Costain Invest in Primavera Training Case Study

“The Thales Training & Consultancy course covers a complex application very clearly, expertly delivered. Our delegates come away understanding the capabilities of Primavera Risk Analysis and what is needed to make effective use of it. We are looking forward to enhancing the benefit we gain further by Thales Training & Consultancy developing a bespoke course to include Costain Best Practice processes.” - Phil Budden, Planning and Project Controls Manager, The Costain Group

Background

Costain is a leading UK engineering and construction company. The Costain Group is made up of many different sectors including Water, Waste, Marine, Education, Highways, Rail, Airports, Nuclear Process, Power and Hydrocarbons and Chemicals. It has a portfolio spanning more than 140 years of technical excellence and a vision to be one of the UK’s top solutions providers.

Scope

Costain approached Thales Training & Consultancy in 2009 to run a one off Primavera Risk Analysis course (then Pertmaster) for a group of staff who needed to get an Overview of the capabilities of the tool. The course was well received so another was booked the following month for a second group.

Delivery

Costain have continued to use Thales Training & Consultancy for their Primavera Risk Analysis training needs, booking both our Overview course and more in depth two day Schedule and Risk Analysis programme. Courses have been run at Crawley, Basingstoke, Manchester, Maidenhead and London for people in their Infrastructure, Environment, and Energy & Process divisions.

Read what some of our delegates had to say:

“Very well put together. Trainer was approachable, able to assist effortlessly during tutorial examples” Clive Glasspool, Chief Engineer

“Trainer was extremely helpful throughout. Course materials were excellent – no problems whatsoever” Ian Steel, Project Planner

“Excellent course and easy to follow. Very good, excellent food and facilities.” Colin Reeve, Planning Engineer

“Very well presented. Trainer extremely helpful and patient. Well presented course manual, well organised.” Ewan Lindsay, Planning Manager

Virtual Training

We have also run a series of Virtual Training sessions for a delegate in Darlington to save on travel time and costs, this worked out extremely well and the delegate felt that covering the topics in small chunks using Virtual Training methods on a one to one basis was very valuable. He had this to say about the training:

“I have now learnt how to run PRA to find out P50 and P80 confidence for Project Finish, Cost and Duration for uncertainty and risk (before and after mitigation) also use of reporting tool to communicate the outcome to the senior managers within the organisation.”

“The trainer knows her subject very well and has a clear voice and I understood her very well. She is a very good communicator and ensured that I understood every topic by asking specific questions to test my understanding. This course was delivered using Virtual Training methods saving me travelling time and accommodation costs. I learned everything in the comfort of my own office. Training was delivered at short notice which may not be possible under a classroom environment.”

The Future

There are now plans to work together to create a more specific Costain Primavera Risk Analysis course to be delivered going forward.