Services
Aramco Services Company Atlas RFID Solutions
ArcelorMittal Autodesk
Architect of the Capitol Baker Concrete Construction
AstraZeneca Barton Malow Company
BG Group Bechtel Group
BP America Bentley Systems
Cargill Bilfinger Industrial Services
Chevron Black & Veatch
ConocoPhillips Burns & McDonnell
Consolidated Edison Company of New York CB&I
DTE Energy CCC Group
The Dow Chemical Company CDI Corporation
DuPont CH2M
Eastman Chemical Company CSA Central
Enbridge Construtora Norberto Odebrecht
EnLink Midstream Coreworx
Eskom Holdings SOC Day & Zimmermann
ExxonMobil Corporation Emerson Process Management
General Electric Company Enstoa
General Motors Company Faithful+Gould
GlaxoSmithKline Fluor Corporation
Global Infrastructure Partners Hargrove Engineers + Constructors
Honeywell International Hilti Corporation
Huntsman Corporation IHI E&C International Corporation
Intel Corporation IHS
Irving Oil Limited International Rivers Consulting
Kaiser Permanente JMJ Associates
Koch Industries JV Driver Projects
Eli Lilly and Company Jacobs
LyondellBasell KBR
Marathon Petroleum Corporation Kiewit Corporation
National Aeronautics & Space Administration Lauren Engineers & Constructors
NOVA Chemicals Corporation Leidos Constructors
ONEOK Matrix Service Company
Occidental Petroleum Corporation McCarthy Building Companies
Ontario Power Generation Midwest Steel
Pacific Gas and Electric Company PCL Construction Enterprises
Petroleo Brasileiro S/A - Petrobras PTAG
Petroleos Mexicanos Parsons
Petronas Pathfinder
Phillips 66 Quality Execution
Pioneer Natural Resources Richard Industrial Group
Praxair The Robins & Morton Group
The Procter & Gamble Company S & B Engineers and Constructors
Public Service Electric & Gas Company SBM Offshore
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) SNC-Lavalin
SABIC - Saudi Basic Industries Corporation Skanska USA
Sasol Technology Proprietary Limited Supreme Group
Shell Global Solutions US Technip
Smithsonian Institution UniversalPegasus International
Southern Company Victaulic
Statoil ASA WESCO International
SunCoke Energy Walbridge
Tennessee Valley Authority Wanzek Construction
Tesoro Corporation The Weitz Company
TransCanada Corporation Wilhelm Construction
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wood Group Mustang
U.S. Department of Commerce/NIST/ WorleyParsons
Engineering Laboratory Yates Construction
U.S. Department of Defense/ Zachry Group
Tricare Management Activity Zurich
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of State
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
U.S. General Services Administration
The Williams Companies
Organizational Strategies for
Instantaneous Project Controls

Prepared by
Construction Industry Institute
Research Team 316, Organizational Strategies
for Instantaneous Project Controls

Research Summary 316-1


December 2015
© 2015 Construction Industry Institute™

The University of Texas at Austin

CII members may reproduce and distribute this work internally in any medium at no cost
to internal recipients. CII members are permitted to revise and adapt this work for their
internal use, provided an informational copy is furnished to CII.

Available to non-members by purchase; however, no copies may be made or distributed,


and no modifications may be made without prior written permission from CII. Contact CII
at http://construction-institute.org/catalog.htm to purchase copies. Volume discounts may
be available.

All CII members, current students, and faculty at a college or university are eligible to
purchase CII products at member prices. Faculty and students at a college or university
may reproduce and distribute this work without modification for educational use.

Printed in the United States of America.


Contents

Chapter Page

1. Introduction 1

2. Methodology 3

3. Research Findings 7

4. Support Tools 17

5. Conclusions 21

Appendix: Summary of Case Studies 23


Executive Summary

Project controls information should be accurate, continuously


generated, and effectively communicated during all phases to support
good decision-making on individual projects, within portfolios, and
across organizations. In highly competitive environments that require
up-to-date information, data security concerns, ever-increasing reporting
requirements, and narrow profit margins, stakeholders demand accurate
and timely project data to support informed and proactive decisions.
Project decision-makers should not have to wait until the next reporting
period simply because the information they seek is blocked by information
integration barriers, contractual hindrances, or ineffective data collection.
To prevent the data “lag time” that can lead to bad decision-making,
proactive organizations prioritize information to determine how often is
should be generated.

