CASE STUDY

AECOM
Increasing Scalability & Reducing Project Cost by 25%

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Case Study - AECOM contruent.com | 1

CASE STUDY

Increasing Scalability & Reducing Project Cost by 25%

Challenges
» Disintegrated data
» Varying calculation methodologies
» Delay in data visibility

Solution
Efficiently leveraging data can challenge any project. Many Implement an integrated project management
companies, particularly those working on large-scale solution that:

projects, have challenges managing large volumes of data » Improves repeatability of analysis
» Delivers consistent reports
in spreadsheets. The resulting reporting lag and lack of
» Offers standardization of processes
standardization can make project decisions far more difficult
than they need be. Results
» Complete data integration

The Challenge » Increased flexibility and scalability

» Built-in Earned Value Management standards
AECOM, a global Engineering and Construction Company,
» Data integrity and trustworthy calculations
was an organization that was looking to improve the visibility
of their data. At the time, AECOM’s Construction Services
Group was executing projects throughout Western Canada
using advanced macro-enabled spreadsheets and Microsoft
AECOM is a total enterprise system that
Access databases. These systems were highly dependent on
can integrate with most other systems,
manual data processes and, therefore, were at risk of human
allowing National Highways to have one
error. Beyond the risk of this error, the solutions were also not
source of truth in one system.
scalable enough to grow with AECOM.

With both Microsoft Access and Excel spreadsheets, there is The manual processes made it difficult to meet the timing
a single point of failure. While you may have a macro guru that and integration expectations AECOM had for its clients.
knows how it all functions, you can become highly dependent There was a lag between when things were happening in the
on that individual. “The Microsoft Access and Excel systems project and when the data would actually become available
helped solve our immediate problems, but they did not really for analysis. “By the time the numbers were crunched, you
position us for the future,” shared Craig Boudreau, Director of might know what happened two weeks ago, but you did not
Project Controls for the Oil & Gas division at AECOM. know what happened yesterday,” remarked Boudreau.

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There were long lead-times for report generation, non-
integrated data, and far too much time being spent modifying AECOM’s Favorite Features
the data to fit the project’s needs. “The data lived all over
» Group coding
the place and it was always a time consuming exercise to try
» Allows multiple people to work on the same dataset at once
to manipulate it into some kind of comprehensive report,”
» Consistent reporting
elaborated Boudreau. » Built-in Earned Value Management standards

There had to be a better way.

It did not take long before the CIS Project led AECOM to find

AECOM decided to take proactive steps to rejuvenate their Contruent. They started their analysis of the software by

project controls processes. They started developing plans for comparing Contruent against other ERP systems on the

how they could begin their project controls transformation and market, but quickly realized that Contruent was the solution

ended up introducing the Construction Information Systems for them. Contruent offered AECOM an integrated solution

(CIS) Project – an initiative to find modern tools and processes that could provide trustworthy data, accurate reports, and
that could help them effectively manage their projects. standardized processes.

The Objectives After implementing Contruent, AECOM noticed an

The need for a sophisticated, modern tool had become more increase in their data confidence. Since Contruent reduces

apparent as reporting expectations became higher both dependency on spreadsheets and effectively manages all

internally and externally. There was also an increased need their project changes, AECOM’s project data has become

for efficiency as AECOM and their projects grew in size. more timely for analysis. They are also able to work more
efficiently since they now have the ability for multiple people

The CIS Project’s goal was simple. Find an integrated project to work on the same dataset at once. With Excel you can only

management solution that could: have one person in a workbook at once, which can create

» Improve repeatability of analysis efficiency issues when trying to get things done quickly. With

» Deliver consistent reports Contruent, they are able to maximize their time with up-to-

» Offer standardization of processes date project data.

Now, they just had to find the solution that met all their needs. I would recommend it for data integrity,
efficiency, and standardization.
The Solution
One question AECOM had to ask themselves when choosing Craig Boudreau
a system was whether they should use a separate project Director of Project Controls - AECOM

controls software or a large ERP system. After much

deliberation, they concluded that the separation of the two Consistent reporting was one of AECOM’s must-haves when
would be a key element of their success. “Those big ERP purchasing a new project controls system. Fortunately,
systems will say that they can do it all, but one thing I’ve Contruent comes with standard out-of-the-box reports that
always liked about Contruent and having a separate system is AECOM was able to put to use almost immediately. “We had
we can actually move faster than if we were tied to a financial all these projects before where people were choosing to
system,” shared Boudreau. report on them in their own way. But it made it very difficult
to compare the data in projects.” Now that Contruent is
implemented, AECOM is able to compare Project A to
Project B and gain visibility into trends.

