Project Directors & Managers screaming down the VOIP boardroom calls asking why have costs been overrun?

Responses like
“We have no further budget”

“project has not been allocated the correct manpower and resources”

“time & effort”

“unscheduled permits”

“unplanned/delayed walk down site visits by area authorities”

“delayed materials”

“equipment access”

“insufficient lighting”

“lack of witnesses”

“incorrect test equipment availability to perform tasks”

All these factors add up to make a 12hour planned worked day down to just 1/3rd of productive time.

‘LOST TIME’ is a feature that’s always been built within ACCORD to track and report all ‘LOST TIME’ +11:24 visible to management to enable, capture or even recover huge costly mistakes that occur on every project. Having the ability to record any ‘LOST TIME’ during the inspection activities carried out by each and every one.

Have a demonstration today and eliminate project errors and costs that are normally just taken for granted until it’s too late and costs/budgets have all been busted. Producing efficiency, resilience, increase in productivity and increased visibility of the overall project.

Fact:
The top 15 project blowouts of the last decade were a cumulative US$80 billion over budget. According to Wood Mackenzie, cost overruns between 2008 to 2014 diluted returns 12% on average, compared with an expected 19% at the time of investment.

There are 7 Factors that can contribute to stopping you going over budget:

1. Thorough Project Planning

The best way to stop cost overrun is to plan against it before executing a project. The more thorough and accurate your estimates, the more likely you’ll stay within budget. There are risks, but those can be accounted for with an exhaustive risk management plan. When planning for any project, you must consider all possible scenarios, using historic data, interviews and experience. Once that plan has been detailed, have it signed off by the stakeholders of the project, so everyone is on the same page in terms of expectations.

2. Know Your Vendors

Many projects will involve outsourcing to external suppliers.  Whichever suppliers are chosen must be able to fulfil the requirements of the project.  If there is an element of doubt that this will happen then they should not be chosen.

3. Keep to Planned Scope

Scope creep is one of the biggest threats to sending a project into cost overrun. Change requests always bog down the desks of project managers. These come from stakeholders or clients, but also from team members. They all have wants and needs. Many of them may be appropriate and even beneficial to the project. However, too many changes can drastically impact the project, making cost overruns unavoidable. Think long and hard about the big picture before you increase project scope.

4. Keep Stakeholders Updated

If there isn’t a clear line of communication between stakeholders and project managers, delays are inevitable. Delays lead to cost overruns. There is too great a risk work will start on the wrong thing at the wrong time. This wasted time threatens to send the whole project off track. Stakeholders, as well as teams, need proper communications, but each should get the right information. Teams want details, and stakeholders want broad strokes, to make sure the project is progressing as planned.

5. Monitor Progress

The real-time dashboard from ProjectManager is also ideal for tracking the progress of a project as it happens, not after the fact. Before issues become problems that threaten to take the project off-track and over budget they can be resolved. The real-time dashboard measures not only the project’s progress, but the team’s workload, timelines for planned and actual completion, including project slippage, and much more.

6. Reassign Resources

You’re going to respond by reallocating resources if you discover a project spending more than budgeted. But you can also prepare for that scenario by evaluating resources beforehand, and placing them where they’ll be most effective. This is especially true with your most valuable resource: your team. By assembling the most experienced and skilled team members you can have a more productive and efficient project. These resources might cost more, but if you’ve done your planning and set aside funds you’ll save money on the backend when there are fewer issues to handle.

7. Use a Project Planning Tool

It’s a given a good tool is going to make a project manager’s work easier, add to the productivity of the project, and increase efficiencies. It will also assist in keeping cost overruns at a minimum. This is where we come in!  Get a Demo today with us and find out how we can help.

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