As an avowed fiscal conservative, Lewandowski deplores such wasteful mix-ups on principle. But it pains him for purely practical reasons, too, because contrary to what you might suppose, those cost overruns don't always translate into extra revenue for MDP. When projects are delayed because of funding wrangles or interagency squabbles, he points out, it keeps workers idle and ties up company assets that could be usefully committed elsewhere.
Lewandowski once again cites the example of the gymnasium at Fort Carson, one of five military bases in Colorado Springs, where work came to a standstill for months while government agencies sparred over who would cover the cost of making changes to the project. Meanwhile, Lewandowski could only wait and fret over the drain on his firm's time and finances: eight skilled workers and a supervisor on hold; the deployment of MDP-owned, as well as rental, equipment to new sites; plus the frozen bonding money MDP has to front for government jobs. "That supervisor has to average a $3 million workload a year so I can pay for his costs," says Lewandowski. "And those profits should already be through our books and making us more money."
Lewandowski doesn't kid himself that the military is going to get its act together anytime soon. That's why he's gone to such great lengths to exert tighter control over his own internal operations using IT.
When he started his business in 1988, Lewandowski was quick to apply the bootstrapping and programming skills he'd acquired during his tenure in the Army Corps of Engineers. He used a couple of computers that he built himself five years earlier out of 16 KB motherboards.
As the business grew, however, it soon became evident that this seat-of-the-pants approach would take him only so far. In 1991, Lewandowski hired Integrated Business Inc., a networking administration company in Colorado Springs, to install and administer a local area network (LAN) for the company. MDP's current computer system, which formerly consisted of several stand-alone PCs, runs through a Novell server, linking eight workstations through an Ethernet network.
Today, virtually every aspect of Lewandowski's business operation--in and out of the office--has been revamped by IT. Every piece of government-required paperwork, for example, has been scanned into MDP's network so that project supervisors equipped with laptops and modems can download any form from the company's file server. This function comes in handy when MDP has a project under way in a remote area because it enables supervisors to access necessary documents while remaining on-site. Supervisors can also gain instant access to subcontractor insurance and payroll information, serial letters, and submittal registers by logging onto MDP's databases.
Perhaps the biggest benefit MDP reaps from all this automation is the ability to coordinate logistics with improved speed and accuracy. Key to that end is a project-management program called SureTrak Project Manager, which Lewandowski uses to establish and track time lines for the myriad tasks of his construction projects. Manufactured by Primavera Systems Inc. and retailing for about $400 (800-423-0245, sales@primavera.com), SureTrak is what software mavens refer to as a dynamic tool, which means that when the user makes changes in one task, the program automatically rearranges the schedules for all related tasks. Lewandowski finds that particularly helpful in critical path management--that is, identifying the tasks most important to keeping a project moving forward.
Because its graphical display function can process new information immediately, SureTrak allows Lewandowski to generate a precise time line for any job or subcontractor, revise deadlines and cost projections when modifications are requested, and produce daily progress reports.
Lewandowski and his project supervisors used to chart all those steps manually, an arduous effort when you're managing a complex construction project that can easily entail more than a thousand tasks. Now, at any point during the project, SureTrak gives them a snapshot of the big picture, dramatically improving their ability to anticipate obstacles and to compare actual progress with original goals.
Armed with SureTrak, Lewandowski no longer has to speculate about the consequences of delays or last-minute modifications. He can call up bar charts and crunch numbers to demonstrate how those alterations will affect the job overall. When MDP was building a fire station at Peterson Air Force Base in the fall of 1996, the government wanted to make a midproject change in wall color. Using SureTrak, Lewandowski showed how that one "simple" change would add 12 weeks to the schedule. "It's not just waiting for the materials," he says. "It's all the other aspects of the job that the change delays." By clearly illustrating how even so-called minor project adjustments eat up time and money, SureTrak's graphics capabilities can also help Lewandowski collect additional costs caused by delays, although he admits that this doesn't always work. "Often, we just do the work ahead of the dollars," he says, "but that's really dangerous."
Lewandowski says government officials have come to appreciate this streamlined efficiency--even though, at times, it's been cause for chagrin. He recalls a negotiation on one project during which government officials carped at him for not meeting project deadlines. "So I called up my submittal database," he smiles. "They had 120 submittals outstanding and didn't even know it. And they're telling me I'm behind schedule?"
