In terms of project management there are very few challenges comparable to the complexity of planning and building an offshore wind farm. Project management audits assure the quality of complex projects. Analysis helps to improve communication and Audits enable clients to take fact-based decisions about the scope and direction of optimizations.

1. Large-scale project for the construction of an offshore wind farm
Project management audits assure the quality of complex projects
Analysis helps to improve communication / Audits enable clients to take fact-based decisions
about the scope and direction of optimizations
By Ulrich Nord, PM TRANSFORMANCE
In terms of project management there are very few challenges comparable to the complexity
of planning and building an offshore wind farm.
Projects of this magnitude are characterized by a high degree of technical specialization, a
large number of international stakeholders and considerable investments in the planning as
well as the construction phases. It is therefore very important to have an understanding of
project management (PM), which is implemented at all organizational levels and able to co-ordinate
the many different interfaces that influence the project’s outcome.
PM audits are an effective instrument for the structured analysis of project management it-self.
They provide concrete recommendations for the optimization of processes and struc-tures;
they help to protect the value created by a project; they increase management’s ability
to react to unforeseen developments, changing conditions or even crisis situations.
An independent auditor such as PM Transformance conducts a systematic audit of a project
by essentially addressing two issues: First, the auditor evaluates the current project man-agement
performance; second, he analyses how well a project is set up and designed for on-going
operations.
In the described example, the goal of the PM audit is to validate the measures already taken
and to identify improvements, which would help to ensure the project’s success. The project
itself is exceedingly complex for a number of reasons:
· In the past, the client awarded such projects to general contractors. Following a strategic
reorientation, he decided to keep future projects of this kind under his own control. The
necessary PM competence has to be set up internally in parallel to the actual designing,
planning, tendering and development.
· With a total investment of more than a billion Euros the project is so large that even a
slight delay would have a significant financial impact on the partners involved. The assur-ance
of the project value is therefore seen as a crucial addition to traditional controlling
and monitoring tools.
· The project team included members from Germany, Denmark, Great Britain and the
Netherlands whose way of getting things done and culture of communicating need to be
integrated. Moreover, the rapid growth of the project team requires the continuous train-ing
of new colleagues on-the-job or with very little formal lead time. This made a struc-tured
transfer of relevant knowledge within the organization and the long-term motivation
of a team working across borders and on multiple sites particular challenges.
PM TRANSFORMANCE Project Consulting GmbH l Zirkusweg 1 l 20359 Hamburg l E-Mail: kontakt@pmtf.eu

2. In the described case, the PM audit is carried out at a significant turning point for the project.
During the transition from planning to construction, it is clearly critical to have thought
through all PM processes and to have established procedures that enhance decentralized
decision making, contractor management, variation control and the reliable measurement of
progress and completion.
To meet these dual objectives - evaluation of current performance level / assessment of the
project’s resilience and ability to protect its created value – the PM Audit is conducted in a
first step as an online survey for participants, key stakeholders and external partners. The
audit questions are divided into six sub-sections:
· People (for example selection and use of resources, ongoing evaluation, career planning,
skill and personal development)
· Process (PM methodology und instruments, knowledge transfer, clarity of roles and
tasks, transparency of decision-making)
· Controls (phase- and goal-specific tools, key performance indicators (KPI), technical and
commercial plan / actual comparison, variance analysis)
· Communication (type and frequency, conflict management, perceived degree of reliabil-ity,
mutual trust)
· Risk (management of internal and external interfaces, frequency and practicality of risk
analysis, integration of post hand-over operations, availability of alternative plans, pre-ventive
mechanisms)
· Results (Clarity and measurability of the project as well as of individual goals)
In a second step and based on the audit results, individual interviews are held with key peo-ple
at the operational and the decision-making level. The goal of these interviews is to evalu-ate
perceived strengths and weaknesses, discuss possible approaches to deal with critical
situations and to quantify improvement potentials.
The quantitative analysis phase assesses the project on a scale from 0 - 100. Two questions
are of particular concern at this stage:
What is the ranking of the project as a whole and in each of the six dimensions? What is the
relationship of the six dimensions with respect to each other?
The PM audit PM Transformance conducted for the offshore wind farm project shows a
strong symmetry of all six dimensions and an over all rating of 66 out of 100. We consider
this a realistic and pragmatic rating given the maturity and complexity of the project. Thus we
can show the client that the measures to ensure and safeguard the project’s success are on
the right track and effective – at least up to this point.
From our experience, very high scores are only achieved in the early, often very enthusiastic
phases of a project. The ratings usually go down with time, especially at vital turning points of
the project, for example at the introduction of defined structures and processes in an envi-ronment
where people previously had the freedom to speak up and act.
PM TRANSFORMANCE Project Consulting GmbH l Zirkusweg 1 l 20359 Hamburg l E-Mail: kontakt@pmtf.eu

