19 nov. 2024
How AI is Shaping the Future of Project Controls
Project Controls: It Is Not About Us
For more than a decade, we've been advocating that project controls is its own profession. Complex projects need a professional project controls engineer because project managers often don't have the time, patience, or skills to build large models to analyze data and provide insights. This message has been well received. Project controls is now essential in project management, and many talented engineers have chosen this career. They are skilled in using various tools and techniques to turn data into insights, and their models and reports keep getting better.
But as project controls professionals, we must stay humble. It has never been about us and our skill set. We are part of a mission to enable more effective project management through data and analytics. We want project managers to use data insights to guide the project and deliver it within its constraints. Because project controls is a time-consuming process, project managers often "opt out" of operational project planning and data analysis and rely on the skills of professionals.
AI to the Rescue!
AI is not a threat to data-driven project management but a huge opportunity. We need to acknowledge some major issues that we currently face in the project controls field:
- Structured historical data is often not available or used.
- Creating models is very manual and time-consuming.
- Models are based on subjective and biased estimates.
- Models focus on identifying problems rather than suggesting solutions.
- We struggle to get non-project controls professionals, including project managers, to be committed to our mission.
- Some real problems, like resource optimization, are largely ignored because of the above issues.
If AI delivers as expected, we will see big improvements in these areas in the coming years. This would be a great step toward the realization of our mission!
What About Our Future?
Project controls professionals should not resist this change but reinvent themselves to become facilitators of data-driven project management. The transition will take time, but at Proove, we believe the time to focus on the future is now. Our yearly Project Controls Inspiration Day will be dedicated to AI in project controls. We will discuss (1) how our profession is expected to evolve, (2) the AI-based project controls tools available, and (3) how to prepare your organization for AI. The full program and registration form can be found here.
We hope to see everyone who wants to join us on this exciting journey on September 24th, 2024, in Mechelen!
