A prosperous Middle Eastern country is building a plan to improve their public buildings and transport infrastructure, with a target to have this complete before the middle of the 21st Century. Locana was engaged by a leading consultancy to provide the technical infrastructure to plan delivery. Oracle Primavera Cloud was selected as the most appropriate solution, due to the comprehensive portfolio scenario planning facility along with the direct integration with Primavera P6EPPM, which had already been implemented to manage project delivery. Locana delivered the solution with a combination of in-country and remote resources, covering a detailed proof of concept and implementation. This presentation covers the journey from original inception to transition into production, and the lessons learned and resolved in the process.

The digital transformation of the construction industry offers significant opportunities for companies but also presents considerable challenges. The software landscape is fragmented, and choosing the right tools from the plethora of providers can be a daunting task. In his presentation, "Building the Future: Unifying Construction with the Thinkproject Platform," Richard Moyle presents a coherent solution. He provides insights into how an innovative platform, by integrating a broad portfolio of mature solutions, can offer a variety of functions, integrations, and synergies. This approach promotes collaboration across company boundaries and allows users to select the tools they need while benefiting from platform synergies.

Achieving effective control in the design and engineering stage of major projects can be a significant challenge. Reasons include the facts that: - this stage is driven by often intangible decisions and exchange of information, the maturity of which is difficult to judge - design is an iterative process - requirements are often unclear or subject to change - design is delivered by disparate disciplines. In addition, our recent experiences of major rail and highway projects have shown that the contractual arrangements in place can have significant impact on the appetite of those involved to control this stage of a project. This presentation will discuss the lessons from these recent large-scale rail and highways projects. The projects are above £1.3Bn in value and are all being delivered under an NEC contract, where a Joint Venture or Alliance of Tier 1 contractors with responsibility for detailed design has appointed a JV or Alliance of design partners. They include examples where the designers' fees are fully reimbursable and others where they are engaged on a fixed fee. We have seen that in both of these cases, there is little incentive to control the design delivery process - for the designer in the first instance and for the contractor in the second. However, failure to maintain control has predictable consequences as design delivery overruns, with associated overspend having a potentially disastrous impact on the contractor (or client, depending on the contractual arrangement between contractor and client) or designer. This presentation will also discuss the basic rules of setting up and maintaining control in the design and engineering stage of projects, and the benefits derived from that control. These include effective requirements capture, input planning, design activity planning, forecast of review, approval, assurance and governance activities, resource planning, progress reporting and risk management. Whilst these rules may seem obvious, the fact that we have seen major projects delivered without them in place, shows how little regard can be given to control of this stage of projects.

Project Controls covers numerous areas of project delivery. Typically, career development within any of the roles that project controls covers is focused on the technical skills and working knowledge. These elements are without a doubt important parts of career development. However, technical skills are not the only skills that need to be developed, there are many "human" skills that need to be developed in parallel to not only make individuals better at their role, but to improve individual and team performance and build a healthy team culture. Project Management, as we know, focuses on the management of both processes and people. Technical skills (also known as hard skills) tend to focus on process; "human" skills (also known as soft skills) focuses on the people side of things. During this session we will explore some of the key skills required such as communication, listening, emotional intelligence amongst others. The purpose is to make those working in project controls to be more aware of how they think, act and behave to further their career and add value to their projects or teams.

Learn about a fresh and Innovative approach and structure we are bringing to Forensic Delay Analysis, within the Project control industry. The collaborative way of working with the client to bespoke / best fit a tailor-made solution to the dynamic and changing environment of delays in delivery. Providing clarity and influence positive change in the perceptions and implementation of resources and work scope in this specialism service offering. To increase understanding and awareness of a multiskilled, and strategic structure, incorporating succession planning and enable development to meet the increasing Project Control Industry and Business needs for this service offering.

