The Advancement of Project Cost Management
ARES Project Management LLC, a subsidiary of ARES Holding Company, a world-class global provider of integrated project cost management software solutions. The firm was delighted to receive the exclusive Most Innovative Tech Firm – Asia Pacific award, as part of the 2017 Tech of the Year Awards. We interviewed the firm’s Senior Vice President for Asia, Australia, South America and Africa, Scott Hyman to discover more.
ARES Project Management LLC has global offices in more than 10 locations, providing solutions to organisations in over 30 countries. More than 10,000 users worldwide, rely on ARES PRISM software to manage the complete project lifecycle of capital projects that lowers cost, mitigates risk and improves project performance. ARES is a results-oriented business partner, with a drive towards 100% customer satisfaction.
The firm’s Senior Vice President, Scott Hyman is eager to reveal what sets the firm apart in the work they do, plus how their expertise ensures that their clients succeed.
“What sets ARES apart from other technology project management companies, is that we are the only complete solutions provider, solely dedicated to the advancement of project cost management. Successful projects involve comprehensive planning and mindful execution to ensure profitability. The ARES complete solution empowers customers to eliminate or reduce
the obstructions that impact efficiency and performance, through integrated project management capabilities.
“With over 20 years of experience in providing project management solutions to customers in multiple industries, ARES has the expertise needed to help any client succeed, from scheduling, to developing work processes and procedures, right through to the implementation of PRISM. ARES has the processes, the personnel and the tools required to effectively manage projects; all backed by a reputation earned by solving our clients’ toughest challenges.”
Scott shared a detailed breakdown on the firm’s service offerings, starting with made-toorder dashboards, PMO setup & management and integration services.
“ARES provides design services for custom dashboards. This service is for clients who do not want to purchase the standard PRISM dashboard, but would prefer ARES develop a custom dashboard. Whether you want to add stop light thresholds, storyboards or corporate identity and terminology to the dashboard, we can help you.”
“Turning to Project Management Office (PMO) setup & management, the day-to-day operation and cross-business integration of this is complex and seldom executed with positive results and a return on investment (ROI). Furthermore, the greatest complexities most organisations face is based on lack of knowledge experts, poor project execution, costly overruns and schedule creep.
“ARES offers the expert ability to integrate and resource your PMO, with both the core competencies and industry best practices that deliver results every time. ARES assists clients to manage their meetings, develop dashboards, control stakeholder communications, identify and manage risks and more. In short, ARES effectively turns customers PMO into a strategic asset.
“On integration services, PRISM INtegrator is an out-of-thebox integration platform that connects IT, ERP and financial systems without the need for a complex code. The PRISM INtegrator product takes care of all the difficult integration and optimisation behind the scenes work, so that customers can spend more time focusing on other important aspects of their project.”
Scott then turns his thoughts towards more of the firm’s marvellous offerings, this time looking at their project controls readiness assessment, product training, programme implementation services as well as workflow and business process design.
“Project controls require the successful integration of people, processes and technology to lower costs, mitigate risk and improve performance. This is where our project controls readiness assessment comes in. We will meet with our customer’s team to determine the current state of project controls and then provide an execution plan, with recommendations and best practices for the necessary optimisation.
“On product training, ARES aims to develop user expertise in the PRISM hands-on sessions. To increase learning and retention, ARES has designed courses to include lecture, demonstration and hands-on exercises. Looking at our programme implementation services, we provide a ‘Steps to Successful Implementation Guide’, to ensure the customer and their team are off to a great start with PRISM implementation.
“Turning to our workflow & business process design services, every organization has gaps. We believe that the key is to find the right business, technology and financial fit to eliminate those gaps and provide a platform for growth. This challenge is rooted in properly identifying performance gaps and creating the right roadmap, to steer a business in the optimum direction and to drive accelerated growth. ARES can develop the workflow and business process design: this includes an assessment of the customers’ business activities and processes and user case descriptions, the identification of real and potential gaps, development of a priority heat-map and recommended courses of action.”
