Jacobs is a global professional services firm delivering consulting, technical, and project delivery solutions across sectors like infrastructure, defense, water, and energy. In Australia, Jacobs plays a key role in supporting the Department of Defence with capital infrastructure delivery.
Barton Johns is a Project Director at Jacobs, based in Sydney, Australia. His primary focus is delivering capital infrastructure for the Australian Department of Defence. With over $1 billion AUD in value, Barton is responsible for providing project management and contract administration services on this major project.
What started as a tool for monthly reporting has become a core part of Barton’s project management approach, particularly when it comes to managing risk in a way that is traceable, consistent, and transparent to clients.
“On each one of those projects (under the program), we use Mastt to manage cost, schedule, risk, and communications of monthly reporting and the like.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
“We use Mastt to manage cost, schedule, risk, and communications of monthly reporting and the like.”
Barton Johns, Project Director, Defence & Regional Security
Before adopting Mastt, Jacobs managed project risk in the traditional method, via Excel spreadsheets. On such a large program of work, spreadsheet risk registers quickly became a challenge to maintain due to the sheer volume of risks and governance requirements.
Each new project often began with a copy of a previous risk register, usually pulled from a shared drive or past project folder.
“On some of my projects, we've already had existing Excel registers before we had the opportunity to use Mastt.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
This “copy and paste” approach from past projects was very error prone made. As projects evolved and changed hands over their multi-year lifecycles, it can be difficult to ensure consistency and data accuracy.
For a Defence construction program that can run three, six, or even nine years, risk documentation needed to be both robust, reliable and adaptable.
“Projects can last for three, six, nine years working for the Australian military. So, it's important to… revisit that framework.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
Barton faced real business risks and stress due to consistently broken formulas, version control problems, and missing files. As a result, Barton and his project teams couldn’t always trust the data they were presenting.
“Spreadsheets can draw from tables on hidden sheets sometimes. All you need to do is add a row incorrectly, or a column into your risk register... and all of a sudden your risk ratings are all out.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
“We've had spreadsheets that have just gone completely AWOL after workshops... that version that's been updated, in a lot of detail with the client, goes missing.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
When that happens, it’s not just the data that’s unreliable, it’s the process. Project managers are left scrambling, and clients start to lose confidence.
Workshops themselves were a challenge. When risks were reviewed and scored in spreadsheet during live risk workshop sessions, the overly complex format got in the way of risk identification and risk mitigation. Stakeholders couldn’t follow what was being entered into the risk register, meaning they could not add value to the risk management process.
“Someone at the back of the room can't see that fine print, so you need to zoom right in… you lose where you are in the spreadsheet.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
Barton and Jacobs replaced its spreadsheet-driven risk process with Mastt, a software built specifically for risk management in construction and capital projects. Alongside risk management, Barton centralised all key project controls, with Jacobs using Mastt for project cost management, project schedule management and reporting in one place.
“We use Mastt to manage cost, schedule, risk, and communications of monthly reporting and the like.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
Mastt was configured to Defence’s risk framework, meaning Barton’s team didn’t need to rebuild anything or start from scratch. The framework was already there, inside Mastt, and ready to use from day one.
“That risk management framework has been built into the risk model... one step already at the commencement of your risk journey on a project where a lot of work is done for you.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
Running risk workshops in Mastt helped simplify a process that used to be clunky and hard to follow. Instead of scrolling through spreadsheets, Barton’s team now shares their screen and updates risks live with Mastt’s dashboards and risk visualizations.
“Being able to open Mastt, and having that preloaded in there for you is a major benefit to project managers and makes you look good in front of your client….We actually share our screen and walk through the risks in Mastt with the client, which we have found is a lot more engaging and keeps everyone awake.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
When there are dozens of risks to cover, they use Mastt’s scatterplot chart to zoom in on what matters first.
Each risk entry in Mastt prompts users to add causes, consequences, mitigation strategies, and ownership. No one’s guessing what’s been actioned or who’s responsible for what.
“Mastt prompts you through the various steps of adding in a risk… you can apply responsibility against a mitigation action, which is extremely handy. Risks are either open or closed… when you review these risks later on, if it's still showing as open, it's open. That means that action hasn't been actioned.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
Instead of chasing spreadsheet versions and follow-up emails, everything is logged, clear, and traceable.
Barton’s team spends less time chasing spreadsheets and more time managing real risks and opportunities. With Mastt, they deliver risk reviews faster, follow-up actions don’t fall through the cracks, and everything is automated through to the project monthly reporting.
One of the biggest improvements has been visibility. Project stakeholders can now see the status of risks transparently with drill down analysis, without the need to open a single spreadsheet.
“Mastt have developed a snapshot risk profile… simple pie charts identifying the number of high risks, very high risks, medium, low… how this plays in terms of the ratio over the whole project.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
That clarity builds confidence. It helps clients and project teams focus on the right issues, and it reduces the guesswork that often follows traditional risk reporting.
With every risk clearly documented and assigned, clients know who’s responsible, what’s been mitigated, and what still needs action. That kind of traceability builds trust, especially on Defence projects where accountability is non-negotiable.
“We had about 70 [risks] on the recent project… and I felt that the stakeholders trusted that we were looking at the risks that mattered.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
Using Mastt during workshops changed the dynamic in the room. Instead of low engagement risk workshops and distracted attendees, Barton’s team lead live sessions where risks are visible, interactive, and easy to follow.
“Being able to open Mastt, and having that preloaded in there for you is a major benefit to project managers and makes you look good in front of your client….We actually share our screen and walk through the risks in Mastt with the client, which we have found is a lot more engaging and keeps everyone awake.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
Barton’s workshops now run in less time, with better engagement and clearer decisions. Across four major projects and over $1 billion AUD in project budget, Jacobs has made risk a visible, shared, and manageable part of the process.
Managing risk is about creating opportunities to increase quality, safety, save time and save budget. Giving clients clear, timely information to make decisions and add value is critical on such major programs of work.
Mastt helps make that possible. When risks don’t eventuate, Barton’s team can see what funds were set aside and decide what to do next.
“If you held $1 million on your project in risk contingency, but that risk was never realized… what are we going to do with that $1 million? Are we going to give that back to the owner? Are we going to reinvest it in scope… or another project that’s having a really hard time?”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
That level of clarity helps project managers and owners alike. It gives them a shared view across multiple projects and helps focus conversations on what to prioritise.
“Across a portfolio of projects… you have that visibility, over all projects, they're all singing off the same song sheet, and you can compare apples for apples.”
-Barton Johns, Project Director at Jacobs
By integrating project controls across risk, cost, and schedule in one system, Mastt gave Barton and his team a way to act quickly, without second-guessing the data.
By adopting Mastt’s Risk Module, Jacobs improved how risk is managed across a $1B portfolio of Defence projects. Barton’s team replaced manual spreadsheets with a structured, client-aligned system that supports clear risk ownership, real-time updates, and consistent reporting. The result: more focused workshops, stronger client engagement, and greater confidence in project delivery.
.png)
.png){kind=logo}
