Project management company SSG Consulting’s cloud-based KEY360 project management software solution is being implemented at an increasing number of blue-chip clients, including several South Africa-based mining houses.

SSG CEO Steven Golding says the software allows SSG to service a massive range of clients that include investors; asset and facility owners; engineering, procurement and construction management vendors; designers; consultants; fabricators; and contractors. “In many cases, these would include our direct competition,” he says.

He attributes the company’s six-year-long success to its youthful energy, continuous innovation and fearlessness when it comes to changing the paradigm for how projects are executed.

Golding adds that effective implementation and support models have led to successful workflows. “We are not an IT company, but a project consultancy, and this has been a major factor in demonstrating our abilities and competence to clients in this industry.”

SSG is involved in project control, contract management and engineering management for coal and heavy minerals mining company Exxaro’s Grootegeluk Medupi expansion project. The project scope includes the implementation and operation of KEY360 on a services basis for the project.

Further, a diamond mining company requires SSG to perform a full roll-out of its KEY360 management systems over the next eight months, which will assist the company in managing its project to convert the openpit mine into an underground mining operation.

Another full implementation of KEY360 provided support and project control for engineering solutions provider ELB Engineering Services on all its projects, including energy and chemicals group Sasol’s Impumelelo underground coal project in Mpumalanga. ELB has had the solution in place since 2011.

On South Africa’s West Coast, project management consultancy Obsideo Consulting requested SSG to implement KEY360 at Australia-based mineral sands company Mineral Commodities’ Tormin Sands project last year, achieving international collaboration by connecting SSG offices in Pretoria, client offices in Cape Town and design offices in Perth directly to the project site.

Further, SSG tells Mining Weekly that the KEY360 system reached a milestone of 50- million transactions in January. The company regards these transactions as part of a comprehensive audit function. Golding notes that this provides invaluable information when identifying training issues and determining the throughput of the system, user competence and acceptance, as well as the system’s overall performance.

Challenges

Despite these successes, being a small and relatively new consultancy is challenging, as SSG staff have to work much harder than larger project houses to prove the company’s competence and develop and uphold its record, says Golding.

He adds that inadequate software solutions, untrustworthy vendors and poor implementation of management solutions make the industry cautious of implementing “radical systems” they may not be accustomed to.

“Some companies have wasted significant funding on software and, therefore, struggle to motivate the additional spending required to replace it with a software package better suited to their application,” says Golding.

He adds that these problems were dealt with by SSG through innovative and creative marketing initiatives, as well as implementations by project management specialists instead of IT professionals. This resulted in an increasing number of satisfied clients.

Creating New Trends

Golding describes mining asset creation, especially in terms of project management, as an “embattled industry, fighting for small successes,” and links this activity to new trends that compound underperformance.

He adds that project management maturity is decreasing rapidly, leading to poorly executed projects and the unnecessary spending of money on remedial work, claims, support services and overcompensation.

Another worrying trend in the industry is the increasing number of commercial claims, says Golding. He explains that contractual breaches between clients and vendors or contractors can amount to billions of rands.

Instead of adapting to some of the latest trends, Golding says, SSG consistently remains at the forefront of the industry by creating new trends. The development of project control rooms and virtual project controls will “reshape the future of project management for good”, he says.

To meet project requirements, Golding says, working smarter, not harder, is a key element in project management. He supports the philosophy of a project comprising several defined, yet small, actions that need to be executed in a certain sequence and timeframe by the project team.

“Coordinating and expediting these tiny transactions in real time, on a micro level, dramatically improves a project’s ability to meet macro requirements with ease. We call this OOT – optimising operational throughput,” says Golding.

He explains that typical meeting and reporting cycles are spaced too far apart to achieve the micromanagement required by OOT, resulting in opportunities being lost, even when delays are identified timeously.

“KEY360 is designed to facilitate OOT in a complex methodology,” he says.

Further, SSG is developing a process it calls DND (decrease noise distraction) to decrease external and unnecessary distractions that could affect workflow, as constant interruptions detract from the core tasks that are required to achieve objectives.

“This noise decreases efficiency, but KEY360 successfully facilitates the process of cancelling the delay effect of noise in the process of DND,” says Golding, adding that, with DND, project personnel are effectively and constantly driven to focus on core tasks, decreasing the impact of distractions. A KEY360 setup ensures that key performance indicators focus on driving progress on project-critical items, while changes are handled on an intervention basis, thereby ensuring operational throughput.

DND is enhanced by the installation of large-screen smart televisions that display real-time dashboards. Ideally, these televisions are distributed throughout working areas, including offices, leisure areas, meeting rooms, boardrooms, fabrication facilities, site offices and construction areas.

Golding explains that staff members are trained to individually customise their personal dashboards to improve their specific efficiencies, as only information that is relevant and necessary to them is displayed. This enhances the dramatic effect of implementing DND.

Further, when requested by a client or recommended by SSG, custom-built operations rooms, called War Rooms, will be the epicentre of a project’s management operations, decked with visual walls displaying real-time dashboards that are developed for continuous monitoring and meeting-based interventions.

To incorporate communication into daily routine, SSG is integrating KEY360 into normal email services, a new concept called KEYMAIL, which is due for release mid-March.

Expansion

At the end of last year, SSG began headhunting for a GM who would be tasked with propelling its business development. The new GM, Mark Shoesmith, was appointed on January 1.

Shoesmith was a project controls manager for independent renewable-energy and control systems consultancy PB Power’s work on State-owned power utility Eskom’s Medupi power station project. “His project knowledge and impeccable track record will serve him well in focusing on business growth, expanding into new local projects and creating an international company presence,” says Golding.

Currently, SSG offers KEY360 to new clients in Namibia. The company trained engineering consultancy Windhoek Consulting Engineers’ staff last month and expects additional clients to sign up in the coming months.

The company is also aiming to start expanding its services into the rest of Africa by developing and supporting a dedicated office in Namibia. SSG expects to launch this office by midyear, depending on client buy-in, with the focus being on consulting support and additional marketing, says Golding.

Training clients is an essential aspect for SSG, which has dedicated executive training facilities. The accredited facility provides general project management and specialised KEY360 modules. Golding notes that the current core focus of training is project planning and scheduling for engineering and construction industries. “This is a fundamental aspect, yet one that is a severely neglected and misunderstood part of projects.

“Our goal is to continue developing the success of KEY360 until it is the obvious choice of system for all megaprojects locally, expanding later into the international domain . . . KEY360 will change the face of project management,” concludes Golding.