OUR SERVICES

Project Delivery Planning

Overview

Plan Ahead makes it our foremost priority to challenge convention and assist teams in creating dynamic and progressive project plans that the team can all take ownership of.

Anyone can create a project schedule; it takes skill and intellectual desire to assist the project team in creating a realistic, achievable programme management strategy & programme for the team to deliver against.

Our programmes are developed with complete knowledge and understanding of the contractual requirements of the project.

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The Detail

Plan Ahead's core service is to support project delivery in the construction phase. We provide a managed service for all our clients, including our senior team providing strategic programme advice.
Plan Ahead provides a lot of added value by effectively communicating the future programme management strategy for the short to mid-term future to both the client and contractor team. This approach enables all parties to be aligned in advance of each programme submission, leading to a more collaborative approach.
Plan Ahead takes a proactive stance in managing programme risk. We use the latest software to run Monte Carlo simulations across the whole programme, not just a summary programme.
Our experienced planners work with our clients to review the findings, identify the key risk activities, and implement alternative solutions to mitigate the risk to the project timeline to a realistic level.
To enable effective mitigation of risk, Plan Ahead needs to follow a reiterative process of simulation and mitigation against the top risks each time.
Plan Ahead's experienced team understands the strategic approach for successfully integrating the programme with the 3D model.
Using the latest integration software, Plan Ahead works closely with the design team to ensure the model is layered to provide integration with programme sequence/steps.
Plan Ahead is experienced in providing robust time chainage charts to support linear projects.
To engage the widest audience with this collaborative software, Plan Ahead's charts are graphically pleasing to review and understand while being technically accurate.
Effective integration between Tilos and P6 adds further benefits, where both software can share information.
Plan Ahead has developed a suite of effective supporting documents for programme submissions aligned to correct contract management.
When supporting contractors under NEC contracts, we supply a large amount of structured supporting data for all Cl31 and Cl32 submissions to assist clients with a fully informed review.
For clients, we provide a detailed assessment of the programme quality and trend analysis of progress to date. We also review the forecast works, ensuring outputs to date inform the future forecast works.
Plan Ahead understands how to build programmes that recognise the contracted terms under which the project timeline will be delivered.
The programme, subject to the contract type, plays a key part in contracted terms in both delivering the project and controlling any change/ entitlement that may occur during the process.
Plan Ahead uses XER toolkit as part of its assurance process to provide clients with a summary validation report.
For contractors, Plan Ahead develop a robust programme that is validated and ultimately deliverable, giving both contractor and client certainty. Our contract programmes are designed to be suitably detailed, dynamic and properly constructed to be accepted as the contract programme supported by an exhaustive collection of submission documents.
For clients, Plan Ahead provides an expert and impartial 3rd party audit process. Audits are provided at a variety of levels, subject to the level of review required and the added value it is trying to deliver.
Plan Ahead has developed a suite of visualisation solutions for all our client's needs. These include high-level summary programmes, phasing plans, logistic plans and animated slide shows.
The key is to provide graphics that inform and validate the intended timeline and sequence to their audience.
Plan Ahead has developed a structured approach to all change management, centred around the contracts our clients work under. We work with our clients to help collate the most accurate progress records to ensure valid data is used to demonstrate change/cause and effect.
Under NEC contracts, we ensure programme submissions Cl32 and Cl62 are maintained as per the contract requirements and the defined reply periods are supported.
To ensure the programme supports change management, the planning team must maintain a robust structured approach, which Plan Ahead recognises and supports.
Plan Ahead encourages all clients to allocate cost and resources across the programme where possible to complete the alignment between cost and time.
Plan Ahead's extensive experience enables accurate alignment of the client's CBS model to the programme WBS to ensure effective integration. The accurate alignment will benefit the reporting of EVM through accurate CPI/SPI reporting.
Plan Ahead has developed a digital dashboard they run on all their live projects, monitoring a set of key metrics to facilitate standardisation of reporting and progress trends.
The progress trend analysis provided by the dashboards gives a detailed insight into the future progress of each project, supporting the suite of standardised text reports that Plan Ahead produces on all live projects.
The dashboard automatically generates the report from the P6 base files.