CII established Research Team (RT) 316, Instantaneous Project


Controls, to identify, synthesize, and prioritize the key strategies and
critical success factors enabling instantaneous project controls and
critical project metric reporting in the construction industry. The team’s
objectives were to investigate the state of instantaneous controls in
the construction industry, establish their value, and offer guidance
on implementing or improving an organization’s capability for on-
demand information. Industry organizations that currently implement
instantaneous reporting on critical control functions do so mainly to
improve project status awareness, enhance decision-making, and
strengthen competitiveness. The most common target of these efforts is
any highly variable control function that, if its variability is not addressed,
can significantly affect project performance. For instance, if a cost
deviation trend is too long ignored or not properly reported, management
will not have time to plan and implement mitigation actions. Indeed,
risk, uncertainty, and variability are at a peak during construction and
commissioning and startup; hence, key control functions related to
cost, schedule, and field operations during those phases are commonly
chosen for instantaneous reporting efforts.

v
Following are some of the most common benefits of instantaneous
project controls:

• timely and better-informed decisions, with more time available for


data analysis than data collection
• improved cost and schedule performance
• effective project risk mitigation; efficient capital portfolio
management
• competitive market advantage.

Although instant information delivery offers such significant benefits,


it requires a considerable investment of effort and resources. Thus,
organizations must weigh these benefits against the necessary investment,
and then prioritize their efforts accordingly.

By surveying industry organizations and conducting case studies,


RT 316 identified nine forward-looking strategies to facilitate continuous
data feeds and instant (or at least prioritized) reporting frequencies. The
team organized these strategies into the following three broad categories:
organizational behavior; project controls; and advanced information
technologies. To help organizations implement the strategies, the team
also developed a maturity matrix that was, in turn, the basis of three
tools: 1) the Quick Assessment (QA) tool; 2) the Instantaneous Quotient
(IQ) tool; and 3) the Workflow Implementation Process. If properly
implemented, these tools will help organizations optimize project
execution effectiveness, overcome process-inhibiting barriers, and
maximize the likelihood of meeting or exceeding project success criteria.

vi
1

Introduction

Owner and contractor organizations alike rely on project controls


functions to status the progress of work. Reliable project status reporting
is critical for sound decision-making on individual projects, within capital
investment portfolios, and across organizations. An efficient project
controls process ensures that the appropriate stakeholders get the
information they need when they need it; such consistently timely and
accurate reporting gives an organization a key competitive advantage.

RT 316 defined project controls as a practice that encompasses the


resources, procedures, and tools for planning, monitoring, and controlling
all phases of a project; it includes the functions/practices of estimating,
risk management, cost and schedule management, change management,
and earned value progressing and forecasting. The research team also
defined the continuous feed/collection of data and accurate on-demand
reporting as instantaneous project controls functions.

CII established RT 316 to identify, synthesize, and prioritize the key


strategies and critical success factors enabling instantaneous project
controls and critical project metric reporting. The research team
concluded that, although instant and accurate reporting can provide
substantial benefits and give organizations a competitive advantage, it
requires significant resources. Organizations should weigh the benefits
they get from having reliable instantaneous project controls against the
investment it requires, and should prioritize their efforts accordingly.

1
The research team tested two hypotheses:

• There are specific strategies or practices that, when properly


implemented and supported with the right tools and processes,
can result in an instantaneous project controls condition through
which current and future project status information is adequately
reported in a precise, reliable, and timely manner.
• The impact of instantaneous information expedites project team
decision-making, optimizes adjustments in execution strategies,
and maximizes the probability for project success, and as such,
can be evaluated.

The four objectives of this research were as follows: 1) determine the


current state of project controls among industry organizations; 2) assess
strategies necessary for instantaneous project controls; 3) explain the
value proposition for instantaneous controls; and 4) provide high-value
tools and implementation guidance for CII member organizations and
project teams alike.

In terms of scope, even though the initial focus was on estimating, risk
management, cost and schedule management, change management,
and earned value progressing and forecasting, it soon became evident
that other project management metrics (e.g., quality and field productivity
measures) are often monitored instantaneously and, thus, merited study.

