Project Controller Professional Apprentice

The Project Controller Professional Apprentice will work together with the key stake holders within a project such as Finance Manager, Project Managers and Project teams to assure the validity and reliability of the project controls information on the project and for interpreting the project controls reports being fed into them from various teams. They are responsible for capturing the right, meaningful, quality data for analysis which will provide essential insights into the health of the project, programme, and portfolio and for making recommendations to control the project. 

Essential Responsibilities

Activities at Notice to Proceed date and early stages of the project.

• Determine, establish, and implement (adapt/refine) the required project controls procedures, methods, and systems to provide the project, programme, or portfolio manager with reliable, consistent, quality, technical controls information.
• Develop comprehensive project controls plan(s) and reporting framework(s) to generate meaningful controls data.
• Project structure – set up.
• Limited review and interpretation of technical project documents (including engineering scope and engineering drawings) related to contractual deliverables.
• Evaluate invitations to tender received, contractual requirements and bid responses and create project controls’ content for inclusion in bid responses.
• Create project controls content for outgoing invitations to tender, interrogate bids received and related contractual requirements to ensure project controls deliverables are achievable and in line with organisational objectives (e.g. review and create estimates of cost and time).
• Use planning and scheduling techniques to create credible, realistic schedules.

• Analysis of Financial Summary received from tendering stage (investigation of any unclear cost budget)
• Set the strategy for management of the controls baseline – develop and maintain the baseline for control including scope, schedule, risk, and cost (ensuring alignment between cost and schedule using the coding structures).

Project Controlling Activities throughout project.

• Tracking of any Variation Orders (update of Progress Billing milestones, Selling Price adjustments, etc.)
• Be accountable for integrity and technical appropriateness of data to provide insight into progress.
• Ensure controls information and recommendations are reported and communicated effectively to influence key decision-makers and colleagues
• Carry out effective cost and schedule risk analysis, what if scenarios and impact analysis for the project.
• Underpin the risk management process – lead reviews, challenge risks and assumptions, identify which mitigation measures will work and provide advice and recommendations to the project, programme, or portfolio manager.
• Implement and enforce project control change procedures.
• Determine and apply the best methodology for estimating the project value, considering the level of design maturity and project risks, analyse the estimate outcomes, benchmark and report on pros and cons and degree of certainty.
• Forensic Analysis of data supported by accurate record keeping resolving dispute resolution
• Undertake effective cost engineering control by monitoring at the appropriate level, measuring commitments, expenditures and cash flow and putting the framework in place to perform effective cost forecasting.
• Regular cost forecast vs actual analysis, including BP/OP & pacing purposes.

Project Closure activities

• Analysis of any open account’s balances, clearing and closure activities
• Ensure project control work is undertaken in accordance with the requirements of regulations, safety, ethics, the environment, and duty of care.

• Ensure continuous improvement in project control by monitoring and incorporating (where appropriate) the latest innovative techniques, relevant technologies and lessons learned from other projects.