Over the last 15-20 years I’ve had many a good debate on the merits of using mainstream ERP systems to manage project finances. Of course, the more accurate term is project cost controls, as opposed to project accounting, as cost engineers know these things to be discrete disciplines. The confusion stems from where they overlap; […]
Stop The Monthly Madness: 7 Steps to Real Project Control
July 11th, 2017
It’s month end. The new VP of Engineering recently issued an edict that ALL projects’ forecasts must be updated monthly, regardless of project size and status. A noble ideal, for sure. Like many such edicts, however, nothing else changed. Your control estimates were rushed together with less than 10% of design complete, Work Breakdown Schedule […]
Industry Perspectives on Project Controls: Webinar Insights
April 7th, 2017
We regularly present webinars on the challenges inherent in delivering today’s complex projects and introducing the concept of Enterprise Project Controls. We discuss how this approach supports improved planning and execution of projects across the entire enterprise. During and following the webinars there is a large amount of participation from the attendees. We thought it […]
10 Reasons Why Your Projects Aren’t Improving
November 15th, 2016
With today’s increasingly tight budgets, organizations need greater visibility into project and program performance in order to ensure that funds are being well spent. As a result, Project Controllers need to deliver timely and accurate information to pro-actively shape business decisions. EcoSys regularly meets with project controls professionals across a variety of industries and the […]
Project Controls Software: Put an End to Spreadsheet Insanity
February 1st, 2016
Excel® is great. It’s widely available, easy to use, and capable of some fairly complicated calculations. For example, if you needed to solve for patterns of acoustical radiation, Excel has a built-in formula for it. You can use the program to do just about anything. You really shouldn’t use it for project controls. Here’s why. […]
What the Star Wars Movies Can Teach Us About Project Controls
December 14th, 2015
In case you’re one of the two people who hadn’t heard, there’s a new Star Wars movie opening this Friday. In the US, pre-orders for tickets have broken the previous record (Hunger Games) eight times over. A thousand shows sold out within 12 hours of tickets becoming available. The excitement got us thinking about some […]