3 DATA-DRIVEN STANDARDS FOR EFFECTIVE PROJECT CONTROLS
Learn how clarity, connection, and culture help connect the dots on data for greater project certainty
When complex capital construction projects fail to meet time, quality, and budget constraints, the root causes are often disconnected data and unclear expectations about timeline and budget. Incomplete, outdated, or biased information makes it difficult to accurately forecast costs, track productivity, or spot and mitigate risks before they escalate. Disconnected systems and processes isolate critical data, making it nearly impossible to get a real-time view of project health. Manual workflows overwhelm teams with low-value tasks, limiting their ability to scale operations and focus on strategic growth. The key to solving these challenges lies in building modern project controls through three data-driven standards: clarity, connection, and culture.
CLARITY
Clarity means bringing visibility into project scope, performance criteria, and risk factors using the right standardized data from the start.
CONNECTION
Connection entails creating an integrated data system that keeps teams aligned and adaptable to changing circumstances.
CULTURE
An effective, modern project controls culture supports teams as they embrace digital transformation, implementing technology with each end user’s needs in mind.
SEE IT TO FIX IT: ACCURATE, TIMELY PROJECT DATA DELIVERS CLARITY
Industry leaders agree that a project’s success depends on defining the fundamentals from the start—its scope, how changes will be managed and communicated, and how data will be collected and standardized.
ESTABLISH SCOPE AND CHANGE PROCESSES FROM DAY ONE
Making sure relevant information is widely understood across a team begins with understanding the contract and possible risks. “Know what the contract says,” says JR Karbowski, operations support director at CCC Group, a provider of industrial construction services that has been in business for nearly eight decades. Discussing strategies for enhancing visibility in capital projects, Karbowski recommends creating a “contract brief” at the start of a project to “help summarize in more layman’s terms for the project team to be able to execute what you need to be able to do.” A critical issue for clarification in the contract is how to communicate about issues, resolve questions, and ultimately provide work authorization. “If everybody is using a connected system to be able to transmit RFIs, transmit questions, transmit submittals and those kinds of things, then it’s really going to help you out in terms of effectiveness, timeliness, and execution,” adds Karbowski.
“If everybody is using a connected system to be able to transmit RFIs, transmit questions, transmit submittals and those kinds of things, then it’s really going to help you out in terms of effectiveness, timeliness, and execution.”
- JR Karbowski, Operations Support Director, CCC Group
COLLECT AND STANDARDIZE RELEVANT DATA
Along with defining the project scope and potential risks, project leaders should decide on the data they’ll need to assess those risks and make project adjustments going forward. The data collected should be simple to understand, measurable, accurate, and standardized, according to Rouan du Rand, vice president of project services at Redpath Mining Inc., a global contractor providing mining services for more than 60 years. “When you do get your mobile devices out to the work front, if [data is] not standardized, it’s very, very hard to enforce discipline,” he says. Du Rand also advises collecting data from crews on site to ensure real-time relevance and clarity across a team. “You’ve got to collect your data as close as possible to the workplace, because that’s where the work gets done,” he says. Visiting the work site and the community surrounding it can also help project leaders foresee and prevent possible roadblocks. “I’m always a big fan of going out to the site, or if it’s at a place where you’re not used to, you go out and understand the local community,” says Mason Williams, vice president of project delivery at InEight. “That allows you to understand, ‘Okay, is there a labor force issue that needs to be addressed? What kind of permitting issues do we have?’ And then, looking at the site logistics for trucking and material staging and things like that.” Williams adds that project leaders can incorporate these data points during estimation and scheduling. Ultimately, a project’s decisionmakers have to trust the data collected if they’re going to respond effectively to a project’s risk and scheduling predictions. “You need to be able to make sure that you perform some kind of data purification,” says CCC Group’s Karbowski. “That’s critical to be able to make these decisions to improve project controls and forecasting. Those tools are available, but it requires some discipline.”
“You’ve got to collect your data as close as possible to the workplace, because that’s where the work gets done.”