2
2

Methodology

To satisfy its research objectives, RT 316 designed its research with


several parallel lines of inquiry. (See Figure 1.) This methodology included
three online surveys, statistical analyses, and multiple case studies. To

Reporting Value Guidance


Strategies
Condition Proposition and Tools
(Objective 2)
(Objective 1) (Objective 3) (Objective 4)

Survey,
Data Objectives
Surveys Interviews Benchmarking
Collection 1-2-3
and Metrics

Statistics & Case Study, Statistics & Interviews,


Analysis Research Workshop, Research Workshop,
Charrettes Charrettes Charrettes Pilot Tests

Frequencies, Benefits,
Publications
Results Software, Strategies Barriers, &
& Tools
Controls Performance

Figure 1. Research Method

be as comprehensive as possible, the team collected data from a broad


range of industry sectors, organizations, and projects, with a balance of
owner and contractor perspectives. To meet the four research objectives,
the team took the following steps:

1. Determine the current state of project controls and reporting.


The team conducted a two-part online survey to determine the
current state of project controls, with team members distributing
the survey at their respective organizations. The project-focused
survey asked about reporting frequencies to project managers,
clients or other ultimate authorities. It also queried participants on
their use of computing tools and information systems to support
distinct controls and management functions. The 38 subject
matter experts who responded to the survey had an average of
24 years of experience, and each addressed the same number of
current or nearly completed projects. These projects were worth

3
a total installed cost of more than $41 billion. Since no previous
CII research had developed an accurate definition of the various
project controls functions needed during all project phases and,
since having such a definition was fundamental to the research,
RT 316 formulated a definition as part of its survey design.
2. Identify instantaneous project controls strategies and practices.
The research team designed 10 case studies to identify effective
instantaneous project controls strategies and practices. To
produce generalizable results, the team selected a varied case
study sample, which included CII member companies and non-
CII companies, companies within and outside the construction
industry (e.g., from the technology, manufacturing, aerospace, and
design sectors). The unit of analysis was the organization, except
in Case Study 2, the focus of which was a shutdown project. (See
the appendix.)
After formulating an interview protocol and framing16 open-ended
questions to obtain a holistic perspective on the implementation
of instantaneous controls, the research team conducted phone
interviews to collect data from subject matter experts at each
participating organization. Most of the interviewees were upper
managers. The survey questions addressed such topics as
business rationale, data collection and reporting, technologies,
benefits and barriers, and necessary implementation and
maintenance resources and efforts. Since the interview protocol
enabled the team to identify common traits and trends from
multiple perspectives, it facilitated the external validation and
generalizability of the strategies the team gleaned from the
interview data. To substantiate these strategies further, the team
also conducted a semi-structured face-to-face workshop with
subject matter experts with no previous exposure to this research.
3. Explain the value proposition for instantaneous project controls.
The team distributed an additional online survey instrument to all
CII members, to establish the value proposition for instantaneous
project controls. Thirty-seven subject matter experts affiliated
with 18 CII member organizations responded to its questions
on the barriers to and benefits of instantaneous controls, or
on the presence of instantaneous control functions within their
organizations. The responses showed that data integration and

4
data-sharing are critically important to effective instantaneous
project controls. Turning to the CII Benchmarking & Metrics
(BM&M) database and using its “information integration”
and “information automation” categories as surrogates for
instantaneous project controls, the team analyzed looked for
any relationships between instantaneous controls and cost and
schedule performance on project completed between 2005 and
2013. Performing a non-parametric statistical analysis, the team
compared the cost and schedule performance of projects with
high levels of information integration and automated analytics with
the cost and schedule performance of the rest of projects in the
database.
4. Provide high-impact tools and implementation guidance. After
analyzing the data from its surveys and workshop, the team
developed maturity matrix to help organizations assess their
actual and desired levels of instantaneous controls capability.
The maturity model presents three levels of maturity for the
nine strategies: 1) Culture; 2) Leadership; 3) Contracts; 4) Work
Planning; 5) Data Collection; and 6) Reporting; 7) Information
Integration; 8) Workflow Management; and 9) Business
Intelligence. The matrix describes the state of instantaneous
reporting at each maturity level in each category. Once it had
developed the maturity matrix, the team used it as the basis of
two tools for implementing instantaneous reporting strategies and
practices: the Quick Assessment (QA) and the Instantaneous
Quotient (IQ). The functionality of both these tools was tested and
evaluated by subject matter experts from CII member companies.
The team also formulated a workflow implementation process
on the basis of its interviews with instantaneous project controls
experts.

