Firm Bets on Data-Centric Project Management

A new way to use the Web to track large projects could save money.

By Latayne C. Scott

for Office.com

Nov. 30, 2000 — To understand the advantages of a new online project management technology, according to the company that markets it, it's helpful to understand the difference between having an e-mail conversation versus having one in person.

"There's a higher degree of accuracy having a face-to-face conversation," says Pradeep Anand, chief operating officer of Sugarland, Texas-based PointCross Inc. "You don't lose the context."

PointCross' new product, Orchestra, gives those involved in engineering and construction projects the needed context, says Anand. In most of these projects, he says, as much as 10 percent to 40 percent of the total cost is attributable to "rework expenses" that stem from "making bad decisions or acting on incomplete information, or losing the context."

"Bidding on an oil refinery or an airport isn't like bidding on eBay."
                        — David Folger, senior program director
                            Meta Group Inc.
PointCross describes Orchestra as a "Web-based information hub" that allows owners, project companies and vendors to access project information on a subscription-based, need-to-know basis.

For project-oriented firms in disciplines like engineering, energy, petrochemical, power, telecom and system integration firms, Orchestra is touted as the answer to creating a common, data-centric virtual environment that can reduce cycle time by up to 40 percent.

In fact, Anand says, PointCross can potentially save the E&C industry more than $50 billion a year and make project enterprises e-business ready as they go along.

While other companies, such as Buzzsaw and BitCom, also manage projects, but in a document-centric environment, Orchestra, "provides an online collaborative environment ... the idea being that instead of dealing with all the specifications and documentation and bids and counterproposals on an ad hoc, paper basis, this orchestrates the whole environment," says Meta Group Inc. Senior Program Director David Folger.