Tag Archive for: Webinars

Unlocking Success with PTAG’s CII Hidden Gems Series: Episode 1 – The Implementation Journey 

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The inaugural episode of PTAG’s CII Hidden Gems Series webinar, “The Implementation Journey,” led by Mike Davidson and Deborah DeGezelle, provided an enlightening roadmap for organizations seeking to harness the Construction Industry Institute’s (CII) best practices. If you missed the live session, here’s a recap of the key takeaways and insights that can transform your organization’s approach to project implementation and governance. 

Exploring the “Hidden Gems” of CII?

CII has amassed a treasure trove of over 400 publications, 100+ tools, and 17 validated best practices. Yet, as Deborah aptly pointed out, some of these invaluable resources often go unnoticed amidst the hustle of day-to-day operations. The Hidden Gems series seeks to spotlight these underutilized tools, ensuring companies extract maximum value from their CII membership. 

Why the Implementation Journey Matters

The central focus of the webinar was on embedding best practices within an organization’s DNA. Drawing on real-world examples, the session delved into the challenges and triumphs of implementation, emphasizing: 

  • The critical role of a Project Management Office (PMO) in promoting consistency and driving project excellence. 
  • The value of tailoring tools like the Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) to fit organizational needs while maintaining their integrity. 
  • How structured governance models, supported by top-tier training and facilitation, create a sustainable framework for success. 

Case Study Spotlight: Ontario Power Generation (OPG)

OPG’s journey served as a centerpiece of the discussion. Under Mike Davidson’s leadership, the organization implemented a PMO from the ground up, evolving it into an enterprise-wide entity recognized as a benchmark for excellence. Key steps included: 

  1. Building the PMO: Starting small with a clear vision, OPG scaled its PMO to support diverse teams with tools for front-end planning, risk management, and project alignment. 
  1. Championing Best Practices: Embedding CII tools, such as PDRI, into their governance processes ensured buy-in at all levels. 
  1. Continuous Improvement: Regular benchmarking and feedback loops enabled OPG to refine its practices, securing their position as a finalist for PMO of the Year. 

Insights For Discussion

  1. Leadership Buy-In is Non-Negotiable 
    Change begins at the top. A committed leadership team ensures alignment, secures resources, and fosters a culture open to adopting industry best practices. 
  1. Customization for Impact 
    While CII tools are robust, tailoring them to an organization’s terminology, processes, and governance enhances adoption and effectiveness. 
  1. Start Small, Scale Smart 
    By focusing on a single, high-impact tool like PDRI, organizations can prove value quickly, building momentum for broader adoption. 
  1. Training & Facilitation Drive Success 
    Well-trained facilitators ensure that tools are applied correctly, fostering alignment among diverse stakeholders and producing actionable results. 

Looking Ahead: The Hidden Gems Series

This episode is just the beginning. The series will explore various aspects of implementation, such as leveraging CII’s data warehouse for benchmarking, advancing collaborative contracting techniques, and more.  
 
Register here for our next Hidden Gems session:

Register Now!

Your Next Steps

  • Revisit your organization’s approach to project management. Are there untapped opportunities to address pain points with proven methodologies and tools? PTAG can help you identify and implement solutions that deliver measurable results. 
  • Engage your teams in professional development and awareness training. PTAG ensures the effective application of industry-leading tools, unlocking the full potential of best practices. 
  • Whether or not your organization is a CII member, PTAG provides access to the value of CII resources. If you’re not a member and are considering joining, reach out to us—we can help you assess whether membership is the right fit for your organization. 

Join PTAG in the next episode of the Hidden Gems Series to uncover additional strategies for transforming your project delivery approach. 

PTAG’s Hidden Gems Series emphasizes that success in capital project execution doesn’t come from just following best practices but from embedding them as a way of doing business. Begin your implementation journey today and unlock the full potential of CII’s resources. 

Want To Learn More

Visit our webinar series page or contact PTAG to discover how we can support your organization’s project success journey. 

