Over Budget Not an Option
March 09, 2009
Does the phrase “we can just add it into the budget” sound familiar? While it’s never an ideal solution to a problem, it unfortunately becomes the applied solution in many projects. But what if this method was absolutely not an option?
Roughly $140 billion of the current Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been earmarked for construction projects, all under the stipulation that project teams need to have better oversight on funds being allocated. Naturally this creates a prime opportunity for using technology.
A good place to start is with having the right tools that help you track projects. A better place, says Jon Antevy, cofounder and CEO, e-Builder, www.e-builder.net, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., is having the means to actually control your projects. He says risk management has become a driving factor—more than ever before—for large owner organizations to use technology. Integrated cost control, scheduling, process, change, and document management functions provide a higher level of control for owners—control that is desperately needed from the top level when working with a set amount of funds.
“It becomes risk management,” says Antevy, “helping figure out which projects to work on, which have the best rate of return, and you need to have the means in place to answer such questions.”
Embracing standard workflows forces people to follow processes and standards, says Antevy, adding that this strategy helps to eliminate the “I didn’t see that” with regards to everyday project tasks. Having and enforcing such standards from the top down can also eliminate a lot of the impulse decisions that happen at the jobsite—often skewing the budget.
“There is that notion of fear that if I don’t meet budgets I will get fired,” adds Antevy, “but having technology to help control costs and add that transparency into funds (helps alleviate that fear).”
Aside from the technology, e-Builder has been focusing a lot of effort around educating its customers on the various strategies associated with risk management. The company hosts Webinars directed by industry consultants and other thought leaders, covering such areas as effectively managing performance risk and risks associated with executing a large capital construction program, among others.