Integrated Oracle Primavera solution helps major expansion at DAA to fly

RPC was first engaged by daa (Dublin Airport) to provide a Cost Management tool to support their major and ongoing project of airport expansion both in Dublin and at Cork Airport. Introducing Unifier was a big business shift at daa, but the success of this initial project has rolled out into the development of a fully integrated programme controls solution, incorporating Earned Value Management, Fund Management and Contract Management – all based around the Oracle Primavera toolset and providing all the necessary dashboards and reporting to enable the project team to keep on top of data and meet all the regulatory requirements of such a large, public-funded project.

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Approach

Understanding the client’s needs

A growth in passenger traffic and cargo through Dublin has necessitated an airport expansion plan with a budget in excess of 2 billion Euros, making it Ireland’s largest capital investment programme. 

Not only is this a major and complex construction and engineering project, including apron refurbishment, new roads and carparks, new airfield apron, buildings, baggage management and more than 140 construction projects across the site due for completion by 2024, but the need for strict cost controls and auditability were essential in meeting the necessary regulatory requirements. 

Evolution of the brief

RPC employed their collaborative Rapid Application Development approach to fully scope out the requirements and shape a Cost Management solution using Oracle’s Primavera Unifier.

RPC was able to support the integration of Primavera P6, which had been in use for scheduling for some time already, into the Unifier environment, enabling cost performance dato be linked with schedule performance data using RPC’s Earned Value Management solution.

Main Challenges

Prior to this project, programme control transactions were being made using multiple records, in multiple spreadsheets, all manually updated and with the risk of the same record being distributed potentially with different data. DAA identified a need for traceability of both changes and records themselves, and auditability of data.

Oracle’s Unifier was identified as a process-driven tool that could deliver the required control and governance over the spend of the project. Implementing a major process change is challenging to a business but the User Acceptance process of the project development, driven and supported by RPC, was universally well-received, with test users quickly realising the significant benefits the new ways of working would offer and becoming ambassadors for the solution within the business.

The evolution of the project meant that this was, to a degree, a ‘learn-as-you-go’ process. The client had a vision of requirements and the problems to be solved. RPC was able to bring their expertise to the development workshops to understand what the client really needed, even if this was not what they thought they wanted, and to provide a solution that would meet those needs.

Benefits

• Efficient approvals process and standardised change controls across all projects and programmes
• Generation of usable benchmark information across all different cost centres
• Cost data integrated with P6 data, Earned Value data and Contracts data so that all can be mapped in line with governance process
• Improved decision-making, supported by on-demand report generation and real-time performance data
• ‘Single source of the truth’ data review, including graphical illustrations of project performance from a cost and schedule perspective
• Ability to manage all regulatory funding sources in one place and track consumption at all levels
• Integrated and automated Contracts Management
• Reduced manual handling of data
• Improved forecasting based on actual project data