Insights

Enhancing A Multi-Billion Dollar Project with Risk Management and Machine Learning

High voltage power lines with stormy sky

Overview

A leader in sustainable energy solutions, this utility client partnered with PFES to create advanced Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards and Risk Management tools for large-scale projects. This strategic initiative aimed to equip our client’s new team with tools to enhance both project risk management and financial & scheduling analysis. They plan to implement these tools and enhancements organization-wide.

Project Background

This new team was established to manage a multi-billion-dollar, 800-mile transmission line project spanning across four states. The project’s complexity and scale required robust project management tools and an integrated system to improve financial tracking, scheduling, and risk management. With minimal documented processes and little prior experience in such projects, the client sought PFES’ consultative expertise.

Strategic Initiative and Objectives

We collaborated to understand the team’s unique needs, focusing on developing comprehensive risk management dashboards and a Risk Register for different management levels.

Our approach involved:

Risk Management Plans and Tools
PFES developed detailed risk management plans at the Project, Program, and Portfolio levels, following ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and PMI (Project Management Institute) guidelines. These plans provided a structured method for identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks.
Risk Register
An Excel-based Risk Register was created to document and analyze risks, facilitating risk prioritization and tracking the effectiveness of mitigation strategies.
Risk Management Dashboard
Integrated with the risk register, this dashboard provides real-time insights into risk severity and mitigation efforts, offering a detailed view of threats and opportunities, and enhancing decision-making.
Cost Reporting Dashboard
Visualizes cost data, enabling real-time monitoring of actuals versus budget and providing detailed insights at both the budget line item and executive level views.
Schedule Reporting Dashboard
Replacing PowerPoint reporting, this BI dashboard allows for interactive schedule tracking and variance analysis, reflecting data pulled from Primavera P6.
Machine Learning Tool
Leveraging historical risk data, PFES developed a custom AI model specifically designed to address our client’s two biggest risk impacts: higher costs and schedule delays. This tailored solution accurately predicts cost overruns and schedule delays for specific risks, with a classification rate of roughly 80%. Integrated into a BI dashboard, the AI model provides insights into the risks with the highest potential cost and schedule impacts through filtering and drill down capabilities.

Implementation and Impact

The deliverables were integrated into our client’s operations, addressing cost, schedule, reputation, scope, and safety. The Project Risk Management Plan was implemented immediately on this critical project, which is a testament to the tools’ effectiveness.

Key outcomes included:

Enhanced Risk Identification and Mitigation
The risk management plans and Risk Register enabled rapid risk identifications, reducing project uncertainty.
Improved Financial Tracking
The Cost Reporting Dashboard offered clear financial performance insights, fostering accountability and informed decision-making.
Optimized Scheduling
The Schedule Reporting Dashboard allowed detailed variance analysis, improving project scheduling and resource allocation.
Predictive Analytics
The Machine Learning Tool provided valuable predictions on risk probabilities and impacts, aiding proactive risk management.

A Robust Foundation for the Future

This collaboration provided our client with a robust risk management framework and advanced BI capabilities, laying a solid foundation for this and future projects. Their proactive staff embraced PFES’ recommendations and seamlessly integrated the new tools and plans into their workflows. To ensure sustained success, PFES is providing actionable recommendations in the short and long term.

Overall, the partnership established a strong foundation for our client’s transmission projects, supporting their growth and success in the sustainable energy sector. PFES looks forward to continuing to support their innovative projects.