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Intelligent Forecasting Using Databricks

Anyone who’s ever been involved with project management will understand how quickly a project can turn into a web of information, with data on schedules, finances, locations, assets and resources (to name a few) all rapidly expanding. Further complexity can arise from the dependencies between these projects – a single project may impact the delivery…

Be kind to others, by first being kind to yourself…

As World Kindness Day gets under way, statistics show that one in every four adults will experience at least one mental health problem per year, and in this fast-paced, ever-changing world, how often do we take time out to nurture and care for ourselves? When was the last time you stood still to savour the…

What’s changed at the Chief Data Officer Exchange?

We always look forward to the IQPC CDO Exchange. It usually means a couple of nights away from the kids, a few drinks in the bar, and, more importantly, getting the inside track on what is keeping CDO’s awake at night. This year’s event was somewhat different, conducted virtually but working just as well. It…

Improving outcomes of complex projects using advanced analytics.

A data expert, an academic, a project manager and a lawyer combined on 17 September to discuss how individuals and organisations working on complex construction projects might exploit more data-driven approaches. Recurring themes included taking a whole-life approach, and the need for organisations to nurture data as something that delivered long-term strategic value. Entrenched industry…

Big Data and 30 Years of Total Quality Management

The notion of ‘Quality’ in business performance has exploded since I wrote the first edition of ‘Total Quality Management’ in 1989. That book was the first in the world carrying that title and it presented one of the early ‘models’ of TQM. This was a simple triangle of ‘systems,’ ‘tools’ and ‘teams,’ surrounding a core…

Applying digital twin thinking to programme management

Digital Twins – A longer history than you may imagine. The notion of digital twins is nearly 20 years old. American academic Michael Grieves coined the term at the University of Michigan in 2002 when he was considering product lifecycle management. He proposed that a digital model of a physical system (for example, a car)…

The Importance of Wellness in the Workplace

Putting wellness at the heart of our business At Oakland mental health and wellbeing is at the forefront of all we do and during lock-down we have been looking to support our employees in more ways than ever as we all adjust to new ways of living and working. A recent study by Total Jobs…

How to win or at least come 2nd in a hackathon!

No one wants to come second place. No one starts their day thinking “I want to come second place today”. It’s unrealistic. If there is a chance to win, people want to win. This is true for casual running races at the park, for the family board game night that somehow always ends in an…

Modelling waste-water resource management via graph theory.

A data engineer, some waste-water and graph theory walk into a bar….. Sludge 101 Right, before we delve any deeper into this, there’s clearly a few questions that need answering. Whilst I imagine the majority of people could have a good stab at telling you what a data engineer does and that graph theory is…

Realising value through cloud based rapid prototyping

The move for organisations to better utilise their data has become unanimous across all industry sectors over the past few years. However, starting this journey can be difficult for many companies, who likely haven’t had a defined data strategy from the outset and possess a wide variety of data, ranging in both quality and usefulness….

Managing your business through a pandemic – in 4 phases

When it comes to navigating the current COVID-19 crisis, we at Oakland are no different to our clients. We’re all working our way through a situation that we never fully prepared for. Even with the most comprehensive business continuity plans in place, it would have been near-impossible to predict the true impact of this global…

What does it mean to be a process-managed business in the digital world

New possibilities for breakthrough performance provided by the emergence of new enabling technologies and digitalisation seem to be endless.  Explosive advances in IT have enabled the dissemination, analysis, and use of data and information from and to customers and suppliers and within enterprises, in new ways and in time frames that impact processes, organization designs…