Project controls personnel play a vital role in every project’s life cycle, from concept selection to engineering, design, fabrication, construction, commissioning, and start-up. They can be the glue that holds all project team members together with open lines of clear communication, project progress, and project forecasts.

From the client/company/owner point of view, project controls members will regularly review metrics and file reports that will identify variances from the project baseline. This can be an excellent indicator of trends to come or issues that currently need to be resolved or recovered. The conflicts are determined by comparing the actual performance metrics in any phase of a project against the baseline metrics assigned during the planning of the work. This is very important to the client, as proactive action can be taken to mitigate issues for all parties involved. This includes all project team members, contractors, vendors, and interest holders. Project control has a direct correlation to project progress and stakeholders’ expectations.

Over the years, many companies have realized the importance of project controls planning and personnel and sought out the best individuals in the business. Many projects can start and finish, but without proper planning, base-lining, forecasting, and metrics tracking, many projects will cost more and take longer. Companies in the oil and gas industry realize this and take proactive measures to ensure this crucial discipline is implemented and utilized on every project team for success.