Insights Project Support Office at Global Technology Centre, India

At Atkins, we believe in creating a world where the implementation of our ideas can support creating a better future for our planet and its people. At the same time, we aim to establish long-lasting and trustworthy relationships with our people by supporting them in continuous learning and growth. One of the ways we do this is through our Project Support Office. 

What is the Project Support Office?

Based in the Global Technology Centre, India, offers an effective trainee program to ensure graduates are equipped with the necessary skills to kick start their project and programme management career. 

Who is the Project Support Office for? 

The Project Support Office recruits people at all levels and trains candidates to be confident, skilled and to be able to undertake any project. Over the many years, our trainees proved to be successful and were converted into permanent roles as well.

Through this approach, we provide an opportunity to graduates or postgraduates, from construction or project management background to work on highly complex and long-term global projects. 

How does the Project Support Office support our colleagues?

In the words of Reyaz Ahmed, Director – PMO, India, “The program serves as a springboard for an individual’s professional development.”

Reyaz is also the regional practice lead for the Project and Program Management Global Practice. He talks to us about how the Project Support Office (PSO) is driving a data-driven culture across our organization by using digital tools and techniques.

Through the program, trainees get an opportunity to advance their digital literacy by learning and using new technology on live projects. This training aids in laying a very solid foundation for establishing a long-term career path in project and programme management. Additionally, this offers a chance to collaborate and practice with other collegiate multi-D project management abilities, which include:

• Green work, project, and programme management services
• Scheduling and planning project controls
• Document control
• Digital reporting
• Performance reporting
• Contract and cost management
• Commercial Management

What to expect from the Trainee Program?

The duration of the Trainee Program is three month and here is a breakdown of what you can expect:
• 1-week Business Induction
• 3 weeks of training on Advanced Excel, Power Platform (Power BI, PowerApps etc.) and other key digital skills.
• 6 weeks of on-the-job training
• 2 weeks of discipline-specific training – P6 for Planner, CostX for QS, EcoSys for PC and more.

Get to know Reyaz, Director, PMO

Reyaz, can you tell a fact about yourself that would intrigue us?

This is an interesting question! If I wasn’t an engineer, I would most probably have had a career in politics and this interest is still strong – making a difference in community and culture is what interests me the most.

Tell us about the Project Support Office

The PSO team was established in 2017, mainly with a focus on project controls, but over time this has evolved to also cover win work, project management002C information services, commercials, cost and contract management, and document management. 

The team is an integral part of our Project and Program Management Global Practice. They equip program leadership with predictable and efficient project performance management & reporting, and business intelligence by using the latest digital tools.

Can you give an example of the solutions the PSO team has implemented?

The PSO team use simple digital solutions to drive a data-driven culture including a Power BI dashboard for the digital program, Power BI and PowerApps solutions (portfolio level reporting, commercial management, and procurement) for the Royal Mail portfolio delivery office, which is a cost-estimation and benchmarking tool.

How does the team use digital tools to improve project delivery?

The team use digital tools to connect various project information like cost, schedule, risk, and key deliverables. This data is made available in real-time to give an accurate status of the project or program, thereby enabling our client-facing leaders, project managers, and project directors to focus on solving client problems.

Real-time and accurate data facilitate meaningful conversations with the clients and give them confidence in the way we report and manage our projects.

What services does the team offer to projects and programs worldwide?

The PSO team started with a mission to create a fully established Program Management Office (PMO). In this journey, the first step was to establish the PSO, which is now in place. We now have close to 220 project management professionals in the PSO. 

These colleagues combine their functional knowledge and their digital skills together to drive a data-driven culture. Most of the people working in the PSO team come from engineering, construction, and project management backgrounds.

Additional advantages the PSO team bring include extended workdays, cost efficiencies and a significantly larger digital and program management resource pool for the benefit of our clients. Key services of PSO can range from win work support, to project controls, cost management, digital services and many more.

Looking towards the future, what’s your vision for the team?

The team is now focused on creating three Centres of Excellence by 2023 on our journey to become a fully established PMO. The three CoEs are:

• Project/program mobilization services: to help our clients and regions in digital adoption and early mobilization of project process using preconfigured tools and systems. 
• Reporting and dashboarding: to provide extensive ‘off-the-shelf’ support in developing project workflow, cost and schedule performance dashboards that enable large projects to monitor their performance with the click of a button.
• Automation and standardization in project management: to eliminate the ubiquitous use of bespoke project solutions for project coordination/ administration and deliver standardized digital apps that will improve efficiency, decision making and certainty.

These three centres of excellence in conjunction with our Program Management Services (PMS) Global Practice will drive automation, standardization, process improvement and digital adoption across the organization.

Reyaz, at last, is there any quote that inspires you? 

There are quite a few but my favourite is “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” by Leonardo da Vinci. Designing solutions and communicating ideas that are simple and straightforward requires out-of-the-box thinking and it’s not always easy!

Move your project and programme management career forward with us at Atkins

Our workforce applies innovative thinking, pioneering technologies and strategic management to create the best outcomes for our clients and future generations. For people with a passion for developing their careers in the programme and project management, this is an amazing opportunity.

If you’re looking forward to joining a truly inclusive organization with exciting career opportunities, then explore our wide range of options and apply for a job in project and programme management.