Implementing primavera in a rapidly changing and competitive business environment

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Implementing EPPM in a rapidly changing and competitive business environment:

Key Considerations for P6

Loretta Bayliss

Managing Director, Prescience TechnologyVice-President, AUSOUG (Qld)

www.prescience.com.auAuthorised Oracle Primavera Reseller

http://www.prescience.com.au/

The most comprehensive Oracle applications & technology content under one roof

Agenda

• Understanding the drivers

• Collaboration & teaming

• Planning is paramount

• A recipe for success

• P6 R8.1 – fact or fiction?

• Procuring the Oracle software and support

• Sustainability beyond Oracle Support

Key Considerations for P6


An alternative viewKey Considerations for P6

Listen. To what the client needs.Understand. What they really mean.Plan. Comprehensively.Apply. A proven, iterative process.Know. The product & its relevance.Act. With precision and certainty.Negotiate. Negotiate. A great deal on software.Sustain. With training and support.

Listen.Understand.Plan.Apply.Know.Act.Negotiate.Sustain.


“Today’s business world is fast-changing, you need to be open to new insights and be able to deal with different situations when they arise.”

Jens Beckmann, Australian School of Business


Understanding the drivers

• Xstrata has a successful, commercially proven operating model in place already;

• Xstrata operates in a volatile market, where competition is a key factor.

• Xstrata openly advocates a model of continuous improvement;

• Xstrata was actively seeking the integration of business process into their chosen software solution;

• Selected sites had been identified to pilot the use of Primavera, as a small part of a larger continuous improvement model;

• Project scope included:• license procurement, implementation, training, support and

schedule build.

Why bother?


A true partnership

• Early involvement of IT and business stakeholders to increase engagement and project support;• Validation of suggested platform and approach

against corporate IT strategy;• Promotion of active involvement of site based and

corporate staff;• Senior stakeholders from both organisations have

established clear and transparent lines of communication;

• Adoption of an innovative learning solution, to increase user adoption and post-implementation sustainability.

Collaborating to achieve success


A true partnership

“Working with Prescience is good because they understand they are primarily workingfor the people who run the mine at each location - mine manager, production manager,engineer etc. But they know success depends heavily on back-end IT systems. Theyrecognised the need to engage local IT support to ensure they were not treading onanyone’s toes and doing things that don’t fit with our IT strategy.

The key to success is to make sure lines of communication stay open. We’ve developeda successful working relationship and both parties are working together for the sameresult.”

Collaborating to achieve success

“Prescience ask, they listen, they take notice and they ask again to make sure the real meaning hasn’t gotten lost in the translation. Some other companies just want to do it their way. It’s our environment and we know how best to manage it.

Prescience has supported us in this. They listen rather than say “We’ll do it this way and you’ll live with it”. They are just not cut from that mould.”


Planning is paramountThe usual suspects

The planning process needs to be comprehensive and must address both business and technical aspects of the implementation:

Areas to evaluate included:• Implementation scope and Business Alignment• Infrastructure – capacity and versions of hardware, supporting

software & network• Team availability • Training capacity and tools• Application support – both during & after the implementation• Testing strategy & experience• Oracle product strategy• Project planning and management experience & capacity


Planning is paramountPlus a few less ordinary

The Xstrata business and technology model also needed to be incorporated into the planning process

Additional areas to evaluate included:• The memory of prior failed implementations of planning

software was still fresh in staff & stakeholder minds;• Although a “pilot” model, there were two pilot sites each with

differing operational constraints;• The pilot sites were 4 hours driving time apart and not serviced

by interlinking transport;• Stakeholders were driven by each site, with a common project

sponsor;• Common team and common timeframe made sense in terms of

maximum benefit to the client;


Planning is paramountPlus a few less ordinary

Other Factors:• Busy operational sites do not afford dedicated project resources,

which needed to be factored in to all information requests;• IT stakeholders had historically held a pure service provision role

and had not had early involvement in project planning and approval;

• In a SQL shop, there was much frowning about the future Oracle footprint, and whether SQL would remain a supported platform;

• The debate about P6 v7 vs P6 R8 was raging in Primavera circles, although R8.1 was not available at the time of project commencement;

• Each of the pilot sites was firmly committed to the agreed target outcomes, and to creating a sustainable model to support their model of continuous improvement.


Ensuring SuccessBuild a Repeatable Process …

• Secure – active executive sponsorship & support

• Communicate – transparent reporting on progress

• Gather – proper materials

• Recruit – the right team members

• Organise – Create & update critical documents

• Analyse & plan – use an iterative method (3 rounds)

• Execute – a serious & dedicated testing process

• Experience – have a leader, a “veteran”

TOP TIP – ensure your process enables and empowers you to move fast once your initial planning is complete


Ensuring SuccessDo not over-complicate things

• Either implementation or schedule

• In an environment where speed to outcome is critical, extraneous complexity only slows things down.


Ensuring Success… and learn from Lessons Learned!

“We can’t change the past, but we can learn from the past.”Anonymous

Prescience worked closely with Xstrata to ensure the planning addressed lessons learned from prior projects:• Do not implement the software in isolation;• Ensure the business process is embedded into the project

lifecycle and the learning process;• Ensure stakeholders remain abreast and engaged;• Test, test, test and re-test assumptions, constraints &

desired functionality


R8.1 – The myths debunkedP6 EPPM and P6 Pro


R8.1 – The myths debunkedThere is no standalone


R8.1 – The myths debunkedThere is no intention to remove Pro completely


Oracle software & support

• Historically de-centralised within Xstrata;

• Fit with model, although did not provide any economy of scale;

• Prescience, together with Oracle, have challenged Xstrata’s distributed procurement model (successfully!) to achieve a more centralised purchasing model;

• Key benefit is discounts to end-user organisation;

• Additional benefit of having more visibility and centralised management of Oracle CSI – contributes to proposed sustainable support model.

An effective procurement model …


Beyond Oracle support

• XStrata has subscribed to Prescience’s extended support (from what is provided by the Oracle support agreement) model, to provide application support to site and corporate users;

• Provides ability for onsite support if necessary (not achievable through Oracle Support except in extraordinary circumstances); and able to be scaled to requirement.

PrescienceAdvantage Primavera Support


Beyond Oracle support

• Prescience has built a tailored eLearning package for Xstrata, which provides two key advantages over other available Primavera training:

• Is specific to the software version implemented;

• Is interactive and engaging, and supports a blended learning model, vs the traditional powerpoint and Oracle Tutor model

PrescienceAdvantage Primavera eLearning


Wrapping it up

• Define the key objective or outcome for your organisation that is driving the implementation process.

• Determine what type of implementation is most appropriate.

• “Begin with the end in mind” and make these goals clear to your entire implementation team & stakeholder group.

Determine why …


Listen. To what the client needs.Understand. What they really mean.Plan. Comprehensively.Apply. A proven, iterative process.Know. The product & its relevance.Act. With precision and certainty.Negotiate. Negotiate. A great deal on software.Sustain. With training and support.

Listen.Understand.Plan.Apply.Know.Act.Negotiate.Sustain.

SummaryKey Considerations for P6


“While we are encouraged by the speed and scale of the changes we’re implementing, there is clearly more work to be done.”

Richard Wagoner


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