Addressing the infamy of capital project delays

Capital projects are, almost by definition, complicated endeavors that demand large, geographically scattered workforces and many moving parts. Perhaps due to their complex nature, capital projects also have an infamous reputation: They’re rarely completed on-time and within budget.

“Productivity in the construction sector has stagnated for decades, with the average capital project reaching completion 20 months behind schedule and 80% over budget.”1 —Mckinsey & Co.

Organizing, tracking, and maintaining the data that such a workforce needs to execute a capital project can be a daunting, full-time task that requires whole teams to manage it. The scale and magnitude of such projects pose significant challenges for even the most astute of workforces.

Project dependencies and interdependencies, cross-disciplinary miscommunications, a slew of cascading downstream effects, and occasional bad luck often undermine efforts to promote engineering and construction efficiency. The Construction Industry Institute (CII) notes that a pervasive and salient challenge for the capital projects industry is the unifying large, technical, and often siloed teams that projects require. CII specifically addresses the topic of interoperability across such projects:

“The global capital projects industry, despite years of effort, is not achieving a level of interoperability exchanging models and data or in process systems and tools that captures near the value opportunity to the industry stakeholders”2

The article from CII notes that both current technology and established, siloed legacy systems are highly relevant, compelling business drivers that precipitate change to greater system interoperability and unify a project’s platform. Furthermore, McKinsey makes the following claim regarding the potential of robust digital solutions:

“As construction-technology solutions begin to disrupt project management, companies that do not innovate will find themselves at a disadvantage. A recent McKinsey analysis suggests that existing digital technologies, when applied comprehensively and efficiently, can reduce overall project costs by as much as 45%.”3

AVEVA™ Enterprise Resource Management seeks to address these issues by supporting the entire capital project construction design and delivery process. It acts as a single, centralized platform for the entire duration of a project, allowing for seamless collaboration between engineering and design systems with procurement and construction applications.

In tandem with the release of the latest AVEVA Enterprise Resource Management version, which includes a host of upgrades to its modules, we’re excited to announce a supporting companion mobile app: AVEVA™ ERM Construction Onsite. Together, the two create a powerful ecosystem to keep disparate project teams more unified and integrated than ever.

AVEVA ERM Construction Onsite allows remote, real-time access to AVEVA Enterprise Resource Management from any global location with a tablet or mobile device. View job cards and work packages, record progress, and report back to construction control, allowing for real-time responses to monitor and accelerate project delivery anywhere in the world.

Capital projects represent a myriad of daunting challenges, organizationally, logistically, and technically. AVEVA remains committed to improving capital project outcomes and helping to improve efficiency to deliver complex projects on-time and on-budget, through effective upfront planning and global team alignment. Check out this webinar to learn more.