Join the presentation on the spectrum of approaches to Contract Strategy at CII’s AWP + Lean Virtual Summit to learn various contracting strategies that can provide the most benefit in either your Advanced work packaging or Lean project scenarios.

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The Construction Industry Institute (CII) is presenting its first-ever CII AWP & Lean Summit focused on the exploration of (and recommendations around) aligning and combining Advanced Work Packaging and Lean Construction approaches for effective and efficient integrated project delivery.

PTAG’s Partner for Capital Projects, Bruce Burwell, a subject matter expert on contracting strategies will be discussing contracting approaches available that incorporate Advanced Work Packaging alongside Mr. John Strickland, Project Delivery Leader at Burns & McDonnell who will focus on approaches with a Lean Construction perspective. This session will help you understand how to apply Lean methods and Advanced Work Packaging in a Collaborative contracting model.

Wednesday, September 29th, 2021
7:30am CDT / 8:30am EST / 5:30am PST

> Click here to register <

Construction Industry Institute’s (CII) best practice – Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) is a planned, executable process that encompasses the work on an EPC project, beginning with initial planning and continuing through detailed design and construction execution. AWP focuses on bringing alignment amongst project teams – engineering, procurement, construction at the front-end of the project. The team helps determine the best project execution strategy to have a successful outcome. With the end in mind approach, AWP helps improve project visibility and predictability.

Lean Construction Institute’s Lean Project Delivery (LPD or Lean-IPD) aligns the key project participants as an integrated team with the common objective of acting as one team to deliver a project that creates the best value possible for the owner and success for all the stakeholders. The integrated project team helps the owner decide what they want and not only realize decisions and perform activities.

Lean-IPD offers collaborative tools to provide a clear framework with specific goals. Whereas AWP is a method that develops a clear path to construction, develops work packages that support the path to construction, aligns stakeholders, and has dedicated planners that affords the foreman the time needed in the field with the trades and crew.

Often projects face challenges in terms of their performance by way of budget, cost, and schedule overruns. Some of the common issues faced are but are not limited to scope creep, lack of communication between the stakeholders, lack of clear objectives, inadequate risk management, conflicts, and lack of accountability, etc.

To improve project performance, we need to change the way we deliver projects. Choosing the right contract strategy early in the project can help address these issues and significantly improve your project delivery. Aligning various stakeholders involved in the project such as owners’ team, supplier, sub-contractor, engineering, construction, etc. is important to meet the common objective i.e., the successful outcome of the project. However, one size does not fit all, and it is imperative to learn various strategies available that would suit your project requirements.

This joint session will discover multiple contracting approaches to strengthen both Advanced Work Packaging and Lean Project Delivery.

The topic for the session is spectrum of approaches to Contract Strategy.

Wednesday, September 29th, 2021
7:30am CDT / 8:30am EST / 5:30am PST

Register today to attend the event.

> Click here to register <

If you would like to learn more about Contracting Strategies, please contact us.

Get to know PTAG’s speaker:

Join us for a panel discussion on Successes and Developments in Large Energy Projects at the Canadian Nuclear Association’s virtual conference.

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PTAG is pleased to participate at Canadian Nuclear Association’s (CNA) virtual conference and Trade Show, a premier event for Canada’s nuclear industry. Now in its 22nd year, the event regularly attracts over 850 attendees from industry, government, and academia. The theme of CNA2021 is “Leading Innovations to Achieve a Net-Zero World.” PTAG’s thought leader Michael Dubreuil will be in a panel discussion on Successes and Developments in Large Energy Projects with other industry leaders to look at the success of two very large energy projects that have experienced great success using some of the new methods and principles on collaboration and integration.

Canada’s two largest nuclear projects refurbishing – Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) Darlington Unit 2 and Bruce Power’s MCR Unit 6 are examples of the use of collaboration and integration methods to improve planning and execution on large complex energy projects.

