ABSTRACT

In a project controls environment, integration of project, program and portfolio data is essential to make key business decisions. This white paper explores how to effectively integrate project controls data, defines service oriented architecture and its interactions with applications and discusses the benefits that can be realized by managing programs from a central point.

INTRODUCTION

Integration is not a new concept. Within a business context, integration takes on many forms including the integration of people, business processes and systems. Usually, an organization will require integration of all of these elements to some extent. Far too much time is spent finding, extracting and analyzing data from various systems to provide stakeholders with information on how a program is progressing. Companies and stakeholders have an insatiable need for information and require accurate and integrated data in order to make informed decisions. This results in teams spending weeks and months to pull everything together. So, when considering a project controls environment, what most drives the need for integration?

Systems and business process engineering is one of the key elements driving integration within project controls. Cost control systems are the central systems businesses rely on when managing costs within their programs. However, it is important to note that cost systems do not operate in isolation and often depend on other systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs), scheduling systems, estimating systems, document management systems and traditional business systems. When they are all brought together, you have a more complete set of data and information for the business to better manage their programs. Some people try to manually integrate all these systems and data points to provide the information they need. There is a better way!

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