Although the members of the CityCenter project group didn't encounter any major technical glitches with the system after they began using it, some functionality issues had to be addressed, says Bodner. For instance, entering construction cost estimates into the system was time-consuming because users had to enter line items one at a time. If a contractor had to enter 60 line items, for example, the process could take more than an hour.

The Unifier product team got moving on the problem, and by October, it had created an enhancement to the system that enabled contractors to enter multiple line items at once.

Use It or Lose

One strength of the system was the audit trail it provided, but for that to be effective, everyone had to be using it. With the support of senior management, Bodner and his team required all contractors to use the Unifier system to submit cost estimates for the CityCenter job. "We told them, 'If it doesn't come through Skire, it doesn't exist,'" says Bodner.

Nearly 100,000 items have been date- and time-stamped so far.

Bodner says there have been a few instances where contractors claimed that their requests to purchase construction materials hadn't been approved by CityCenter project leaders. But because Unifier keeps a complete electronic audit trail of each request and the subsequent action and approval, contractors, project managers, accountants and other stakeholders have no one but themselves to blame if a request isn't in the system.

The system's electronic audit trail has also helped to keep what Bodner refers to as a "hyper, fast-track project" on course. Because Unifier is primarily functioning as a change control and cost-reporting system, the project team has a current and "very explicit" record of project costs, changes and reasons for changes, he says. "Consequently, we have a robust system to proactively control change."

Moreover, he adds, "the system has demonstrated where the organization needs improvement and enabled us to implement these improvements."

Any incremental improvement can go right to the bottom line when you're building on 76 acres of prime Las Vegas Strip real estate valued at US$30 million an acre. Shaving even a single day off the deadline would represent a big savings in interest costs alone, Charette says.

Time will tell whether that happens, but so far, the project has remained on schedule. CityCenter is slated to open in November 2009.