1) Can Clevor improve productivity of any project?
Based on our experience with different projects, Clevor improves productivity of all but the most simple projects. However, the % improvement in the productivity increases as the size, complexity and flexibility of the project increases. For this reason, we generally see the highest % savings in complex projects such as industrial process plant expansions or for multiple projects that share at least some resources. In order to assess how much saving can be expected, we recommend you provide us with the details of your project(s) and we can provide you with estimates of the percentage of savings we expect you to get based on our experience with other projects like it.
2) How does Clevor work?
Clevor exploits the fact that for any project of a given scope, it is possible to carry out the project with numerous alternate project execution scenarios. A project execution scenario tells exactly what resources should be deployed and when and exactly what tasks should be assigned to them and when. Each of these scenarios enables one to complete the project. However, the outcome in terms of project cost and project duration will differ. In most medium size projects the number of these alternative scenarios is in the millions. Evaluating these scenarios enables management to exploit the flexibility available to them such as alternative resource deployment over the project duration, alternate task assignment, and alternate resource assignment for tasks, etc. Clevor enables project management to find the best execution scenario which yields the lowest total cost.
3) We find schedules are good for reporting but not for driving the work – how can you beat what our experienced supervisors are currently doing?
In most industrial projects, there are literally millions of different ways a project can be executed so schedules are frequently used as guidelines to drive work and supervisors tend to execute them on the fly. This makes it difficult for managers to see the long term implications of their decisions, foresee bottlenecks, and anticipate the obstacles to meeting their milestone dates that are often far into the future. Our approach is to use a computer to, for example, build 50,000 detailed schedules with an associated 50,000 financial statements. It is simply not possible for a human being to consider thousands of tasks, multiple resource types, competition for these resources amongst all of the tasks while respecting all project constraints, and the financial implications of each of their options. They may be able to do some of this analysis in their head or in a formal schedule, but certainly not all of it which is how we add value.
4) How do you account for all the day-to-day changes that affect the schedule?
Based on the experience of our customers, approximately ninety percent of the optimized schedule is executed as per the plan. The remainder is due to unpredictable events such as weather, equipment break down, and absenteeism. In these instances, the Project Management staff makes necessary adjustments to task assignments based on the situation. At the end of the week, the actual progress made based on their changes is taken into account in the next update and re-optimization. We have not heard any complaints from the project managers or his supervisors on this account.
5) How do you actually create up to 25% savings on a project?
It is important to first point out that the savings we quote are based on experience of past customers with projects they have optimized and executed. The savings come from improved productivity. For example, by making sure that you deploy just the right number of the right resources at the right time and then assign just the right tasks, Clevor is able to make sure that the resources have close to a full shift of hours assigned to them and that the sequence of the tasks is such that no one has to wait for anyone or anything.
Another way of saying this is that the optimized schedule minimizes waste. Waste is defined as any expense that does not add value for the customer such as waiting for something or someone, moving people around too much between jobs, giving them too much time to do a task etc. The problem of waste is exasperated by the fact that people who are idle usually don’t sit by themselves in a corner – they are usually talking to someone who is trying to get their work done, delaying them also!
6) Can you guarantee that 15% to 25% improvement in productivity will happen on my project?
First we need to understand your project in order to evaluate our ability to add value to your operations. Once we have the details of your project(s), we can give you estimates of % savings we expect based on our experience with other projects like it. Furthermore, it is important to point out that your must execute the project schedules to get the benefits. Please consider the following as you consider using Clevor for the first time:
- Look at our customer list, all of whom are repeat customers
- Look at our customers testimonials
- We can put you in direct contact with our customers
- Consider our approach – we know it is much more thorough than conventional methods
- Consider our no risk offer: provide us with a detailed resource loaded schedule and we will tell you exactly how much savings we can generate by optimizing it.
7) Doesn’t it take too much time to do all this detailed scheduling?
Clevor will certainly spend more time with project supervision to set up the initial schedule than they are used to in the beginning. However, they would spend much less time on meetings to figure out the status of their projects, establish priorities and to respond to pressing problems. Once Clevor has built the detailed project schedule the , operations generally run so smoothly that it is common for Project Managers to spend less time on these details. So yes, there is an initial investment of time required by management but there is also a payoff while executing the project that requires much less of management time. Of course the payoff also goes beyond the manager’s time and into the financial benefits of optimization mentioned in FAQ #5 and #6.
Another common mistake companies often make is to have the Project Manager do all their own scheduling. We believe that the time of Project Managers is far too valuable to be spent on this activity. We recommend you hire an in-house scheduler to help build a detailed schedule or hire Clevor personnel who can build the schedule for you. Our customers have always found our Scheduling Consultants to be very easy to work with and value them as an asset to the execution of their projects.
8) What if the data is not good – won’t you just have garbage in and garbage out?
Whereas good data is always what you want, it is also said that “Perfection is the enemy of Good” and we agree. Please don’t wait for perfect data because you will never have it. If you are executing your projects with your present data, then, that is good enough for Clevor to produce results. As your project is executed, errors will be identified and corrected and the system will be re-optimized on a weekly basis. An important observation is that many of our customers have had this concern in the beginning but they have had positive experiences and have seen huge savings.
9) Our customers have such a big impact on our projects – how can you schedule around this?
A customer can affect the schedule in a number of ways – they may not be able to coordinate the activity of other contractors whose work can affect yours, they may not be able to release equipment and space for you on time, and they can even change your scope of work. Clevor can enable you to respond to these issues in the following ways:
- Taking into account the new constraints imposed on your work, Clevor can very quickly tell you your best response. Our experience shows that in some cases, you may still be able to get the project on time and without any additional cost.
- Responding to significant events like changes in scope or delays from other contractors by re-optimizing the schedule. The effect of these events on project cost and completion date is extremely detailed so you can use it to ensure compensation is handled properly. Our experience shows that once your customer knows how you are calculating your additional cost, they come to trust you and that makes the process easier to handle
- Clevor can include the tasks to be performed by the customer in the optimized schedule which helps communicate to the customer what your future needs are for equipment, space, or materials so you can get your job done faster and at lower cost
10) Doesn’t this change the whole way we run our projects?
Yes and no. Clevor is designed to gather the collective information from your people and to do a comprehensive analysis of the project that is not otherwise possible. In that sense, the manner in which information is gathered, analyzed and interpreted will change which will impact how your projects are run. However, Clevor leads to very dependable decision recommendations that result in smoother running and more orderly projects which appeals to everyone. People like to work in well organized work places and our customers tell us that the presence of Clevor often results in improved morale, more respect for management, and in some cases less employee turnover. We have also carried out projects where the people in the field did not realize that we were optimizing the schedule.
11) Optimization doesn’t look practical, isn’t it a more theoretical approach to managing projects?
Clevor has been around for 10 years, with the first four years being spent on R&D and the following six years being spent in the field for companies to optimize their projects. By now, hundreds of projects have been optimized using Clevor. The technology is well proven and has a very strong approach to conducting analysis and providing decision recommendations on difficult to solve problems such as how many resources should I hire, when should they be hired, and in what order should their tasks be assigned so that I can maximize the productivity of project execution and meet all the milestone dates.