Finally, with regards to the firm’s project management services, Scott underlines that there is no substitute for the qualities of knowledge, experience and expertise.
“ARES is the global leader in providing the critical human capital, to allow organisations across all major private and public sector entities to deliver both short and long-term project success. All ARES project controls specialists are active members of AACEI in local chapters throughout the world and can assist your organisation with critical resources.”
Turning to the wider perspective, Scott highlights the key attributes that have helped to make
ARES successful in the Asia Pacific Region.
“ARES success is not just limited to the Asia Pacific region; globally we provide the people, the processes and the reputation to ensure the success of our client’s projects within their country of operation, for the first and indeed every time! ARES provides quality employees, industryspecific experience, focused on high-end work and solving complex issues. Our teams are highly trained in project delivery. Over the last 20 years, ARES has developed over 150 project controls processes, that ensure success for all our clients.
“It would seem like common sense, if for no other reason than financially, that projects are delivered on-time and on budget. I believe it’s a no brainer to implement proper project controls and procedures, if project owners, EPC and construction management companies truly understood the monumental savings involved in on-time delivery, the management of cost escalations, scope creep and delays, over and above the various complex issues involved in the execution and delivery of such work. Our biggest challenge has been to educate the market on how important it is to put proper project controls procedures in place and to implement tools like ARES PRISM, to ensure the success of any project.”
In closing, Scott reveals how they feel to be selected as 2017’s Most Innovative Tech Firm – Asia Pacific, as part of the 2017 Tech of the Year Awards. He also reveals the key principles the firm adheres to and their aspirations for the future.
“The award is a good indication that we are on the right track in this region. ARES and specifically the Asian Pacific team, have worked hard at upholding our global reputation, in terms of providing our customers with world-class services and solutions. Our efforts have paid off following this special recognition.
“As a global company. that operates in multiple countries across a myriad of industries, ARES lives up to the following core principles: Firstly, integrity. We are honest, ethical and reliable. Secondly, quality. We strive to provide superior, first-time quality products and services through our strong focus on both peer review and continuous improvement.
“Thirdly, we believe in commitment. We strive to overproduce, by meeting or exceeding all customer commitments, both internal and external and by meeting or beating all schedules or budgets. Fourthly, we believe in people. We continue to enhance the professional skills of our employees, to provide exceptional professional growth and greater benefit to our customers.
“In closing, our goal is to have ARES PRISM on every project in the ASIA Pacific Region, irrespective if they are private or public projects. We believe that the value and cost savings alone, would unlock ‘hidden’ funding for additional projects, which of course underpins the growth in any economy. “The PRISM product range offers out-of-the-box solutions that are easy to implement, these include:
Cost: Secure, on-time, and within budget delivery. PRISM reduces the effort needed to manage a project’s cost and keeps it on schedule, saving both time and money with complete cost control of the project portfolio.
Engineering: The engineering product is an earned value progress solution, designed for budgeting and monitoring engineering tasks, deliverables and packages by work-hours.
Procurement: PRISM provides the ability to manage the complete procurement process for any size or type of project, from the first engineering requisition, through to managing the delivery of materials and equipment to the job site.
Contracts: PRISM is an essential contracts management tool, for all project stakeholders, the owner, EPC or the construction management firm.
Field: PRISM offers a mobile solution for IOS and Android platforms, enabling engineers to enter progress directly from the field.
Estimating: Innovative cost estimating, from high-level conceptual, through to detailed controls. PRISM helps companies centralise the estimating data and enables collaboration on this.
Docs: PRISM docs is a document management solution. It is designed for finding, sharing and controlling critical technical and business documents.
Dashboard: Take business analytics to the next level. Transform the way projects are visually managed, thus enabling faster more informed business decisions.
Integrator: Out-of-the-box integration platform that connects IT systems, ERP systems, and financial systems enabling companies to orchestrate data flow that supports business.
Company: ARES Project Management, LLC
Name: Scott Hyman, Senior Vice President
Email: [email protected]
Web Address: www.aresprism.com
Address: Level 1, 530 Lt Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000 Australia
Telephone: +1 704 699 0131
