Project management 

All change is a project

We handle change as a project. We set targets, lay down frameworks for time, costs and resources and define criteria for success. Throughout the project we follow up at every stage and track outstanding work so that if necessary we can recalibrate progress accordingly.

Project management is a craft

In addition to managing those projects for which, COWI is directly responsible, we also provide project management as a stand-alone service. This is appropriate when the client needs an impartial project manager who can deliver the desired results in terms of time, costs and quality; or where the need arises for expert assistance within an agreed area.

The project management services we provide include:

• Project planning
• Stakeholder analysis
• User surveys
• Project organisation
• Process consultancy
• Project management
• Communication and communication planning
• Capacity development
• Project economy
• Quality control and risk management
• Project management and review
• Claims management
• Project follow-up

Systematised quality control

COWI's quality control is documented in the COWI Group's quality and environmental management system, whose function is to create confidence that assignments are carried out to competent and satisfactory standards. The system ensures that assignments are carried out with due regard to environmental and social considerations

• To foster employees' involvement in continuous development and improvement of working practices
• To improve efficiency and competitiveness

The quality and environmental management system complies with the DS/EN ISO 9001:2000's standards for quality control systems where these apply to the COWI Group services and products; and with the FIDIC's Guide to the Interpretation and Application of the ISO 9001:2000 Standard for the Consulting Engineering Industry. The quality and environmental management system complies with the fundamental principles of ISO 14001:1996. The quality system is constantly being improved through audits and inspections.

The quality and environmental plan

In consultation with the client and based on the quality and environmental plan, quality and the environment are factored into the project from the very outset. The quality and environmental plan is the project's central planning and control tool for both project and execution phases. Quality standards, staffing and timing are laid down for project inspection and review activities - be they interface control, project inspection, or scrutiny of the project base and project documents.

On project start-up, an overview is also created of the relevant problem issues in terms of the environment, and health and safety at the workplace, reaching agreement with the client as to how these elements of the project are to be dealt with. Further actions are subsequently controlled in accordance with the quality and environmental plan.

The process involves everyone

We take a wide-ranging approach to navigating the process of change, one day acting as consultant in a strategic process in a company and the next as mediator in a dispute. The good process consultant asks appropriate questions and acts as a catalyst for the client's own problem recognition. We combine this with more technically oriented expertise, and call it expert process consultancy.