Managing complex projects with assets dispersed across a town, state or country, can present many challenges, but with the right planning and consideration these challenges can be overcome.

Utilities, such as water, wastewater, energy and communication networks, are made up of interconnected assets that are dispersed across a large geographical area. This creates a unique challenge for project managers who are responsible for the planning and delivery of infrastructure projects within these networks.

Planning and delivering a project with dispersed assets across a large geographical area creates several challenges. Some of these challenges are:

• Changes in the physical environment and landscape;
• Accessibility to different parts of the network;
• Maintaining communication and ensuring the safety of a workforce that is constantly on the move;
• Supervision of multiple work fronts;
• Working within different jurisdictions or government areas; and
• The knock-on-effects of changing parts of the network while other parts remain operational or in a different status.

Overcoming these challenges requires early planning and consideration. It requires involvement early in the planning phase from the team who will be responsible for the delivery of the work and people who have experience and expertise in dispersed asset projects. This team will help identify risks, opportunities and issues that may influence the project outcome.

Once these challenges have been identified, it is important to rollout actions to manage these issues. Some of these actions will be focused on:

• Workforce management;
• Environmental management;
• Logistics management;
• Communications management; and
• Stakeholder management.

At Core Project Advisory we have a team that is experienced in planning and delivering utility infrastructure projects across large geographical areas. This experience means we are aware of the challenges project teams face with the delivery of dispersed asset projects and can help guide them with identifying and managing these risks, opportunities and issues.

If you need any assistance please contact the team at Core Project Advisory, to discuss how we can assist you.