A project that runs on notifications
On an NEC job, change is managed through a steady stream of communications. Early warnings raised at risk reduction meetings. Compensation events notified by the project manager or the contractor. Quotations submitted, then revised quotations requested. Replies due within a period. Assessments made where a reply does not come.
Your cost team is expected to know, at any moment, which events are open, which quotations are awaiting a reply and when each clock runs out. On a large job with a busy project manager, the spreadsheet that tracks all this is always a few days behind.
Why NEC admin runs away from you
- Communications arrive through a project platform, email and meeting minutes, and each has to be logged by hand.
- Each type of communication has its own period, and some periods can be extended by agreement.
- Early warnings and the compensation events that follow from them are tracked in separate lists.
- Revised quotations create new versions that need to be linked to the original.
- Nobody but the commercial lead has the full picture, and they are in meetings all day.
The cost of falling behind
We will not advise you on what the contract says about missed timescales, which is for your contract specialists. Practically, a missed period can shift the balance of an event against your side, open questions nobody wants to answer, and turn routine changes into disputes. Even when nothing is missed, the effort of keeping the tracker current takes skilled people away from assessing the events themselves.
| Communication | What your team tracks | What the tracker adds |
|---|---|---|
| Early warning | Raised, discussed, closed | Link to any event that follows |
| Compensation event notified | Date, originator, description | Next dates calculated, owner assigned |
| Quotation submitted | Amount, programme effect | Versions linked, reply date prompted |
| Reply or assessment | Accepted, revised, assessed | Outcome feeds the cost report |
What we build
- We connect to the source of communications: your project platform where it offers an API or export, the project mailbox, or both.
- Each new communication is read and a draft log entry is proposed, typed by kind, with its date and references, for a team member to confirm.
- Periods are set per contract by your team, including agreed extensions, and the tracker calculates the next date for every open item.
- The named owner and a deputy are prompted ahead of each date, and the commercial lead gets a daily list of what falls due this week.
- Quotation versions are linked, and the accepted or assessed amount flows into the cost report and forecast.
- The early warning register sits alongside, with each warning linked to any events it became.
How periods run and what happens when one is missed is a contractual question, and your team sets the rules the tracker applies. It prompts and records. It does not advise.
A calmer commercial week
The commercial lead opens a list each morning showing what is due, what is overdue and who holds it. New communications are logged within a day, not at the end of the month. The cost report reflects the true position on events, and when a question comes up about an old event, its whole history is in one place.
Risk reduction meetings get easier too. The early warning register is current before the meeting starts, each warning shows whether it has already turned into an event, and the actions agreed at the meeting are logged against the warning rather than in a separate set of minutes that nobody reads again.
Could this be your NEC job?
- Your compensation event tracker is always a few days behind.
- Dates for replies are held in individual diaries.
- Early warnings and the events they led to are not linked.
- Revised quotations are hard to trace back to the original.
- Only one person knows the true state of events on the job.