The Herne Group, which manages complex and highly regulated projects in the UK, has generated £14m in acceleration value across its live projects using Nodes & Links, the auditable decision intelligence platform for capital projects.
On one defence project, a client-instructed scope change put a fixed completion deadline at risk. Herne used Nodes & Links to identify and test recovery options, substantiate its recommendations and agree changes with the client. The work supported eight weeks of recovery and over £4m in acceleration-related savings.
The project shows how Herne combines auditable AI with delivery expertise to determine where intervention can recover time and which measures are practical to implement.
Additional scope, an unchanged deadline
The client’s change pushed the forecast completion date beyond the date required for an asset of national importance. Herne had to accommodate the additional scope without moving that deadline.
A 1,000-iteration probabilistic risk analysis in Nodes & Links put the probability of achieving the planned completion date at just 0.2%. With slippage costing around £80,000 a day, Herne needed to establish which interventions could recover time, what they would require and whether they were practical to deliver.
The challenge was not a shortage of schedule or risk data. It was turning that information into a defensible recovery plan before the window to act narrowed further. Herne needed to investigate alternatives, understand their effect on completion and give senior management and the client sufficient evidence to authorize changes.
Identifying where intervention would make a difference
Herne asked Nodes & Links a direct question about its live schedule: now that the completion date has slipped, what options are available to recover it?
The platform identified and modelled interventions including extended working hours, fast-tracking, changes to schedule logic, earlier completion of documentation and resequencing activities. The initial analysis identified scenarios offering up to 39 calendar days of potential recovery.
This gave Herne a basis for comparing options before committing resources or seeking client approval. The team could see the modelled effect of each intervention on the completion forecast and focus on the measures with the greatest recovery potential.
Turning recovery options into an executable plan
A modelled schedule improvement is not the same as an executable recovery plan. Herne’s project professionals assessed the options against resource availability, cost, sequencing constraints and client requirements.
At that stage, the highest-impact option identified was to move selected critical commissioning activities from a five-day to a seven-day working week. Herne used the supporting evidence to take the proposal to the client, secure agreement and implement the change.
Further analysis identified additional interventions, which Herne assessed and incorporated where feasible. Nodes & Links expanded the options the team could investigate and provided the reasoning behind them. Herne applied the delivery judgement needed to decide what went live.
“There is no other software out there that allows us to interrogate a live program in this way and quickly identify where intervention is possible, where delivery performance can be improved, and where recovery and acceleration opportunities genuinely exist. It is truly helping us recover slippage and accelerate key milestones.”
Andy Garnett, Project Controls Director, The Herne Group
Analysis that keeps pace with the schedule
Recovery was not a one-off exercise. At each schedule update, Herne used Nodes & Links to assess the effect of measures already implemented and identify further opportunities as the work progressed.
This kept recovery decisions tied to the current delivery position rather than a plan developed against an earlier schedule. Each update gave the team a revised view of the completion forecast, the effect of its interventions and the options still available.
The auditable reasoning behind the recommendations helped Herne explain and defend its decisions to senior management, the client and assurance reviewers. The platform supported a continuing cycle of identifying, testing, selecting, implementing and monitoring interventions, with Herne retaining control over every delivery decision.
“We’re proud to work with The Herne Group, who are a perfect example of where project controls is heading. They are combining deep delivery expertise with auditable AI to investigate more options, understand the consequences and turn insight into practical action on live, high-stakes programs.”
Greg Lawton, CEO and Co-founder, Nodes & Links
Measurable progress on a live project
By the next schedule update, the measures Herne had implemented had delivered 15 days of improvement. Within three months, the P50 completion forecast had moved forward by 10 weeks.
Overall, the work supported eight weeks of recovery and over £4m in acceleration-related savings on the featured project, contributing to the £14m in acceleration value generated across Herne’s live projects.
The defence project remains in delivery, and Herne continues to review recovery options at each schedule update. The approach makes project controls a source of recovery, not simply a record of delay: identifying where intervention can affect completion and giving delivery leaders the evidence to act.
