Challenges

• Streamline business processes by implementing an integrated project management platform for a high volume of large and small construction projects at many locations worldwide
• Replace Excel-based financial reporting with a comprehensive financial reporting tool that provides project-level detail as well as an overarching forecast that covers multiple construction projects around the world
• Standardize financial reporting and forecasting processes globally
• Manage more than US$2 billion to US$ 3 billion in construction projects annually, tracking spending against the budget to ensure projects stay on track
• Enhance company culture and the value of project controls by improving visibility into performance status, businesswide, for executives and stakeholders

Solutions

• Deployed Oracle’s Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management to approximately 90 offices and 150 project sites, providing a centralized, Web-based system that improved visibility into project status worldwide
• Leveraged integration between the Primavera applications to provide dashboards that aggregate information for project teams and senior management
• Enabled centralized access to best-practice project plans and schedules, applying them to current projects
• Streamlined project planning and scheduling processes, reducing planning-cycle time by 66%
• Implemented Oracle Hyperion Financial Management to improve and standardize project forecasting across the company—enabling better decision-making and helping to keep projects on time and within budget
• Enabled accounting users to consider factors, like staff salaries, benefits, and overhead, when examining overarching project costs to develop more accurate forecasts and determine if specific projects are overstaffed or understaffed
• Enabled management to predict performance for the quarter or the year and improved forecast accuracy from 65% to 75%
• Realized cost savings and reduced environmental impact on the US$400 million Comcast Center construction project in Philadelphia by centralizing data storage, reducing paper usage, and maximizing project efficiency
• Leveraged increased visibility offered by the Oracle solutions to make more environmentally-sound business decisions regarding on-site demolition, re-use of previous structures, green design of new facilities, procurement, and materials usage
• Enabled Hill to track actual and projected project costs for major initiatives, including the Comcast Center project, to accurately anticipate project completion costs within .001% of total budget
• Enhanced coordination and collaboration across multiple contractors and subcontractors to greatly reduce rework, false starts, unnecessary mobilizations, wasted materials, and more
• Enabled proactive risk management to address issues that can result in high materials and resource usage, excess energy use, as well as increased costs
• Easily integrated Oracle Hyperion Financial Management with Oracle’s Primavera applications and third-party systems, enabling users across executive management, accounting, and human resources to build custom reports
• Refreshed all financial data in the system at least once a day, enabling Hill to make decisions based on up-to-date information
• Enabled users in the field to see true productivity for each project
• Cut the financial reporting cycle time from two weeks to one
• Used data generated to support new construction-project proposals and determine the profitability of potential projects
• Supported the human resources department by providing financial data that helps make better decisions regarding hiring and resource allocation
• Used Oracle solutions to encourage and accelerate global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria

Why Oracle

Hill International selected Oracle’s Primavera applications and Oracle Hyperion Financial Management for their superior reporting capabilities and the visibility they provided across various projects. Technology is an important source of competitive advantage in the project delivery-focused engineering and construction industry. Hill banks on innovation to reduce costs and increase project delivery efficiency in a difficult and notoriously inefficient industry to protect and sustain competitive advantage. 

“We looked at a few other options, but we were looking for return on investment and reusability,” said – Shawn Pressley, vice president of project management systems, Hill International “We liked the longevity of Oracle’s applications—both where the products have been and where they are going.”

Implementation Process

Hill completed the implementation primarily in house, rolling out various components as needed, and as users gained experience on the system.

Resources

• Hill International Standardizes on Primavera
• Building on Success