Large capital projects are inherently risky and notorious for incurring significant cost and schedule overruns.  In August of 2018, at its annual conference in Indianapolis the Construction Industry Institute (CII) published its two years of research on collaborative contracting resulting in Integrated Industrial Project Delivery (I2PD) that provides a structured framework for rigorous implementation of nine principles and twenty-one methods to support intense collaboration and integration on large scale industrial projects. Industry results going back thirty years show that these principles and methods are proven to improve project success rates across all key performance areas including quality, safety, and early schedule and cost certainty.

The panelists will look at the success of the first stage of OPG’s Darlington Unit 2 refurbishment and the Bruce Power’s Life-Extension Program and MCR Project using some of these principles and methods. They will also discuss growing industry support for I2PD, and some of its core Principles and Methods such as Lean tools, integrated schedules and estimates, pooled contingencies, collaborative decision-making, and shared risks and rewards.  

The topic for Panel Discussion: Successes and Developments in Large Energy Projects

Panelists:

  • Michael Dubreuil – Managing Partner, PTAG Inc.
  • Jeff Phelps – VP, Major Projects, Bruce Power
  • Greg Thede – VP, Nuclear Strategy & Business Development, AECON Nuclear
  • Subo Sinnathamby – Senior VP, Nuclear Refurbishment, Ontario Power Generation
  • Eric Gould – Partner, Modus Strategic Solutions

Wednesday, September 15th, 2021
13:15 CST / 14:15 EST / 11:15 PST

Register today to attend the panel discussion
> Click here to register <
If you would like to learn more about Integrated Industrial Project Delivery (I2PD) please contact PTAG.

Join this conference to explore the leading-edge projects and technologies that are poised to make Canada’s nuclear industry an indispensable part of our clean energy future. While CNA2021 will take place in a virtual space, you can still expect plenty of opportunity to network with industry leaders and peers.

Video Recap – Canadian Institute of Mining’s CIM Virtual Convention 2021, May 3rd: The Importance of Front-End Planning and Leveraging Industry Best Practices to Minimize Project Risk

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Watch this video recap, as Feroz Ashraf, PTAG’s Executive Advisor for Capital Projects, presents this direct and to the point session providing practical and validated examples on “The Importance of Front-End Planning and Leveraging Industry Best Practices to Minimize Project Risk” at CIM 2021.

This is the video recording of the presentation which was originally presented at the Canadian Institute of Mining’s Annual Virtual Convention CIM 2021 on May 3rd, 2021.

Globally, including North America, most capital and sustaining projects have been impacted by COVID and resulting economic slowdown. Projects are also experiencing significant productivity impacts due to the new normal COVID working conditions, as well as increasing emphasis on safety, security, and regulatory compliance.

Due to budget cuts, project and construction teams have been reduced by 30% or more. Across the board, our industry is also seeing increases in material and equipment costs due to COVID with commodity price volatility and supply/demand uncertainty presenting additional challenges.

To mitigate these issues the project team must further increase the use of the Front-End Planning process, deploy industry best practices, conduct extensive value engineering exercises, as well as thorough internal and external risk assessment process. In doing so, the Construction Industry Institute (CII) has established through its industry research that a significant saving can be achieved and gain in productivity:

Interested in downloading the slide deck? Click here for Direct Download.

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Find out more about the event here: The Experience (cim.org)

Get to know our speakers:

Video Recap – Canadian Institute of Mining’s CIM Virtual Convention 2021, May 3rd: How to Plan and Execute Capital Projects in Volatile and Uncertain Times

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Watch this video recap, as Feroz Ashraf, PTAG’s Executive Advisor for Capital Projects, presents this direct and to-the-point session on “How to Plan and Execute Capital Projects in Volatile and Uncertain Times” at CIM 2021.

This is the recap video recording of the presentation which was originally presented at the Canadian Institute of Mining’s Annual Virtual Convention CIM 2021 on May 3rd, 2021.

Globally, including North America, most capital and sustaining projects have been impacted by COVID-19 and the resulting economic slowdown. Projects are also experiencing significant productivity impacts due to the new normal COVID working conditions, as well as increasing emphasis on safety, security, and regulatory compliance.

