The performance of Cash Center projects depends on a professional Project Management (PM). The underlying complexity of cash processes and its infrastructure is widely underestimated. The need for a dedicated and experienced project manager is mandatory from the very beginning.
Cash Center projects, either greenfield or brownfield, are most often part of a modernization strategy of National Central Banks, commercial Cash Center operators and CiTs. A missing or inaccurate alignment between cash strategy and project objectives for Cash Centers will lead to serious problems resulting in time delays, quality risks and higher costs. Assuring this alignment is a first crucial task of the project manager.
Cash Center engineering requires multi-disciplinary experience from the project manager, including:
- Cash processes and logistics
- Automation and IT systems with cash supply management software
- Construction and MEP engineering
All facets must be integrated in the technical concepts. This in turn requires comprehensive know-how in all these disciplines. (compare Figure)
In client’s organization, the know-how can be available in single disciplines, but it is distributed to individual “heads” and across departments. Furthermore, the competent client’s personnel are bound to the daily operations and cannot take over the tasks of the project manager in a satisfactory way.
Project Expert provides remedy
Dependencies between the defined disciplines exists throughout all project stages. Accordingly, appointing a dedicated project manager from the very beginning is key to streamline and structure collaboration, overcome communication barriers and hence, keep the project on track.
Further challenges derive from the internationality of Cash Center projects. In most projects companies from various countries are involved and need to be coordinated, e.g. equipment suppliers from aboard with local architects. Project management reaches to overcome these obstacles by agreeing on local rules and working habits and setting up a proper project structure with clear responsibilities. A missing or inaccurate planned project structure becomes noticeable in uncoordinated communication, changing targets, in a lack of work quality and delayed decision making.
Duties and roles of a Project Manager
Just as projects that run through various project phases, the project manager changes roles throughout the project.
- THE PATHFINDER:
Compiling an accurate project management (PM) handbook – e.g. stating rules for collaboration and communication – and establishing a working project organization, the project manager sets the fundament for success. Besides ensuring realistic and harmonized time schedules, objectives and first cost estimations, the provision of reasonable PM tools for collaboration is equally importance but remains often an open task.
- THE COMPANION:
While implementing the set activities, the project manager constantly optimizes the schedules, reacts to unforeseen events, and ensures accurate information flow by briefing and structuring communication across all parties. This results in a frequent status reporting to the decision makers. Performing these tasks requires comprehensive understanding of the project background as well as the above-mentioned dependencies and relations of involved parties and disciplines, in order to quickly intervene if things are running out of track.
- THE FINISHER:
By controlling and meeting the schedules, the project manager ensures that the client receives the defined results in terms of quality, time and costs for each project stage. Finally, the relevant information, specifications and results are documented and handed over.
According to diverse experience in international cash projects show, that taking these roles and performing the corresponding task often requires quick reactions by direct access to client’s decision makers. Consequently, there should always be a PM office at customer’s site.
The Game Changer: Hybrid Project Management
Considering the complexity and internationality of cash projects, a more agile approach to project management pledges huge potential for collaboration. Particularly the hierarchical power structures within the banking environment result in delayed decision making, frequently changing schedules and unforeseen but highly prioritized tasks. By incorporating agile methods within the traditional waterfall approach, hybrid project management allows for quick responses to this kind of obstacles and events. The iterative planning phases with embedded streamlined communication flows ensure the necessary agility and flexibility to adjust schedules and prioritize the next steps – something that is hardly realizable with traditional project management.
Conclusion
The relevance of a professional project management in international Cash Center engineering correlates with the following key aspects:
- Project management with appropriate activity and responsibility structuring, PM tool sets and communication skills are a must.
- Project management requires interdisciplinary understanding of cash processes, factory planning, IT and building construction.
- Project management should be installed at project start of Cash Center planning or cash supply chain optimization projects.
In summary, the capabilities of the project manager determine the performance to reach the set project targets. Cash InfraPro provides the required Cash Center engineering and operation capabilities as well as the know-how and tools to structure cash infrastructure projects, including innovative approaches such as “hybrid project management”. Contributing all factettes supports our customer with the best project approach.
Do you need a professional project management for your Cash Center engineering, please contact us.