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Control and Risk Mitigation Whitepaper

Greg Fry
Greg Fry

This whitepaper discusses how construction business owners can use collaboration software to better mitigate risks and improve project control. Such software allows all project documents and communications to be stored in a central, secure location with controlled access. This provides transparency, accountability, and an audit trail to help prevent disputes and litigation. The software also enables powerful workflows and drawing collaboration to improve communication among stakeholders. Maintaining a comprehensive record of all project data in collaboration software prepares owners to handle any future claims and disputes.

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IMPROVE CONTROL AND MITIGATE RISK THROUGH COLLABORATION SOFTWARE WHITE PAPER Executive Summary This whitepaper presents ways that business owners canmoreeffectivelymitigatefactorsthatderailcontrol, while also building an essential audit trail, improving workflow, and encouraging better communication across internal and external stakeholders by using collaboration technology.
Focus on what you can control. Thats a piece of advice especially relevant to owners of construction businesses and worth heeding for best financial success and project execution. Owners inevitably face project delays, cost overruns, disputes, and litigation on many of their construction projects. The capital projects and infrastructure group of PwC outlined the many causes of cost overruns (see illustration). Source: PWC. Correcting the Course of Capital Projects. October 2013. Most owners expect their projects to experience many or all of the cost overruns causes described by PwC, particularly with larger projects that involve numerous stakeholders, procedures, and documents. Many factors are impossible to fully eliminate, let alone control in any meaningful manner, and as such, owners will build the necessary contingencies and protections into their contracts to manage their risk exposure. This approach can be problematic, largely due to inadequate communications, as PwC proposes: Communication problems are often at the root of troubled projects. There may be a lack of communications between the top executives and the project management team. The project manager may warn that a project is running over budget and behind schedule, but the message may not reach the C-suite and board before problems get out of hand.i While we concede that miscommunication is hard to eliminate, it can be much easier to control when employing the right tools and processes, as this whitepaper will briefly describe. Indeed, a study released last year by McGraw Hill Construction offered research indicating that the more integration and better communication are the most effective mitigating factors against overall uncertainty.ii There are key ways to control the environment: proper transparency of controls, clear accountability of responsibilities, and a meaningful audit trail of information to make sure people are performing their required roles effectively.iii Documentation, Prevention, and Litigation According to more explanation from PwC, one of the early indicators of project trouble is a lack of indicators, because nobody has an understanding of where the project really stands. In an effort to get projects back on course, experts advise that construction businesses should maintain a comprehensive audit trail. That attention will help project owners and contractors prevent disputes and stay out of the courtroom. However, litigation is always a possibility, so all parties should thoroughly document project decisions and developments. Its important to have documentation of records of delays as well as the causes and impacts. IMPROVE CONTROL AND MITIGATE RISK THROUGH COLLABORATION SOFTWARE viewpoint.com | 800.333.3197
When you start a detailed analysis of documents, you often find that either one of the parties hasnt retained the right records or the records arent accurate or they cant be located, says Neil Broadhead, PwC UK partner. You need a robust set of processes to capture the right documents to support any claim or defend any claim should a project go so badly wrong that it ends up in dispute.iv A complete record of all project data is essential to resolving future disputes and issues, and parties should retain an auditable record of communication and decisions. By managing the information and owning the data, owners are best prepared to handle claims having a complete record of history and details. The best way for an owner to protect themselves is collecting information efficiently and managing it effectively, as well as have a means to monitor projects as closely as possible. For the owner, it is far more cost effective in the long run to accept a fair portion of project risk and do a very good job overseeing rather than driving everything down stream. Technology can play an important part in this initiative, helping construction business owners gain complete confidence that all information for a particular project or process is completely safe and has a full audit trail. Take Control with Technology Many owners and contractors rely on software solutions like Viewpoint For Project Collaboration (VPC) to improve communication through all phases of a project, from design through to asset management. It provides a single location for project documents, allowing controlled access to all stakeholders within a private cloud environment. Below are some key product features to look for in a collaboration solution: Project focused document management Powerful workflow system and workflow management Licensing model designed not to inhibit wide adoption by all parties in a project Drawing collaboration and markup Cloud hosted for easy deployment and adoption So not only can you easily see all project-related communication in one central location, you can create workflows with a drag-and-drop tool that is incredibly easy to learn for any user. Administrators can build workflows and then template them for use on subsequent projects. Further simplifying the process, VPC lets people use tools they already count on daily (email) and simply send their message to a designated address that sends that information to a folder in VPC. This user-friendly workflow makes it a major adoption driver for the wide ecosystem of users, both internal and external. i PWC. Correcting the Course of Capital Projects. October 2013. ii McGraw Hill Construction, SmartMarket Report. Managing Uncertainty and Expectations in Building Design and Construction. 2014. iii PWC. iv PWC. viewpoint.com | 800.333.3197 息 2015 Viewpoint, Inc. dba Viewpoint Construction Software. All Rights Reserved. Viewpoint速, Viewpoint Construction Software速, Viewpoint V6 Software速, Vista by Viewpoint, ProContractor by Viewpoint, Viewpoint For Content Management, Viewpoint For Mobile, 4Projects速, Viewpoint For Project Collaboration and Viewpoint For Estimating are trademarks or registered trademarks of Viewpoint, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

