New Framework Captures the Value of Engagement
Last Wednesday in Brisbane, IAP2 Australasia and Consult Australia launched the Valuing Better Engagement piece of work that has been the culmination of around three years of collaboration between senior industry practitioners, Consult Australia and IAP2 Australasia. The first of several launches planned across the country, this breakfast event showcased the value of this piece of work in adding to the professional profile of our practice. IAP2 Australasia would like like thank all who have been involved in the development and launch of this framework.
The launch was presented by Darren Black, a Partner at PwC and author of the value piece, with commentary also provided by a panel including IAP2 Australasia Board Member and Valuing Better Engagement working group member Kylie Cochrane, independent panellist Anne Moffat from Moreton Bay Regional Council and Jonathan Cartledge who led the work for Consult Australia.
Valuing Better Engagement has established an economic framework and defensible mathematic equation that will better enable the value that engagement offers to clients and their projects to be presented. Speaking directly to Project Managers, Commercial Managers and Financial Controllers, this framework can be used to not only justify the usually modest investment in engagement but to determine the cost to the project of not doing it.
It involves determining the quantifiable dollar value of the elements of project delivery directly affected by engagement practice:
A – Cost savings from more accurate problem and solution definition (achieved through early engagement).
B – Reduced unplanned risk contingency pre-construction and improved risk pricing (during project costing).
C – Risk mitigation resulting in unused risk contingency (achieved through quality engagement during program delivery).
These elements are then added together and the cost of the engagement program subtracted to give a final value proposition.
Value of Engagement = A + B + C – Cost
This potentially game-changing piece of work received excellent support from the Brisbane industry, with some of its most senior practitioners attending the launch. Acknowledgement of the value of this framework was high and the comments it received were reflective of the industry’s desire for greater credibility, measurability and acknowledgement as a “technical discipline”.
This framework and the new Quality Assurance Standard from IAP2 Australasia provides resources for engagement professionals to test and assess their work. This can be applied across all sectors though the current framework at face value is modelled more around infrastructure and resource sector project delivery.
The Valuing Better Engagement can be downloaded here. Thank you to Consult Australia on partnering with us to deliver this work.
Donna Marshall
