Project controls that tell you where the project is headed.
Stelic ties cost, schedule, and risk into one forward-looking system. We establish the baseline, measure against it, and forecast the outcome, so the dashboard matches what's happening on site and the owner can act before a problem is baked in.
Project controls are the system that turns raw progress and cost data into a forward-looking read on where the project will land, early enough to do something about it.
Every capital project generates a flood of numbers, invoices, schedule updates, change orders, progress quantities. On its own that's just data. Project controls is the discipline that connects it: tying cost to physical progress, progress to the schedule, and risk to both, so the picture is integrated rather than scattered across spreadsheets that each tell a different story.
The point isn't to report what already happened. It's to forecast what's about to. A clean baseline, earned value against it, and an honest risk analysis turn a status report into an early-warning system, the difference between catching a slip while there's room to react and discovering it at the milestone.
Stelic runs this on the owner's side. We're independent of the contractor's reporting, so the read you get reflects the project, not the invoice. Engage us across a full program or stand controls up on a single project, the discipline is the same.
A status report looks back. Project controls look ahead.
Most projects have reporting. Far fewer have controls. The difference is whether the numbers tell you what already happened, or what's about to, while you can still change it.
A forward-looking system.
An integrated baseline of cost, schedule, and risk, measured continuously and used to forecast where the project lands and what to do about it.
- Answers
- Where is this headed, and what changes it?
- Direction
- Forward, against a baseline.
- Used for
- Deciding and correcting in time.
A rear-view record.
A periodic snapshot of what was spent and done, usually siloed by discipline and assembled from the contractor's own numbers.
- Answers
- What happened last period?
- Direction
- Backward, after the fact.
- Used for
- Explaining, once it's already happened.
Reporting isn't the enemy, it's the output. Good controls produce clear reports, but the report is the last step, not the whole job. The value is in the baseline, the earned value math, and the risk model behind it, which is what makes the forecast worth trusting and the decision worth making.
A control loop that runs every reporting cycle.
Controls aren't a one-time setup. We establish the baseline once, then run the same disciplined loop, capture, measure, forecast, report, correct, on every cycle for the life of the project.
Establish the baseline
We build the scope, cost, and schedule baseline every later measurement is judged against.
- Baseline schedule (CPM)
- Cost & resource loading
- Work breakdown structure
Capture the actuals
We collect real progress, cost, and resource data from the field, not the contractor's summary.
- Progress & quantities
- Actual cost capture
- Schedule updates
Measure performance
We compute earned value and variance to see how cost and schedule are actually tracking.
- Earned value (CPI/SPI)
- Cost & schedule variance
- Critical path analysis
Forecast the outcome
We trend the data forward to a defensible estimate at completion and model the risk around it.
- Estimate at completion
- Trending & cash flow
- Monte Carlo analysis
Report it integrated
We tie cost, schedule, and risk into one clear read the owner can actually decide on.
- Integrated dashboard
- Monthly controls report
- Risk register update
Recommend & correct
We flag what's drifting and the moves that pull it back, then carry it into the next cycle.
- Variance recommendations
- Change & trend management
- Corrective actions
Three pillars, one integrated read.
Engage all three as full project controls, or bring in the single pillar your project is missing. They share one baseline, so the numbers always reconcile.
Planning & Scheduling
The time backbone of the project, from the first bid schedule to the master program critical path.
- Bid & preconstruction schedules
- Baseline schedules & updates
- Master program schedule
- Critical path analysis
- Lean & pull planning
Cost & Resources
Connecting money and resources to physical progress, then forecasting where the budget actually lands.
- Cost & resource loading
- Takeoff & estimating
- Earned value management
- Payment application review
- Forecasting & trending
Risk Management
Quantifying what could go wrong, what it would cost, and protecting the owner's position if it does.
- Risk register development
- Monte Carlo analysis
- Fragnet & time impact review
- Change management
- Lender technical advisor support
Deliverables an owner can decide on.
Controls aren't abstract. Every cycle produces the baselines, models, and reports that keep cost, schedule, and risk honest, and defensible if they're ever challenged.
Baseline schedule
The CPM schedule, with critical path identified, that every later update is measured against.
Cost-loaded schedule
Cost and resources mapped onto the schedule, so progress, spend, and time read as one model.
Risk register
Quantified risks, owners, and mitigations, kept live so the exposure is always current.
Earned value report
CPI, SPI, and variance against baseline, with a forecast cost at completion behind it.
Integrated dashboard
Cost, schedule, and risk on one screen, current as of the latest cycle, not last quarter.
Monthly controls report
The narrative read, what moved, why, what's at risk, and the recommended corrections.
Time impact analysis
Schedule fragnets that isolate the effect of a delay or change, defensible in a claim.
