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SAFRAN GOES GLOBAL...

Norwegian project management software company Safran today announced a new-look global organization to expand its product offering and operations around the world.

The new global organization will deliver planning and project control solutions for Oil & Gas, Aerospace & Defense, and Engineering & Construction markets in the USA, UK & Europe, Australia and the Middle East.

In addition to opening new offices in Houston and London, Safran has bolstered its management team with experienced industry figures, including:

• Lars Petter Eliassen, Group CEO – Director-level Oil & Gas experience from telecoms solutions provider Inelecom Group, and part of the team that took RigNet from startup to the NASDAQ.
• Richard Wood, VP International Sales – Substantial Business Development experience from Oracle Primavera.
• Glenn Jarrad, Senior Software Developer – Former Technical Director for the revolutionary Pertmaster software, and 5 years senior development experience on Oracle Primavera.
• Dean Edmundson, CEO Americas – More than 20 years of software and project management experience, including ARES Project Management and working at a senior level with the initial alliance between Oracle and Primavera.
• Jeff Russell, VP US Sales – Former Application Sales Manager for the Oil & Gas and Utilities verticals at Oracle Primavera.

ARE YOU REALLY IN CONTROL OF YOUR PROJECTS?

Whether you run time-critical, capital-intensive, resource-critical, or high-risk R&D projects, Safran software will help you deliver on-time and on-budget.

Safran Project 5 is a comprehensive planning solution designed to keep even the most complex projects under control, offering schedule risk analysis and comprehensive reporting, fully integrated into the software.

Safran Planner makes scheduling smaller projects a breeze, while Safran Web Access allows project members to update status and project stakeholders to view live information, wherever they are in the world, on whatever device they choose.

Talk to us and discover the Safran Difference.

Visit www.safran.com, call (+47) 4000 4707 or email info@safran.com to find out more, or to arrange a demonstration.

PMA TECHNOLOGIES... The Upside of Risk...

When most people think about risk assessments or risk management: they think only of avoiding potential risks. Sometimes, risk can also mean issues or problems. But risk management has another important component: opportunity. 

A thorough risk assessment will evaluate potential opportunities that can be exploited along with risks which can be avoided.

Dr David Hillson describes opportunities as positive risks. In his book, “Effective Opportunity Management for Projects: Exploiting Positive Risk,” Dr. Hillson makes the case for full inclusion of positive risks in the process of risk assessment and management.

I could not agree more. History is replete with examples of missed opportunity. From the Beatles’ drummer before Ringo Starr to venture capitalists Battery Ventures, who turned down the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of Facebook, missed opportunities are as painful in retrospect as they can be elusive in foresight.

To minimize the chances of rueful reminiscence, we can choose to actively engage in the collection and management of potential opportunities. In the world of decision support systems, we find remarkable tools to evaluate potential opportunities we think of during the qualitative portion of risk assessment.

Finding opportunities can be a bit tricky, in part because of the way our minds work. In Daniel Kahneman’s book “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” Kahneman discusses the anchoring and priming of the human mind. Through these processes, future thoughts are strongly influenced by the thoughts and environment a person encounters just prior to a cognitive event.

If you come to a meeting primed to think about negative risks, it is less likely you will generate opportunities. Perhaps we should adopt a two session system, whereby risks are evaluated in one session and opportunities are evaluated in the next.  Read More...

EcoSys EPC

EcoSys is fast becoming the global standard for enterprise Project Controls software. Our easy-to-use web-based platform, EcoSys EPC, helps organizations worldwide plan and manage project portfolios, control project costs, and improve project performance.

Latest News from EcoSys:  CH2M HILL Selects EcoSys EPC for Global Cost Management System

EcoSys EPC has been selected by CH2M HILL’s Center for Project Excellence to serve as the global Cost Management System (CMS) for all client projects. Through its integrated and scalable enterprise project controls software, EcoSys will help CH2M HILL to more effectively manage project costs, earned value, progress measurement, and contract changes. 

> Read more

Download New Case Study:  AREVA Inc. Improves Project Certainty with EVM Standardization Initiative 

In 2011, AREVA successfully implemented EcoSys EPC for controlling one of the company’s largest engineering services projects. As a result, the US project management organization (PMO) selected EcoSys EPC as their enterprise standard for project controls and EVM.

> Download Case Study

TILOS News

TILOS 8: Enhanced data exchange options

TILOS 8 supplies a big new feature set for planning and building infrastructure projects such rail, road, tunnel and pipeline projects. Very often TILOS is used for the linear visualisation of schedules prepared in other project management systems.

The new exchange concept supports to exchange only parts of the project with TILOS. This is controlled by a flexible export filter that allows also to group activities having the same code assignments to generate overview plans from highly detailed schedules. Sample: In a big road project the bridges for crossing streets can be summarized in single activities to be shown on the time distances diagram in order to highlight the interaction with the linear tasks planned in TILOS.

The data changed in TILOS can be uploaded to the Primavera, MS Project or ASTA Powerproject. Within this process it can be clearly defined which fields should be updated and which should not be touched. Links to activities that are not updated are kept.

The Primavera data exchange allows also to exchange the complete WBS structure. As it uses the API, the security in enterprise databases is kept. The exchange module supports to upload a complete resource loaded linear schedule from TILOS into any of the 3 products to deliver the plan in any format required for a tender.

