The importance of accurate record keeping.
Through King Planning’s provision of expert witness, forensic analysis and dispute advisory services, we have gained a strong understanding of the critical role that project evidence plays in the successful outcome of prosecuting or defending claims. In our experience, claims are won or lost on the quality and reliability of primary evidence.
Understandably, many client companies are focused on delivering projects as opposed to documenting their progress. It is often only when a client is faced with litigation that the importance of accurate record keeping becomes evident.
If appropriate records have not been maintained, a client may be faced with the reality that viable claims simply cannot be confidently prosecuted (or defended) and therefore pursued, as those claims are unable to be substantiated. Poor record management can therefore lead to significant expense or lost revenue.
Diligently maintaining accurate project records throughout the life of a project has a number of significant benefits, including:
- Increased visibility of project progress.
- Improved claim identification and awareness.
- Litigation avoidance through detailed contemporaneous claim submission.
- Reduced cost should litigation eventuate through the ready availability of detailed, accurate and presentable evidence (as opposed to retrospectively recreating project progress through witness recollection).
- Increased chances of success in the event of litigation.
In King Planning’s 25 years of operation, we have reviewed and interrogated hundreds of thousands of project records. We understand the purpose that records serve and therefore what is required from those records.
We are familiar with the various types of records that should be maintained and the way in which they should be prepared, managed and presented. King Planning can assist client companies through early and continued involvement in project record management. We can establish appropriate systems early in a project which can be maintained internally by a client or, alternatively, through King Planning.
King Planning’s services include:
- Record management advice.
- Establishing appropriate record templates and systems.
- Preparing project records including diaries, photograph logs, progress reports etc.
- Identifying and preparing claims material utilising the project records.
- Preparing visual aids such as graphics to distil large volumes of detailed and complex progress data into simple and easily understood presentations.
- If you are attempting to resolve time related claims without commencing formal legal proceedings, King Planning can also assist. Please see our Forensic Analysis & Dispute Advice page here.