Cost and schedule risk analysis is fundamental to project success. Whether you’re undertaking a large-scale capital project that takes months to complete or something less resource intensive, understanding the risks that threaten to derail it is crucial.
However, finding a platform capable of performing both procedures simultaneously and in a way that simplifies the process of communicating the results to shareholders, isn’t easy. But with such a platform, the workload for project control professionals is reduced and the accuracy of cost forecasts is increased.
In our latest video case study, Safran's Mark Franklin discusses this very subject with Sam Steiman, Director of Power Services at MPR Associates, at June’s AACE convention. Sam outlines exactly what MPR Associates looks for in cost/risk analysis software and why they chose Safran to be their software provider.
Robust and Flexible Risk Analysis
MPR Associates is an engineering and project consulting firm with over 50 years of industry experience. They specialize in delivering complex projects – those that face major engineering challenges or involve first of its kind technologies. More recently, MPR has worked closely on several US government projects.
Their primary goal is to validate project baselines before they go into execution. This includes ensuring the project is funded at the right confidence levels, with appropriate schedule and cost reserves in place should they encounter any obstacles along the way.
As such, it’s important MPR has a clear understanding of the risks that drive those reserves and their impact on the original cost and schedule estimates should they hit. To achieve this, they need integrated cost/schedule risk analysis software that’s both robust and flexible. Sam Steiman discusses this in more detail, saying:
From an integrated cost/schedule risk analysis perspective, we really need to know what phase of the project is going to be extended if a schedule risk hits because we need to make sure the correct daily burn rate carries on.
For example, if construction gets delayed, you don’t want to be accruing a construction daily burn rate [when] you’re in the design or pre-construction phase. You’ve got to make sure you’re incurring the correct project load cost extension, and not over penalizing or under penalizing yourself.
Why MPR Associates Chose Safran
Alongside our integrated cost and schedule risk analysis software, Safran Risk boasts an assortment of unique features that have proved invaluable to MPR in the past. Sensitivity analysis, in particular, has been of huge benefit when it comes to organizing and ranking project risk.
It does this by incorporating the various risks that threaten a project into a single model, disabling them one at a time in order to gauge the impact on reserve or contingency, based on the original criteria.
As Sam points out, this takes risk analysis one stage further. It gives stakeholders and project teams a detailed list of the potential risks that threaten their project, which helps them to adjust their cost and schedule estimates over the course of the project with greater confidence and accuracy.
Moreover, the data produced by these sensitivity tests is presented in a way that businesspeople understand — money and delayed days. Rather than vague percentages or sensitivity values that those outside the industry will struggle to decipher.
Sam highlights this as a key differentiator for choosing Safran Risk. He says:
One really nice thing Safran does — and I’m not sure how many other packages do this — is sensitivity analysis/automated risk prioritization. It’s very important to our customers to be able to understand what the biggest drivers for the risks are.
And I think that’s important; to troubleshoot the model and make sure you’re producing valid results.
Watch the video below for MPR Associate’s unabridged thoughts on Safran Risk.
Reap the Rewards of Fully-Integrated Cost/Schedule Risk Analysis
The ability to perform cost and schedule risk analysis from a single, all-encompassing platform can yield huge savings in both time and money, making it an invaluable weapon in the arsenal of project managers across the globe.
To learn more about Safran Risk and how it can help you develop more accurate project estimates and increase investor confidence, watch our webinar on the benefits of seamlessly combining cost and schedule risk analysis or read our why conduct cost and schedule risk analysis e-book.
Alternatively, to experience Safran Risk first-hand, sign up for a 30-day free trial today.
