Keep Your Mega Project on Time and Budget by Boosting Collaboration with Engineering Information Management
Authors: Kar Amit , Erickson Vanessa 
Published: November 2020

Objectives/Scope

The complexity and volume of data generated during a major CapEx Project is huge. There can be hundreds of thousands, potentially millions, of documents and records with repeated references to the same data in different formats. The success of a project relies on effective sharing of this data to ensure all team members get the data they need to do their tasks. This only gets more complex as project teams manage changes and details evolve through the life of the project. Maintaining control of the schedule and budget for a Mega Project depends on understanding the status of all this information.

This paper discusses how a data-centric approach to project data paired with robust engineering information management and contextualized in a Project Command Center, acts as a digital project hub to ensure Project teams can stay on top of their information and ensure project success by keeping schedule and costs on track.

Methods, Procedures, Process

The Digital Project Hub is the "Google Maps" of a Mega Project, using click-through, contextual 3D models and hot spotted 2D drawings to get access to relevant engineering. Digitalization of engineering systems enables this approach, leveraging common identifiers from systems with related attributes, status and relationships associated with it. The Project Command Center acts as data aggregator with API’s/Gateways that allow for data to be published from multiple systems into a single portal. The Hub is a true data aggregator, leaving all records in their originating systems, acting as a read-only publishing site.

The system can then be used for reporting, searching, filtering and running consistency checks and analysis between systems of record to catch potential misalignment in data, and inconsistencies in naming conventions, formats and other key data points.

Results, Observations, Conclusions

Traditional file and document management systems consume a huge amount of project resource. Typically project team members can spend between 30-50% of their day looking for the data. Having the data readily available in the Project Command Center virtually eliminates this delay. Projects are also impacted by the accumulated inefficiencyimpacts created as teams/individuals wait for the data they need to complete their tasks, and by the rework caused by errors that are propagated across records in different systems.

Novel/Additive Information

The approach described here is unique in the industry as it offers a true view of a project, sSimultaneously accessing data from multiple teams, crossing contractual and scope boundaries. The Project Command Center becomes the central location to visualize the entire project, enabling collaboration between teams, from engineers to operators. Coupling technical information with status and relationship information enables multi-dimensional filtering and pivoting of project data. The result is a central location where data: is up to date and correct; searchable; visible in context; trustworthy; and easily accessible.

Note: The above abstract was updated on August 25, 2020 to reflect a solution name change from ‘Digital Hub’ to ‘Project Command Center’.