Risk-based Project Controls & Management

In an uncertain business environment increasingly pressured by efficiency as a key competitive advantage, implementing effective project controls in projects and programs has become a critical organizational competency. 

However, project and program controls still follow an immature process in many project-based organizations.  Control metrics and performance indices are very often developed based on empirical approaches, without following well-established international standards and best practices.  Another mistaken tendency is to develop controls solely based on a financial perspective and cash-flow requirements and/or ignoring uncertainty and risk.

Many organizations do not yet establish their own internal standards to support control and performance management in their projects and programs.  Therefore, project and program professionals involved in developing and using project controls for management purposes often are not qualified and do not have the necessary knowledge, skills and expertise to make adequate use of metrics models to support management decisions aimed at making projects and programs to deliver the scope and benefits on objectives under conditions of uncertainty.

Proper project controls require the consideration of various elements of effective planning and data collection, namely: organizing the project scope via a proper WBS, establishing Control Accounts (CAs) and assigning responsibilities, estimating resources, cost and time, developing a schedule integrated with the WBS, establishing proper resource and cost breakdown structures (RBS and CBS), developing cash-flow models, establishing rules of credit for work progress, risk analysis and management, procurement planning, integration with communications management, performance reporting and ultimately sustaining Earned Value Management implementation.

This course covers exhaustively all the above elements and offers and hands-on approach, with real life examples, to effective project and program schedule development and delay management.

Session 1

•          Introduction to project controls and risk management
•          International standards and related professional certifications
•          Identifying management and stakeholders’ requirements
•          Defining the management questions to be addressed
•          Establishing the scope and resource requirements of the Project Controls system
•          Organizing the Project Scope and Responsibility Assignment

Session 2

•          Cost Estimating and Budgeting
•          Schedule Development
•          Resource Estimating and Planning
•          Cash-flow estimating and planning
•          Risk Analysis and Planning
•          Procurement Requirements and Considerations

Session 3

•          Using Project Controls in Execution and Control
•          Data collection
•          Variance Response and Management by Exception
•          Integrated change control and re-baselining considerations
•          Considerations for contract management
•          Improving the project controls system

• Over 25 years of professional international experience as a consultant and trainer in Project Management and Cost Engineering.
• Senior Consultant for the Cutter Consortium, Business Agility & Software Engineering Excellence Practice (Boston, USA) (2001 – present)
• Lead Author / Core Team member for ISO21512 – “EVM Implementation Guide” (2019 – 2021)

• Member of the Advisory Panel of International Experts for the Government Accountability Office (GAO – USA) having reviewed the 2nd Ed of the Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide published in 2020 (2016 – 2019)

• Coordinator of Portugal’s Technical Commission for the ISO Working Groups for Project Management (21500), EVM (21508), and WBS (21511) (2016- 2020)