Mega Projects Performance & Predictive Analytics

Predictive Analytics have found fertile grounds in various sectors and applications over the past 2 decades; mainly in the financial and telecom services sectors and for such

applications in marketing, as for example, for customer churn prevention, fraud detection, cross & upselling campaigns, credit scoring, etc. 
Most recently, the new buzzwords and capabilities in the analytics world are the ones like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

In the manufacturing operations and maintenance, Predictive Analytics have been applied sporadically for preventive maintenance and even in more rare occasions for failure root cause analyses and online fault modeling for operator guidance and decision support.

Nowadays, the EPC industry is set to pay attention to Predictive Analytics as part of their #digitaltransformation and #EPC4.0 initiatives. In late 2018, a leading EPC, Fluor, announced an initiative to apply Predictive Analytics for project performance, and this is great news. Especially for those who pay the bill, that is, owner/operators of projects and #megaprojects.

Yet, you may wonder how this can be achieved. On one hand, history of projects data is needed.  The more projects’ history available, the better, and as long as the data is or can be normalized.

Secondly, such history should also contain extensive asset – specific work steps history for all phases; if possible, from FEL 1, 2, 3 stages, down to the detailed engineering, procurement construction and pre-commissioning phases.  When such data is collected, SEMMA (Sample, Explore, Modify, Model, Assess) methodologies can be applied to analyze and find related predictors and dependent variables, as for example cost, schedule and quality variations.

With the emergence of the above – mentioned initiatives (#digitaltransformation and #EPC4), in the EPC domain, it will be interesting to watch if and when owner/operators and EPCs take advantage of such possibilities. Megaproject performances over the years confirm that insight into past performances can be the mother of improvement.

Mega Projects, EPC 4 & Digital Transformation

Interesting white paper https://bit.ly/2GXB6hN on the subject of #EPC4 by German Think Tank. Very applicable and true for #megaprojects.

Despite the impressive results of #megaprojects, stakeholders (before, during and after) seem to agree that collaboration over all phases and all disciplines needs improvements, and so do the project data quality, integrity and interchange. Enter the hundreds of thousands of work steps involved in projects, this Think Tank team has a valid point. Obviously, #digitaltransformation and #EPC4 are related.  In their article, https://bit.ly/2GX6g8J, Forbes make also a great point, which,  although related to their own industry, rings a bell when it refers to silos of departments and data. Data that have to do with both ... assets and project work steps. Worth reading both links. 

BIM + SIM = Turning MegaProjects to MegaSuccesses

MegaProjects are MegaChallenges

Are you a stakeholder for an on-going or a new megaproject? It could be an new airport, a hospital, a stadium, a highway or  manufacturing facility with tens of thousands of assets. Project teams may be relying on a first class BIM Solution to manage your project, which is great, yet, you want to do better when it comes to the mega challenges of project cost, schedule and quality. Why? Simply, there is always room for improvement.
How to do better?
1.  Go beyond BIM with BIM+SIM
Why? Because SIM (System Information Model) can combine BIM asset data with critical EIT (Electrical, Instrumentation and Telecommuncation) asset information.
2. Improve the way your project teams collaborate over the entire project lifecycleWhy again? Because project teams develop enormous amount of data with various software applications used by different disciplines. This includes BIM data that describe thousands of assets, asset design data and project activities, supplier and cost data, schedule and work step data, construction, commissioning and handover completions, etc. Along the way, for this “tzunami” of data, quality, consistency and proper use suffers. Lack of data consistency and lack of adequate collaboration leads to frustration. And as time passes, finger pointing and confrontations begin. Procurement department blames Engineering, Construction blames both, and, at the end of the project lifecycle, Pre-commissioning and Handover blame everyone else.Digital Asset Delivery over the entire Project LifeCycle can help using Deming’s PDCA principles.Until now, there has not been a single framework that can bring together all tag - based, asset design data and project activities information in near real time, thus empowering effective collaboration for project teams.
Digital Asset Delivery, powered by DAD software and Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) framework, can help megaproject teams and stakeholders do better. All project data comes together in a comprehensive, cloud-based environment, so that everyone can see, from anywhere in the world, and from any device (laptops, tablets and smart phones), all information about who did what, when and how, under a sustainable project governance framework for project data management.
Digital Asset Delivery combines BIM + SIM asset data from all disciplines and project activities over all phases of a megaproject lifecycle. Even with multiple contractors, projects and locations involved, this “game changer” approach can provide consistent information and collaboration globally including multi - contractor interface management.
Benefits from Cost, Schedule and Quality savings in megaprojects can be in the range of tens of millions of USD.