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At Prometheus Group, we talk a lot about maintenance, which is a key aspect of ensuring that your assets are running as well as possible. When done properly, this allows your organization to keep chugging along with minimal break-in work, unexpected crises, or massive equipment failure.
But what happens when you’re ready to improve in a big way? Expanding equipment, laying new pipelines, remodeling a site building, installing IIoT sensors, or even painting the handrails throughout a plant are all examples of projects and programs meant to improve the performance, output, and work environment of an organization.
So what tools do you need to manage deadline-driven, risk-filled programs that dip into your organization’s capital? Prometheus Group’s new Project & Portfolio Management solution helps streamline a critical part of your company’s and products’ lifecycles: capital projects.
What is a Capital Project in Asset Management?
Let’s start off with a baseline definition. A capital project is a long-term, capital-intensive investment project with a purpose to build, add to, or improve a capitalized asset.
It’s worth pointing out that capital projects do not have to be multi-million-dollar initiatives (although they certainly can be). They can also be the $100,000 projects that add discrete value across your organization.
A recent report indicates that now is the right time to be planning capital projects—but to be planning them differently. The uncertainty involved in a global pandemic, lockdowns, labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and uncertain recovery trajectories has emphasized the need for accelerated and urgent change.
It’s also highlighted the opportunities available for delivering on large capital projects more efficiently and sustainably. Prometheus Group’s Project & Portfolio Management solution provides you with targeted interventions and a comprehensive framework to make sure that your processes are being enforced. This lets your organization finish on time and on budget, while producing safe and predictable outcomes.
What’s Missing from Your Capital Project Management
If you’ve found yourself saying any of these things in the course of a capital project, then you probably need a better solution:
“Our Excel workbook was built by someone who retired.”
“Our new project managers don’t know or follow our processes.”
“I don’t know where to find information.”
“We can’t compare projects between project managers and sites.”
“Our Capital Project request process isn’t real-time.”
“Our project information and deliverables are incomplete.”
“We don’t have the right information at the end of a project to hand it over to maintenance.”
You should have a capital project management tool that allows you to manage these projects from inception to maturity with complete visibility.
We see the same sticking points again and again in capital project development and implementation:
- A lack of integration between ERP systems, project management spreadsheets, and what’s happening on the ground.
- A focus on short-term cost management over long-term goals.
- Inadequate communication between all parties and stakeholders involved in the project.
- Difficulties in balancing flexibility and agility with adherence to planning systems and processes.
These challenges plague each part of the project lifecycle, driving up time, costs, and risks for your organization.
How Capital Project Management Helps
The capital project planning and execution process is long, especially for major projects. No matter the size of your capital project, it’s critical that your process is transparent, visible, and accountable for all parties involved in the project, including project controllers, contractors, and upper management.
Prometheus Group’s Project & Portfolio Management solution provides a complete application for managing capital projects, from the idea stage to execution and closeout. This advanced solution enforces your process, built on your best practices—it’s flexible when you’re building it, but ensures standards are met.
There are a number of ways that you can slice and dice capital project development and execution into different phases, but there are a few stages consistent amongst all capital projects. Project & Portfolio Management offers accountability and visibility all along the way.
To learn more about Prometheus Project and Portfolio Management, check out our infographic "How Prometheus Group’s Capital Project & Portfolio Management Solution Adds Value at Every Stage.”
Advantages and Benefits of Prometheus Project & Portfolio Management
Prometheus Group’s Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) suite is comprised of two products: Co-Console and Doc-Console. The PPM solution adds value and visibility at every stage of the process and across projects for an organization.
By seamlessly integrating with any other system you might be using (including Prometheus Platform solutions, Oracle Primavera P6, SAP ERP or Maximo, SharePoint, homegrown solutions, or third-party products), Prometheus Project & Portfolio Management helps you and your team:
- Control and enforce your process
- Streamline the project approval process
- Standardize your process across projects
- Capture and distribute project deliverables
- Ensure enterprise visibility
- Develop and implement accurate budgets, estimates, forecasts, and deadlines
- Transition easily between stage gates
- Identify risks and opportunities
- Draw data and information from other projects or ERP systems to manage projects in one centralized, intuitive location
- Improve communication between engineering, construction, and turnaround teams
- Track progress and handle execution of capital projects
How Prometheus Project & Portfolio Management Fits in with PG’s Suite
Prometheus Group’s Project & Portfolio Management Solution easily interfaces with any product you’re using for STO management, planning and scheduling, etc. (including SAP PPM Ecosys, Primavera EPPM, or homegrown spreadsheets).
This solution also adds value to the other products in our Prometheus Platform, integrating with them seamlessly. Most intuitively, Project & Portfolio Management aligns well with:
- Shutdown, Turnaround, Outage (STO): Because of their size and scope, many capital projects will finish with equipment and/or systems being installed during an STO event. These STO events (called tie-ins) present particular challenges because the capital project and the STO are frequently run by different teams. Prometheus Project & Portfolio Management facilitates collaboration and communication between these teams to ensure a better transition and project execution.
- Master Data: Capital projects are, ideally, data-driven projects. In addition, the equipment and assets installed at the end of capital projects often come with a great deal of documentation and information that can be lost at the conclusion of a project. It’s not uncommon for the average loss due to poorly managed information handover at the end of a capital project to equal over 1% of the total capital expenditures. Using accurate and robust master data systems with Capital Project & Portfolio Management means that this information is automatically captured, and stored in a logical and accessible location.
- Contractor Management: Most capital projects are managed internally, but have services that are carried out wholly or in part by third-party contractors. There are always challenges involved in communication and managing contractor expenses and approvals. Prometheus Project & Portfolio Management, used in conjunction with Prometheus Group’s Contractor Management solution, ensures roles, responsibilities, deliverables, and progress are shared and communicated effectively.
Use Prometheus Project & Portfolio Management to Manage Your Capital Projects
Easy to deploy and integrate, Project & Portfolio Management is designed for organizations that are looking to continuously improve and increase their productivity.
As a complete application for managing projects from inception to maturity, Project & Portfolio Management ensures that your standards and processes are followed for every capital investment.
Looking to learn more about how to establish visibility, transparency, and accountability in your capital projects with Prometheus Group’s Project & Portfolio Management solution?
Check out our webinar, “Streamline Your Projects and Portfolio Management Processes”, to learn more about how Prometheus Project and Portfolio Management helps you manage your capital projects seamlessly.
