Chicago Public Schools Capital Improvement Program

Due to the large volume of projects each year on the CPS Capital Improvement Program, project schedules in the form of milestones are captured in a custom web application developed by Tecnológica, where users can update multiple milestones across numerous projects at the same time when assigned the proper permissions. Capturing baseline, current and actual dates for each milestone enables us to identify the current milestone and thereby determine the current phase on all capital projects at any given time, a key element essential on all program and project level reports. 

With this information, upcoming and overdue milestones are issued to program consultants on a weekly basis enhancing coordination. For instance, the Look Ahead Schedule designed for the Independent Cost Estimator (ICE) on the program allows them to allocate their resources effectively to provide estimates for various milestones on hundreds of capital projects during the extremely busy and short design seasons. 

To keep project schedules up-to-date, weekly automated email notifications are sent to team members when project milestones are overdue.

Tecnológica enhanced program and project level financial reports by pulling data from CPS’ financial system of record and delivering an additional level of detail missing from prior reports such as project cost information stored in CPS’ previous and current Project Management Information Systems (PMIS).

Project and cost data from these systems are integrated with schedule information captured from the web application to report the financial status of each yearly Capital Plan along with the status of the projects funded under each plan.

One of the primary risks identified on CPS capital projects given the short construction season, summer, are long lead items. Long lead item information including contingency plans are entered in the custom web application by team members assigned to each project. Project Controls staff relates each long lead item with submittal item data pulled from the PMIS and high-level and detailed reports are programmatically issued regularly to team members with the status of their open long lead items requesting updates as needed.

The CPS PMO also practices mitigating project risks by using Lessons Learned. Past project experiences are recorded and stored in the web application identifying the root cause, and documenting the actions taken and improvements implemented. Team members can search, filter, export and share applicable Lessons Learned with project vendors to avoid repeating past mistakes on future projects.

Tecnológica optimized the Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Women Business Enterprise (WBE) Diversity Participation Reports on the program. A report previously prepared manually in spreadsheets on an as-needed-basis is now programmatically issued and reviewed with CPS Office of Business Diversity (OBD) on a monthly basis.

Revisions to existing process flows in the PMIS were effected to ensure accurate diversity tracking  down to the lowest-tier subcontractors. While the monthly reports compare the proposed MWBE values against scheduled and paid-to-date amounts, annual reports provide the MWBE amounts paid during each CPS calendar Fiscal Year.

The  Architect of Record (AOR) and Engineer of Record (EOR) Evaluations were designed to measure consultant compliance against (9) KPIs as outlined in their master agreement with CPS.

Tecnológica developed reports to pull data for each KPI from the respective data sources on the program to generate an overall weighted score for each consultant.  Subjective feedback is also gathered from team members through surveys posted on the web application. These surveys are compiled as part of the AOR Evaluations issued for CPS internal review only. 

After internal reviews are complete, the evaluation scores and corresponding backup reports are shared with each consultant via automated email notifications for their review and feedback with the goal of continuously improving their performance on the program as well as  identifying areas of improvement for the program and any of its processes.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) 

issues grants to cover specific scope items on projects.  Grantees are reimbursed for approved expenditures upon submission of state required periodic reporting.  

With an increasing number of grant funded projects on the program, particularly DCEO grants, it was imperative to develop automated reporting for these projects. This resulted in configuring and implementing the PMIS' Funding Module and adding a new Grants section in the web application to capture all necessary data.   

Critical changes in existing processes were also implemented to ensure that purchase orders are issued and invoices are paid using the appropriate funds.

While change orders are tracked in CPS' PMIS, a customized Change Order Log was designed and developed by Tecnológica to accurately report the status of construction change order rates against the program's KPI target.

Another KPI closely tracked on the program is the one established for AOR/EOR Error & Omission Changes.  Automated email notifications with attached customized E&O Reports are issued from the web application to team members and AOR/EOR vendors on a regular basis for their review and action.