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Control and Risk Mitigation Whitepaper

  • 1. IMPROVE CONTROL AND MITIGATE RISK THROUGH COLLABORATION SOFTWARE WHITE PAPER Executive Summary This whitepaper presents ways that business owners canmoreeffectivelymitigatefactorsthatderailcontrol, while also building an essential audit trail, improving workflow, and encouraging better communication across internal and external stakeholders by using collaboration technology.
  • 2. Focus on what you can control. Thats a piece of advice especially relevant to owners of construction businesses and worth heeding for best financial success and project execution. Owners inevitably face project delays, cost overruns, disputes, and litigation on many of their construction projects. The capital projects and infrastructure group of PwC outlined the many causes of cost overruns (see illustration). Source: PWC. Correcting the Course of Capital Projects. October 2013. Most owners expect their projects to experience many or all of the cost overruns causes described by PwC, particularly with larger projects that involve numerous stakeholders, procedures, and documents. Many factors are impossible to fully eliminate, let alone control in any meaningful manner, and as such, owners will build the necessary contingencies and protections into their contracts to manage their risk exposure. This approach can be problematic, largely due to inadequate communications, as PwC proposes: Communication problems are often at the root of troubled projects. There may be a lack of communications between the top executives and the project management team. The project manager may warn that a project is running over budget and behind schedule, but the message may not reach the C-suite and board before problems get out of hand.i While we concede that miscommunication is hard to eliminate, it can be much easier to control when employing the right tools and processes, as this whitepaper will briefly describe. Indeed, a study released last year by McGraw Hill Construction offered research indicating that the more integration and better communication are the most effective mitigating factors against overall uncertainty.ii There are key ways to control the environment: proper transparency of controls, clear accountability of responsibilities, and a meaningful audit trail of information to make sure people are performing their required roles effectively.iii Documentation, Prevention, and Litigation According to more explanation from PwC, one of the early indicators of project trouble is a lack of indicators, because nobody has an understanding of where the project really stands. In an effort to get projects back on course, experts advise that construction businesses should maintain a comprehensive audit trail. That attention will help project owners and contractors prevent disputes and stay out of the courtroom. However, litigation is always a possibility, so all parties should thoroughly document project decisions and developments. Its important to have documentation of records of delays as well as the causes and impacts. IMPROVE CONTROL AND MITIGATE RISK THROUGH COLLABORATION SOFTWARE viewpoint.com | 800.333.3197
  • 3. When you start a detailed analysis of documents, you often find that either one of the parties hasnt retained the right records or the records arent accurate or they cant be located, says Neil Broadhead, PwC UK partner. You need a robust set of processes to capture the right documents to support any claim or defend any claim should a project go so badly wrong that it ends up in dispute.iv A complete record of all project data is essential to resolving future disputes and issues, and parties should retain an auditable record of communication and decisions. By managing the information and owning the data, owners are best prepared to handle claims having a complete record of history and details. The best way for an owner to protect themselves is collecting information efficiently and managing it effectively, as well as have a means to monitor projects as closely as possible. For the owner, it is far more cost effective in the long run to accept a fair portion of project risk and do a very good job overseeing rather than driving everything down stream. Technology can play an important part in this initiative, helping construction business owners gain complete confidence that all information for a particular project or process is completely safe and has a full audit trail. Take Control with Technology Many owners and contractors rely on software solutions like Viewpoint For Project Collaboration (VPC) to improve communication through all phases of a project, from design through to asset management. It provides a single location for project documents, allowing controlled access to all stakeholders within a private cloud environment. Below are some key product features to look for in a collaboration solution: Project focused document management Powerful workflow system and workflow management Licensing model designed not to inhibit wide adoption by all parties in a project Drawing collaboration and markup Cloud hosted for easy deployment and adoption So not only can you easily see all project-related communication in one central location, you can create workflows with a drag-and-drop tool that is incredibly easy to learn for any user. Administrators can build workflows and then template them for use on subsequent projects. Further simplifying the process, VPC lets people use tools they already count on daily (email) and simply send their message to a designated address that sends that information to a folder in VPC. This user-friendly workflow makes it a major adoption driver for the wide ecosystem of users, both internal and external. i PWC. Correcting the Course of Capital Projects. October 2013. ii McGraw Hill Construction, SmartMarket Report. Managing Uncertainty and Expectations in Building Design and Construction. 2014. iii PWC. iv PWC. viewpoint.com | 800.333.3197 息 2015 Viewpoint, Inc. dba Viewpoint Construction Software. All Rights Reserved. Viewpoint速, Viewpoint Construction Software速, Viewpoint V6 Software速, Vista by Viewpoint, ProContractor by Viewpoint, Viewpoint For Content Management, Viewpoint For Mobile, 4Projects速, Viewpoint For Project Collaboration and Viewpoint For Estimating are trademarks or registered trademarks of Viewpoint, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.