As referenced in our previous post, the capable owner is the key foundation pillar for project 13 to have any chance of success. It is, by far, the most complicated and difficult to achieve. This may sound offensive to owners of construction and infrastructure assets, but when you consider the current culture of these industries, you can see the challenges that lie in creating capability. Traditional practice in construction and infrastructure worldwide is to establish an adversarial contractual relationship and hire contract gurus (otherwise known as bullies) to make sure the company they represent wins in a win/lose contest.
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| Managing the value chain is coming via Project 13's capable owners to construction and infrastructure |
The key principle for capable owners in their attempt to address this cultural destruction is to develop long term B2B relationships, built on trust and transparency. Various contract forms have been developed to assist with this (ECI, PPP, NEC etc), but the key to success is having business relationships that value the partnership first and the contract second. The contract should only be there in the event of divorce, not as the driving management document of the project.
The value that can be unlocked, when this type of environment is established, is massive. Labor costs can be dramatically reduced due to reduced administration, reduced re-work, and more efficient planning. With focus on outcomes, the total life costs of the asset can be dramatically reduced as more efficient fixtures and materials are invested in and installed effectively to reduce long-term maintenance. Combine all these elements and you have a lot of $ to play with. If this is distributed effectively along the value chain so that all players share in the success, then relationship bonds should be strengthened, and hence the next investment should unlock even more value.
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| With UniPhi, being a capable owner doesn't have to be a pie in the sky |
Of course, for any grisly grey-haired player in the industry, this is pie in the sky stuff. BUT, just like the value unlocked from the use of cross-functional teams on collaborative platforms on projects WITHIN a company, those owners who do succeed (and their associated suppliers) are going to be swimming in blue ocean.
With UniPhi, we believe capable owners have the system that can support a lot of the leg work that goes into making the pie appear in the sky. UniPhi has both the transparent project controls framework that clearly displays current turnout costs, profitability, and resource load. It also has collaborative elements that foster complex adaptive teams. It is this second element that really drives the value. Unlike other construction collaboration tools that have effectively "paved a cow path" on RFIs, UniPhi's issues and risks modules provide a platform for multiple companies to comment on, rate and escalate key items that are going to endanger the successful outcomes the team is aiming for. Our issues system is the simplest module across the software, and yet supports the development of teams to manage complexity and allow for the emergence of two key principles in a complex project management environment.
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| With UniPhi, your reports are instantly live and viewable by all, with transactional data one click away |
Imagine a dashboard that shows accurate, live earned value performance that formulates instant estimate at completion forecasts alongside of key issues and risks that are being addressed with conversations on those issues and risks one click away. Milestones, achieved recently and about to be achieved, are also displayed as are resources that are near or over capacity and key supply contracts that have to be let, if lag items are going to be delivered on time.
All of this information on one page, with the underlying transactional data one click away. That's how you become a capable owner.
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