Requisite EPCM is an approach to ensure project people / managerial feasibility and deliver the maximum achievable project value at every stage of the project by setting up and controlling effective context for decision making in relation to critical project tasks.
It is important to remember one of the most critical project statistics: 47% unsuccessful projects are impacted by poor decision making.
Thus, the key question that any project manager, owner and sponsor should ask: are the right people with right capability are accountable for project tasks, project tasks and project as a whole?
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What is Requisite EPCM?
Requisite EPCM is a standard set of practices for identifying benefits and confirming their delivery as project implementation progresses and finishes. Further ensuring that benefits are sustainable - and sustained - after project implementation is complete.
Requisite EPCM enhances project benefits by ensuring people feasibility of Engineering, Procurement
and Construction Management EPC(M) contracts; from contract definition to contract handover using the principles of Requisite Organisation.
People Feasibility of EPCM means that project work is assigned to role-holders who are capable to deliver the project work of certain complexity successfully
Key Practices of Requisite EPCM
Definition
Requisite practices that
enable organisations to identify expected benefits and prepare for their implementation, including contractor definition
Execution
Requisite practices that
enable organisations to deliver the expected benefits within the budget, time and with the quality required
Operationalization
Requisite practices that enable organisations to sustain benefits and achieve strategic objectives after the project’s completion
management
Requisite practices that ensure acceptance of project benefits by all the stakeholders of a project
Identify Benefits – Project Definition
Objective: ensure that the employees with right level of capability are accountable for identifying the project benefits and planning their realisation
Issues
The study of 648 projects worldwide showed that three types of project definition risks identified cause harm to project delivery:
- 46.9% of weeks were lost (revisions) due to poor scope of the project
- 2seven.8% of weeks were lost (internal and external staffing, under-funding) due to poor resource planning
- 25.3% of weeks were lost (project slippage, inadequate duration) due to poor scheduling
Complexity
There are seven levels of project complexity:
- Every level has a specific functional output of the change to be delivered by the project (improve process execution, change process, change the system, change multiple systems, etc.)
- Every level of project complexity has specific benefits to be delivered
Capability
There are seven levels of project capability:
- The manager accountable for the project must have the level of project capability that matches the level of project complexity
- The manager of the project manager (Project Owner) must have the level of project capability that is one level higher than the level of project complexity
Definition Risk
Frequent Project Definition Risk happens when
- The capability of project manager does not match project complexity
- The capability of project owner is not one level higher when project complexity
Project Definition risk can cause the project under-scoped (scope risk), under-resourced (resource risk) and shortened completion time (schedule risk)
Deliver Benefits – Project Execution
Objective: ensure that the employees with right level of capability are accountable for executing projects tasks and delivering the project outputs
There are seven levels of project role complexity:
- Every project task are assigned to a certain role whose role holder is accountable for its successful execution
- The complexity of a role are measured by the targeted completion time of the longest task or task sequence in a role
- Every managerial role must be one level higher in complexity than its subordinate roles
Seven levels of project people capability are measured based on:
- Level of decision-making experience of an employee
- Level of value & commitment of an employee
- Compliance of an employee with project required behaviours
Project Execution Risk happens when:
- The level of Role complexity is higher than the level of project capability of a role holder (ineffective simplified decisions, failed task execution, burnout)
- The level of Role complexity is lower than the level of project capability of a role holder (lack of control, lack of commitment, ineffective complicated decisions, failed
tasks, bore out)
Project Execution – Contractor Management
Objective: ensure that the contractee company who owns the project work mitigates the loss of the project value from the work allocated to the contractor company
Complexity
The company needs to evaluate the complexity of the project work and value allocated to an outside contractor:
- The whole project can be allocated to the contractor
- Or a part of the project
There are a maximum of seven levels of project work complexity
Contractee Company
The Contractee Company needs to assign a designated contract owner with full contract ownership authority who is accountable for the project value delivered by the contractor
The role complexity level of a contract owner in a contractee company must be one level higher than the complexity of the project work contracted
Contractor Company
Project Manager accountable in the contractor company for delivery of the contractor work must have the project capability level to match the complexity level of the contractor work:
- Level of decision-making experience
- Skilled knowledge
Contractor Company
The Contractee Company needs to ensure that:
- Or the contractor company has practices in place to ensure the people feasibility of the project work
- Or the project team assembled by the contractor company passed the project people feasibility assessment
Sustain Benefits – Project Operationalization
Objective: ensure that the changes delivered by the project (project team) are handed over to the employees of the right capability in the operations to sustain the benefits and realise project ROI and all the planned benefits
Changes delivered by the project (project team) must be standardised for the operations team to apply and embed the change consistently
The change must be incorporated in the following
elements:
- Policy, procedures, standards, guidelines
- Management operating system (Planning, control & monitoring, analysing, reporting)
- Resourcing (finance, technical, information, labour demand)
- Training (competency maps, training content)
- Auditing (risk management, behaviour compliance)
The change delivered by the project must be handed over to the operations team effectively organised:
- The complexity level of operations team must match the level of handover complexity
- Project change is reflected in the change of role accountabilities
- Project change is reflected in the change in horizontal working accountabilities and authorities
- Project change is reflected in the change of felt fair pay
- Project change is reflected in the change of work complexity
The change delivered by the project must be handed over to the operations team capable of sustaining the benefits:
- The capability level of the manager of the operations team must match the level of handover complexity
- The complexity level of work in the roles of the operations team must be matched with the capability level of role holders
The project change must be reflected in the change of:
- Skilled knowledge required from the role holders
- Decision making experience required from the role holders
Accept Benefits – Project Stakeholder Management
Project changes and benefits may impact the standard behaviours with key stakeholders, unbalance them, and lead to negative intention of stakeholders to comply with them.
Every company aspires to achieve positive and balanced relationships with their key stakeholders. Balanced Relationships Model is when all the stakeholders of the company have positive intention to support the project and accept the project’s benefits:
The company needs to set and develop the standard behaviours of “Partnering” Trade Union that, if manifested by Trade Union, will support the business objectives
The company needs to set and develop the standard behaviours of “Supportive” Community that, if manifested by Community, will support the business objectives
The company needs to set and develop the standard behaviours of “Collaborative” Government that, if manifested by Government, will support the business objectives
The company needs to set and develop the standard behaviours of “Engaging” Employees that, if manifested by Employees, will support the business objectives
