Contextualizing Project Data: The Key to Keeping Capital Projects On Track

In an era where capital projects are digitally monitored in real time, one question keeps resurfacing: Why do most still run late and over budget?

According to McKinsey, 98% of megaprojects experience delays or cost overruns, with average costs ballooning by 80% and timelines stretching 20 months beyond plan. Dashboards are abundant. So is data. But outcomes? They still need improvement.

The truth is, raw data without context misleads more than it guides. It’s not about having more data. It’s about understanding what’s driving the data. That’s why project leaders across energy, infrastructure, and utilities are shifting their focus to something far more valuable: contextualized intelligence.

I. Why Dashboards Alone Aren’t Enough

Most project dashboards focus on internal metrics: cost-to-date, percent complete, or critical path tracking. But these don’t capture what’s lurking outside the spreadsheet - market shifts, permitting delays, or contract risks.

Take the case of Flamanville 3 in France. It’s still not operational, despite its expected completion in 2012. Costs exploded from €3.3B to €13.2B, largely due to regulator-driven design changes and weld-quality issues, none of which standard dashboards caught in time.

In the U.S., Vogtle Units 3 & 4 saw a similar fate. A $14B budget became $30B+, with completion lagging by nearly a decade. Project controls didn’t pick up contractor issues or commodity supply shocks early enough.

Kusile Power Station in South Africa faced massive permitting setbacks and design flaws. The budget soared from R81B to over R233B, with still only partial commissioning⁴.

These aren’t isolated cases. They reflect an industry norm. The IEA has highlighted how global LNG projects face growing delays due to regulatory, geopolitical, and supply-chain frictions, factors standard PM tools don’t measure.

II. What It Means to Contextualize Project Data

Contextualization means placing project data in the broader environment that shapes it by connecting the dots between internal progress and external dynamics.

Instead of just tracking deliverables, smart project systems now monitor:

• Market inputs (e.g. steel prices, logistics delays)
  
  
• Regulatory flows (e.g. permit approvals, policy risks)
  
  
• Contract clauses (e.g. penalties, change order trends)
  
  
• Urgency cues (e.g. escalating language in emails, risk flags in site reports)
  
  

For example, dozens of minor change orders may go unnoticed on separate logs. But viewed in context, they can signal systemic design flaws from one vendor or package. Similarly, a clean burndown chart may hide the reality that scope-critical work is stalled awaiting permit approvals, a risk only contextual tracking reveals.

The IEA warns that project delays will increase if leaders fail to incorporate macro volatility and policy lag into their planning frameworks. Context-first visibility is no longer optional. It’s essential.

III. The New Frontier: Contextual AI

Modern project leaders are moving from “reporting” to “anticipating”. That shift is powered by contextual AI, systems that merge internal KPIs with unstructured signals from contracts, communications, and external feeds.

Imagine an AI that reads every project email, change log, and permit tracker, ultimately flagging patterns:

“Transformer deliveries are late, severe storms are forecasted at port, and contract penalties trigger in 10 days. Take action now.”

This is not hypothetical. These systems already exist.

One energy project used contextual AI to identify that a supplier delay, though contractually minor, was approaching a penalty clause threshold. Leadership renegotiated the delivery window before incurring costs, avoiding millions in potential damages.

IV. The Bolo.ai Advantage: Turning Signal into Strategy

At Bolo.ai, we’ve built this layer of context-first intelligence for capital projects.

Our AI doesn’t just summarize data. It reads between the lines:

• It picks up when dozens of seemingly routine change orders point to deeper design breakdowns.
  
  
• It tracks regulatory filings, status reports, and contract terms simultaneously.
  
  
• It alerts project leaders to early-warning signals before dashboards flash red.
  
  

What you get is faster decision-making, better governance, and fewer surprises. Because in capital projects, context is your competitive edge.

Conclusion

Projects don’t derail because leaders lack dashboards. They derail because the story behind the data went unnoticed.

In today’s volatile market, it’s not enough to know what happened. You need to know why it’s happening and what’s likely next. That’s what contextualizing project data delivers: foresight, not just hindsight.

Book a demo with Bolo.ai and discover how our contextual AI surfaces risks before they cost you time, money, and momentum.

Let your next project be one that sets the benchmark, not one that makes the headlines for the wrong reasons.

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