5
3

Research Findings

From its analysis of the data, the team assessed the current state of
project controls, identified the project functions requiring instantaneous
controls, determined when instantaneous controls can have the greatest
performance impact, and formulated implementation strategies. The
data also showed the benefits from and barriers to implementing
instantaneous controls on a project, particularly in terms of both
standalone and organization-wide implementation.

Current State of Project Controls–Batch Mode Reporting


Current project controls reporting practices are best described as
being performed in a “batch mode,” which commonly entails monthly,
sometimes bi-weekly, reports on cost and schedule control functions
by project managers. These cost and schedule data are sequentially
communicated, often repeatedly analyzed, and then reported at
different levels within key stakeholder organizations. As the information
progresses through each this process, it gets more out of date. Thus,
RT 316 documented scenarios in which upper management decision-
making relied on project status information generated from data that
were up to six months old. The research team found that such scenarios
are common in the industry. At each layer of reporting, more time is spent
in retrieving, verifying, and validating data than in analyzing it for sound
decisions.

What to Instantaneously Control


Since the construction and automotive manufacturing sectors both aim to
produce a high-quality products through lean and streamlined sequences
of value-adding activities, the case studies of automobile manufacturers
set the baseline on how to prioritize data transfer for reporting. The
automobile industry follows two main principles of information reporting:
1) prioritization of information transfer; and 2) instantaneous monitoring
of any control function subject to great variability and able to affect

7
project performance if not monitored. Because even small variations in
performance can mean failure for capital facility projects, these principles
also apply to the construction industry.

The first principle holds that organizations must prioritize the


communication of information, establishing specific frequencies for each
reporting function and layer (of reporting). This implicitly means that not all
control functions require instantaneous reporting. Indeed, the automotive
manufacturing industry prioritizes specific reporting frequencies for each
process and business function. Such prioritized transfer of timely and
accurate information enables informed decision-making. Thus, while
assembly line issues are immediately addressed, floor productivity tends
to be reported on a daily or weekly basis, and production capacity can be
reported every other week or every month.

Proactive construction organizations also prioritize information


reporting across the different layers of their projects—i.e., subcontractors,
contractors, owners, and third parties, as well as across the various
layers of management within stakeholder organizations. For example,
forecasted values at completion may be communicated instantly, weekly,
or monthly, to support informed and timely decisions. While stakeholders
in high-risk and short shutdown projects often require hourly reporting
of forecasted values, in other kinds of projects (e.g., multi-year projects),
weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly reporting may suffice for effective
decision support. However, when not prioritized, owner and third-party
organizations can base decisions on data that, in some cases, months
old. Contractual clauses are often used to secure the communication of
data and information among project stakeholders.

The second principle is that any highly variable control function that can
significantly affect project performance (if not addressed in time) should
be instantaneously monitored. In automotive manufacturing, assembly
lines are monitored and any issues are instantly communicated. These
real-time alerts trigger corrective actions to minimize negative impacts
such as lost production time. For example, when a monitoring system
detects late materials deliveries, it automatically sets contingency plans
in motion.

8
In construction, cost, schedule, and field metrics commonly vary
greatly. Thus, organizations often require instantaneous controls in the
following key functions in these areas: activity completion/progress;
milestone progress; estimated time to completion; expenditures to date;
change orders; estimated total installed costs; quality issues; craft labor
productivity; engineered material status; work-in-place measurements;
and safety.

Studying the reporting on these functions, RT 316 found five that


typically require instantaneous controls. (See IR 316-2 for more
examples.)

First, the team found that daily reporting on quality tests and inspections
is common. Indeed, among all investigated functions, quality was second
only to safety in terms of instantaneous reporting (safety events are
almost all reported completely instantaneously). Delayed reporting of
failed quality tests or inspections can rapidly increase the rework needed
to correct problems. Because of the performance impacts of increased
rework, daily reporting of quality information is critical.

Second, shutdown and renovation projects commonly control


expenditures and progress on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. The
need on these kinds of projects for timely delivery, along with the
significant uncertainty about their scope, makes them high-risk projects.
To control risk, expenditures and progress status are sometimes even
instantaneously monitored.

Third, daily monitoring and analysis of craft labor productivity (i.e., field
work hours and installed work quantities) enables better predictability
of construction activities. This practice allows project teams to identify
and correct significant and/or repeatedly reported deviations from the
work plan. By enhancing cost and schedule performance, craft labor
monitoring increases profits and competitiveness. Having such fine-
grained productivity data also makes estimating and planning more
reliable, and improves pre-qualification processes.