3. Looking at the proportions of the six dimensions, we conclude that the project is set up well
with regard to its core management functions: All dimensions, the “softer factors” (such as
people, process and communication) as well as the “harder factors” (such as controls, risks
and results) exhibit similar values (Fig.1).
The symmetry of the six dimensions indicates a pragmatic set-up, a sufficient but not stifling
level of controlling and monitoring, clarity with regard to objective setting, broad understand-ing
of roles and responsibilities within the process as well as considerable flexibility when
dealing with changing circumstances and conditions.
Fig. 1: Evaluation of PM dimensions in the case study:
Following these quantitative findings, the second, qualitative phase of the analysis is focused
on the question, how well the project is positioned with respect to its upcoming challenges.
The next project phases are characterized by decentralized activities, performed under in-tense
time and cost pressures. The interviews concentrate on complexity management, pre-ventive
mechanisms and early warning systems, active risk management, anticipatory plan-ning
and proactive communication. The key questions are: How will the project be able to
handle an increasing amount of data? How will the project make sure that data are trans-formed
into information and information into decisions?
The aggregated results give an overview of the current and a prediction about the likely per-formance
under stress of various project management dimensions. This in turn enables the
client to take a qualified view on where it will invest time and money, which adjustments and
changes make sense and how much effort will be necessary to assure the project success.
PM TRANSFORMANCE Project Consulting GmbH l Zirkusweg 1 l 20359 Hamburg l E-Mail: kontakt@pmtf.eu

4. Conclusion:
According to the Project Director, Holger Grubel, a PM audit is important for the project lead-ership
to obtain a higher confidence in the project’s set-up at the critical transition point be-tween
planning and implementation. “The analysis helps us to re-consider a number of topics
such as, for instance, quality assurance, to think through our communication in more detail
and to deal with the challenges of a project that grows more and more complex on its way to
completion.“
The audit identifies real potentials for improvement; it enables the client to take specific deci-sions
regarding the investment, the timing and the scope for each optimization.
A regular PM audit helps to establish corporation-wide benchmarks, which in turn allow the
top management to get quick, early evidences of underperformance (or overperformance) to
take action on within any particular area. Unlike other methods, which are primarily based on
historical data the audit provides sound judgments about the project management quality
needed in and specific to each phase. It can thus be crucial to the success of complex pro-jects.
Hamburg, July 2013
The author
Ulrich Nord works as a Project Manager at PM FIREFIGHTERS Project
Management GmbH (www.pm-firefighters.eu) and as a consultant at its
affiliate company PM TRANSFORMANCE Project Consulting GmbH.
Since 1991 he is active as a project manager focusing on procedural and
organisational changes, mergers and restructuring. He is certified according
to the project management standards IPMA Level C and PRINCE2® and
trained as a ScrumMaster (CSM).
PM TRANSFORMANCE Project Consulting GmbH l Zirkusweg 1 l 20359 Hamburg l E-Mail: kontakt@pmtf.eu