Iv

Iv is an engineering firm that focuses on the most complex issues, with a strong focus on the energy transition. Iv is active in various markets, including energy and offshore, infrastructure and water, industry, buildings and maritime.

Mark Havelaar, project control manager at Iv, and his team support projects throughout the entire process: from planning and finance to Systems Engineering and Risk Management. Since the end of 2024, Iv has been using RiskChallenger for their risk management.

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Can you tell us about your work?

Mark's team focuses on both project management and technical project control.

“We work on a wide range of projects within Iv. This ranges from a nuclear reactor to an offshore platform to a bridge. For us, it doesn't really matter what type of project it is; each technical product ultimately follows a similar process.”

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Iv mainly operates on the client side and focuses on the preparatory phase of projects.

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“We make a design within Iv and that might include a contract. We will then make sure it is ready so that it can then be built by a contractor.”

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This also includes risk management. Mark explains when his team is dealing with risk management.

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“We are sometimes asked from a project to do a risk assessment and provide it in one day. Some preparation is needed, you hold a session, retrieve and process the necessary information. We are really fully involved with other assignments, so of course you want to have risk management come back and update monthly. So you start with a session, but then it lasts throughout the project.”

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What was the reason for joining RiskChallenger?

Mark met RiskChallenger through a colleague who held a risk session at a municipality.

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“For risk sessions, we always used the old-fashioned post-it method. At that municipality, they indicated that they were working with RiskChallenger, so they showed it. My colleague saw the added value of that, so he told me that. I dove into it myself, downloaded a demo and quickly saw that it was an interesting solution.”

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Inquiries within Iv showed that there had been contact with RiskChallenger before, but at that time, the software was still limited in use.

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“That was in the early stages, around 2019, when, for example, it was only available for Apple, so we didn't choose it at the time. Now we do use RiskChallenger, because we are increasingly being asked as experts for risk sessions. Then you also want to come up with something.”

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Mark explains that one of the biggest benefits that Iv experiences is the time savings.

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“Of course, it's just very time-consuming. Those post-it sessions are going great, people are moving and you're interacting. But the subsequent processing took an enormous amount of time. The old-fashioned way that you came back with large A2 sheets under your arm and had to manually retype everything in Excel, that is now so much easier. And aside from time, it's also job satisfaction. People don't necessarily like spending 2 days working out post-its. That also means that it takes a bit longer, because they can hiccup at it quite a bit. So we're saving 1 or 2 days per risk session using RiskChallenger.”

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How did the first use with RiskChallenger go?

“I found it intuitive, our team consists of people who are a bit more advanced in using these kinds of tools. We also use Relatics and we have a lot of people who are really used to working with them.”

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The team has previously completed a button training from RiskChallenger Academy.

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“And that helps, of course. Actually, you just need that to know where to click and what's useful. After that training, everyone in our team can work with it flawlessly.”

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Do you mainly use the brainstorming function in the app, or do you also manage risks throughout the project?

“Both. Of course, you also need to manage the risks for our own design work. In addition, I am now working on a project in which we prepare a monthly progress report. So we continuously monitor the risks and turn off the dashboard for that in RiskChallenger.”

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Another advantage is the visual representation of risks.

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“That home screen, where risks are plotted on a grid, provides an immediate overview. You can see at a glance how many red and green risks there are, which immediately helps to get a good picture. In addition, I find the filter options very useful. You can search and filter quickly.”

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What other improvements do you see for the tool?

Mark says that they would like to change the background of the brainstorm.

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“Previously, we worked with different sheets that we glued to the wall, so that we could immediately put risks in the right category, for example with the RISMAN themes. You can't pre-program that in the brainstorm canvas. Once the risks are there, you can drag and group them, but it would be useful if you could already configure this in advance. In addition, because we work with multiple customers, it is also of added value if you can add the risk format of multiple customers to RiskChallenger. Now you can only print 1 format.”

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How do you experience RiskChallenger's support?

“Good, I have short lines of communication with David and Diederik. Recently, a team member asked a question via the live chat on Friday afternoon and an email exchange was already underway on Monday morning.”

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Mark therefore values RiskChallenger with a high grade.

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“I don't give a 10 because there is always room for improvement. But I certainly dare to give it an 8!”

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We incorporate the feedback that Mark has given into our roadmap. This is how we ensure that the software continues to develop into the best solution for communicative risk management.

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