9
Fourth, some industry organizations leverage updated status
information on individual projects to optimize capital portfolio resource
allocation. Through contractual clauses, they require subcontractors and
contractors to report project expenditures and procurement status on
a daily basis. This daily data supports decision-making on reallocating
excess contingency reserves. For instance, early and reliable forecasts
of a total installed cost below the baseline can help organizations decide
to start new projects that can achieve the expected rate of return on the
excess investment.

Finally, in the technology manufacturing sector, advanced model-


based analytic processes streamline project planning responses to
scope changes in manufacturing capacity. These analytics can rapidly
project the impacts of scope capacity increases to the original baseline
construction plan, cost, or schedule, before an actual commitment to
a capacity increase is made. For instance, they could determine that a
20-percent increase in capacity could require the purchase of a major
piece of equipment, while a slightly lower percentage of capacity increase
would not require such a purchase. This ability to translate scope and
capacity changes rapidly into meaningful project information enables
organizations to pursue technological and market-share advantage
in a sector in which dominance depends on the ability to reduce the
time to market for new products. The underlying driver of any controls
reporting function is to enable timely and informed decisions, and to
prevent negative impacts of decisions based on outdated, incorrect, or
incomplete information.

When to Implement Instantaneous Controls


Because risk and variability are at a peak during the construction and
commissioning and startup phases, instantaneous reporting of cost,
schedule, and quality functions can improve project performance during
both. While most of the organizations studied implemented instantaneous
controls for construction and commissioning/startup functions,
RT 316 also documented instances instantaneous monitoring of different

10
functions within the design/engineering process, e.g., engineering
productivity or status of the design/engineering deliverables. In reality,
because the risk and variability of control functions depends on the type
of project type, the business model, and the project participants, the
best time to use instantaneous controls varies. Thus, project designers,
contractors, owners, or service firms often require instant reporting of
different critical functions at distinct moments in the project delivery
process.

How to Instantaneously Control


In total, the research identified nine strategies for successful
implementation of instantaneous project controls. These nine strategies,
grouped into three categories with three strategies each, define the
RT 316 Maturity Matrix. (See Figure 2.)

Culture
Organizational
Leadership
Behavior
Contracts

Work Planning
Project
Data Collection
Controls
Reporting

Information Integration
Advanced
Information Workflow Management

Technologies
Business Intelligence

Figure 2. Maturity Matrix

11
These strategies and practices should be implemented sequentially,
since the right organizational behavior will support efficient project
controls functions that can be leveraged through advanced information
technologies. Folllowing are characterizations of maturity for each set of
strategies:

1. Culture. Organizational culture is open to and supportive of new


technologies, tools, and processes to improve project controls
capabilities and, thus, decision-making.
2. Leadership. Senior and middle management promote a vision of
instantaneous project controls in the organization that tolerates
initial failures and rewards success.
3. Contracts. Data/reporting requirements and communications
interfaces are properly defined for all contract participants to
ensure efficient and accurate communication x
4. Work Planning. A carefully developed code structure is used
to promote work-planning across organizational boundaries
and establish accountability in alignment with expectations for
continuous feed, on-demand or instant reporting.
5. Data Collection. Well-defined instructions, procedures, checklists,
and/or standards ensure automatic, continuous, and consistent
collection of project controls data.
6. Reporting. Reporting frequencies of project controls functions
are prioritized; reports are automatically generated, properly
presented, and accessible.
7. Information Integration. Project controls data are seamlessly
exchanged across organizational boundaries. Barriers at
interfaces have been identified and mitigated.
8. Workflow Management. Project controls and management
processes, procedures, and audits are reengineered for
information management technologies.
9. Business Intelligence. Automated monitoring and/or reporting
feeds advanced analytics, to support critical decisions on project/
portfolio investments or strategies.

12
Project versus Organizational Support for Instantaneous Controls
In all but one of its case studies, RT 316 documented instances of
organizations comprehensively providing resources for instantaneous
project controls on multiple projects. However, the research team
also heard about standalone efforts to deliver expenditures, progress,
or productivity metrics/trends instantaneously. These project-based
efforts had benefits and constraints that differed from those of the
organization-enabled efforts studied. In terms of constraints, standalone
instantaneous controls efforts are often limited to projects with sufficient
time, cost, and team resources; or they are implemented on high-risk but
short endeavors, e.g., renovations or shutdowns. Also, more often than
not, the development and implementation efforts vanish at project’s end.

