If you are a member of Navigate Academy, or have ever taken my project management classes, you know that this is the only industry where I’ve ever heard the phrase, “Did you want it ‘done’ or ‘done-done’?”
How do sloppy project closures keep happening?
More importantly, how does an AV company prevent it in the first place?
Put simply, it’s all about process and disciplined application (no exceptions).
In a maturely managed organization, where each discipline sees itself as part of a larger, interconnected whole, project closure is a natural outcome of documented processes, disciplined execution, and diligent hand-offs.
Each group in the process sees its successor as a valued customer to be served, not a dumping ground.
We’ve discussed the importance of design and installation checklists, as well as adhering to standards, in previous posts. That same kind of professional discipline must also hold true when it comes to training and commissioning. These processes are crucial to successful project closure and repeat business.
The client must also be aware of their responsibilities during the training process, including scheduling time with the correct attendees and the ramifications if users don’t attend the training. This step is often overlooked, both during sales and implementation.
You should also have a milestone for “substantial completion,” traditionally a contract term used in architecture and construction that helps ensure a smooth project closure process. Part of the final inspection process, substantial completion allows the AV integration company to begin final billing procedures, as well as take credit for a bulk of the effort already expended on the project.
The result is a notice of substantial completion (a.k.a. the punch list). This list is generated via the final inspection and should be done with cooperation from the client. You need to start it early enough so that you have time to fix any issues that come up. But your main goal is to be able to start final billing, or at least partial billing.
Following the final inspection, there may be several items outstanding. These items often represent less than 1 percent of the total effort expended on a project, but can amount to 10 percent of the project’s billing, to say nothing about their impact on client satisfaction.
Most resource schedulers, technicians, and even some project managers are unaware of how much money and reputation are at risk at this stage of project closure. They often see only “a couple things” need cleaning up when they get some free time. Of course, there’s rarely free time because other emergencies continually come up.
This attitude often results from a lack of knowledge by the installation department (and sometimes procurement and warehousing) about the financial perspectives of the project(s) and reputation of the company as a whole. This can set off a lot of finger-pointing within the company.
Companies that complete their punch lists in a timely fashion do so because they consider them as important as that next, ‘special’ project with a tight deadline, and they address their punch lists with the entire organization focused on their successful completion.
Integrators that view and treat their service department as a customer of the installation department — with its own sign-off authority — close more projects successfully.
When you’ve got this mindset, it creates a discipline around the entire commissioning and transition process and ensures all documents of record (also known as “as-builts”) are correct. It also allows the service department to show a true profit or loss, without having to fix or clean-up implementation’s mess, especially after the job charge number has been closed.
The service department requires proper documentation (with the appropriate signatures); otherwise the project will never be “done-done,” causing cost overruns and poor client relationships.
At the end of the day, payment delays and excessive service calls are usually caused by inadequate documentation and a lack of incremental signoffs — a sure sign that client expectations and perceptions have not been well managed and that the client relationship will have to be repaired before it can be grown.
Companies that make completing their current job a greater priority than the starting the next job have a greater chance for success.
One of the best ways to avoid crisis mode is to avoid crisis altogether.
By Brad Malone, Vice President of Consulting for Solutions360 and Navigate Management Consulting.