Over the years Energy and Technical Services has been operating it has been extensively involved in project and human resource management for a number of demanding projects and diverse procurement programme's.

Energy and Technical Services have a number of naturally gifted and qualified individuals who all have an enviable track record in project and human resource management. For further details on these please see Key Staff for more information.

ETS perceives good project management as dealing with three factors: time, cost and resources. In other words, a project has to be on time, within budget and using only the resources planned. Furthermore, ETS regard project management to be generally divided into two activities of equal importance as follows:

Project Planning

• Definition of work requirements
• Definition of quantity and quality of work
• Definition of needed resources

Project Management and Control

• Tracking Progress
• Comparing actual outcome to predicted outcome
• Analysing impact
• Making adjustments

To ensure that a project completes on schedule and within budget, ETS is aware it must be first carefully planned and detailed. Each task must contain all the required resources with their availability (resources can be personnel, materials, equipment, etc.). Comprehensive and detailed planning will allow subsequently, for good progress control together with an accurate cost control.

ETS recognise that key to the success of any project is its competent co-ordination and management. As such we tend to approach all project management exercises with the focus on what we perceive are the ten most important factors affecting their success:

• Project mission and goals – must be well defined and communicated
• Top management support – involvement increases their understanding of the mission, can be useful in solving problems and obtaining resources
• Project planning – translation of goals into a plan – this is a dynamic process
• Client consultation – ultimate user is the final judge – their goals may change
• Personnel issues – relations among team members – well motivated teams are the key to success
• Technical issues – understanding and ensuring that the team members have appropriate skills. Inappropriate technology can affect all aspects of a project
• Client acceptance – ongoing consultation increase the probability of acceptance
• Project control – comparing actual progress to plans can identify deviations and the Project Manager can initiate corrective actions
• Communication – continuous exchange of information – communication is usually easier if lines of authority are well defined. Formal communication enhances informal communication
• Troubleshooting – the control system is designed to identify problem areas and trace their source. Since uncertainty is always likely, the development of contingency plans is a valuable preventative step. The availability of prepared plans and procedures for handling problems can reduce the effort required for dealing with them should they occur.

ETS use Microsoft Project as the main software platform for tracking progress as well as developing more detailed installation and review plans as projects progress.

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