I have been involved in different aspects of Project Control for over forty years, and one thing that has not changed is the pressure that Cost and Planning Engineers are put under to issue the weekly and monthly reports.

One thing that I have learned however is that when you have produced the report, and before you publish it, take a few minutes off and then sit down and re-read it thoroughly. The question that you have to answer is ‘DO YOU BELIEVE IT.’ If you don’t believe it, then you will find it impossible to convince others that it is correct.

Do You Believe It On The Project Schedule?

From the Planning Engineers perspective, check the critical path and ask ‘DO YOU BELIEVE IT.’ You would be surprised how often after you have applied all of the progress data, from multiple sources, that the critical path goes through some leads or lags that were only put in to position a series of activities, because it was decided that adding proper logic was not necessary. Therefore this logic needs to be adjusted which might impact on the findings of your report.

The period progress figures should be checked against the last period’s values. If you are measuring engineering progress against document count, has the total number of documents been changed? If so ‘DO YOU BELIEVE IT’ or has the changed been made to influence the progress data.

If the delivery metric has suddenly shot up, has the material really arrived at the site or has someone assumed that it has because the vendor has reported shipping it.

Do You Believe It On The Project Cost?

The Cost Engineer should compare the current reports forecast final cost figures with those published in the previous report. Where there are significant changes, it should beg the question ‘DO YOU BELIEVE IT.’ What have you added or deleted that has made this change of value?

If a cost saving is indicated, is it real or have the costs been reallocated to other areas of the project which have yet to be adjusted? Has the scope of one contract been reduced but a new contract has yet to be added?

If a cost growth is indicated, what mitigations have been included within the narrative section of the report? Are these possible or wishful thinking? ‘DO YOU BELIEVE IT’; what is mentioned in the Risk Register?

These are just some of the actions that you can take but I would always say “DO YOU BELIEVE IT’ before you publish a report.

About The Author, Tony Cort

Tony has over 40 years experience in the petrochemical and nuclear industries covering both offshore and onshore work. 

He has worked on engineering and construction phases of many projects and has completed working assignments both in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Far East and Canada. He has also been responsible for managing an organisation, staffing, training, procedures and input into proposals, as well as being a Company Representative for client liaison and contract negotiations. 

He has now semi-retired and is a training consultant.   

Connect with Tony via LinkedIn or email at [email protected].