Read more about the new features of version 8:

http://tilos.org/fileadmin/downloads/doc/T8/EN/WhatIsNewInTilos8.pdf

FREE eTraining:

Just released- NEW Synchro eTraining course, FREE with all new Synchro 4D Scheduler and Synchro Professional licenses.

Current license holders can request free one year subscriptions at marketing@synchroltd.com. 

This year’s conference will be more interesting than ever. Day one will include outstanding case study presentations by industry leaders who will demonstrate how they use Synchro Professional to improve their project delivery process. Other topics include, Product Updates, a panel discussion on using 4D to challenge the status quo and Synchro’s innovation roadmap.

The 16th will be an entire day of hands on training conducted by the Synchro team; participants can choose either introductory or advanced sessions.

Details and Registration will be on our website shortly. You won’t want to miss this informative two day conference!

The course is powered by Global eTraining and gives users a solid grounding in the use of Synchro’s 4D scheduling and planning tools including: importing, exporting, assigning 3D objects, creating use profiles, model based scheduling, linking, synchronising, and preparing presentations. 

Learn Synchro FREE, see very project in detail and achieve measurable improvement in project delivery.

Trial license users also get 10 days access to eTraining during their trial.

The most Effective way To Learn Primavera P6 Professional?

Our on-line, self-paced Primavera P6 Professional Fundamentals Video Training Course is the easiest and fastest way to learn Oracle Primavera P6 Professional.

Through a series of high quality video lessons, exercises and quizzes, you will learn how to use the most common features of Primavera P6 Professional. Here’s why other folks have chosen this class:

If you don’t have Primavera P6 Professional installed, don’t worry.   We provide detailed step-by-step instructions on how to download and install Primavera P6 Professional.

To learn more http://www.tensixconsulting.com/video-training-primavera-p6-professional-r8-3/

ASTA POWERPROJECT NATIONAL USER FORUM, 26^th March, London

All supported users of Asta Powerproject are invited to attend our National User Forum at the British Museum. There is still time to register and come along to hear about news of product developments, network with peers and hear quality keynote presentations stimulating debate on topical issues.

To find out more and register visit  http://www.astadev.com/events/asta-national-user-forum-2014/

Asta Powerproject in the USA

Interest in Asta Powerproject in the USA continues to grow. We will be attending several events during 2014, with the next one being the ENR+Dodge Global Construction Summit in New York in May.

For details see: http://construction.com/events/2014/global-summit/

We now have a new website focused on the USA at www.astapowerproject.com . For those of you based in the USA you can use this site to keep up-to-date with our event attendance and news stories.

Case study: See how Robertson used Asta Powerproject for successful delivery of award-winning project

Robertson, one of the largest privately owned support services and construction groups in the UK, used Asta Powerproject on their award-winning Aberdeen Emergency Care Centre. The company was proud to receive the gold award in the £40m to £100m new build and refurbishment sector in the last CIOB Construction Manager of the Year Award for this challenging, state-of-the-art, project.

Read the full case study here: http://www.astadev.com/uncategorized/robertson-uses-asta-powerproject-successful-delivery-award-winning-project/

PROJECT PARTNERS ONDEMAND & RECORDED WEBINARS...

All Project Partners Webinars are offered Free of Charge to approved attendees :)

Uncover Valuable Insights and Quickly Take Action With Primavera P6 Analytics and BI Publisher

Oracle’s Primavera P6 Analytics is a packaged business intelligence solution that provides valuable insights into your Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management performance so you can uncover trends, discover the root cause of issues, and forecast costs, helping you to drive efficiencies and make better decisions about your projects. This webinar shows how reporting is done in the P6 Analytics user interface, which you can use in your own instance immediately. Register to view the webinar here: http://www.projectp.com/resources/webinars.php

Primavera Unifier for Capital Projects Management

Primavera Unifier provides solutions for capital project and portfolio management, facilities management, and real estate portfolio management. Learn about its intuitive user interface with a powerful, yet easy to use Workflow Engine, which can be tailored to your business to increase adoption, minimize training, and deliver rapid time to value. Whether employing prebuilt templates out of the box or building new configurations from scratch, Primavera Unifier delivers the best combination of ease of use and flexibility— no matter how large or small your deployment. Register to view the webinar here: http://www.projectp.com/resources/webinars.php

Learn About the New Primavera Gateway

The Primavera Gateway was recently introduced by Oracle, and it enables clients to integrate their P6 Platform to any ERP or legacy application. Primavera Gateway is JAVA based, and application-agnostic. Its use of graphical mapping between P6 and third party products enables clients to fully integrate their systems and be able to control their Project Financial information and schedules in an integrated manner, rather than in silos. Register to view the webinar here: http://www.projectp.com/resources/webinars.php

ELEARNING FOR ORACLE PRIMAVERA P6...

Primaskills Pty Ltd is now hosting Primavera P6 eLearning courses.

The courses are the comprehensive P6 video training courses based on the Eastwood Harris books.

Link: http://www.primaskills.com.au/project-management-training/

The advantages of Primaskills On-Line Courses are:

• All the courses are accredited by the Project Management Institute (PMI),
• PMI Professional Development Units (PDUs) may be claimed for completing these courses,
• The courses are written by an internationally known author who has had a number of years’ experience writing project management training material,
• All the courses are supported by a fully detailed and published book available in eBook or printed format,
• A P6 hosted training environment is available for people who do not have access to Oracle Primavera P6 software,
• Comprehensive workshops at the end of most modules are available to enable students to practise the skills taught in the module,
• The courses are available 24x7 allowing students to complete the course at their own pace.