How the organisation works

To achieve the objectives of the Organisation, the PEO is very modern in its approach to communications, best practice, knowledge exchange and information technology. This, combined with the location of planners and schedulers being across the world, means that the majority of the Organisation's work is undertaken on the Internet.

The Organisation operates almost entirely without paper. Everything the PEO does is published on the Internet. This is possible due to the nature of planners and schedulers and how we work. Virtually every planner and scheduler in the world uses a computer. Planning software, based on a technique called Critical Path Analysis, performs many thousands of mathematical calculations to determine the shortest time to undertake a project, be that the construction of a building, an oil rig, a ship or indeed in calculating the time and resources needed on a car production line. Planners and schedulers use this type of computer software regularly. This means that we are entirely comfortable in using computers and the Internet.

For the PEO, this makes redundant the way that traditional institutions typically operate. The PEO does not conduct professional interviews in person, does not have large committee meetings, does not have a physical library and does not need a large office environment. In the computer age, these methods are no longer appropriate for a new professional body. The Organisation is therefore unencumbered by a large bureaucracy and is dedicated to effectively and comprehensively serving its members.

Instead, the Planning Engineers Organisation operates as a "virtual" organisation, utilising the best people in the world for their skills and knowledge. Pan industry information sharing is a vital component of this. For example, the virtual reality systems used to determine how an oil rig is constructed and how long this will take are not generally used in planning the construction of complex buildings such as hospitals. The mission critical control of time in the NASA space programme (how do they work out exactly when to fire a retro-rocket that enables a spacecraft to re-enter the earths atmosphere?) can provide a valuable insight into new techniques of controlling the time aspects of planning an Olympics Games. The PEO believes it is far better to utilise the skills of planners and schedulers from wherever they are located, rather than attempting to physically bring people together, say for a conference, in one part of the world, which due to the cost of travel, would prevent many planning engineers from attending. The Internet is the key to solving this.