How many times have each of us asked ourselves “if I only had the chance to do that over again?” Or maybe you’ve said, “if only I knew then what I know now.” All of us, whether we are 9 or 90, make decisions based on our past experiences. As a point of reference, sometimes we ask others about their experiences, especially if we don’t have our own history to fall back on. So, why do we do this? It’s because we want to take advantage of that experience in order to make our lives better. Those same principles apply in the world of capital projects, where the goal, in most cases, is to end up with something that will give your company a competitive edge. Using historical project data to help make strategic business decisions can play a significant role in providing your company with an advantage – at times a very distinct advantage - over your competitors. Historical data can help you decide what projects are right for the future of your company. And, equally important, it can help you determine what projects are wrong for your company. Most people that perform capital projects understand the importance of having and using historical project information. The problem is that very few companies have the methodologies, procedures, and systems in place to effectively use this information to improve their project processes and to support the estimation, scheduling, and control of future capital projects.
This paper will discuss how to collect, normalize, and analyze historical project data to develop practical information that can be used to support estimating and scheduling, provide metrics and benchmarking data, develop conceptual estimating and scheduling tools, support strategic planning, and improve our project processes.
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