In terms of benefits, enabling instantaneous controls on a standalone


project requires significantly fewer resources and much less effort than
is needed to institute them across the organization. For instance, for
standalone efforts, information integration only involves implementing
data communication interfaces between existing tools and systems.
In organization-wide efforts, information integration typically means
adopting comprehensive project management solutions and redefining
workflows around these technology solutions. RT 316 documented
comprehensive information integration efforts that required up to two
years of dedicated work by a multi-disciplinary team of experts (e.g.
accounting, finances, project management, human resources, design/
engineering, and procurement, among others). (For a discussion on
implementing such comprehensive efforts, see the section on the
Workflow Implementation Process in Chapter 4.) Overall, the research
team found that organizational support is necessary to realizing sustained
benefits from organization-wide instantaneous project controls.

13
Barriers
The research team identified the main barriers that organizations must
address to migrate to instantaneous or prioritized project controls. Table 2
summarizes the main barriers as perceived by industry experts affiliated
with CII member companies. The top three barriers all relate to problems
with data integration and automated analytics prevail. This finding
is consistent with the case study analyses on instantaneous control
functions, which emphasize the importance of both seamless data-
sharing and the automation of data analysis processes for meaningful
information.

Table 2. Top Barriers

Rank Barriers % Agreement


1 Lack of information integration 48
2 Lack of data communication and 37
exchange interfaces
3 Delayed data acquisition/input 33
4 Varied project characteristics and needs 33
5 Lack of automated data analytics 24

RT 316 found that the industry’s current lack of information


integration is the result of deeply rooted problems with interoperability
and information-sharing among systems, both within and across
organizational boundaries. Although scheduling relies on one software
provider that dominates the market, other control functions (e.g., cost
estimating, accounting, change management, progress tracking,
procurement, or document management) have no choice but to operate
with an array of proprietary and non-interoperable applications. The
diversity in controls software used among leading companies indicates a
lack of industry uniformity. To overcome this barrier, RT 316 documented
organizations’ efforts to coordinate with vendors—e.g., by providing
training and software licenses, or designing information interfaces that
match a vendor’s capability.

14
Benefits
RT 316 found that owner and contractor organizations must invest
significant resources to enable instantaneous project controls on multiple
projects. However, such organization-wide efforts are conservatively
estimated to pay for themselves in only a few years. The subject matter
expert surveys and case study evidence indicated that instantaneous
reporting often provides the following benefits: 1) timelier and better
informed decisions, with more time spent analyzing information than
collecting data; 2) improved cost/schedule performance; 3) project
risk mitigation; 4) more efficient capital portfolio management; and
5) competitive market advantage. The team found consistently better
cost and schedule performance on projects with mature information
integration and automated analytics than on other projects in the CII
BM&M database. (RT 316 used these two parameter as surrogates for
instantaneous project controls.) While these results were repeatedly
observed, they were not statistically significant.

15
4

Support Tools

The Quick Assessment (QA), Instantaneous Quotient (IQ), and


Workflow Implementation Process tools support and enable the strategies
presented in the maturity matrix. (See IR 316-2, Volume I for detailed
guidance for each.) The QA tool provides a high-level assessment of the
maturity level of the nine strategies, along with guidance for improvement.
Figure 3 gives an example of an organization whose assessment
indicates that it should focus not only on collecting data consistently, but
also automatically. The IQ tool provides a detailed assessment of the
maturity level of the nine strategies. While the QA tool assesses maturity
on the basis of one question per strategy, the IQ assessment relies on
several questions per strategy. (See Figure 4.) The questions in both
tools are based on findings from the case studies.

Figure 3. Assessment of Data Collection Strategy with the QA tool

17
Figure 4. IQ Tool Assessment of Data Collection Strategy

The IQ tool provides a numeric maturity score for each strategy, along
with a prioritized list of recommended actions to help users implement
the strategies implementation at higher performance levels. These
recommendations are specified either as actions to be taken immediately,
or as further actions for improvement. This prioritization follows the
maturity matrix sequence that progresses from organizational behavior
to advanced information technologies.

18
19

Figure 5. Output
Finally, the Workflow Implementation Process tool offers guidance
on the steps an organization should take to plan and implement the
strategies recommended in this research. (See Figure 6.)

