News

To the next level

July 2006

Keeping pace with technology can be a full time occupation but falling behind could result in your competitors gaining a strategic advantage.

Quality on demand

Many companies are now looking towards on-demand process solutions, especially with project changes costing industry thousands of pounds. Project specialist David Weaver of Logical Minds looks at how these solutions can be used to cut unnecessary costs…

“Nobody can prevent clients enforcing change onto projects – some changes are necessary, some unavoidable. Yet while changes to projects will remain a costly issue to many businesses, it is the lack of change management and change control that is cutting unnecessarily into everyone’s profits.

“In the building services, construction and architectural sectors in particular, the number of changes by clients to projects that are already underway is costing suppliers an unnecessary amount of money and aggravation. Clients usually want a fixed price to know where they stand and often expect the supplier to factor in the cost of any changes to plans and products. The result is that on two like projects, each with fees of £200,000, an architect can deliver one with a substantial project profit whilst another will leave him with a 5% loss.

“By involving all key stakeholders in a project, both the supplier and the client can get a much clearer picture of the project requirements and feasibility, identifying many areas for change before the project gets underway. Sometimes, one of the biggest issues that people face during the project is achieving a consistent quality of work from so many different members of a project team, therefore it is critical that the project is tightly managed.

“So, combining all this into an intelligent on-demand process can enable the right information being available for the right people at the right time and facilitate strong and proactive decision making, resulting in significant savings in costs, time and frustration

“A good on-demand process consists of four main elements:

Providing accurate and up-to-date information to the whole team
This helps to ensure that any changes made at one site to plans or product specifications are updated at every other site involved in the project and for each team member involved in the process.

“Available both within the organisation and remotely
This will allow the effective administration, management and distribution of project information between all key locations, for example, enabling drawings and materials delivery details to be passed between companies, offices and the construction site.

“Driven by a highly visual yet simple user interface
The aim of a good process solution is to ensure the management of a process is as simple and streamlined as possible; effective processes do not need to be, or look, complicated and actually guide you through the process so that you don’t need to read a manual.

“The process must fit your business
It is important to review and document your existing processes, then you will be able to actually follow through and implement an on-demand process that both meets your needs and is integrated with your existing systems. In this way companies improve the efficiency of working methods and make good use of their investment in existing systems.

“Investment in on-demand process solutions is being taken on board more and more, as suppliers see the benefits to their business and recognise that the cost of such solutions can be quickly recovered in terms of resultant ongoing time savings.”