NEC3 Advanced Practice : the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

• Use of Earned Value Analysis (EVA) with activity schedules to improve and integrate time and cost reporting. EVA goes beyond cost / value reconciliation to gives a set of metrics which integrate time & cost. Trends can be identified by plotting these on a simple diagram. While EVA can be done manually, good software enables this to be done automatically and for senior management to drill down from programme to project to activity level.
• Collaborative communication systems to improve change management. There are currently two systems on the market designed specifically for the administration / management of NEC contracts. By following the procedural logic of the NEC, they both help people do the good project management embedded in the NEC3 family of contract and make people much more accountable for doing it. Two systems are reviewed, one through a live demonstration.
• Active  Risk (Threat & Opportunity) Management to give greater certainty to all, and  increased profit to the Contractor & more Value to the Employer. The session on managing threats focuses on practical tips to translate actions identified in a risk register into hard actions to minimise uncertainty. The sessions on opportunities gives a visual methodology for identifying both design and programme savings and what needs to be put in place for clients to be able to add in value improving opportunities as threats are managed out and cost and programme savings are managed in.

Advancing programming practices :

• the Last Planner ^TM technique gives greater certainty of delivering on time. It has been used successfully on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the construction part of Terminal 5 to deliver projects on time and cost. Whilst it is derived from the Lean practices used so successfully in the manufacturing industries, it is adapted for use in a project environment.
• Critical Chain project management is the first ‘paradigm shift’ in how to programme and manage a project since PERT was developed in the 1950’s. Its use is gaining rapid acceptance in the USA. If you aren’t using any of the techniques in the methodology, then your projects probably have a 90% chance of over running. If you fully embrace it, then they have 90% chance of beating the time for Completion.
•  Use of incentives to improve supply chain performance. Up to now, target cost contracts, frameworks and alliances have been the contractual mechanisms which underpin partnering and collaborative working. They presume open-book accounting, which is unrealistic for many members of the supply chain. This session focuses on the use of incentives under priced based contracts to drive improved performance. When used intelligently, research from the USA indicates a 400% Return on Investment from the use of incentives
• Avoiding & winning Adjudications : Adjudications cost a lot of money with a winner takes all outcome. This session explores how to ideally avoid Adjudication, and also, if needs must, the tactics for winning one.