Groundbreaking Research for Many Clients

Topics of broad interest are typically pursued by multiple clients. These studies are often groundbreaking research that provides a new perspective on capital projects. Often the clients serve as a Steering Team and the activity spans over a year. Examples of this type of research performed by IPA include the following:

• Developing Successful Projects in China: Approximately 15 clients sponsored a multi-phase study to identify and quantify China project performance and related practices. The study helped western owners more successfully implement projects in China.
• Team Study: The most important driver of project outcomes is the effectiveness of the project team. This study expanded our team research to consider team size and team functionality. Study participants were able to improve the performance of their project teams.
• Organizational Effectiveness: Organizations provide the people, work processes, and infrastructure to create value. However, how companies organize themselves to implement capital projects varies greatly from organization to organization. This study focused on Best Practices to achieve organizational effectiveness. Participants in the study now understand why some organizations are systematically more effective than others.
• E&P Independents Study: There is a general perception that smaller companies are more nimble and therefore better able to react and implement capital projects. The petroleum E&P Independence Study examined this issue for offshore projects being executed by the smaller “independent” companies. IPA quantified the performance differences and practices used by the independent companies relative to the larger integrated oil companies.
• Best Practices for Pharmaceutical Validation: Pharmaceutical companies produce products that are tightly regulated by government agencies. A significant part of the regulatory oversight involves “validation,” or ensuring the process consistently produces results within a narrow range. The cost and schedule associated with the qualification steps are quite different across companies and even projects. This study identified and quantified performance differences and Best Practices to efficiently accomplish these steps.
• Understanding Project Claims and Disputes: The development of a capital project frequently involves a dispute between the owner and a contractor. This study examined the magnitude of claims and disputes and the practices correlated with minimizing their frequency of occurrence and corresponding impact.
• Procurement Best Practices: The procurement of materials and equipment is a critical function in the development of capital assets. Some companies are simply more efficient at procurement. This study quantified the variability in the prices paid for common items of equipment across multiple organizations. In addition, the study identified the practices resulting in better procurement.
• Best Practices for Information Technology (IT) Projects: Approximately 10 years ago, a group of companies realized that their IT projects were consistently having performance issues―substantial cost growth, schedule slip, etc. Thus, these companies sponsored IPA to identify Best Practices for developing IT projects. IPA continues to evaluate IT projects and the Best Practices identified in the initial study are still applicable today.

IPA typically executes one or two multi-client studies each year. The sponsors benefit by helping to shape the study so the results provide maximum value to them.