Why Should Owners Implement End-to-End Project Management Office (EPMO)

In large-scale projects, such as those in the Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, Chemicals, Fertilizers, and Infrastructure sectors, the role of the PMC (Project Management Consultant), EPC / LSTK (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction / Lumpsum Turnkey Contract), Item Rate Contractors & Vendors is often limited to overall monitoring & static reporting with limited or no interactive dashboards oversight.

This high-level role typically involves receiving information in isolated form rather than logically integrated type for managing the project’s execution in smart way with dynamically scheduling approach.

For effective project management and successful outcomes, it is crucial that all project stakeholders, including Owners, are equipped with comprehensive and integrated systems like an End-to-End Project Management Office (EPMO).

Some of the Owners believe that the responsibility of implementing the systems lies with the Consultants, Contractors.& Vendors (CCV). However, they have common observations / concerns which are highlighted below.

1. Information Transparency: There is a concern that CCV tend to withhold critical information from clients until it becomes urgent. This lack of transparency can lead to misalignment and delayed decision-making.
2. Divergent Understanding of Project Status: Discrepancies often exist between CCV and clients in understanding the project’s health and status. This misalignment can prevent timely analysis and corrective actions.
3. Gaps in Information Sharing: While some information gaps can be bridged in EPCM (Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management) projects, they are significantly more pronounced in LSTK (Lump Sum Turn Key) projects. Even consultants may be inadequately informed by LSTK contractors.
4. Material Management Challenges: Effective material management is crucial for project completion. Many global projects have faced significant challenges due to poor material management practices.
5. Inadequate Project Progress Reporting: The comprehensive monthly progress reports submitted by CCV often lack the necessary detail and are so extensive that key stakeholders, including the PMC and owners, may overlook them. This lack of concise summary and delay analysis hampers effective decision-making.

Many CCV (Consultants, Contractors, and Vendors) are often not fully equipped to deliver accurate project progress updates. The reports they submit, including monthly progress reports and other relevant documents, tend to be lengthy and inconclusive.

As a result, both the PMC (Project Management Consultant) and the owner often find these reports challenging to review, as they lack a clear and actionable summary and detailed delay analysis. This deficiency in reporting is a significant issue, as it hinders effective decision-making and project management.

It is evident from the above that transparency is a big issue in project execution. Be it Consultant, Contractors or Vendors, they will have the tendency to hide information for obvious reasons. As per our experience, Clients, Consultants & Contractors (CCC) must be on the same platform of understanding for successful implementation of the projects.

The reason for all such issues is lack of proper systems and implementation throughout the project life cycle by a team having domain as well as system knowledge. The major stakeholder of any project is its Owner and hence their role is most important for successful execution of the project maintaining Time, Cost & Quality. That is why the Owners use to put theirs various Procedures to be implemented by CCV.

It is prudent to mention that all the Owners have mentioned their requirements in the tender documents for implementation of various software like PDS, PDMS, SPPID, SP3D, Tekla, Caesar, Primavera, MS Project etc. While a lot of improvements have been done / being continuously done to make Engineering Smart, however, it is greatly missing in Project Management. Project Management is still in conventional mode!

In view of above, Owner has to take decision to implement End-to-End Project Management Office (EPMO) to manage the project in Smart way.

The Owner will provide EPMO Platform to CCV for updation of status (DPR, MPR, WPR, Materials etc.) for common understanding of the status during all phases of project execution. Presently, all such information is prepared / submitted by CCV manually / semiautomatic mode / mostly cut and paste method, which is neither intercalative nor analytical. In absence of intercalative reports & dashboards, reports being submitted by CCV become formality.