- Rouan du Rand, Vice President of Project Services, Redpath Mining
CONNECT FIELD AND OFFICE TEAMS THROUGH INTEGRATED DATA SYSTEMS
Integrating data across all project phases, from estimation to execution, is critical for aligning a team and adapting to unforeseen circumstances while avoiding delays and budget overruns.
BUILD A SHARED SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH
Despite the complexity of analyzing dynamic data from multiple sources to accurately estimate and predict costs, 85 percent of construction professionals use Excel for these tasks. Using Excel spreadsheets is a highly manual process that makes it difficult to connect all relevant data for team members. “The problem with using Excel [is] it’s not connected to our budget, it’s not connected to our schedule, so it really creates opportunities for errors and ultimately leads to inadequate visibility,” says du Rand. “You have to find ways to connect your estimate, your budget, and your schedule to your short interval planning and controls effort. And the reason for that is that you can focus your construction teams and the construction effort on the work that they must be doing.” Having data in one system also makes it easier to manage documents, assign tasks, and track progress. “It’s also really key that you do have a tool that can grab things like specification, drawing, purchase orders, subcontracts, and other relevant information,” says du Rand. “If you’ve got a query around the design, you don’t have to run to the office, pull a drawing, spend half an hour or an hour looking at the drawing, and going back to the workplace. You can stand at the workplace, you can share it with your crew, and you can solve a problem literally in a couple of minutes.” Integrating data also drives operational excellence. Rouan told his team to create a daily plan of activities and track what they excavated in certain periods of time each day. He used Power BI to track the performance of crews, individual operators, and machines. Using this data, Rouan’s team increased performance by 30%. “It’s amazing how little data you need to have a big impact on the project,” he says. “You get to a point where you start asking questions that you never thought you would ask.”
“You have to find ways to connect your estimate, your budget, and your schedule to your short interval planning and controls effort.”
- Rouan du Rand, Vice President of Project Services, Redpath Mining
With thoughtful data analysis, Redpath Mining increased performance by 30%
USE INTEGRATED DATA TO STAY FLEXIBLE AND MITIGATE ONGOING RISKS
A connected data system gives teams the flexibility to respond effectively to unforeseen changes and mitigate subsequent risks. “It’s all those unforeseen changes — whether it’s supply chain disruptions or changes in client requirements — all these things are important to be able to capture,” says Karbowski. “Managing those changes requires a lot of careful planning, and an Excel spreadsheet is probably not going to do it all for you.” When crews encounter an unexpected change on site—such as a change in field or environmental conditions—they may continue working to try to meet a tight timeline. “Next thing you know, you’re spending money and time on something that is technically a scope change,” says Williams. “Whereas, if you have the right systems in place, you can immediately help to identify that, get that communication back to the office, get that feedback back, and then know that you’re capturing that time and cost correctly so you can help manage those impacts and keep the project on schedule.” When project leaders are capturing the right data, connected and updated in real time across a team, re-forecasting becomes much easier. “I’d say that 75 to 80% of the effort of forecasting really happens in the system,” says Ricardo Filho, director of project controls at CCC Group, discussing the company’s unification of its project controls system. He adds that project leaders may need to make tweaks based on context. “It’s a combination really, but it’s mostly happening using the software,” he says.
“I'd say that 75 to 80% of the effort of forecasting really happens in the system.”
- Ricardo Filho, Director of Project Controls, CCC Group
ADVANCE PROJECT CONTROLS BY BUILDING A CULTURE OF AGILITY AND TECHNOLOGICAL FLUENCY
The most advanced technology won’t improve results if leaders and team members don’t see its value to the project and their everyday work. Building a digital culture starts at the top and is sustained by purpose-built tools that are easy to incorporate into workflows.
BUILDING A DIGITAL CULTURE STARTS AT THE TOP AND IS SUSTAINED BY PURPOSE-BUILT TOOLS THAT ARE EASY TO INCORPORATE INTO WORKFLOWS.
