Project Control Platform
Rapid Deployment
A new platform had to be deployed, and it had to meet the highest standards in terms of security, performance, accessibility, reliability, disaster recovery and 24/7 support.
Our Experience
Project Controls Platform - Rapid Deployment
3 minute read
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Early in 2020, some of the most critical and ambitious projects were launched as a response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
One such initiative was the UK’s Test and Trace programme, led by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). After a range of studies and consultations, the programme’s leadership began an ambitious project to build a mega laboratory with the highest testing capacity in Europe. An operation of this scale and complexity required professional and highly collaborative project controls and planning software. Procurement of such tools usually takes months and needs a highly sophisticated IT infrastructure, especially if storing government-owned, sensitive data but the need to stand up a collaborative, enterprise project controls platform was imminent.
Procurement and deployment time had to be reduced to the absolute minimum, yet high standards of security, performance, accessibility, reliability, disaster recovery and 24/7 support had to be met.
The challenge
The procurement decision was made on Friday, and the platform was fully operational
by Monday morning!
The solution
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Th3rdcurve offered to stand up a robust cloud-based platform hosting flagship project controls software: Primavera P6, Acumen Fuse, Powerproject, TILOS and Power BI Gateway. Thanks to existing partnerships with Oracle, Loadspring, Deltek and Elecosoft, our joint technical team deployed the critical toolset, including data migration and access control setup, in record time: the agreement was signed at 3 pm on Friday and our technical team performed the implementation procedure over the weekend. After a training session from 9 am to 10 am on Monday, the project delivery team was ready to continue its work on a high-performing, collaborative platform, with specialised project controls tools suitable for the level of complexity of the rapid design and build project.
End users in the project team enjoyed a modern interface that combined all applications in one place, but the most critical elements of the platform remained invisible to them. Operating in the background were some of the world’s finest firewalls and disaster recovery protocols, plus regular back-ups to UK-based servers and other elements to ensure data privacy, integrity, security, and recoverability.
The impact
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The rapid deployment of the project controls platform kept the megalab project on track, providing the team with the tools it needed. Projects of such strategic importance are often challenging and stressful but having professional, efficient and fit-for-purpose tools can help to keep a team’s morale high. That was certainly the case on this project.
The pace was relentless from day one, but the key to success proved to be equipping committed and hard-working professionals with best-in-class tools. As the project progressed, the team grew larger and the ability to collaborate on a single platform became even more important. Thanks to Acumen Fuse software, the quality and integrity of the schedule was maintained despite its growing complexity.
Throughout the project, the systems performed perfectly within the cloud-based platform and risks linked to cyber security, business continuity and data loss were firmly under control.