Digital twin technology has been known as a concept for quite some time and their new applications of the technology are developed amongst numerous industries, including the construction industry. The models generated can support various aspects of any given construction project, including civil engineering works. However, the amount of research into digital twin technology within the context of civil engineering is considerably new, and perhaps requires critical unfolding to understand the potential of the role of such technology within civil engineering in construction projects. Data was attained via qualitative methods using the literature review and primary data. The literature showed that the majority of the current literature almost solely focuses on the digital twin applications within engineering works (focusing on the structural aspect of a project) without detailing ways of obtaining the necessary data to apply to the model. The primary data revealed that digital twins automate the data collection, however, the need for data distribution to the correct stakeholders was highlighted. This paper proposes a framework that details the process of incorporating digital twins in civil engineering works by first focusing on the appropriate data collection and stakeholder distribution before moving on to data collection, validation and analysis. Once the first two steps are carried out, more informed decision-making and optimisation can take place.

Cost overrun is a reality for the majority of projects. Cost overruns don’t just happen; they’re the silent project killers lurking in underestimated details and unanticipated complexities. Due to the complexity of market conditions, pressures, and the necessity to improve performance, the cost estimation art should be explored and enhanced. However, why are there so many cost overruns? Can we develop more reliable cost estimates? How can we improve cost accuracy? The presentation aims to challenge your approach to cost estimation and project budgeting. It will unlock the secrets to creating reliable cost estimates and provide insights into the top 10 root causes of project cost overruns. Each factor is explained through examples and mitigation actions are shown, promoting a robust way to improve your process. It also shows how configurators can be the key to optimizing your time and resources and streamlining your processes like never before. The power of Power BI dashboards is explored to enhance cost estimation review and validation processes. Finally, the probabilistic approach is detailed to cost contingency, equipping you with the tools to make informed decisions amidst uncertainties.

BS202001 Specification standard for Project Controls enables the entire supply chain to mobilise and assure its projects at operational and strategic levels. There are no professional body or governmental constraints. Genuine levelling up created for practitioners by practitioners. The specification extends the boundaries of project programme and portfolio so that benefits can be actually realised and monitored into future use. There is also provision for environmental factors. BS202001 stets the standard for a step-change in how we control assess and benefit from our work on a national and international scale.

Anglian Water is nearing the beginning of its crucial ‘AMP 8’ investment window - which will involve assuring hundreds of varied programmes and tens of thousands of forecasted activities. Historically this process has been time-consuming, grueling and imparted limited confidence in outcomes - and so, for the first time ever, Anglian Water has started to use an AI trained on large volumes of historical data to assure its project portfolios. In this presentation, prepared exclusively for Project Controls Expo 2024, Euan Black, Head of Portfolio Delivery Management, will demonstrate how AI is enabling Anglian Water to: - Quantify portfolio deliverability and risk - Assess contractor change requests during Portfolio ‘boards’ - Assure more projects more comprehensively and faster than ever before - gaining more confidence in outcomes than has been possible to date Black will be joined on stage by Dev Amratia, CEO of nPlan, the company behind the technology Anglian Water is utilising for its innovative approach to portfolio assurance. Amratia will explain how nPlan’s portfolio AI works, and discuss how nPlan Portfolio Pro customers are using the insights provided by its AI to make smart decisions regarding interventions, resource allocation and stakeholder management. Overall the session will feature a powerful case study of how AI has already started to drive positive transformation in the water/utilities sector.

