Over the last eight years, I have spoken with a lot of people who want a successful Advanced Work Packaging, AWP, implementation but aren’t sure how to do it. So this article will provide a short, simple, step-by-step approach that you can follow.

Figure out what AWP is

There is a huge amount of information about AWP on the CII website and on O3’s website. So don’t start from scratch – leverage all the work already done to give you a jump start on understanding the Best Practice and its benefits.

Understand your company’s pain points and how AWP will solve them

Implementing a new process will only be successful if it addresses a problem. So find out what the problems are, and detail out how AWP can help. This could be productivity, safety, quality, schedule – AWP can provide a vast array of benefits. Use this tool to help.

Build a business case and define initial targets

Once you know the pain points, create a business case for AWP implementation that will highlight the benefits for your management team and the process that you propose to use for implementation. Set realistic expectations for results – don’t assume you will solve everything on your first try.

Hire an AWP Manager

Bringing in a dedicated AWP resource will help to accelerate your AWP adoption. This person can manage the rest of the steps in this plan. If you don’t have the resources to hire someone, designate an AWP Manager from your existing team.

Define your process

Create a methodology that works for your company, and that supports your business case. The easiest way to do this is to take an existing process document and adapt it for your needs. You can use this one as a starting point.

Train your people

It is critical that you teach the project teams and stakeholders what AWP is and how it will help them. If they don’t understand “What’s in it for me?”, they will never embrace it. O3 partners with Concord Academy to offer online, self-paced AWP training.

Pick a technology

Modern projects strain under the weight of a huge amount of data, so you need a robust database solution to manage it all, and to give your planners and project team the best tools for flawless execution. Here are the main things to look for with AWP software.

Pick a pilot project

This is where the rubber meets the road. You need to find a project to try out AWP for the first time. Look for a project team that are willing to embrace a new process, and a project that will provide you with good assessment criteria. This should help identify it.

Execute and track results

When you are doing your pilot, don’t just sit back and wait to see what happens. Establish a list of Key Performance Indicators and track their performance against non-AWP projects. (There is a list of KPIs in the tool in item 2, above).

Expand to make it business as usual

Once you have successfully executed a pilot project, show the results to your management team and get permission to expand the program. The ultimate goal should be to make AWP part of your standard delivery on projects, so it becomes “business as usual”.