ANTAL group of companies operates since 1992, over 200 projects completed

Spider Project is the software designed for creation of computer-based project models developed by Spider Project, Russian Federation allowing efficient project management in different industries, especially in construction.

Its uniqueness is ensured by several approaches to project modeling in demand at our market which cannot be found in analogue foreign software. Having inherited powerful basis of engineering preparation in the field of constraints management, the CIS specialists pay special attention to optimizing utilization of available resources and regulating their productivity, while such features are not provided by foreign software.

Project operations schedule and cost estimates in Spider Project create adequate math model easy-to-understand for planning engineer while the functions of the software are defined by demands of end users working in various industries.

Implementation experience and special research prove that use of Spider Project ensure 32% increase in construction project efficiency while allowing risks minimization and control of project cost and schedule.

PROJECT PLANNING

1. Modeling of physical volumes of works and scheduling based on assessments of physical volumes of works and productivity of assigned resources which is especially important for investment construction projects.
2. Creation of typical fragments library further used for project modeling.
3. Creation of catalogues (directories) of corporate, industrial and national standards.
4. Creation of unlimited number of cost elements, parallel assessments of the same objects (works, resources, resource assignments) in various basic prices, multicurrency.
5. Running multiple parallel budgets and programs.
6. Management of various types of cash flow: based on financing, project income, etc.
7. Income modeling along with expenses, calculation of payback period, NPV, IRR, considering cost discounting and inflation, cost variability setups.
8. Modeling of settlements with counterparties.
9. Modeling of piecework wages, overtimes, fixed payments to specific resources of project works.
10. Unlimited number of user’s fields calculated under user’s formulas, summarized in the project stages, and analyzed along with standard project parameters.
11. Shift work modeling.
12. Creation of resource teams with specific composition (multiresources), assignment resource teams to project works, change of composition of multiresources in all works using one catalogue.
13. Operative managerial decisions modeling using What If analysis.
14. Creation of roles of resources and assignment them to works, where the software selects and assigns resources with required qualification and optimizes their use.

PROJECT OPTIMIZATION

1. Spider Project has unique project schedule estimation algorithms considering all available constraints:
   • Resource constraints: works and administrative resources, machinery and equipment. Schedule optimized by Spider Project in terms if limited resources is in most cases shorter than in other software.
   • Materials and equipment supply constraints.
   • Financial constraints: model optimization based on the project financing schedule. No foreign software supports such feature.
2. Resource Critical Path estimation and calculation of actual time reserves for execution of specific works in terms of constrained resources.
3. Schedule stabilization option allows keeping the order of works unchanged at any variations of input data.
4. Correct modeling of partial load of the project resources.

PROJECT RISKS MODELING

Modeling features based on Monte Carlo method supported by similar software as well as three scenarios included in proprietary SPDM technique (Success Driven Project Management).

PROJECT EXECUTION AND ANALYSIS

1. Maintaining project archives allows comparison of any project versions and assessment of project execution in any time.
2. Conventional management accounting instead of percentage of execution.
3. Trend analysis of any project parameter.
4. Advanced analysis of completed volumes, trend analysis and forecast for deviations, indexes, and other indicators.
5. Trend analysis of probability of reaching the planned project parameters.

PROJECT REPORTING

1. Creation of table reports and diagrams for any parameters and periods.
2. Material Gantt Diagram, Resources Gantt Diagram and Flow Chart available in addition to standard reporting, ensuring demonstration of works execution on the project metrics in explicit and compact manner.
3. Report templates adjustable for any needs of different businesses which is critical for reporting standardization in terms of implementation of corporate project management system and timely project reporting.

TEAM WORK

Team works feature provided by Spider Project is simple and reliable and does not require serious networks resources. Additional important benefits as opposed to the client-server model are offline work with sub-projects, use of various information update procedures in different sub-project and in the whole project. Project archive management is facilitated due to the project versions being stored in separate files.

• Spider Project Professional 

For use by Project Office for both single project management and portfolio modeling. This software might be also used by divisions making decisions on general business management (e.g. procurement planning, financial management, etc.). 

• Spider Project Desktop Plus

This version does not support multi-project management (portfolio management), project scheduling based on financing and materials supply constraints; limited multi-user project work.

• Spider Project Desktop

This version does not support user access management, distribution / collection of accounting data through documents and work start / finish notifications. 

• Spider Project Lite

Limited edition for simple projects, however providing quite serious functions (cost components, resources assignment pools, databases, schedule optimization, etc.).

Spider Project provides free opportunity to explore full-scale functions of the Spider Project software.

DOWNLOAD DEMO VERSION.

Outsourced project management (although named in different ways – EPCM-services, engineering services, outsourced project office). This implies that ANTAL GROUP team will join management of the Owner’s investment construction project. This may include both consultancy on specific issues (e.g. detailed project scheduling and budgeting) and full-scale management of the investment construction project, depending on the Owner’s demands and agreed terms of reference.

Often the construction project owner is not a construction specialist (may specialize in logistics, subsoil use, sales etc.). Let’s put an example to describe the situation.