This presentation will discuss Method Grid’s collaboration with Network Rail on the Digital PACE Framework. Together we collaborated throughout 2023 on building the Digital PACE Framework to improve how Network Rail delivers projects, leading to its launch in January of 2024. This digital resource – as deployed on the Method Grid (AI-empowered knowledge and project management) platform – is now publicly available to all rail project management professionals in the UK. This use of technology stands out because it has radically enabled the entire UK rail industry to collaborate effectively in the delivery of the ambitious Control Period 7 construction investment plan (£43.1bn). It was also a vanguard digital innovation in the context of other UK public bodies facing the comparable challenge of harnessing technology to genuinely ‘force multiply’ all actors across their construction supply chain. The PACE (Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment) Framework is used by Network Rail as their framework for the controlled delivery of rail-based construction projects. Previously, the PACE Framework was presented in a spreadsheet format – downloaded and saved for each new project. This spreadsheet then linked to an array of content (templates, guidance and website links) that Network Rail’s project teams must reference to fully comply with all related standards and legislation. Method Grid’s collaboration with Network Rail involved integrating existing PACE standards, products and guidance resources. The platform’s AI-empowerment enabled the joint team to build and enhance this deep, quality knowledge resource in a few months – expediting the ‘speed to value’ aspect of such work. The Digital PACE Framework is now a live, consistently up-to-date, resource – as used throughout a construction project’s lifecycle. This innovative use of technology has also resulted in a methodological framework that is user-friendly, easy to maintain and easy to access.   Digital PACE contains multiple knowledge assets: video explainers, schematic images and descriptive guidance to help people understand what the requirements are throughout every stage of a project. These visual aids bring project control aspects to life alongside a wealth of information ranging from detailed product descriptions, templates, best practice ‘hints and tips’ and links to related legislative and technical standards. During the presentation we will be able to show you Digital PACE and these assets in action. These resources are crucial for industry professionals, and by making them readily available in a digital format, we significantly enhanced accessibility and usability. With a focus on user experience, information was organised in a way that mirrors real-life project application, ensuring it is easy to find at each stage.  The result is an industry-wide, deep knowledge resource for UK rail construction professionals – where all necessary PACE information can be found – thus enabling cross-sector collaboration and best-practice construction delivery. This, in turn, has enabled Network Rail to bring a level of project delivery speed and control-consistency to UK’s largest construction portfolio.

Megaprojects—hyperscale datacenters, ultrafast connectivity, or clean sources of energy—present compelling opportunities: the potential to spur technological leapfrogs and radically new services. The resulting abundance can transform human welfare and countries benefiting from the investments. Nearly a decade of my research at the University of Oxford, however, shows that the implementation of megaprojects is no easy task: cost and time overruns, benefit shortfalls, social, environmental, and political issues are pervasive. In my presentation, I will outline salient challenges megaproject investments face, their underlying causes, and potential cures. I will argue that megaproject complexity becomes so great that no human team can satisfactorily manage it: human megaproject mangers require AI-assistance. I will illustrate the kinds of AI and autonomous intelligences necessary for megaprojects to reap productivity gains for the 21st Century.

Since April 1969, there has always been a Royal Navy ballistic nuclear missile submarine at sea. These submarines have acted as the nations continuous nuclear deterrent (CASD), sending a clear message to an ever-increasing number of would-be aggressors. By doing so. CASD protects our nation, our families and friends and democratic freedoms for us and our global alles The Dreadnought programme is a c£41 billion programme to design and build four new nuclear powered ballistic submarines entering service in the early 2000s. Sir Peter Gershon, Independent Chair of the Dreadnought Programme, explains the context of this mega project: "Our challenge is to bring in on time and to budget one of the most complex machines ever built and one that must operate silently and safely in one of the most hostile environments on our planet. Our hardest miles and most challenging risks lie ahead of us. We must keep our foot on the pedal Dreadnought is delivered across the Government, Tier 1 Industry Partners. BAES systems. Rolls Royce and the MoD (SDA) and interfaces across multi-national and geographically spread organisations and over 1,000 suppliers employing over 30,000 people in the UK.