• Provide Leadership Support


1
• Develop Business Case
2
• Develop and Update Estimate
3
• Assemble Expert Team
4
• Engage Information Technology Vendors
5
• Re-engineer Workflows & Policies/Procedures
6
• Test Technology and User Acceptance
7
• Train Technology and Modify User Behaviors
8
• Rollout System and Implement at Project Level
9
• Provide Services and Maintenance
10

Figure 6. Implementation Workflow Process

20
5

Conclusions

Industry practitioners may believe they are already capable of informed


decision-making. However, because instantaneous project controls
enable on-demand reporting of metrics critical to project performance,
they support more timely and better-informed decisions, improved cost
and schedule performance, effective project risk mitigation, efficient
capital portfolio management, and competitive market advantage.
Instantaneous controls often require a proactive and comprehensive
approach that considers and defines the reporting frequency needs at
different layers of reporting.

To help organizations achieve instantaneous project controls, RT 316


identified and developed strategies that address both the origination
(“feed”) and accessibility (“read”) of project controls information. These
strategies include the practices of culture, leadership, contracting, work
planning, data collection, reporting, information integration, workflow
management, and business intelligence. The team also produced three
tools to support the implementation of the recommended strategies.

The research team also identified the major barriers to implementing


instantaneous project controls. Overcoming them and achieving
instantaneous and prioritized project control functions can benefit the
entire project delivery process. Continuous monitoring of project progress
is strongly encouraged. The research findings have universal application
and will benefit all business sectors within the construction industry.

21
Appendix
Summary of Case Studies

Median Industry
Case Organization Unit of Reporting Reporting
Sector Function(s)
No. Role Analysis Frequency Frequency to
Owner/Client
Reporting: Project Cost,
General Construction
1 Organization Procurement, and Change Daily Monthly
Construction Manager
Management
General Construction
23

1 Organization Reporting: Portfolio Financials Daily Multiple Months


Construction Manager
Reporting: Project Cost and
2 Oil and gas Owner Project Daily Monthly
Schedule Progress
General Software Automation: Payment Up to Several
3 Organization Instantaneous
Construction Provider Transactions Months
General Software Information Integration: Project
4 Organization Instantaneous N/A
Construction Provider Information
Automotive Monitoring: Production and
5 Automobile Organization Instantaneous (*)
Manufacturer Quality
Building Reporting: Craft Labor
6 Contractor Organization Daily Monthly
Facilities Productivity
Median Industry
Case Organization Unit of Reporting Reporting
Sector Function(s)
No. Role Analysis Frequency Frequency to
Owner/Client
General Engineering & Reporting: Cost and Schedule for Monthly (cost)/Bi-
7 Organization Daily
Energy Contractor Pipeline Infrastructure Projects weekly (schedule)
Information Integration: Project
8 Aerospace Owner Organization Instantaneous N/A
Information
Reporting: Planning, Budgeting,
Technology
9 Owner Organization and Scheduling for Capacity Monthly 5 months (**)
24

Manufacturing
Planning Decisions
Engineering Software Reporting: Craft Labor
10 (i) Organization Daily Monthly
Design Provider Productivity
Engineering Software Reporting: Design Engineering
10 (ii) Organization Instantaneous Bi-weekly
Design Provider Progress

N/A – Not available


(*) Company reported as a manufacturing organization, so no construction industry comparison is assessed
(**) Reported from the same organization -no industry data was available
Notes

25
Research Team 316, Organizational Strategies
for Instantaneous Project Controls

Lillie Alston, CH2M


* Edward Back, The University of Alabama
Mitch Cornelius, Yates Construction
Graciela Garcia de D’Uva, ConocoPhillips
Rodolfo Gonzalez, Occidental Oil and Gas Corp.
* David Grau, Arizona State University
Sandra Greene, Wood Group Mustang
Jeff Hoffa, Marathon Petroleum Corp.
Brian Kong, U.S. Department of Energy
Brian Lipko, Hargrove Engineers + Contractors
Robert Lobron, Kaiser Permanente, Co-Chair
Chris Marcon, McCarthy Building Company
Pat Pipping, Phillips 66
* Douglas E. Weaver, Walbridge, Chair

Former members
Ahmad Aftab, Teck
Patrick Morton, Bentley

* Principal authors

Editor: Jacqueline Thomas


Construction Industry Institute®
The University of Texas at Austin
3925 W. Braker Lane (R4500)
Austin, Texas 78759-5316
(512) 232-3000
FAX (512) 499-8101
RS 316-1

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