WILLIAM KERR’S VIEWS ON, BIG DATA, F1 & DRIVING PRODUCTION ON MEGA PROJECTS
Some contractors appear to be
doing a good job using Big Data and digital dashboards to monitor construction
projects, yet all too often they fail to collect and analyse the information to
highlight the extent of overruns and support claims.
That’s the view of William
Kerr, who recently joined HKA as Principal, following a career with a dual
focus on project controls and claims analysis in complex infrastructure megaprojects.
Exposure to large and highly
complex design and build projects came early in William’s career. Soon after
completing his degree in construction management in the UK, he worked as a cost
engineer on contracts ranging from High Speed 1 rail link to constructing the
A1 motorway through Croatia’s mountainous interior.
From Russia to South Africa,
and Middle East to Melbourne, his work for some of the world’s blue-chip
contractors spanned planning and project controls on one hand, and on the
other, recovery strategies and claims analysis on distressed projects.
This twin-track experience
informs William’s view. He believes that construction’s Big Data conundrum is often
compounded when Contractors fail to record data to prove productivity loss, as
well recording data that encapsulates the reasons behind this. “I often see the same mistakes over and over
again – it’s almost like the definition of madness for our industry,” he said.
The problem with Big Data is
not ‘paralysis by analysis’ so much as ‘distraction by data’. “IT systems in
construction are changing quickly and Contractors are making use of BIM 4D
planning, and the quantity of project data is increasing exponentially. New IT systems
can extract data and produce quite sexy dashboards focusing on progress
reporting,” William explained. “Despite such technology advances megaprojects
still tend to suffer cost and schedule overruns. Then you find that the records
needed to zoom into risk events and flag reasons why trends have occurred – are
just not there. Too often projects are collecting the wrong data.
The data analysis required by a project
manager to spot and avert problems is constantly changing according to the
project risk profile through a project lifecycle.
Formula 1 racing provides an
analogy, inspired by his behind-the-scenes tour of the Red Bull garage at the
2019 Melbourne Grand Prix. While the car’s driver has a pretty basic dashboard,
and his support crew has much more detailed information, back in the operations
room on an industrial estate in Milton Keynes, every aspect from pit stop
strategies to car performance are being analysed in real time. “So you have all
this data, but it’s about identifying the right things at the right time, and
being able to flag up the issues that matter to the driver, rather than being
distracted by big data.”
In construction’s ‘good old
days’, quantity unit rate reporting was people- and paper-heavy, and daily
record-keeping of even low-value ‘widgets’ and hours’ output was probably
excessive. “But it was effective. Now that data is pulled into a project
control system or database. It looks great, it’s real-time, and you can access
it from anywhere. But you’re not analysing it at source.”
The introduction of AI will
certainly assist with the effort require to analyse and record data in real
time, but with mega projects tending to end up with cost blow outs, William
argues the need for “an experienced hand” with hard-won experience from
multiple projects who to understand the contract and the risks that have been
taken on, analyse the critical path and rates of production and assumptions,
understand the interfaces between design and construction, and ensure that
projects controls is set up and maintained to avert and protect against issues
as and when they arise – do not wait and see.
“Encapsulating all those in the beginning
stages of a megaproject and communicating these to the project team is really
important.”
In an overheated market, contractors’
expertise can be spread so thin that existing project teams are co-opted to
prepare new bids. When won, there is then a push to get boots on the ground
while a skeleton team strives to put together often onerous procedures defined
in the Contract, everything from stakeholder engagement and systems engineering
to project controls and delivery plans. Meanwhile, early works packages must be
placed, and – in the case of rail schemes – critical track possessions
carefully prepared. “So you’ve got this immense pressure from day one and
because of that you’re often completely focussed on delivery”
As a result, there may be no appreciation
of the actual risk taken on in terms of allowed rates and assumptions. Or, where
these risks are understood by the bid team, they may not be properly
communicated to the delivery team, who are unaware of these project-critical
areas, or unprepared in how to protect the project from costly delay and
disruption.
In my experience cost blowouts
on distressed projects also reveal “a real lack of understanding of how to do production-based
disruption analysis, and critical path delay analysis” he added.
That method for undertaking
delay analysis and required record keeping to support events needs to be
communicated to the delivery team, who should set basic production targets, spot
trends and take corrective action, importantly record the data and loop back to
the commercial team when and why things are not going to plan to analyse the
reason why.
Such analysis also helps back
up a delay and disruption claims and avoids mistaken assumptions about
production on the next project. “This is what is lacking – techniques we use in
a dispute scenario that should be employed in live projects. Sometimes they
are, but most often they’re not, due to shortages of people, expertise and time,
given the massive requirements and pressure at the beginning of the project.”
These lessons are invaluable,
not least in the early stages of a construction boom such as that now
developing in Victoria. “HKA is in a strong position to pass on the skills and
knowledge we’ve honed on the Sydney Metro and other major projects in New South
Wales and further afield,” William noted, citing Crossrail, Melbourne Metro, regional
rail, airport rail link, the North East Link and the state’s other roadbuilding
plans.
“What we call QED+, our specialist
expertise in quantum, engineering, delay, disruption and damages, is relevant
to claims avoidance and protection on live projects as well as analysing claims
in disputes.
“We can add value in areas
such as planning and controls, claims avoidance, protection and management; and
interface management, which will be crucial on these projects in Victoria, and
also in Brisbane.”
Now based in HKA’s Brisbane
office, William has an important role to play in developing the consulting
practice. After moving from project controls and planning onto distressed
project recovery, he added a post-grad diploma in construction law. “I’ve
worked both on live projects analysing extensions of time, and on disputes as
the named expert and given testimony in the ICC,” he noted.
As well as acting as expert witness, William
will be training project teams to understand contract risk and ensure controls
are set up to avoid and protect projects from disruptive events.
