Most project plans clash sooner or later with reality. As the boxer, Muhammed Ali said: ”Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

Delivery delays, sick staff, changing customer needs – sooner or later something completely unforeseen happens that puts you in the works. Especially when it comes to complex projects in the energy industry with many moving parts in the form of cases, actors and agreements.

Fortunately, technological development is advancing: a smart case management system makes it possible to manage projects in a much more efficient way than before.

The project manager's main challenge?

Managing unforeseen changes is undoubtedly one of the most difficult challenges for a project manager. It takes good communication skills and quick decisions to keep the project on track when conditions change. And even if the project managers are skilled, it is sometimes difficult to avoid compromising delivery, schedule or budget. Not to mention how employees experience their work and their ability to do a good job. And in the end, your customers also suffer.

So how can a good case management system make a difference?

Notifications and triggers

When a deviation from the plan occurs, it is important that you – imagine that you are a project manager in this scenario – quickly become aware of then. If a few days go by without you acting on the change, and the project's resources continue to work as if nothing has happened without taking it into account, various succession problems will probably arise.

If you use an issue management system, you can follow the progress and status of the different parts of the project in a project-adapted dashboard. The system automatically flags project deviations as they occur. You can quickly replan and communicate the changes to anyone who needs to know the new conditions.

Here it is important to say that this requires continuous reporting by those involved in the project, for example by technicians writing digital diaries for their work orders. Since everything is done in the same system, you can immediately see what has been reported.

Automatic scheduling

Since the parts of a project are interdependent, a delayed subproject or issue often affects subsequent subprojects and issues. It may be enough for a subcontractor to announce that certain equipment is not available or that a resource turns out to be fully booked to trigger a domino effect. In this situation, it can be difficult to identify everything and everyone who is affected and replan the work. Especially if it happens repeatedly during the project.

A system that dynamically connects the project's cases and work orders can then make your life significantly easier through automatically updated scheduling. The deviation itself can trigger intelligent adjustments to the relevant parts of the project plan that take into account many parameters — again, it is assumed that the reason for the delay is the keying in on a new date in the system.

Deviations from budget

Keeping track of outcomes with the budget is another critical part of project management. It is not always easy to compile and get an overview of time consumed, materials and accrued costs from several sources. The case management system can then give you a summary of each milestone in the project so that you keep track of deviations and can take action during the process. Timesheets and invoices are summarized and can be displayed per person and company for easy comparison with budget and agreement.