At Cebisi, we offer a comprehensive service to help clients optimize their capital project processes to achieve successful outcomes. We can assess and compare your current project practices with industry best practices and identify areas for improvement. We can also help you implement the changes and monitor their impact on your project performance.

Capital projects are vital for company growth and sustainability, meeting the key objectives of capital projects is vital for mining, metals and related logistics and infrastructure companies. However, they also face many challenges and uncertainties that can affect their cost, schedule and scope. These can include environmental, regulatory and governance compliance, technological innovation, geopolitical changes and many more.

To make informed capital investment decisions, you need sound, unbiased professional analysis and opinions from a multidisciplinary team of experts. However, even with thorough project development processes, many capital projects still fail to meet their objectives. This can be due to unforeseen external events, or to internal issues such as flawed implementation processes, economic empowerment factors, industrial relations, supply chain dynamics and so on.

One of the challenges many companies face when developing and executing projects is the lack of consistency and alignment in the project processes across different divisions. This can lead to suboptimal capital allocation decisions, as the board may not have a clear and comparable picture of the risks, benefits, and feasibility of each project proposal.

For example, some divisions may have more rigorous and detailed project development approaches than others, resulting in more accurate and reliable estimates of costs, schedules, and outcomes. However, these divisions may be disadvantaged when competing for capital funds with other divisions that have less robust but more optimistic project data. As one director of a major mining company commented, “the banks (and company capital investment decision makers) are firing blind.”

In addition to this internal challenge, external factors such as market fluctuations, regulatory changes, stakeholder expectations, unforeseen events, such as Covid, the war in Ukraine, and climate change can cause cost and schedule overruns, scope changes, and quality issues that erode the value of the project and affect performance and success.

It is essential that companies have a consistent and comprehensive process framework, including risk and opportunity processes that cover all aspects of project development and execution across all divisions. Such a framework can help ensure the board has a fair and transparent basis for capital allocation decisions, and that the projects are delivered on time, on budget, and to defined scope.

A big challenge when making investment decisions for major projects is to avoid the pitfalls of group-think and cognitive bias that can lead to poor choices based on outdated or irrelevant analogies, rather than careful analysis of the facts and risks.

It is crucial to seek an outside perspective from experienced experts who can challenge the assumptions and opinions of the insiders.

Outsiders are able bring fresh insights and perspectives that insiders may miss or ignore. They can also speak their mind freely, without worrying about the career implications of their views. An outside view is not a guarantee of success, but it is a powerful tool to improve the quality and rigour of investment decisions for major projects.

At Cebisi, we help you overcome these challenges and improve your capital project processes. We have extensive experience and expertise in the mining, metals and related infrastructure and logistics sectors. We can evaluate and compare your project practices with industry best practices, identify gaps and opportunities for improvement, help you to implement the best practices, and monitor their impact on your project performance.

Working with us, you can benefit from:

•  Improved project outcomes: We help you reduce cost overruns, schedule delays and scope changes by improving your project planning, execution and control processes.
•  Enhanced risk and opportunity management: We offer valuable perspectives by applying robust risk analysis methods and tools to help you identify opportunities, and to assess and mitigate the risks and uncertainties that affect your capital projects.
•  Increased stakeholder confidence: We help you increase the trust and satisfaction of your internal and external stakeholders by ensuring transparency, accountability and quality in your project processes.
•  Greater competitive advantage: We help you gain an edge over competitors by adopting industry best practices and enhancing your project performance.

Throughout these interventions Cebisi members recognise the importance of maintaining Health, Safety and Environment best practice.

Cebisi’s project assessment approach consists of two phases: Thin-Slice and Whole-Cake.

In the Thin-Slice phase, Cebisi works with the client to select a few process groups and divisions that are relevant for the project assessment. We then conduct a virtual, online, desktop assessment of the selected process-division combination with minimal involvement of client resources.

The aim of this approach is to minimise disruption and cost for the client.

Cebisi then prepares and presents a PowerPoint document with high-level findings and recommendations for the next phase. (The Thin-Slice phase also provides valuable learning for defining the scope, timing and approach for the Whole-Cake phase.)

In the Thin-Slice phase we focus on a limited scope of:

•  Project definition.
•  Project and programme management.
•  Project schedule.
•  Project cost estimate methodology.
•  Digital enablement, information and operational technology.
•  Environmental, social, governance and-regulatory compliance.

In the Whole-Cake phase, Cebisi and the client take into account the outcomes of the Thin-Slice phase and agree on the scope, schedule and cost of the full project whole-Cake assessment. This phase requires management approval and authorisation before starting. The Whole-Cake phase can be done either virtually, online, desktop or with site visits and face-to-face meetings, depending on the client’s preference and needs.

The Whole-Cake phase will typically provide a comprehensive and detailed assessment of the project processes across all divisions and phases, as well as recommendations for improvement.

We would like to meet with you to answer any questions you may have and to discuss the scope of a Thin-Slice phase.