There is empirical evidence that extraordinary results can be achieved with Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM). The approach has delivered significant improvements in performance in complex design and development, manufacturing, and maintenance projects across various industries. As part of the development of Critical Chain Project Management within BAE Systems we have developed ten simple ‘Rules of Flow’ as well as advice on how to manage the implementation of a new way of working in an existing project team or organisation. The key ingredients of successful deployment and sustainment are: to ensure the roles and responsibilities are clear; people receive the right training; and tools and metrics are changed to enable the new ways of working. The presentation will highlight the background to the rules and how they should be used, they are: 1. REDUCE THE WORK IN PROGRESS - Reduce the number of live projects and tasks that are allowed to be worked on. 2. COMPLETE FULL KITS - Only release tasks to resources when they have everything they require to complete the task. Focus on enabling ‘Full Kit’ well ahead of time. 3. RELEASE TO CAPACITY - Release tasks in the correct sequence and priority to maintain the optimal level of Work In Progress. 4. REDUCE MULTI-TASKING - Minimise interruptions for people to allow them to 'focus upon and finish' each task as quickly as possible. 5. SHOW SERVANT LEADERSHIP - Ensure management and expert resources have the visibility, availability and are actively supporting daily recovery actions. 6. ENSURE CLEAR DEFINITIONS OF DONE - Ensure the project scope is clearly documented and communicated, with all the tasks in the plan having a clearly defined criteria for handover and completion (‘done’). 7. PLAN FOR UNCERTAINTY - The rolling wave plan has logically linked tasks of the right size. Position visible buffers to protect the plan from the uncertainty and changes to it in execution. 8. FOCUS ON THE CONSTRAINT/INTEGRATION POINT - Stagger the projects in the portfolio to synchronise resources and ensure they are not overloaded. 9. FOCUS ON REMAINING DURATION (THE PAST IS THE PAST) - Report the remaining duration of all (open) project tasks every day. Identify where and when to actively manage with fast recovery actions. 10. MEASURE TO DRIVE THE RIGHT BEHAVIOURS - Replace local efficiency measures that do not support flow with different measures aligned to deliver the project on time. Notes 1. BAE Systems and Goldratt UK presented last year on the subject of CCPM this presentation shows further development with the rules of flow being the key focus. 2. A separate presentation on the use of CCPM on the Hawk Aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul project is also being proposed.

Whilst the focus of project delivery professionals is rightly in delivery, key aspects within the wider organisation context, governance and upwards reporting to the Change or Portfolio Board can often be overlooked. The masterclass will look at tools/techniques and approaches to help; - uplift the quality insight - provide insight on the typical Change or Portfolio Board requirements - look at some best practice examples and reporting styles and techniques - explore options on how to leverage your projects governance and reporting to increase its credibility and visibility (Interactive Session with Delegates)

Abstract: Join our panel of experts who will discuss the journey of Project Controls as a profession, why sometimes it is still not seen as a profession in its own right and how we can all help change that perception. We will also discuss the development of recognized and government regulated professional qualifications, professional bodies and the support early careers now have in Project Controls. Expected takeaways for attendees: • Project Controls is a profession in its own right and can be a career for life • Opportunities for professional qualifications and recognition is available • Breakdown perceived barriers in entering the industry • Tools to start spreading the news of Project controls as a career pathway • Project Controls is an inclusive profession (in AtkinsRéalis we are the most diverse department) Panel Host – Rod Whitting (AtkinsRéalis) /Professional body – AcostE Christine Mclean / Training provider - (20:20) / Client – HS2 or Hinkley – TBC / PC consultant / provider (AR) – Lisa Silander / Early careers – From AtkinsRéalis TBC

Project Controls offer fantastic insights into the project performance, and with the advent dashboard, the volume of metrics available is growing exponentially. This is great for the effective presentation of complex Project Controls data until the Project Manager or supplier says, 'I don't recognise that number' or 'That number isn't right'. There isn't a much faster way to derail a performance review other than a cat walking in to view on someone's camera. Controllers can spend hours ensuring numbers are perfect and add up perfectly. Whilst this is admirable, every number in your Project Controls system will be wrong. This presentation will explore why all the numbers are wrong and why we should be comfortable with them. Specifically, we shall look at system inputs coming from estimates, work performed, so-called actual costs, invoices, and contracts. Once we have decimated the foundations of dashboards, we will look at why this is OK. With the recent cost estimating guide from the IPA (Infrastructure & Projects Authority), it is becoming more widely accepted that an estimate is a range rather than a single point. The estimator in me breathes a huge sigh of relief. But there is our first problem, the estimate range informs the baseline which is a single point. It is quite subjective where you pitch your baseline, but before we get too deep into contingency, we will look at the estimate and why that is a range. Requirements, quantities, hours, rates, material cost, and allowances all have inherent variability that contributes to the overall estimate range. A similar approach will be taken for exploring the other Project Controls inputs. So why is this OK? Once we understand the sources of variation, we can start to relax a little as we know there is a limit to what we have control of. We can look at a reported number and know there are very good reasons why this could be more or less. But hang on surely a Project Controls system lives or dies by its data? I say not so, and here is a problem with the dashboards. We can get very focused on dashboards and data because that is a very visible output. But if that is your focus, I say you have missed the point of Project Controls. Project Controls exists to provide insight and analysis to enable the Project Manager/Sponsors to make timely evidence-based decisions thereby supporting proactive management. Decision-making isn’t about how accurate your number is but assurance and confidence that a particular course of action will deliver the best outcome. For example, effective risk management isn’t about the probability diagrams from the QCRA it is about your mitigations. To close, we start looking at how we create confidence by being effective communicators. This can be effectively done by defining, through continuous engagement, the information and reporting needs of any particular project / programme and building a governance framework which balances the need for flexibility and control. For me the next frontier in Project Controls

