Page 23 - DMGT302_FUNDAMENTALS_OF_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Fundamentals of Project Management

Notes
environment information needs to be readily disseminated between firms. So, on the T3
project, the collaboration platform provided a neutral, third-party repository for storing
and exchanging information.
To quickly retrieve drawings, Requests for Information (RFIs) and other items, the
collaboration platform offered ‘Google-tyle’ searching capabilities. Shankar Narayannan,
said, “The collaboration platform was an indispensable element of the project. Every
document and mail distribution was searchable and accessible from remote locations.
The keyword search capabilities were powerful so people could instantly bring up what
they needed. The time saved in locating documents was very important on the project and
it’s something we could do extremely quickly.”
Faster flow of information: Easy sharing of documents and files made the ‘review or
approval’ process easier. The status of the document can then be tracked and overdue
actions, such as outstanding RFIs, are highlighted. It helped L&T promote accountability.
“Due to our timeline we had very strict review cycles and so the distribution of documents
between parties had to be fast. We had a wide team of stakeholders, often about 1,200
engineers engaged on the project, and so distributing the right files to these people was a
complex task,” said L&T’s Narayanan.
He added, “I’d receive between 400-500 mail and document actions a day, so it was crucial
to stay on top of this. With the collaboration platform, I’d receive notification of new
items and could browse my tasks and actions in one place. Also the fact that contractual
correspondence was well documented and could be traced was of great value to us.”
Improved Efficiency and Reduced Risk

During the project, L&T found that the collaboration platform increased the efficiency by
streamlining several processes. At a management level, there was also reduced exposure
to information- and communication-related risks.

The collaboration system helped reduce the risk of delays, increased visibility over
document versions, and provided a complete audit trail of ‘who did what and when’. The
system also securely captured and permanently archived all project records for future
reference. Because of this, risk management was perhaps the key benefit of adopting the
technology.
Summary
By using online collaboration to streamline project communication and information
management, L&T:
1. Improved efficiency to support on-time and on-budget completion.
2. Reduced risk associated with project complexity, team complexity, and information
management.
3. Provided immediate value by getting team members working together quickly
more productively.

The author is the Regional Head for ASEAN and India with Aconex, which provided the
online collaboration solution to the DIAL project.
Question

Analyse the case and discuss the case facts.

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