InfoTown™
Kofi's journey · Commercial · Lesson 6

The cost nobody booked

Before you start

In the story

The rework was in every line of the cost report, and visible in none of them.

Back to the story

The right way

A new code

Kofi sets up a cost code for rework caused by information: wrong revision, missing data, late answers. Every time something's redone, site books it there, with a one-line cause.

Every month

Helen sees the number: £85,000 so far, mostly from wrong revisions on site.

The next bid

Tom prices the information manager in, and Kofi can show why.

Booked to everythingRework hidden in labour, plant and materials, and the same mistakes next time.
Booked to its causeOne number, every month, and a reason to fix the route.
Think like Kofi

If you can't measure what bad information costs, nobody will pay to fix it. Is there somewhere on your job to book rework, with its cause? If not, start one this month.

That's Kofi's journey

Follow someone else

Every district has its own stories. See who else is in town, or start again with Rex.
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

A town that never counts its potholes never fixes them. Count them, put a cost on them, and the road budget suddenly makes sense.

If you're the project manager

If you're the project manager

When something's redone, ask why, and make sure the cause gets booked, not just the cost. It's the only way the next job learns.

In the town See it in the town: the rework was in every line of the cost report. Why couldn't anyone see it?

Kofi's view: every stop on the line has a cost when it goes wrong. Add them up and the case makes itself.

The whole journey, as a transit map A transit line with twelve stops in two rows. Top row: the Town (Information Management), the Buildings (Systems and the CDE), the People (Parties and Task Teams), the Order (Information Delivery Plan), The Project Site (Mobilisation), Making It Together (Information Container). It curves round to the bottom row: the Labels (Metadata), Sharing Your Work (Information Exchange), the Checkpoints (Approval Process), Handing Over (Authorisation and Acceptance), Using Information (Information Use), and the terminus, Putting It All Together: your ISO 19650 process in action. 1The TownInformationManagement 2The BuildingsSystemsand the CDE 3The PeopleParties andTask Teams 4The OrderInformationDelivery Plan 5The Project SiteMobilisation 6Making It TogetherInformationContainer 7The LabelsMetadata 8Sharing Your WorkInformationExchange 9The CheckpointsApprovalProcess 10Handing OverAuthorisationand Acceptance 11Using InformationInformation Use 12You are hereISO 19650in action Part 1 · The Place Part 2 · Getting Ready Part 3 · The Journey Part 4 · Why It Works

Spend a little now, avoid a lot later!

The cost of managing information, set against the cost of rework without it.

Sam's Heads Up Book the cause, not the culprit

InfoTown good practice: Record what went wrong and learn from it.

On your job: If the rework code becomes a way to blame people, people stop using it. Record what went wrong, not who, and use it to fix the route.

For the audit What the auditor will ask
  • How do you know what poor information is costing this job?
  • What changed because of it?
For the audit What good evidence looks like
  • A rework cost code, with causes.
  • Monthly figures reported to the leadership team.
  • Changes made as a result, on this job or the next bid.
From the standard
ISO 19650 The cost of poor information

ISO 19650 doesn't measure what poor information costs; that's InfoTown's advice. It does expect lessons learned to be captured and used on future projects.

Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 is © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.