Trevor Drury explains how an anonymous reporting system can help to avoid a project crisis.
Trevor Drury
Profit warnings in the last few months from many of the main contractors in the industry have turned the spotlight on their problems in identifying and dealing with project risk before it becomes a problem, claim or dispute.
Disputes can arise when there is a breakdown in the communication and reporting system within a project team. This can be because of the processes used, or strained relationships that prevent accurate status reporting and identification of potential risks.
One option for clients is the Radar dispute avoidance horizon-scanning service from Resolex, which has been used on commercial property, higher education, and transport and infrastructure projects. It is currently being used on the £1bn Crossrail East extension into Kent and East Anglia and an “exemplar” project at the University of East Anglia.
Members of the project team are often reluctant to report problems for fear of retribution or being subject to “shooting the messenger”. Radar approaches this problem from a different perspective and bridges the gap between reported data
to management, and site gossip or the “gut instincts” of the project team.
Radar captures team conversations and instincts confidentially and anonymously, using Resolex’s project evaluation software. This data is then analysed by the Radar expert panel members.
- In one example, Radar identified risk on a project where a better floor finish and dust extraction system than that specified was required to prevent the client’s sensitive equipment from failing. Early identification of this problem avoided the potential disaster of the client not being able to operate its new building.
- In another case a university’s reputation was being damaged by the poor state of road access caused by construction vehicles. This was having a negative impact across the university and casting the project in a poor light.
- In another project there was a clash of personalities and breakdown of the relationship between senior managers. Radar panel members worked confidentially with the individuals concerned to restructure the project reporting and clear the communications blockage. This prevented a delay to completion and further associated costs.
First questions
The involvement of Radar begins with a start-up meeting and selection of an appropriate expert panel, which is approved by the client or project team. The panel members run a workshop or combine it with the initiation workshop of the project. Risk areas are discussed and agreed, as are evaluation questions. Identifying how each team member views risk is a useful insight.
The system is explained to the project team and stakeholders – including the anonymous questionnaire process. The date for publication of the Radar reports are set in line with the project programme and an email is sent to members of the team who have been selected to contribute. Each is given a unique login and password to access the questionnaire. At each reporting period team members are contacted by email with a link to the new questionnaire.
The Radar expert panel members process the data with X–Tracker software, which provides analysis, trending, collation and mapping tools to produce periodic reports from the questionnaires. This highlights areas of potential risk and concerns that require further attention.
The report is issued to the whole project team. The contributions are anonymous and only the expert panel knows the identity of the contributors. This enables Radar to deal with subjects that would not be aired in project meetings.
Radar separates “soft risks” from “technical risks”. Soft risks are a consequence of projects being built and managed by human beings, each with their own personalities, drives, concerns and values. They are identified in workshops with the project team and stakeholders.
Technical risks should have been recorded in a risk register. However, they can often be missed because of a lack of engagement of personnel or absence of an unthreatening environment in which to identify and explore those risks.
Radar’s response is to collect and validate risk information anonymously. It also provides evidence of what individuals feel about the technical risks logged on the risk register, and soft risks that have not been previously captured.
Used alongside traditional project management reporting processes, Radar should identify problems and risks early. It can be used with any type of contract, but fits well with the ethos of the NEC contract and others that use early warnings as part of the contractual mechanism for identifying risks and problems.
Trevor Drury is managing director of Morecraft Drury. He is an expert witness and accredited mediator at Resolex. www.resolex.com
