PGCS Organisation
The Project Governance and Controls Symposium (PGCS) is a small not for profit organisation working to develop a world-class symposium focused on the two interlinked themes of project, program and portfolio governance and 'project controls'. Our aim is to facilitate the improvement in project delivery outcomes by advancing Project Controls, Project, Program and Portfolio Management and PPP Governance in Australasia.
The organising committee is, and has, been supported by a range of sponsor, including The University of New South Wales, Canberra, plus a wide range of professional associations and other organisations - see our supporters. This structure is designed to encourage a diverse range of views, facilitate input from a wide range of practitioners, researchers and academics and through collaboration, help create a unified professional voice to influence government and improve project delivery in Australia. To this end, the symposium provides a unique opportunity to explore the governance and controls dimensions of project management as specialized interdependent disciplines that support all the other project management proficiencies.
We support the professional development of project controls professionals, project , program and portfolio managers, and governors in Australasia by providing forums for knowledge sharing and networking. PGCS actively contributes to the bodies of knowledge in the Project Controls, and the Project, Program and Portfolio Governance fields by promoting academic and practitioner collaboration. This work enables innovations to be proposed and trialled with verified developments leading to improvements in project outcomes and the development and enhancement of industry best practices.
We are a non-aligned facilitator that aims to bring project management practitioners and researchers together for a period where allegiances are left at the door and the interchange of new and different ideas is encouraged. To achieve this objective, we work collaboratively with the project controls, management, other professional and industry associations as well as government and industry on ventures of mutual interest and benefit - see our supporters.
The current symposium builds on the traditions of the the Australian Performance Management Symposium that started in Canberra 25 years ago; for details of these earlier symposia visit our Archives page.
PGCS Objectives:
The primary objective of the Project Governance and Controls Symposium (PGCS) is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas that will lead to improved project management governance in Australia and the region. The biggest projects in the nation are typically government sector, so much of PGCS focus is in that space – but we also recognise that successful delivery is as much aligned to private sector performance as anything else. We achieve this by:
- Bring together the two mutually interdependent strands of effective governance and effective controls;
- Asking the question what is effective governance, and what are effective controls?, and then;
- Looking at how these two elements support each other to the overall benefit of the department or organisation.
Resources and useful links
To fulfil these objectives, in addition to running the annual symposium, the following resources are freely available. We:
- Publish all available presentations and papers from current and previous symposia
- visit our Library to find papers grouped by topic, or see
- our complete list of speakers with their presentations.
- Maintain an archive of previous Symposia looking back 25 years - visit our archives.
- Maintain links with similar organisations globally - visit our supporters page.
- Maintain a library of links to useful controls and governance resources world-wide - visit our Links page.
- Run a Linked-In group to keep the conversation going - Join the group to join in the discussion.
- And help keep you up-to-date with PGCS News and events world-wide - visit our news page.
What is Governance?
Governance is defined as: The action or manner of governing an organization by using and regulating influence to direct and control the actions and affairs of others. An organisation's governing body, together with its executive and senior management need to understand and apply governance within their organization to achieve both accountability and performance
Organisational governance is is about establishing the organisation’s objectives, values, principles and policies and creating the framework through which it is directed and regulated. The organisation's values and principles should be considerate of the culture and values of the communities in which the organisation operates, and should comply with applicable contract, legal and regulatory requirements. Management works within these principles and policies to achieve the organisation's objectives. Key elements of the governance framework is ensuring accountability and conformance to provide assurance the organisation is operating as intended.
The governance framework for projects, programs and portfolios should be an integral part of the organisational governance framework and integrate seamlessly across all of the projects, programs and portfolios within the organisation. The overall governance of the organization should support and enable the effective and efficient management of projects, programs and portfolios; and the governance of projects, programs and portfolios should be based on the values and principles of the organisation.
The PGCS Symposium is designed to bring these important aspects to the forefront of discussion in support of the efficient and effective 'management of project and programs' by organisations.
What are Controls?
Project controls are defined as: The data gathering, management and analytical processes used to predict, understand and constructively influence the time and cost outcomes of a project or program; through the communication of information in formats that assist effective governance, management and decision making.
The PGCS Symposium is designed to the the preeminent project controls forum in Australia. We define the project controls discipline as encompassing:
Project strategy, contribute to the development of the project strategy by undertaking planning and methods studies, and value engineering to help the Project Manager (PM) optimise future outcomes and satisfy stakeholder requirements;
Scheduling including development, updating and maintenance;
Cost estimation, cost engineering/control and benefits management;
Risk management, including maintaining the risk register and risk analysis/assessment;
Earned Value Management and Earned Schedule, including WBS, OBS and other breakdown structures,
Document control and records management;
Supplier performance measurement / oversight (but excluding contract administration);
Stakeholder analytics and issues tracking (but excluding stakeholder engagement and management);
Developing, maintaining and using relevant historical data sets (lessons learned / production rates / knowledge management / etc.); and
The ability to effectively communicate to management, the information generated by these processes