Customer Spotlight: Blueprint Project Solutions Determines Acumen Risk is the Best Fit for their Business and their Customers

Tweet it:'Blueprint Project Solutions Determines Acumen Risk is the Best Fit for their Business and their Customers'

Blueprint Project Solutions is a management consultancy specializing in Project Controls, Project Management, and Commercial Management Services. The company has decades of experience controlling multi-billion-pound projects in the nuclear, defense and infrastructure sectors across the United Kingdom and internationally.

The Challenge

Blueprint is engaged by clients to provide a Quantitative Schedule Risk Analysis (QSRA) capability to enable risk modelling to be carried out on specific projects. Primavera Risk Analysis was the software package used by Blueprint to carry out these risk models, but with no significant updates to the software in over a decade, Blueprint wanted to make sure this was still the best QSRA software solution for their business.  To ensure they continued to offer a high quality risk modeling capability with high quality outputs, a comprehensive review of available QSRA software packages was conducted for the purpose of identifying the most appropriate software package based on a specific set of requirements:

• Quick and easy to use
• Does not require specialist risk resource to use
• Provides a useful and most importantly understandable output
• Compatibility with both Microsoft Project and Primavera P6
• Can carry out integrated schedule/cost models
• Can carry out standalone Cost Models

The Solution

Blueprint carried out a phased approach to identify the appropriate QSRA software package: identify and research available products; receive trial versions, review the capabilities, and provide demos to other team members; and finally, scoring each software package based on specific requirements and software functionality, with a detailed report produced to support the findings. Upon completion of the review, Deltek’s Acumen Risk was identified as the preferred software option. 

The Benefits

Acumen Risk was the only product to adequately meet all of the requirements set by Blueprint, with the following features allowing it to stand out over other products:

• The interface is logical, with a modern look and familiar feel
• It is compatible with all leading planning software packages including P6, MSP, Open Plan, ASTA and includes the ability to link directly to the planning software databases
• Schedules can be exported from Acumen Risk back to the native planning tools
• Capable of QSRA models, integrated cost/schedule and standalone cost models
• Uncertainty input is especially simple, from using the built in ‘sliders’ to importing from the planning tool Microsoft Excel or manually entering three-point estimates.
• Includes detailed Risk Register functionality capable of scoring risks in addition to importing directly from Microsoft Excel
• The Risk Register supports Threats, Opportunities, Risk Windows and Calendar events such as weather risks
• High quality outputs include sensitivity (tornado) charts that identify the cost/duration impact of risks in days/£/$/€ rather than confusing coefficients
• Sensitivity (tornado) charts are able to be shown at summary (WBS) levels as well as activity level
• High quality schedule analysis capability using Acumen FUSE to ensure the schedule is suitable for a QSRA
• Includes additional software module called Acumen 360 (schedule accelerator) that assists the planner with rapid what-if scenarios to recover finish dates
• Significant ongoing development of the product

The recommendation to implement Acumen Risk alongside Acumen FUSE was presented to the Blueprint management team and approved for implementation with all Risk Modelling and schedule analytics that Blueprint can carry out now using the software. In addition to implementing the software, Blueprint will be endorsing Acumen Risk to clients as the product it recommends for schedule risk modelling, replacing Primavera Risk Analysis.

To learn more about how you can achieve similar results with Deltek Acumen, contact us to get started with your free trial today.