Australian Cost Engineering Society

About Us

The mandate of the Australian Cost Engineering Society (ACES) is to support professional development of the skills required to control time, money and change on major projects.

Our members have considerable experience in control of cost and time on all size projects but for some there is a particular focus on engineering construction projects of the $100 million plus range.

The specialist project control skills applied on large and mega projects are also applied by our members to other types of projects such as building, maintenance, software and other highly technical projects.

We have common cause with a number of other professional groups such as Quantity Surveyors, Project Management, and aspects of Chartered Accounting. However we bring specialist hands-on skills for reliable control of complex and significant projects to deliver a defined scope within cost and time targets. Some of these project control skills are generally known as planning, scheduling, estimating, budgeting, financial analysis, forecasting, contract management and change control. We bring an integrated and targeted approach to control of projects.

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ACES Victoria Branch

The Victorian committee of ACES members:

• Chair: Noel Bear
• Membership and Marketing: Paul Downie, Denny Seow
• Secretary/Treasurer: Stuart Chalmers
• Members without Portfolio: Peter Downie,Peter Stanley, Paul Poh, Arun Barath
• Training & Education: Laurie Pole

Technical meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month February through to November. See emails and Engineers Australa, Events Listing for final time and place.

The meetings are held in the ground floor, Seminar Room of the Victorian Branch of Engineers Australia,
at 21 Bedford Street North Melbourne VIC 3051.

• Map for Engineers Australia Victorian Division

Light refreshments and edibles are supplied and the meeting is at 6:00 PM for a 6:30PM start and finishes between 7:30 & 8PM.

Upcoming Meetings

Further upcoming meeting; see emails for final time & place:

Selections from Past Presentations

Tuesday, 19 July 2011: Money for Mega Projects: how Bankers weigh risk

The talk aims to give members an appreciation of the risk evaluation process undertaken by banks when assessing projects, and how this influences what banks would like to see in a Bankable Feasibility Study. The use of the financial model to quantify the key risks of a project as part of this evaluation process will be briefly touched upon. Finally, an explanation will be provided on how banks look to mitigate the risks identified during the due diligence process. This will be an interactive session so there will be opportunities to ask questions along the way.

The Presentation is attached: ACES & AACE Presentation 19 July 11

Tuesday, 21 June 2011: Best Practice Management of Risk in Projects

As projects get bigger and more complex, the risk of time and budget overruns increases exponentially. Risk management is increasingly being seen as the key to controlling these risks within today's tight deadlines. The challenge is to use the subjective experience of stakeholders to produce assessments of risk that are as objective as possible.

The Presentation is attached: Best Practice Management Of Risks In Projects

Tuesday, 19 April 2011: Planning for Success Or Planning for Problems

The secret to effective planning is communication first and a program structure that allows ownership and effective coordination.

At this seminar, planning consultant Principal Digby Grant will present us with strategies for improving our planning skills.

• The Presentation is attached: DGA Planning for Success (928Kb)

Tuesday, 15 March 2011: Turbocharge Your Project: Excel 2010 techniques that deliver 

Excel has arguably become the most intensely developed ( and widely available) software on earth. It has massive potential for productive benefit... or embarrassing harm if you get it wrong.  In this seminar, Noel guided us through some of the Excel 2010 functions and wizards that cost engineers find the most valuable in analysis and reporting Project Data..

• The teaching model is attached: SampleDataACE2010 

Tuesday, 15 February 2011:Work Breakdown Structures Getting the fundamentals right

The Work Breakdown Structure is one of the most misunderstood and misused concepts in project management today.  This is depsite the fact that most would agree it is a vital for good project control.

At this seminar, Malcolm Sawle will lead a discussion on the process that should be followed to create an effective Work Breakdown Structure, in particular identifying the factors that need to be taken into account.  Amongst these are purpose, context, content, hierarchy, granularity, coding and mapping to project systems.  The challange is to identify a common process that will suppor a variety of required outcomes.

The presentation is attached: Developing a WBS2 (1185Kb)

Tuesday, 16 February 2010: The Project Contril "Iron Triangle" time cost & quality which two do you want?

This session was an exposition of the realities of project control given by Laurie Pole.

Laurie has a long career in civil, mechanical and mining infrastructure projects with an emphasis on trouble shooting to rescue a number of projects that had turned sour.

 Download the presentation: Iron Triangle

Tuesday, 16 March 2010: What Price Your Project?

Don't let escalation destroy your profit.

Noel Bear. Chairman ACES Melbourne Chapter

Market volatility has seen volatile prices and a significant impact on project pricing.  Is it time to re-visit the science of forecasting price trends in project costs? This presentation will demonstrate how to get free access to the massive resources of the Australian Bureau of Statistics and how to use these resources to estimate true changing project costs and give you practical techniques that will help avoid losing your profit to unexpected escalation.

Download the presentation: Project Value Escalation

Tuesday, 18 May 2010: How to use Prince 2 & MS Project

A presentation on Prince 2 project management methodology by Paul Harris.

Paul is an experienced trainer and published author in the Project Management methodologies and software. This topic is of special interest at the moment due to the proposed or actual adoption of Prince 2 methodology by Universities and various State Government departments.

• Download the presentation: How To Use Prince 2

Tuesday, 21 September 2010: What is Project Control?

Gary Campbell explains the essential elements required to control project cost and program.
Gary is a long term career professional in project controls and Project Management

• Download the presentation: PROJECT CONTROLS - The Essential Elements

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ACES Western Australia Branch

Meetings

Members of the Institution and others interested in total cost management issues are always welcome at meetings.

ACES best practices are discussed at technical meetings.

Details of meetings, dates, times and venues are advertised in Engineering WA and on the WA Division website, and by the weekly email.

Please contact the Division office if you would like to be included on the society's e-mail list.

Mission

Provide national leadership and facilitate professional activities to encourage member contribution to the practice of Australian cost engineering and asset cost management.

Objectives

1. Provide forums and media information through which expertise and experience with principles and techniques of Total Cost Management may be promoted, discussed and published.
2. Encourage research to increase Australian cost engineering and asset cost management knowledge.
3. Promote standardisation of terminology in cost engineering and asset cost management.
4. Promote excellence in the practice of Australian cost engineering and asset cost management.
5. Promote practitioner participation in and contribution to activities of the ACES from other disciplines and professions.
6. Facilitate linkages at international level enabling members to benefit from exchanges in ACES matters.

Advantages of Membership

• Access to information compiled by ACES and AACE International.
• Networking opportunities with professionals in Total Cost management.
• Gain knowledge in various industries base on association with Engineers Australia, AACE International and other societies.
• Provide leadership and communication for various industries and members.

ACES Sydney Branch

Contact: Muthu Ramatchandrin

Email: mramatchandirin@reedgroup.com.au

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National Website

ACES National web site: The Australian Cost Engineering Society

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