Dear Members,

Please find below this weeks' newsletter; a quick note from us at PP towers... Project Challenge was very good for us... if you attended thank you and if we did not get to talk we're sorry! Our message though is this... we have now received a number of Corporate Guild partner enquiries - we would like more so get in touch... but there is major traction there so thank you if you had something to do with it!

We wanted to say a huge tanks to everyone who came to the Planners Gathering in Olympia, London this week.

It was really enjoyable to meet so many of you in person... 

We all attended the scheduled Gathering in London after the event and it was enjoyable to socialise and talk about project controls issues.  We were asked to organise another in London and we are now sourcing a small venue where we can meet up again. 

Watch out for the details...

If you are a prospective EMPLOYER with VACANCIES you’d like to fill or a PROJECT CONTROLS PRACTITIONER ready to take on the challenge of a NEW ROLE then please GET IN TOUCH for an initial discussion so we can demonstrate to you how we can help where others cannot.

- Read about it here

Darren Bechtel on the Future of Construction Technology

Burcin Kaplanoglu, Senior Director of Product and Industry Strategy at Oracle, recently sat down with Brick & Mortar Ventures founder Darren Bechtel to discuss his journey to become a venture capitalist for the built world and his views on the future of technology in AEC.

Visit the Construction and Engineering blog to read Darren’s candid responses to the following questions:

• Why did you start a VC company for the built environment?
• So what conditions make the built world a favorable target?
• How is Brick & Mortar Ventures helping drive innovation in the industry?
• What emerging technologies do you see presenting opportunities to drive transformation?

Darren will explore his work and vision for technology in AEC at Oracle Industry Connect this April in New York City. Visit the Oracle Industry Connect site to learn more about the event and review the Oracle Construction and Engineering Program.

Digitize Lean Construction with Oracle Prime Projects

Join us for the second event in our Oracle Prime Projects live webcast series on March 21

The Lean task management capability in Oracle Prime Projects provides a set of tools to improve the detailed coordination, planning, and execution of work between planners, supervisors, and field workers. It enables field workers to decide the best way to execute their work with maximum efficiency and minimal waste. Get an in-depth look at the Work Plan interface, which allows planners, supervisors, and field workers to easily define, plan, and sequence their work according to the near-term objectives defined by the project schedule. LastPlanners® create tasks in the hopper for each activity in the planning period. Tasks are then dragged to the weekly planning board or future weekly bucket, using the project schedule’s activities as a reference.

Each webcast includes a live Q&A session that connects you directly to Oracle Product Directors and Solution Consultants.

Click here to register for some — or all — of the webcasts in this series.

6 Common Construction Cost Estimating Mistakes....and How To Avoid Them

Webinar: Wednesday, March 14 at 1pm EST.

A single mistake in a construction project cost estimate could easily cost millions of dollars.

With construction projects always pressed to finish on-budget, that is the kind of a mistake you don't want to associated with.

Plan Academy ALWAYS brings the best and that's why I'm bringing you THE expert on Cost Estimating for Construction - Dr. Saleh Mubarak- to show you common mistakes in estimating you might not even know you're doing! 

What You'll Learn in This Webinar

• 6 Mistakes in preparing cost estimates you might never have thought about.
• How to do intuitive math for the best estimates
• A technique to understand the whole project, including schedule in your estimate.

Details:  Wednesday, March 14, 2018 1:00 PM EST | 11:00 AM PST | 5:00 PM GMT - Register Here

How AI can add ‘Realism’ to your Risk Model

Thursday, March 15, 10:00-10:45 CDT

One of the biggest challenges in developing a realistic schedule risk model is obtaining true inputs from the project team. Getting these inputs wrong can be the difference between a sound and useful analysis or a worthless risk model. Unfortunately, achieving consensus on duration ranges and expected risk events can be a long and tedious process using traditional workshopping.

The perfectly balanced combination of AI and HI (Human Intelligence) within BASIS enables project teams to obtain more accurate inputs that can be applied to risk models in existing risk analysis tools such as Acumen Risk and PRA. BASIS’ AI benchmarking capabilities guides a project team through calibrating durations (and uncertainty ranges) and makes intelligent suggestions on common risks that should be considered based on the scope of work. Team members then have the opportunity to record their expert opinion as to whether they accept planned durations or not, which is then used to automatically drive consensus and uncertainty ranges.

Project risk analysis tools are very powerful when the models are based upon sound inputs. With BASIS, you can now be confident that the inputs used in these tools are reflective of what your expert team truly believes. Resulting in a more realistic and defendable risk analysis.

To learn more and register for these webinars, visit https://www.basisplanning.com/events

Hello.  The Guild asked me to talk a little about my experience of becoming Expert Level Competency Certified in Project controls, so here goes....

Q1) Briefly tell our readers who you are, what sector you work in, how many years’ experience do you have, what countries have you worked in and if you wish, what company do you currently work for?

My name is Stephen Paterson and I reside in Hua Hin Thailand, to-date I have a total of 39-years’ experience in Project Controls and Construction Management (Civil/Structural Industry - 9 years  in the Oil & Gas Industry – 30+ years). 

Born and raised in a small fishing village in the North East of Scotland, I have worked in the UK, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, USA, Canada, South Korea, Angola, Russia, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and the UAE.  This exposed me to many differing cultures, leaving me with some great memories and wonderful friends along the way. In the early days I served an apprenticeship along with attending college to achieve my Higher National Certificate in Civil Engineering, before joining some of the bigger EPC Companies (Brown & Root, Stone & Webster) and eventually clients (BP, Mobil and ExxonMobil) eventually electing to become an independent Project Controls Practitioner.

Q2) Which Guild Credential did you earn?  Do you hold certifications from other professional organizations?  How do you feel the Guild Certifications compare to the others that you hold?

I achieved the Guild of Project Controls (GPC) “Expert” in Project Controls Competency, which apart from my HNC in Civil Engineering that was achieved 30+years ago is my first credential to demonstrate my competency regarding my work experience.

Q3) What was the primary motivation or reason you chose the Guild Credential that you did?

When I started investigating credentials there were a number to choose from, AACE, PMI and the Guild of Project Controls but felt that the GPC credential was best option for me and exposed my experience to a broader section of the Industry. Their on-line resources and GPCCAR are first class and they appear to be proactively looking to the future of the industry with BIM. 

We will publish Stephen's full article on the Guild website, so watch this space...

by Khuong Do

In Primavera P6 we have 2 important values: Total Float and Free Float.  So what is the difference?  Total Float: is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the Project Finish Date.  Free Float: is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying its Successor Activity Finish Date.  I’ll show you some examples in this article - Read Blog

If you would like to help teach practitioners, or your team the fundamentals of Planning & Scheduling or Cost Management or even Managing Claims then please read this page.

You would be provided with a detailed syllabus and course content so all you would need to do is to be an experienced project practitioner and be able to develop some training slides to use with students.  

We even advertise you and your courses and find you your students.

Burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to: physical and emotional exhaustion; cynicism and detachment; and feelings of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.

Obviously, it’s both compassionate and strategic for enterprises to have a clearer picture of project practitioners who are at-risk of burning out — or have long-since passed the burnout milestone. 

Read this blog post from Clarizen that explains more about this "hot topic" here

When it comes to project management, Excel spreadsheets are one of the most popular tools on the market. It comes included with your Microsoft Office license and is flexible enough to create highly specific functions from scratch. So, what’s the catch? While spreadsheets can be powerful, they come loaded with an inherent risk of error and tend to become complicated and unmanageable as projects grow.

This white paper dives into the risks you face when using spreadsheets as your primary project management tool.