Telecom infrastructure projects (DWDM, SDH, etc) that require the ordering, purchasing, import / export of a great number of devices, shipment, configuration and installation of these devices in remote locations, construction work for the locations of the installations, and finally on-going maintenance of these systems, often require the joint coordinated efforts of many different disciplines, organizations and companies to work to together in a timely manner. Not a single project manager, or any of the conventional project management software used, is able to come near to solving this daunting task within acceptable parameters of contract deviation.
An approach where a customized, tailor made platform, dedicated to the process management of these immense projects is a must, since up to 80% of the tasks implemented in such projects are both in the critical path, and are done by different input entities that do not necessarily enjoy administrative authority over each other in the same order as the process chain required to keep the project afloat. The particulars of the project contract needs to embedded into the functions of the platform via a project configuration wizard, while at the same time business intelligence tools that alert as to the upcoming new orders, bottlenecks in the supply chain and execute automatic, timely inventory analysis needs to be in place. The next step is to include all project stakeholders, particularly those who are employed by different organizations and have various administrative authorities on different locations of the process chain, and the various subcontractors who do the shipment, installation and construction jobs, into the platform. These will actively use the platform in accordance with their roles, insert the various task status information as they execute their tasks in the project and thus feed the process management chain accordingly. The platform itself, on the other hand, will actively draw all these stakeholders into the complex process chain by sending out alerts and seeking active responses to those alerts. Since the contract particulars of the project are embedded within the functions of the platform, all stakeholders will need to actively use it if they are to fulfill their roles assigned to them by the contract, and thus, to put it bluntly, get their money.
And finally, the platform will have reporting capabilities that are customized to show not only the conventional financial and process data, but also the analysis at various stages of the business intelligence parameters. The reporting for these types of projects should start ideally as soon as you log on to the platform, right on the introduction screen, in the form of a live map mash-up that instantly provides visual information as to the current status of the project within the wide geographic parameters that it is executed in.
It is my observation that without such an all-encompassing platform in place the squandering of resources in complex, wide-area telecom projects is inevitable. There are so many parameters to deal with, so many tasks that rely on the success of the ones before them, some even after them! … and so many things that could go wrong.
Avanto wide-area asset management platform was designed specifically to cater to such wide-area projects.
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