For example, the project owner is Car Sale LLC planning to design and build a new show room in order to avoid rent. The CEO receives funds from Investor for this purpose. However, for Car Sale LLC construction is unique project laying beyond its expertise. Thus, the issue arises how to perform the big volume of non-specialized works: develop project schedule and budget, create an engineering terms of reference, select an engineering company, collect input data, select reliable contractor who will perform construction works, etc. As a rule, the companies like Car Sale LLC do not have construction department which could solely and efficiently manage or monitor the project. Therefore, the CEO has three options: a) form a greenfield project team, b) try to manage the project by himself without specialized team or c) outsource the project team. Hiring the project team implies personnel risks: recruitment, assessment, adaptation, level of engineering expertise and many other points while managing the project without dedicated team means bury the project in the very beginning.

ANTAL GROUP is the third option. In a word, we can do the following:

• Develop detailed project schedule and reliable budget, followed by defence to the Investor;
• Monitor the project starting from terms of reference stage through to commissioning;
• Assess design in order to decrease construction costs;
• Select and assess contractors;
• Select and assess suppliers;
• Negotiate prices;
• Monitor schedule and cost deviations, propose corrective actions;
• Coordinate and participate in project meetings, give recommendations, make decisions, take minutes;
• Manage communications between the project stakeholders;
• Coordinate contractors: engineering contractor, general contractor, subcontractors;
• Provide online project reporting.

1. The project is managed by tight-knit team with expertise in investment and construction projects;

2. No need to recruit additional personnel (construction and design engineers, etc.);

3. ANTAL GROUP possess a database of proven suppliers and contractors in case of need for quick mobilization (we are experienced in projects with extremely tight schedule). We ensure transparency of contactor selection by providing detailed comparative cost analysis;

4. Priority of ANTAL GROUP is to achieve the project objectives (schedule, costs, quality) while casual employees might be motivated to the opposite;

5. Cost of services will be compensated by the project savings due to the following:

• Optimized design solutions (replacement of proposed design solutions with less costly ones);

• Reduced project duration due to continuous project schedule management (general project schedule management);

• Prevention of possible mistakes, re-construction works which may increase the project cost;

• Optimization of contractor’s quotation at tender stage: we use resource method to assess the quotation. We ensure that contract price is fair and reasonable. Our objective is to secure the Customer against increased quotations as well as dumping pricing at which the contractor will not be able to perform his obligations;

• Monitoring of project budget and costs overrun risks.

Consultancy services on implementation of corporate project management system.

Let’s see another example. A company with very long name ACompanyMakingLotsOfRoadConstruction LLC has been awarded a lot of contracts. The situation looks perfect, but the CEO, Mr. John Smith, is under constant pressure: in one project the QS made mistake in the estimates and the project is failing from the very beginning; in another project the procurement specialist failed to order the boiling house in time causing three brigades, excavator and a lifting crane to stay idle for two weeks. Both QS and procurement officer were de-bonused and the accounting department estimated loss of USD 50M (only 6 months after the projects started). Mr. Smith could dismiss QS and demote the procurement officer to the worker, recruit one more QS and accountants but this will not help. Obviously, the problem is in lack of integral management system and adjusted processes and low level of engineering and economical competences of personnel. There can be many reasons for this: from CEO having not enough time to implement the management system to the negligence of personnel. Implementing the project management system will provide resolution for such problems.

How it works:

• Assessment. We will analyze the present state of Mr. Smith’s company and causes of projects failures;
• Concept. We will form the “treatment plan” i.e. actions to improve the situation (adjustment of processes, automation, recruitment or training);
• Adjust the processes. Automate project planning and monitoring. We will not do it “in the vacuum”, but rather will operate on Mr. Smith’s real project in cooperation with the company personnel;
• Training. We will train Mr. Smith’s employees. Objective is not to train highly motivated or high spirit managers, but rather to provide arranged knowledge on project engineering, planning and management, focusing on works, resources and materials;
• Arrange the company’s Knowledgebase in order to increase quality of estimates and reduce human factor;
• Testing. We will see how the system works and introduce corrections if necessary.

Implementation of such system will be repaid simply: our objective is to minimize mistakes and improve projects manageability which allows cost savings. In terms of the above example – the QS shall make project budget based on accurate estimates of contract prices with preset profitability while procurement officer shall place orders in timely manner to prevent downtime. Desirably, without Mr. Smith watching over their shoulder.

Obviously, this is not as simple and such changes require diligent work both with Mr. Smith and his company, employees, processes and sometimes with Mr. Smith’s customers and contractors.

Implementation of online analytics and business analysis (BI). These services imply implementation of online reporting system (data visualization, analysis, qualitative and quantitative parameters). Business analysis implicate wider range of services including reports interpretation and recommendations.

• Companies striving to get rid of paper reports, generate reports automatically and see the whole picture of business on single online dashboard;
• Companies spending lot of time for manual preparation of the reports;
• Companies having input data for reports kept in different sources (files, databases, services / apps) and having problems in putting such data into entire picture;
• Companies having collected big data massive and striving to analyze it but not knowing how (or not having available resources);
• Managers who are tired of waiting weeks to get data and reports from their subordinates.