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Finally, Contruent has helped reinforce AECOM’s manage projects. “I think with both Microsoft Access and
standardized processes and project controls best practices. Excel templates, you run into this situation where it solves
Contruent provides built-in project controls and earned the problem you have immediately in front of you but it really
value management standard methodologies. “Our goal is to doesn’t scale well. It also creates a single point of failure,”
standardize how we do project controls within Oil and Gas commented Boudreau.
and within AECOM, Contruent is a really important piece of
that puzzle,” shared Boudreau. Increased Productivity
Things that used to take AECOM hours to do, now take mere
AECOM was able to reduce their project seconds. “Overall, we’ve definitely become more productive
costs per project by 25% from 2014 to and are able to handle more,” concluded Boudreau. With
2016 through a combination of process all of the increased productivity, they did not require as

improvement and system implementation, many resources to manage their projects, helping them to

of which Contruent was a big part. achieve greater cost savings as the company grew in size.
AECOM was able to reduce their project controls cost per

Business Benefits project by 25% from 2014 to 2016 through a combination of

AECOM has experienced a wealth of benefits with the process improvement and system implementation, of which

implementation of Contruent. “I would recommend it for Contruent was a big part.

data integrity, efficiency, and standardization,” summarized

Boudreau. Overall, the implementation of Contruent has Contruent helped to increase the confidence in
left AECOM feeling an increased level of confidence in their the underlying analysis, where you can tie back
project controls capabilities. every number to some other source input.

Some of the benefits that AECOM were able to experience Built-In Earned Value Management Standards
include: The Earned Value Management capabilities that Contruent
provides are helpful for more than just their use in projects,
Complete Insight Into Data they also come in handy to train staff members on general
AECOM is able to integrate their cost, schedule, and ERP project controls best practices. “The built-in earned value
data into one centralized location. Now, when they are standard methodologies that are baked into Contruent are
analyzing data, everything they could possibly need is at a really good training tool for junior resources. By learning
their fingertips. They are no longer hampered by data kept how to use Contruent effectively they’re also learning best
in silos or delayed accessibility. They are also able to make practices in project controls by extension,”
use of Contruent’s historical data to provide more accurate remarked Boudreau.
forecasts, particularly when producing project proposals.
“We will take rates of placement, basically hours per quantity, Trustworthy Calculations and Data Integrity
from previous projects and line them up with the rates of Being able to trust project data is an integral part of strong
placement we are putting in subsequent bids…it helps to project controls. With Contruent, AECOM project controls
validate future proposals,” explained Boudreau. always has access to the project’s latest financial data from
the accounting system, which provides improved visibility
Increased Flexibility and Scalability and granularity into the source data. “Contruent helped to
Spreadsheets simply are not scalable. With Contruent, increase the confidence in underlying analysis where you
AECOM is able to handle any size or kind of project with can tie back every number to some other source input”
ease. They also are not reliant on a single person who created commended Boudreau. Everything can be verified and
and understands the complex spreadsheets being used to uncertainty can be reduced.

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 Future Developments Using Contruent, they have seen many benefits including
AECOM looks forward to expanding their use of Contruent cost saving but there are still countless more benefits to
and utilizing all available features and capabilities to achieve be realized. “We’ve seen some modest savings now, but
their goals. Jeff Johnston, Vice President of Delivery the real potential is down the road,” told Boudreau. “To me,
Functions in the Oil & Gas Division at AECOM, explains that one of the nice things about Contruent, is that it sets some
they would like to increase overall standardization across boundaries on how things are done and then we can start
projects, better leverage their data, and further improve building processes off that and build a whole organization and
visibility of data through comprehensive reports. With approach around it. The more we do that, the more efficient
Contruent, they would also like to improve their field- the whole thing gets and ultimately the more we save.”
level data tracking, management of change and improve Contruent is excited to continue our work with AECOM and
automated workflow. cannot wait to see what the future holds for
our relationship.

About AECOM About Contruent

Governments and organizations rely on AECOM Contruent is the capital project management
to help them solve the complex challenges software that’s faster to deliver across
critical to their missions and mandates. Our the entire project lifecycle. It is intuitive,
clients face tough challenges, and we work configurable software-as-a-service that’s
to understand and solve them better than project-ready right out-of-the-box, driving
anyone else. We match the complexity of these project performance with a quarter-century
challenges with the diversity of our expertise, of best practices, customer input and industry
spanning all phases of the development life cycle. expertise, all built in.

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Empowering decision-makers to build our
world’s infrastructure with precision and speed.

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