Defining new Risk Management Indicators aimed to sustain profitability and improve predictability of an EPC Projects Portfolio : the COMAU S.p.A case

The goal of this study is to define new indicators for Projects Risk Management processes in order to support the Project Portfolio profitability of companies operating as EPC contractors and improve its predictability as well. The definition of the above-mentioned indicators was carried out based on real data of Projects belonging to the Portfolio of Comau S.p.A, multinational company operating as an EPC contractor in the robotics and industrial automation industry. For the definition of these indicators, two main sources have been considered: the main standards concerning Project Management and Project Risk Management and the models provided by the scientific literature. The methodology used to develop these indicators consists of five main steps: the first one consists in the definition of a data set mainly based on Portfolio data related to Risk Management Process and Economics through which define derived indicators; the second step implies the analysis through descriptive statistics of the above mentioned indicators; the third step involves a normality test on the selected derived indicators, following which, in the fourth step, a correlation test is performed. Finally, any correlations found are validated through a hypothesis test in the fifth step. The indicators thus defined were calculated on the basis of the actual data of Comeau S.p.A Project Portfolio and from the consequent analysis of the results conclusions were drawn in order to undertake improvement actions for the entire Project Risk Management process, from the commercial phase to closure.