The Worldwide Facilities Group manages the operational aspects (i.e. environment, energy, other facility) of General Motor’s manufacturing facilities around the world. The WFG oversees a number of other teams in their efforts. They prepare conceptual to final design estimates for large facilities in the General Motors enterprise with an annual estimate volume of approximately $3.5 billion on projects that range from $100 thousand to $1 billion.

What was needed …

The Worldwide Facilities Group at GM needed to develop an estimating system that supported independent, discipline-specific processes while providing the integration framework to consolidate these estimates into a comprehensive summary estimate.

Steps taken …

After choosing Sage Timberline Estimating as a platform, GM retained Eos Group to architect the implementation process. Eos Group worked with WFG to analyze existing work practices and available data sources. An understanding of the existing culture was necessary to successfully develop a project execution plan, manage Eos Group and WFG resources and report on progress while meeting WFG’s expectations and budget.

Using data from multiple sources, Eos Group developed three custom databases. A common data framework was developed to insure consistency between disciplines and support the merging of each discipline estimate into a final summary estimate. Ongoing database enhancements and price updates from third party providers is managed using Eos Atlas, a database maintenance and development tool.

An enterprise reporting solution included custom reports which supported estimate presentation and review requirements and WFG labor sorting criteria. Training services and custom training manuals were provided.

Results …

This implementation took General Motors Corporation Worldwide Facilities Group to a new technical level; from paper and pencil coupled with Microsoft Excel® to a standardized system using a common data framework. Their independent estimating disciplines now deliver consistent and predictable data that is easily merged into a single summary estimate. Because of the transfer of knowledge from Eos Professional Services Group, WFG was able to continue with system refinement, database development and ongoing in-house training.