Cash flow forecast
Projected spend over time, so funding draws and the budget stay ahead of the work.
Cost, schedule, and forecast on one live page.
A representative slice of an owner's project controls dashboard, earned value, cost by division, and a forecast to completion that updates as the project moves. Illustrative figures.
Read this period: cost performance holding at CPI 1.01; a four-day schedule slip on MEP rough-in is inside float and being recovered. Forecast at completion lands $1.3M over budget, fully absorbed by contingency, no owner action required.
Built for sectors where the numbers have to hold.
The discipline is the same; the pressure differs. We tailor the baseline, the cadence, and the risk model to what each sector actually demands.
Aggressive baselines, long-lead gear, schedule-driven cost. Life ScienceTight budgets, validation milestones, unforgiving risk. Federal / Government
EVMS compliance, audit-grade reporting, public scrutiny. Roads & Bridges
Phased funding, delay exposure, claims-heavy delivery.
What changes when the data is integrated and forward-looking.
We don't lead with numbers we can't tie to your project. We lead with the operational difference real controls make.
One source of truth
Cost, schedule, and risk reconcile to the same baseline, so meetings argue about decisions, not whose spreadsheet is right.
Problems surface early
A slip or overrun shows in the forecast while there's still room to react, not at the milestone it blows.
Forecasts you can fund on
Estimate at completion and cash flow are modeled, not guessed, so draws and contingency stay ahead of the work.
A defensible record
Baselines, updates, and fragnets are kept clean as you go, so a delay or change claim stands up later.
What it looks like in practice.
An anonymized, composite example of how Stelic stands up controls and changes a project's trajectory.
An owner was funding a multi-building data center program against an aggressive power-on date. Cost lived in one system, the schedule in another, and risk in nobody's, so the monthly report told three stories and none of them forecast the finish.
Stand up independent project controls: rebuild one integrated baseline, run earned value against it, model the schedule risk, and give the owner a single forward read tied to the funding draws.
We reconciled cost to the CPM schedule, stood up a live risk register with Monte Carlo on the critical path, and replaced the three siloed reports with one integrated dashboard and a monthly controls narrative.
A long-lead slip surfaced two cycles before it hit the critical path, the team resequenced around it, and the owner went into each funding decision with a forecast that matched the field instead of the invoice.
Controls are only as good as the read behind them.
Anyone can produce a chart. The value is whether the baseline is honest, the earned value is real, and the risk model reflects the job, so the forecast is one you'd actually fund a decision on.
We're independent of the contractor's numbers, so the read reflects the project, not the invoice.
Cost, schedule & risk as one model
We don't report them in three silos. They share one baseline, so a schedule slip shows its cost and its risk in the same view.
Forward-looking, not rear-view
Earned value, trending, and Monte Carlo point at where the project lands, not just where the money already went.
Analysts who've run the field
Our controls people have worked real projects, so the model reflects how the job actually behaves, not just how it was planned.
Scales from project to program
From a single baseline schedule to a master program with portfolio reporting, the same discipline applies. We add rigor, not noise.
Project controls, answered.
Project controls are the data systems and processes that measure and forecast a project's cost, schedule, and risk against its baseline. They turn raw progress and cost information into an integrated, forward-looking read, so the owner can see where the project is headed, not just where it has been, and act while there's still room to change the outcome.
Accounting records what's already been spent. Project controls connect cost to physical progress and to the schedule, then forecast where the project will land. Earned value, for example, compares budgeted cost, actual cost, and work actually completed, so a project that's on budget but behind schedule shows up as a risk before the money runs out, not after.
Earned value management ties cost and schedule together by measuring the value of work actually completed against what was planned and what was spent. It produces objective indices, CPI and SPI, and a forecast cost at completion. Stelic uses earned value where the project warrants it, alongside critical path scheduling and risk analysis, to give owners a single, defensible read on performance.
As early as possible. The most valuable thing controls do is establish a clean baseline before work starts, so every later measurement has something honest to compare against. That said, Stelic frequently sets up or rebuilds controls mid project, where the first task is reconstructing a credible baseline from where things actually stand.
Yes. Owners frequently bring us in when a project's reporting has stopped matching reality. We reconstruct the baseline, reconcile cost and schedule to actual progress, build the risk register, and stand up integrated reporting, so the owner gets an honest forward view from that point on, whether we run controls for the full program or a single project.
Project management makes and executes decisions; project controls give those decisions their evidence. Controls measure, forecast, and report cost, schedule, and risk; management acts on that information. Stelic delivers both, and integrates them so the data and the decision-making sit under one accountable team.
Bring us the project whose numbers stopped matching reality.
Full project controls or a single pillar, on one project or across a program. The engagement scales to fit, and the discipline doesn't move.