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Developing a Capital Program Set of Processes

Client Situation:  The client was a North American refining company with a history of executing multiple small projects designed simply to keep their facilities running.  Following their acquisition by a company that had more ambitious expansion plans, they sought our assistance in developing a robust project management system to handle the more complex projects in their long range plan.

Endeavor Management Solution:  Working with the client, we first "separated variables."  We agreed that the situation called for three functionalities:

• A Capital Management Process used to select projects to be funded based on conformance with the company's business objectives and resource availability with a prioritization system enabling projects with different types of justification to be compared.  
• A stage gate Project Management Process providing a detailed work flow with
• ­Explanations of why things need to be done as well as what things need to be done
• ­Well defined deliverables for each step
• ­A standardized, flexible project organization framework with explicitly defined roles and responsibilities tied to deliverables
• ­Guidelines for preparation of key deliverables (e.g., Commercial Objectives, Project Plans, etc.), key activities (kick-off and alignment meetings, constructability reviews, gate reviews, etc.) and key sub-processes (change control, risk management, etc.)
• ­Miscellaneous forms and other tools (e.g., funding request forms, risk score card, project status reports, etc.)
• A Best Practices Center which is the custodian for all documentation, keeping it up to date and incorporating lessons learned . The Center also organizes on-going training and real time coaching, while facilitating selected project activities.

In executing this work, we also designed targeted changes in the organization that would enhance project performance.  Key among these changes were:

• ­Creation of an administrative group to house and nurture project    management skill sets
• ­Consolidating diversely managed engineering/design capabilities into a single unit.

Once these systems were ready for deployment, a communications and training program was implemented.  Communications vehicles included emails, letters, posters, and brochures explaining the purpose of the new processes and outlining how they work.  The training program included:  

• ­High level "awareness" training for executives and support personnel (e.g., IT, accounting, etc.)
• ­Detailed overview training for personnel directly involved in the processes.
• ­Role-based training focusing on each of several key roles in a project team.

Following the launch of the new processes, we provided continued support with real time coaching on individual projects and with targeted follow-up training.

Results & Benefits:  

• ­Significantly improved understanding and governance of the capital program
• ­Reduced recycle and improved decision-making by making it easier to "think through" project selection and execution.  
• ­Expedited execution by eliminating the need for personnel to create their own methods and tools in real time.
• ­Provided a scalable methodology that is being used with the traditional small projects as well as more complex and ambitious projects