What are some effective tools for managing airport projects?

I agree but, only project management tools are not enough in today’s world. You need to manage documents, drawings, and submissions with a powerful document control tool and also design shall be in 3D BIM model where you can integrate your work schedule with the 3D model elements to track progress visually.

In my experience, there are two essential requirements to project success, and by success, I mean an efficient and well-run project. They are: 1) a 'single source of truth' and 2) 'outstanding communication'. The first is always a challenge with large, complex projects. Technology platforms are at the tipping-point of making this happen (i.e. Autodesk Constrution Cloud), but the cost, constant platform changes, IT-related issues of access and control, security, platform stability and logevity, etc. make it difficult for even the strongest advocates to make a case to their companies to jump on board. The second is simple but elusive, as communication needs to be clear, concise, accurate and effective; a skill not often mastered.

As stated by my other colleagues - Planning tools are only a small part to an overall project management suite required for managing complex projects. Estimation, Cost Control, Planning Risk, Cost Risk, Document Control, Interface Management and Procurement Management all need to be addressed. BIM has been the Holy Grail in regards to pulling all these systems together into a cohesive environment - but are still disjointed and require a lot of Development between various systems to talk to each other. The biggest issue with Project Managment systems tends to be interoperability and connection between them. Many use API’s to speak with one another - but when the introduction of a firms ERP happens - this gets to be a challenge.

ensure your Project Management plan is well versed in Stakeholder Engagement. Understand that the word called Uncertainty is managed with effective planning, good communication skills and the coordination of works according to the plan. Getting rid of Uncertainty is the name of this game.

The project schedule must mirror and demonstrate the feasibility of the project execution strategy. Then the project cost estimates must also validate the execution strategy and the work schedule as planned. The budget determination must include the full risk assessment input to enable appropriate establishment of the project contingency value. Budget determined, the next will be to determine the stakeholder's depth, categories and needs. Design and implementation of Interface Management System (IMS) tool will be a great value addition to the project delivery.

I guess, one of the focal points is the stakeholder management. It requires a great complex coordination and communication. They should be encouraged to participate in each phases of the project. It is essential that regular meetings need to be held between participants and be shared feedback and progress.

Stakeholders especially in airports has other priorities than your project, especially in an active airport, that multiplies the task diffculty by 10 and coordination with them requires netwroking skills on top of the project management aspect.

During the Operational Readiness & Airport Transfer (ORAT) project for our new terminal, we've started with the basics to ensure effective communication among a large variety of stakeholders. We sat as a team and mapped out each stakeholder with their main point of contact on a white board. Then, we agreed on team members that would serve as main point of contacts for each stakeholder. This helped streamline communication efficiently, improved stakeholder engagement by building trust with the assigned pont of contact and allowed members to become the team's expert in a specific area. Our project had a tight deadline and it was no easy feat. Diversifying point of contacts and building strong connections played a huge role to its success.

A thought of it could be as most airports are PPP public private partnerships there is a wide range of stakeholders. I am not sure if all stakeholders get chance of seeing the actuals results?

I fully support this. Stakeholders are also customers so they need to be managed very well. Firstly, we need to identify them and their level of involvement and importance. Identify how we can keep them happy and then execute those plans accordingly.

Risk is ther in any project, and is usually confused with facts, when a risk materializes, it is usually a bit too late to start thinking of mitigation measures.

Airport projects have high risk factors, so all the risk to be categorized with risk breakdown structure and to be minimized or nullified.

During the Operational Readiness & Airport Transfer (ORAT) project for our new terminal, we've created risk registers related to the project's delivery. It was imperative to list the consequences, showstoppers, and impact. We've also included recommendations, where its implementation was subject to the management's discretion. Categorizing risks is key to avoid any mishaps. An organization may choose to accept, avoid, transfer or eliminate an identified risk depending on its risk appetite. It's important to periodically review your risk register, especially during a significant change as its impact or likelihood may change with time.

Every project involves risks which should be well considered and calculated. Mostly importantly the risk owner should drive ways to manage the risk effectively with support from other project team members

During the Operational Readiness & Airport Transfer (ORAT) project for our new terminal, we've developed hundreds of checklists and conducted many audits. There were three key points that must be understood before applying quality control measures for a new terminal, which are: 1. What is the current practice? (Followed in the previous terminal) 2. What is the best practice? (Planned to be implemented in the new terminal) 3. What are the main challenges to its implementation? (This could include major amendments to SOPs, culture shift, facility/system limitations, etc.) Quality Control is all about setting the standard that works best for your airport, which could be in the form of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with key stakeholders.

Airport projects are among the projects that most necessarily involve quality management. The project cannot be delivered regarding airports without a high-quality check on the project performance. I recommend performance and efficiency measures.

During the Operational Readiness & Airport Transfer (ORAT) project for our new terminal, we've undergone massive changes in both processes and culture. The most common mistake is to focus solely on completing work, especially with tight deadlines, and not assessing its overall impact in the airport. Change management can be tedious and quite time consuming. Our approach was to dedicate a team that receives updates on projects and major changes. This team will then coordinate with all responsible entities to ensure that their documents are amended, staff are trained/briefed and processes aren't overlapping/conflicting with the change. This is by no means an easy feat, and a team with diverse knowledge would work best in complex projects.

Changes during project lifecycle are inevitable, thus well defined change management process is mandatory for successful delivery of any project. Change management process provides a simple, effective and powerful medium for resolving issues and giving clear insight & direction, before expending resources. Some key elements required to define a scope change might be - Change Source (Schedule, cost etc.) - Scope of work changes - Deliverables modified or added - Schedule changes Information - Cost changes Information In my experience, I have used Potential Deviation Notice (PDN) for early notification of potential changes to stakeholders, and subsequently raise Scope Development Order (SDO) and Scope Change Order (SCO)

Change requests to be more precise about changes that affect scope or schedule or cost. It may require corrective action, preventive action or defect repairs which will be decided by CCB.

True, it needs a PPM tool specifically to manage all these like having proper schedule, finances status reporting etc . In a proper cadence sponsors should be made aware of these changes.

Sometimes business continuity plan on not implementing changes immediately with work-around proposals from partnering contractors will be more beneficial than implementing changes and anticipating the domino effects of incompatible integration and claims.

Brainstorming sessions with the team are one of the most important innovation management tools. The team that carries out the work always has the best ideas to develop the work in the best way

Value Improvement Incentive based Program- is the most effective way to invite innovative ideas . Don’t limit your team to be part of brainstorming to come up with value creation ideas but involve the whole organisation by creating a platform where people can contribute qualitative idea backed up with quantitative improvements. Based on a range of savings that idea has impacted the project issue a reward . This strategy not only helps project in saving but also improves the moral of the team who came up with idea plus foster the culture of idea sharing and innovation. I have implemented and participated in few of such programs . I can truly vouch for the effectiveness of this idea.

More effective site progress monitoring is now enabled by drone technology using programmed flight path with aerial photographs and advanced AI video analytics, such as to determine pile volume, man and stock counting at regular intervals.

I saw one of contribution which struck my thoughts, physical project utilize 3D model to visualize progress, can we use solution architecture to visualize progress in software development alongside project review and demos

BIM (Building Information Management) is a new/latest trend to help visualization of progress as well as integration of different disciplines using GIS platform. That could be enhanced by using point-cloud data from surveillance or survey by regular drone patrol path pre-programmed according to site progress.