An Early Cost Benchmarking occurs anywhere between FEL 1 and late FEL 2 to answer these questions:

• How do a project’s cost and/or schedule estimates compare to industry norms?
• What costs are likely to be expected, based on the project’s characteristics?
• If different locations are considered for one scope, what costs are likely to be expected?

The Project Viability Assessment (PVA) examines the completeness of the business case development by answering these key questions:

• Which business case elements are weak?
• Are the cost and schedule targets competitive and achievable?
• Are the project objectives clear?
• What are the key business case risks?
• What activities need to be completed to reduce risk?
• Is the project strong enough to keep in the portfolio?

Is your project ready to proceed to FEL 3/FEED? A Pacesetter Evaluation (PAC) identifies risks to inform decision-making by answering key questions:

• Is the business case strong?
• Are the objectives clear?
• Is the team well aligned?
• Is the project scope closed?
• Are the cost and schedule targets competitive and achievable?
• What activities need to be completed to reduce risk?
• Is the project ready to proceed with FEL 3?

Is your project still a good investment for full-funds authorization? A Prospective Evaluation (PRO) gives insights into the risks to project execution success by answering these questions:

• What is the level of project definition?
• Is the team fully developed and aligned?
• Are the project’s planned cost, schedule, safety, and operability targets competitive?
• Are there specific risks to achieving the project objectives?
• How can the team reduce risk and implement Best Practices?
• Is the project ready to proceed into execution?

Initiating construction too early results in costly and inefficient execution, yet very few owners have a process to verify that a project is prepared to begin construction. The Construction Readiness Assessment (CRA) is an independent check to ensure a project is prepared to start field activities:

• What is the status of engineering as it relates to the path of construction?
• What is the status of procurement and its potential effect on construction?
• Are engineering, procurement, and construction activities integrated?
• How can the team rapidly close any identified gaps?
• Is the project ready to move into the field?

Organizations occasionally find themselves with a capital project in mid-execution that is “off the rails”—experiencing significant cost overruns, schedule slip, and team development issues. A Mid-Execution/Recovery Analysis helps get projects back on track by identifying drivers of current project shortcomings and answering these questions:

• What caused the project to run off course?
• Are targeted completion dates and costs reasonable?
• Is the team aligned and functioning well?
• Is the project sufficiently staffed?
• What actions can be applied to minimize remaining project risk?

The process of transitioning a facility into an operating asset is challenging and carries significant risk. A Production Readiness Assessment (PRA) helps identify and eliminate gaps in planning to enable an effective transition to operations by answering these questions:

• What are the industry norms for startup duration and early operational performance?
• What specific practices correlate with startup duration, startup slip, and early operational performance?
• How do the project production readiness plans and projected cost to completion compare with leading industry practices?
• How can the project team address gaps for production readiness activities?

Measuring project performance is critical to establishing effective continuous improvement initiatives and driving competitive capital deployment. For a Closeout Evaluation (CLO), IPA collects high-level cost and schedule history, develops outcomes benchmarks, establishes links between practices and results, and captures lessons learned.

• Did the project meet its business objectives?
• Was it predictable relative to the cost and schedule targets set at authorization?
• What practices, behaviors, or choices influenced outcomes?
• How do the project’s cost, schedule, safety, and operability  performance compare with Industry?
• What lessons can be extracted from this project to apply to the  owner’s future projects?

Operational performance is as important as cost performance in its effect on project economics. An Operability Study compares the project’s production performance in the first year(s) of operation with comparable industry facilities and answers these questions:

• How does the project’s technical production performance compare to other industry projects?
• What is the benchmark for the market-constrained production?
• What practices affected the production performance?
• What are the root causes for
  below-average production?

Understanding local risks is critical for owner companies to select the best opportunity to meet business needs. Bolster the selection process with detailed and unbiased data to accurately assess regional project risks.

Two-thirds of all industrial megaprojects are failures, collectively suffering billions of dollars in overruns, construction delays, poor safety performance, and insufficient operational performance once completed. Megaproject failure is driven by shaping gaps in addition to planning and design gaps. Identify gaps in the shaping process that must be addressed in order to stabilize the project environment and enable project success.

With limited resources, project organizations seeking competitive advantage must focus on defining only those capital projects that are most likely to deliver successful business outcomes. Boost the decision-making process by quantifying the key risk factors early in the project life cycle.

A project team that is improperly staffed, organized, and misaligned will deliver disappointing project cost, schedule, operability, and safety results. Leverage IPA’s Organizations & Teams Database and internal expertise to build a high-functioning project team that is positioned for success.