Digital Project Twin

Current project business approaches are not fit for purpose

Industrial and manufacturing organizations specializing in engineer to order (ETO) project business are under pressure. A lack of connectivity, standardization and integration within projects is resulting in disjointed process flows and a lack of transparency.

This is leading to problems such as inefficiency, waste and labor shortages at an already fraught time when businesses are coming under unprecedented competitive pressure.

It’s imperative companies tackle these pressures. By doing so, they will not only protect their competitive advantage, but unlock faster production, reduced business risk, higher cost efficiency and form a foundation upon which they can advance their digital capabilities.

Next-generation ETO project management: Digital Project Twin

Informed by the needs and experiences of ETO projects, a Digital Project Twin is designed to address capability gaps within projects and the organization at large. A digital replication of all stages of a project – products, people, processes and infrastructure – they horizontally and vertically integrate all real-time streams of data.

By connecting and integrating all project data within a single, easily accessible entity, businesses are afforded granular, complete and constant views over the project. Costs, progression, risks, knowledge – Digital Project Twins ensure total transparency and reliability of information, enabling managers to make better, more informed decisions, faster. In addition, this newly available information can create new business opportunities, helping strengthen the dynamic capabilities crucial to ensuring long-term success.

With full visibility of the project, even early stages such as pre-sales or project configuration can be better optimised for customers, and access to in-depth supplier data means products can be modified quickly and easily. This not only gives customers an unparalleled level of control over their products but binds suppliers and Digital Project Twin users closer together in more collaborative working relationships.

Where businesses once struggled with cost or time overruns caused by unforeseen issues, with a Digital Project Twin, they can budget and commence projects with confidence. This includes resource bottlenecks and other negative actions by external partners, suppliers or customers that have knock-on effects; anything complex or non-standard that a traditional ETO project approach would struggle to predict, visualize or solve.

Reporting is also much simpler, since all information is kept accurate and completely up to date. If issues do occur with a project, reports can be automatically generated and sent to managers, allowing immediate action. When coupled with AI-enabled predictive algorithms, reports can easily provide a future projection of the project, as well as identifying potential project risks to ensure they are identified and solved pre-emptively.

Digital Project Twins are already being used by global businesses

Digital Project Twin approaches have arrived, and BearingPoint have already been implementing and optimizing them for ETO businesses through the successful completion of multiple, large-scale projects, grounded in full suites of consulting services.

Working with a large, global automotive supplier, we transformed the business’ ETO process by making the entire operations value chain more efficient. To gain a precise view over the client’s project business and supply chain, we set up data capture on the status of multiple departments, displaying this within a PMO Cockpit that allowed transparency, collaboration and alignment between corporate functions. This Digital Project Twin ensured project schedules were met, in many cases improving the speed and quality of execution.

Automation is a crucial capability of Digital Project Twins. For a worldwide aviation company that wished to organize workstreams, service providers and sub-project alignment, we interfaced and aggregated the client’s data sources within a semi-automated project management and controlling solution. This connected to relevant management systems, scheduled calls and created standardized, project-relevant reports, resulting in delays – a hallmark of the previous approach – being eliminated and costs kept under control.

Digital Project Twins can also help bring disparate businesses together following M&A activity. For a NYSE-listed global communications company that had recently undertaken a significant acquisition, BearingPoint designed and introduced a financial project planning system that allowed integrated management reporting, analysis and forecasting of a wide range of metrics. This was supplemented by a data staging area that integrated various sources of data to allow easy visualization. The approach standardized and automated the business’ reporting, improved audit controls and helped manage the reporting process across both units.

In an ever-more complex and shifting business landscape, understanding and directing projects is becoming more difficult. With Digital Project Twins, you can take back control, priming your business to take advantage of tomorrow’s digital innovations.

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