26 Jun 2020 Project Controls News

Dear Planning Planet Member,

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ALL THE TOOLS YOU NEED

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Enhance your companies project planning process to drive improvements in the successful delivery of projects on time and on budget.

The XER Schedule Toolkit provides automation tools to planners & schedulers whilst providing the rest of the project community with intelligent access to the project schedule in a format they can understand and derive most value from. 

Our cloud-based software, allows your team to access projects from anywhere in the world.

Our Corporation Licence includes

• 100 admin licences
• Unlimited associate licences
• Schedule viewing access for your entire company
• Your own dedicated server
• Your branding displayed within XER Schedule Toolkit

When working on a schedule, there are times you would like to find an easy and quick way to carry out some activities in Primavera P6 such as, assigning multiple predecessors or successors to multiple activities at the same time.

This quick tip assumes that you know how to assign predecessors & successors using the Activity Details form.

Read the article [6]...

Do you need to combine several MS Project schedules to get a grip of your portfolios?

The patent pending software tool, Portfolio Project, makes you able to read current schedules made in MS Project and assemble them into one Gantt chart giving a full overview of your projects. Read more [8]...

In Primavera P6, there are three options in the Scheduling Options dialog as follows: Retained Logic Progress Override Actual Dates

These three options control how Primavera P6 calculates “Out of Sequence Progress”.

Read more [9]...

Understanding Primavera P6 Database Setup

by Paul E Harris

When you have created a new P6 database the Database Default Settings are often not the best and it is my opinion that they should always reviewed and some changed.

Click on this link>> [11]> to read an article on P6 User Settings that you should consider changing.

Accelerate you understanding of scheduling software and advance your career with Eastwood Harris books and training material on:

• Microsoft Project,
• Oracle Primavera P6 and
• Elecosoft (Asta) Powerproject 

Paul E Harris, 

Director, 

Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd

Cost Engineering Academy Lab: Advanced Strategies for Cost Estimating

Are you looking to expand your skills in cost estimating and create better, quicker estimates?

Join Elmer Sachteleben, the Head of Cost Engineering Academy, and Vanessa Sutterlüti, Cleopatra expert, as they walk you through the best practices and strategies for cost estimating. 

Our instructors will teach you about how to prepare and evaluate estimates more quickly and accurately, the relation between estimate accuracy and risk, integration and digital strategies, and more.

Agenda

15:30 Session 1

• Introductions
• The fundamentals of cost estimation
• Advanced estimating techniques
• Digital strategies for accurate and quicker estimates
• Q&A

16:30: Coffee Break

16:45 Session 2

• The power of integrating estimation with scheduling and cost control
• How to prevent budget overruns through risk and contingency strategies
• Benchmarking and continuous improvement strategies
• Demo: How to perform cost estimation with Cleopatra Enterprise
• Q&A

17:30: Lab ends

Register for the Lab [13]...

Cost Engineering Database, CESK Release 2020: What's New!

The brand-new release of CESK Data 2020 offers you all knowledge you need to make high-quality estimates. This year's CESK release came with numerous updates and additions.  

Cost Engineering Standard Knowledgebase (CESK) is a reliable source of cost data available. It offers a vast array of information used by companies worldwide. It ensures all your projects can be estimated accurately through the extensive cost database. 

Read more about the CESK Release 2020. [14]

Construction Industry Project Benchmarking: 3 Best Practices

Benchmarking is a powerful tool of project controls, which aims to improve project performance through a systematic approach and it can help construction companies improve their efficiency and effectivity in this competitive environment. 

Read more about the 3 best practices of benchmarking [15]...

San Luis Resort, Galveston Island, Texas JANUARY 17 – 20, 2021

Two keynotes – Seventy-plus breakouts – Six networking events – One conference

Planning & Scheduling 2021, Dealing with Corona Virus and other Black Swan Events

From our host Fred Plotnick:  How to run a railroad if not knowing which way the trains are going?  Plan two tracks!  Registration is OPEN [16]

Since my last quarterly review things obviously with the lockdown ground to a crashing halt. I would have said that I was at an 8-9 out of 10 busy prior to lockdown, with no new jobs registered in early April, until 24th April, and then things started to move again. May was slow and then in June things have steadily improved in terms of jobs registered, companies starting to get back to normal, but it’s far from back to normal. I registered 41 jobs from Jan to March 2020, but to date April to June 16th 2020 13 jobs registered. So it is much quieter than normal as you’d expect, that coupled with so many more Planners looking for work, either due to being let go, made redundant, or on furlough and unhappy with this, it will feel very quiet for job seekers for months to come yet.

At the time of writing we are starting to see more companies get back to work, but it's still slower than pre-lockdown of course, however there are jobs available [17], there are companies hiring and growing. I believe good times are ahead, but it will be rocky for many months ahead and Planners seeking employment will need to seriously consider being more flexible than they normally would with pay expectations or geographical locations they will work.

I continue to work hard, work a full day, every day to maximise the opportunities to help employers and Planners.

Certain sectors are still busy, like those working in technology, as our thirst for data is insatiable, so if you have experience building data centres, semi-conductor, life science or pharmaceutical buildings I’d love to hear from you. Another area that has been relatively stable during the Covid-19 pandemic are those companies working on major capital projects supported by the government, like HS2, Crossrail, Hinkley Point C. I’m keen to speak with experienced highways Planners or Planners with experience of utility diversions and enabling works or heavy civils projects.

Demand for Planners is predominantly for permanent staff, and I do not see this changing any time soon. With the proposed IR35 changes for the private sector on hold until April 2021 [18] it will be interesting to see if employers relax their view point, or continue sticking to their permanent staff only desire.

My thoughts are with you. #staysafe #remainpositive https://constructionfuturesuk.com/ [19]

Anyway, all the best,

Bill Wynn, Director, T: 0203 887 1893 | 07342 334819, E: bill@constructionfuturesuk.com [20]

If you missed our live webinar on coding structures, no problem! Discover the flexibility of ARES PRISM and how organizations can use multiple coding structures with the same data set on a project in this recorded webinar [22].

Organizations use cost codes to manage a project's budget. Oftentimes these cost codes are defined by a singular group within the organization, which leads to headaches and frustration for everyone else involved with the project. With ARES PRISM you can use your own coding structure, and still report information to other stakeholders per their coding requirements. 

A superior alternative to the "most popular" software for us as planners?

Spider Project

Spider Project offers numerous unique functional features and is the only PM software that optimizes resource, cost, and material constrained schedules and budgets for projects and portfolios. 

Check it out here [23]...  Ask questions here [24]...

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