ENCOURAGE TEAMS TO EMBRACE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Effective implementation of connected systems starts not with software, but with a commitment from leadership to build and support a supportive digital culture throughout the organization. Leaders need to recognize that implementation is a major project requiring a large team comprised of the right people and resources. “I think often people rush in thinking…‘This isn’t going to take much effort, we can be up and running and get the benefits out of this in a couple of weeks’ or whatever that may be. And that’s oftentimes far from the truth,” says InEight's Williams. He adds that leaders need to convey to employees that digital implementation projects are opportunities for the organization and for individuals to advance their careers. As with many change management initiatives, success depends on a collective willingness to operate differently. The key, says Williams, is understanding the need for the transition. “Your company’s been doing it this way for many years, right? But something’s obviously wrong or else you wouldn’t have gone out and decided to make this change,” he says. “You’re going to have bumps in the road, but it’s just something you’ve got to stay the course on.”
Du Rand adds that sharing success stories of people using new technologies can help. “There’s got to be a digital culture installed in not just the workplace but the entire organization,” says du Rand. “Construction is moving towards big data, and we’ve got to change our mindset to ‘data is important.’ We’ve got to collect data so we can understand our operations better.”
“There’s got to be a digital culture installed in not just the workplace but the entire organization.”
- Rouan du Rand, Vice President of Project Services, Redpath Mining
IMPLEMENT TECHNOLOGY WITH THE END USER IN MIND
Executive buy-in during digital transformation is important—but so is commitment on the field. And that requires technology focused on the end user, not just the back office. Technology must be intuitive and relevant to the field’s day-to-day so it doesn’t impede work and result in low-quality data. “If you give a person an iPad, an iPhone, or an Android device and ask them to collect data, if it’s not suited for the work that they’re doing, you’re setting yourself up for a challenge,” says du Rand. “When you do collect the data, please provide feedback to your crews. They are as interested in how they performed as the construction manager or the construction manager’s boss.”
TECHNOLOGY MUST BE INTUITIVE AND RELEVANT TO THE FIELD’S DAY-TO-DAY SO IT DOESN’T IMPEDE WORK AND RESULT IN LOW-QUALITY DATA.
While some leaders may be hesitant to deploy technologies like iPads to workers on site, Filho says the benefits far surpass the challenges because of the agility and communication speed these devices enable. “I can take a picture, I can make a little cloud on the drawing and send it out via RFI or a transmittal or call a meeting and discuss with an engineer, with the owner, with my project manager,” says Filho. “I think that encourages people to be more proactive really and more transparent on what’s happening out there.” Filho says that technology can create competition among crew members—but it also fosters collaboration. “That knowledge, that thought process, started being disseminated across the job sites and regions and offices,” he says. “[Crew members] see the impacts in the bottom line, they also realize that, hey, if the company does well, we all do well. There are more opportunities for everyone. We can grow together. So I might as well help my peer.”
“When you do collect the data, please provide feedback to your crews. They are as interested in how they performed as the construction manager or the construction manager’s boss.”
- Rouan du Rand, Vice President of Project Services, Redpath Mining
ENSURE PROJECT SUCCESS THROUGH CLARITY, CONNECTION, AND CULTURE
Today’s modern project controls provide teams visibility into the right data, integrated into one source of truth that’s updated continually by a team that uses technology seamlessly. Through clarity, connection, and culture, project leaders can better predict project risks, estimate with higher confidence, and increase project certainty and success.
ABOUT INEIGHT
InEight is a leader in construction project controls software, empowering over 850 companies taking on challenging projects in industries including construction and engineering; transportation infrastructure; mining; water; power and renewables; and oil, gas and chemical. Uniquely suited to capital construction and other complex work, our integrated, modular software manages projects worth over $1 trillion globally, taking control of project information management, costs, schedules, contracts, and construction operations, and delivering insights with advanced analytics and AI. InEight's solutions adapt and scale to meet the dynamic needs of modern construction, driving operational excellence and successful project outcomes. For more information, follow InEight on LinkedIn or visit InEight.com. © 2025 InEight, Inc. All Rights Reserved