The presentation focuses on below key areas:

Interested in downloading the slide deck? Click here for Direct Download.

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Find out more about the event here: The Experience (cim.org)

Get to know our speakers:

Canadian Institute of Mining Annual Virtual Convention CIM 2021

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PTAG’s, Feroz Ashraf has been invited by Canadian Institute of Mining to present at their upcoming May 3rd virtual annual convention CIM 2021 on two topics: “The Importance of Front-End Planning and Leveraging Industry Best Practices to Minimize Project Risk” and “How to Plan and Execute Capital Projects in Volatile and Uncertain Times.”

Feroz will walk you through a direct and to-the-point presentation providing practical step-by-step approaches and validated examples. You will get a chance to engage with Feroz in the post-presentation Q&A session and to network with him at this virtual convention. This four-day event will have many thought leaders and keynote speakers presenting CIM community’s best content.

The presentations will focus on below key areas:

  • Challenges faced by the Mining Industry during Covid-19 and in general.
  • Top reasons why projects go off-track.
  • Front-End Planning – what, why, how? and Leveraging Industry Best Practices.
  • Rigorous staged-gate process to minimize project risks.
  • Learn how and when to use Construction Industry Institute (CII) Front-End Planning tools, such as the Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) to determine the “state of readiness” and “maturity level” of your project to assure better outcomes.
  • Review how to assess the Project Complexity Index and Maturity Levels– and to adapt the Execution Plan accordingly to optimize the contracting strategy and minimize execution risk.
  • Determine why Initial Project Set-up and a focussed List of Deliverables are important for team alignment.
  • Review why consistent Project Controls and Risk Analysis methodology is critical.
  • Learn how a simplified, interactive Project Management & Project Controls Handbook – is a key to Project Management and Delivery Success.
  • Look into Integrated Project Management Structure and Systems – I2PD for enhanced risk-sharing and collaboration.
  • Understand why an Integrated Project Execution Plan (IPEP) is a roadmap to success.

Find out more about the event here: The Experience (cim.org)

CII Contract Strategy Virtual Summit – 2021, June 28th and the 29th

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Our thought leaders Bruce Burwell & Michael Dubreuil will be featured subject matter experts on June 28th and the 29th as the Construction Industry Institute (CII) present their first-ever Contract Strategy Virtual Summit, focused on exploration of – and recommendations around – traditional and collaborative contracting models for the construction project owner and their contractors and suppliers.

Find out more here: http://go.cii.today/contractsummit

Webinar Recap – Mar 30th: Using Technology and Industry Best Practices to Achieve Real-time Progressing

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Listen in to this video recap, as Bob Brown, PTAG’s Partner for Project Management Information Systems, delivers this direct and to the point session providing practical and validated examples pertinent to Using Technology and Industry Best Practices to Achieve Real-time Progressing.

This is the recap video recording of the webinar which was originally recorded on March 30, 2021.

For more Session detail, please visit:
www.PTAGinc.com/webinars

Projects across every industry are shifting towards digital data collection to provide real-time information. The global pandemic has increased this need and pushed for rapid adoption.

Careful data analysis is crucial for projects to truly understand performance. But the analysis is only as good as the data that is in the system. If a project is dealing with a two-day delay before paper reports are entered into a system, they are not making informed decisions. When a project manager leverages technology to capture data at the workface, they have the ability to address problems before they arise. This insight is increasingly valuable when coupled with analytical benchmarking, which allows projects to compare themselves with their peers and competitors.

Bob discusses how leveraging technology and best practices lead to faster decision making and project performance improvement. Addressing data collection at the workface, using systems to provide meaningful insights, dealing with multiple shifts data, mitigating COVID-19 impacts, and reducing rework.

Join PTAG to discuss how leveraging technology and best practices lead to faster decision making and project performance improvement.
  • Addressing data collection at the workface
  • Systems to provide meaningful insights
  • Dealing with multiple shifts data
  • Mitigating COVID-19 impacts
  • Reducing rework

Interested in downloading the slide deck? Click here for Direct Download

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