Early stages can make or break your overall outcomes on a project, so this is exactly the right time to lay the foundations for AWP. The role that the Engineering team plays is critical and cannot be overlooked. The problem is that in recent years we have seen far too many occasions where AWP is rammed down Engineering’s throat, like a pill to be swallowed. We miss the point by demanding action rather than asking for support, which is ironic when you consider that AWP is meant to be a collaboration exercise.

So how do we turn “Construction-driven Engineering” into a solution that promotes and targets overall project benefits, rather than the importance of one stakeholder group over another?

The answer comes from that well-worn expression: What’s in it for me? If Engineering is just told to do AWP for someone else’s benefit, the best you can expect is acquiescence. But if they are motivated to do it because it is to their benefit, the whole thing comes together much more easily.

O3 recently chaired a joint working group for CII that created the Leading Practice for AWP in Engineering. One of the key areas of focus is making an AWP process to directly benefit Engineering. This sections highlights include:

• Level 4 Planning – treating Engineering with the same rigor as construction and breaking down the work scope into small executable packages. This includes Design Work Packages for the Engineering teams, and Vendor Work Packages for managing the interaction and exchange of information with vendors.
• Reduction of Waste – using AWP to ensure early alignment between stakeholders and reducing the waste or churn that often happens when Construction is brought in too late. This saves Engineering time and effort, ensuring that the right information is available at the right time.
• Constraint Management – this common Construction methodology can easily be applied to packages in the Engineering stages, providing real time analysis of anything that can impede design progress, and showing the downstream dependencies of all actions and deliverables.
• Path of Engineering – getting the Engineering team involved in the Path of Construction (rather than just being told to follow it) and converting that into a practical plan for the sequencing of Engineering activities on a project, to provide the basis for a reliable schedule.
• Accurate Reporting – using the granularity of AWP to provide detailed updates and forecasts for completion of each scope package, rather than relying on old-school methods and S-curves.
• Overall Project Value – the understanding that successful project outcomes will delivery positive business metrics for Engineering and greatly increase the chance of securing additional work. A true “One team” philosophy, with AWP as the glue that binds.

In all these cases, the process has to be supported by a rugged tool to ensure maximum efficiency and value from AWP implementation. And that’s where we come in. O3 has the only software on the market that is capable of supporting all these areas to ensure Engineering success in AWP.

If you would like to see it for yourself, I would be happy to walk you through it.

To learn more, schedule your personalized demo today!