The Money Files

Platform construction at Liverpool Street station completes © Crossrail Ltd.

Infrastructure projects in the UK don’t always get good press, but that is starting to change. Crossrail, in particular, is spoken of in very high terms. At a training event I attended recently, one of the delegates was from the Crossrail team. She spent most of her time in a hardhat and overalls and getting out of the tunnels for the course seemed almost a novelty. The trainer called on her several times to explain to the group the ‘Crossrail way’.

And why not? Crossrail is delivering and making real change in London and going about it with good grace and excellent stakeholder relations from what I can tell.

Crossrail is the UK’s largest project for a generation. It’s a comprehensive programme of tunneling, station construction, railway and infrastructure work that affects 40 sites in London. It’s burning through £140m per month and it’s doing amazing things.

The programme, inspired by the learning legacy work done after the London Olympics, I imagine, has set up a comprehensive lessons learned site with a large section on project management.

The project and programme section covers:

• Project initiation and development
• Delivery and execution strategy
• Handover and transition (I shall definitely be browsing this area)
• Programme controls
• Audit and assurance
• Quality
• Sustainability strategy

So there is a lot covered, across a range of project and programme management disciplines and functional areas.

They are sharing how the work is done in minute detail. For example, you can download the change control and budget management procedure, along with a change control form. Then you can learn from how they have made those documents work for them and you benefit from all that expertise when you put your own together.

There are also documents that outline how Crossrail approached Earned Value and their estimating approaches. In fact, there are documents that cover pretty much everything.

The Documentation

Within the learning legacy document archives you’ll find a number of different file types.

Good practice documents are templates, processes and similar that have been shared for you to use (or modify). Note that they don’t talk about best practice.

There are micro-reports which are website pages (not documents to download although they might link to them) that focus on a short point.

There are case studies which include lessons learned and recommendations for future projects and programmes.

Technical papers take a topic and go in-depth. These are also peer-reviewed so you know you are getting a good quality, accurate document.

Finally, there are research summaries, which are shorter versions of research carried out by academics studying Crossrail – yes, universities are picking over what is happening there as well as practitioners.

The Value

I don’t work in construction, so some of the findings are less useful to me. However, if you do have a construction element to your projects, there is definitely value in finding out how other people ran projects – both the good and the not so good.

If you are preparing a business case or proposal you could also find some value here: many stakeholders and decision makers like statistics, so throwing in some research to show that you have taken on board learnings from other large programmes could well add weight to your arguments. Worth a try, eh?

My Key Takeaways

There is a huge focus on sustainability, and a lot of effort has gone into the legacy element of the project. It’s so important that a development like this is managed holistically over time and with consideration for the environment in all its forms around the build sites. There are documents in the learning legacy archive setting out how that focus has been achieved, which make interesting reading.

Finally, the overarching message of Crossrail is that it is about more than just the project management. If you have the time, browse the section on Talent and Resources as this covers their approach to managing the people side of this huge initiative.

I’m particularly impressed with how they have grown their own skills – knowing that skilled engineering resource is somewhat lacking, and wanting to make a difference to the local community as a legacy from the construction, they have embraced all the different ways to develop talent. From apprenticeship schemes to work with school children promoting STEM as a career choice, to creating an Academy to teach the tunneling and construction skills required, they’ve done a lot to ensure a pipeline of appropriate resources.

Your project might not have the budget (or the duration) to train young people in the skills you will need in 5 years’ time, but there are bound to be some key pointers here that you can take and implement on your own project initiatives.

I put this infographic together for you to highlight the common types of ways that project leaders and project financial analysts can carry out financial appraisals. These are all techniques that you can use in a business case or project proposal. I hope it's helpful!

The content of the image is drawn from Carlos Serra's book, Benefits Realization Management.

If I want to buy something, I end up browsing Amazon first. I might end up purchasing from somewhere else, but I tend to use Amazon as my shop window.

You can’t do that with project procurement. I can’t search for ‘buy ERP system’ or hunt around in Amazon for a data center hosting package that meets the needs of my software firm.

So where do you go to look for suppliers?

First let’s talk about why a Google search isn’t your best bet. Some companies don’t have the budget to rank continually in the top search engine results. Some companies wouldn’t necessarily want or need to. Searching online is always a good starting point but shouldn’t be your only way of sourcing potential suppliers.

Here are 5 other places that you can look.

1. Your Current Pool of Suppliers

You already work with suppliers – I’m sure of it.

Can any of these offer the products or services that you want for your new project? You don’t have to go back to the start and source a brand new supplier for every project if you have one contracted already who can do the job.

Using a current supplier is normally faster than having to go through a lengthy procurement cycle. They know you and your business so there’s less time getting them up to speed on your requirements.

However, if you aren’t happy with the service you are getting from them, then obviously think twice before giving them more work.