The current management of Lessons Learned, in the context of major capital project delivery, is fundamentally broken; certainly, the potential theoretical benefits of such invested effort seldom arrive. This in-depth paper explores why so and proposes a radical overhaul of this situation towards a blueprint we are referring to as ‘Lessons Learned 2.0’, as recently technologically enabled by major advances in machine learning (behaviour detection/natural language processing, large language models). This paper explores key principles that need to be factored into the design of Lessons Learned 2.0 including: the need to assimilate this activity into the day-to-day practice for project professionals (with respect to both lesson ingestion and playback cf. a contrived, positioned activity) and the need to contextually qualify and enrich captured lessons. Additionally, we share thoughts as to how technology can help overcome common leadership (and cultural) barriers. We propose a high-level architecture for a Lessons Learned 2.0 solution using machine learning to behaviourally detect apt moments for lesson ingestion and playback and, via natural language (Socratic) dialogue, to add contextual depth to the data-knowledge item. With natural language processing, lesson playback can be rendered, as relevant, to the new contextual circumstance with suggested decisions-actions. A value-utility feedback loop will enable ongoing (large language) model training as well as fuelling an aggregate (and measured) assessment of the reinvigorated discipline’s benefits, This, in turn, can serve to recognise/reward involved staff and educate/ motivate senior leaders as to the strategic advantage of such an embedded, holistic approach. Finally, this paper provides the mandate proposal for Project LEAP (Lessons Enabling Advanced Projects) – a c. 18-month collaboration between Method Grid (an AI-empowered knowledge and project management platform), academia and 2-3 industry partners.

The construction industry has been carrying out projects of increasing complexity during the last two decades. In this process, change management has become a key activity; however, changes might impact project schedules that, while not always directly affecting the completion date, they do increase the risk of eventual non-compliance. This paper is the result of a thorough investigation of project schedule float properties with the objective of producing a simple metric to measure the ability of project schedules to absorb disruptive events without breaching the contractual key milestones. The paper starts by proving the limits of the earned value management (EVM) methodology for the discussed topic and why total float is a flawed metric to measure disruption. It continues showing how the focus can move from tracking activities to tracking project paths within the schedule by calculating a new float metric, which is named path float (PF). PF is based on certain properties of total float and free float that have never been addressed. Finally, the project baseline PF curve, the contemporary PF, and the contemporary scope-to-complete are used to calculate the target key performance indicator (KPI) named float performance index (FPI).

Owners and contractors struggle to deliver major and mega construction projects on time and on budget. Project managers, schedulers, planners and controllers are faced with ever-increasing complexity. Innovative, next generation AI-enabled construction project management platforms place the schedule at the heart of project execution. With the application of AI, machine learning and natural language processing to schedules these new tools empower unbiased, data-driven decisions with full transparency. By distinguishing the essential tasks from the noise, advanced AI scheduling tools encourage teams to concentrate on what truly moves the needle, making it easy to: - Identify Priorities and Set Action Plans - In the dynamic world of project management, identifying the right priorities is crucial. - Recognize Risks and Bottlenecks - Identifying potential risks and bottlenecks before they become issues is key to maintaining project momentum. - Collaborate with Diverse Stakeholders - Effective collaboration is the backbone of any successful project.