Smart capital project management: Leveraging digital technologies

By: Vishvesh Prabhakar & Pankaj Bhagat

Capital projects are growing in scale and complexity with consistent requirements to shorten their execution timelines, which is making them harder to manage. At the same time, globalengineering and project management companies have increasingly focused on geographical expansion and diversification whilst contending with greater volatility impact the environments in which they are working..

Getting the execution of capital projects right is a major source of competitive advantage and will need a smart approach taking into account constraints and risks impacting them.A traditional approach to smart project management has been built on a foundation of agile processes, positioning of the right skills and leveraging information technology. However, there still is a compelling need to continuously evolve the way we can execute them better, given the added dimensions of volatility, risks and competition.So what is the right "brick to click" strategy for an Engineering, Construction and Project Management firm in the current times?


A range of new technologies, Social media, Mobile communications, Analytics and Cloud computing (SMAC) - are (Figure 1) which disrupting the traditional way of doing business. They are being supported by the proliferation of connected, intelligent devices. Connected devices have become ubiquitous - currently at 4.9 billion (2015), they are poised to reach 25 billion by 2020 in India. Better known as the Internet of Things (IoT), these devices are creating unparalleled data and real time visibility to track and monitor projects and assets end-to-end from design to commissioning.

What are key elements of a Digitally Smart Capital Project Solution?

A robust digital solution for SMART project management provides an integrated suite of capabilities and services delivered by a common platform. Distinct functional aspects ranging from concurrent engineering, parametric estimation to system driven commissioning can be effectively linked through cross functional interfaces as part of the digitally enabled architecture (Figure 2 and Figure 3)

The digital architecture can then be spread across a common platform which leverages elements like cloud, mobility and analytics to enhance project execution capability and improve performance

Some of the digital technologies relevant for smart project management include:

Digitally enabled review platforms

Digitally integrated project portals which scale up accessibility of documents, data and templates and can be used as a collaborative platform for global project delivery

Integrated project control tools digitally wired with a backend analytics engine

Project dashboards which depict the single version of the truth on project progress, highlight key risks and issues and aid decision making for the leadership

Digital collaboration across Engineering and Estimation stages

BIM (Building Information Modeling) to support progressive industrialization of engineering and construction processes by enabling higher construction quality, improved productivity and better collaboration during the whole building cycle.

Virtual estimation and engineering databases which are concurrent and accessible.

Digital collaboration across Project Execution to Commissioning stages

Increased use of mobility devices for arange of functional activities like requisition to pay, field collaboration, logistics tracking, time sheet filling, recording and reporting safety issues

Use of Drones to conduct site surveys, monitor project progress

Make Plant and Equipment "connected" to enhance utilization and effectiveness through remote monitoring

Online Digital market places to lease out or hire in critical plant and machinery

Digital workforce planning tools to plan, track and monitor manpower deployment on projects

Digitally enabled work methods for critical construction activities leading to improved quality and schedule performance e.g. welding procedures, inspection processes etc.

Legal helplines enabled through mobility solutions

3D printing to accelerate project delivery in the building of spare parts and the combining of construction products on site

Construction, Commissioning and Operations procedures enabled through augmented reality e.g.Google glass

To summarize, digital solutions are key to SMART project management and will be the future trend which will help overcome shortage of skilled resources, compress schedules and drive reduction in execution overheads



Vishvesh Prabhakar is the Managing Director, Sustainability, Accenture in India and , Pankaj Bhagat is Senior Principal, Accenture Strategy.