2. Trade Fairs

There is a world of trade and industry exhibitions that let you meet suppliers in real life before signing a deal with them. This is a good option if you have done some online or desk research and you want to move to the next level before finalising an offer.

Plus, entrance to many shows and exhibitions is free.

They can be hugely timewasting if you don’t have a list of target companies to go and see, so do your research before you arrive and head for the trade stalls where you think you’ll get the most value.

3. Industry Press

Look for who is advertising in your industry press (online or a print magazine). Look for who is putting flyers in the magazines that come from your professional bodies. These are potential vendors, and they are actively targeting customers in your area.

I’ve not come across an industry yet that doesn’t have awards, so reading up about the winners of these awards can also give you an insight into who are the movers and shakers in your target industry. Awards normally include neat case studies of what the company has achieved so you can see how they work with others and do what they do.

4. People Your Suppliers Use

If you have trusted suppliers, ask them who they use to fulfil their needs in a similar space and see if there are any connections there that would also work for you.

Often, the same companies come up time and time again because they are tried and tested. Your current vendors may well be willing to recommend people who are not competitors to themselves but who would complement the services they offer.

5. Word of mouth

Alongside asking your vendors, ask other people for recommendations. Ask your clients. Ask your colleagues. Ask your network on LinkedIn or here at ProjectManagement.com in the forums. People love to share stories.

Also, discreetly, ask for information on vendors whom they would avoid. This can be harder to find out but it is infinitely more valuable, as long as you trust the source.

These 5 sources of potential vendors will hopefully give you a list to choose from. You can then take that list and turn it into a shortlist for you to do a deep dive. Start your procurement activity from here – and you are no longer wondering who to invite to tender for your project work.

If your project needs you to work with a supplier, you’ll most likely go through an exercise to establish who to secure a contract with. Finding the right third party vendor for your project is a huge factor when it comes to a successful delivery. Making the wrong choice can be devastating if they then let you down or work in ways that are not conducive to your business.

This is an area covered in detail in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Fifth Edition) where there is a whole section on procurement and contractual relationships.

It’s so important to ask the right questions so that you have all the information you need to make the right choices. Here are 5 questions to ask during your procurement exercise – they won’t be all you’ll need (you’ll still have to go through the full vendor selection with a proper process – but they will help you to clarify that this is a company you want to work with.

1. Will you use our systems?

If your exec team are used to looking at earned value calculations then can your supplier help you continue to do that by providing the right information?

If your Project Management Office uses a particular project management software tool, will your supplier be able to use that too? Are they happy to track time in your app?

If they can’t work in a way that supports your existing processes you will have to establish as a team whether you are prepared to change the way you work to fit the vendor.

And I imagine the answer will be no.

2. What isn’t included in the quote?

The proposal from your supplier will include a stack of stuff that is in the quote, but might not be so explicit about what they are leaving out.

For example, does their proposal include:

• User training, or at least preparing the training materials for your own team to deliver
• Travel expenses
• Senior people from the company attending critical strategy or Steering Group meetings at your company.
• Working with other vendors to make the systems integrations work.
• Systems integration work in general.
• Any hardware, software or middleware required to make sure that their solution actually runs.
• Taxes

3. What else should we be budgeting for?

On top of the obvious things.

For example, change management: how much time and effort do their other clients normally spend on this and what do they recommend you budget for change management activities?

What go live support do they think you will need? Or, what go live support do you want? If this isn’t included in the proposal, ask them to cost up support to the level that makes sense to you. For example, if you have a large group of staff who are being asked to take on the use of a new piece of software, you might want individuals walking the floor of the office providing support in the first week. Or you might not, if it’s not a business critical piece of software.

Either way, it’s better to have those conversations now so you aren’t caught out later.

You can also ask them what contingency fund they think you should be budgeting for based on their prior experience of projects overrunning. This might help you move into a conversation about a fixed price solution…!

4. How much work have you done in this industry?

The answer to this question might not matter to you at all, and there could be a host of reasons why you are choosing to work with someone who has no industry experience.

But it is always helpful to find out their background if you don’t already know it.

Can you teach them what they need to know about your industry in the time that you have? If you can’t, and it’s important, then you might want to consider going with a firm that does have experience working in your sector.

5. References, please

Always, always get references.

This can be feedback from past or current clients or a site visit to see their work in action. They may or may not choose to accompany you on client reference visits. I think it’s better if they don’t as I think that promotes transparency.

If you can’t get to one of their past clients, at least have a conversation on the phone or try to see the solution on video or at an industry event.

Do as much research as you can so that you are going into this contract with your eyes open.

You’re potentially going to be working with this supplier for a long time, so it pays to do your homework and be as confident as you can about what you are getting into.

Ask these questions and everything from your vendor selection process and keep asking until you are happy and confident that you are making the right choice.