Police Force Project, Portfolio and Programme Management
The Head of ICT was under real pressure. The newly appointed Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) was demanding updates on the programmes and projects that ICT were running and new initiatives were being proposed on what seemed like a weekly basis. However, the real problem was that the Head of ICT didn't know how many projects were running and the staff was sharing their time between maintenance, support, change requests and "real projects".
Everyone was undoubtedly busy, but neither the ICT Head nor his top team could quantify what was being produced until something new was delivered.
But this wasn't the whole problem. The ICT department was under pressure in other ways. It needed to justify its costs and value to "the business" like any other department and pressures from the Home Office were bringing budget cuts of 5% per year. He knew he needed outside help and came to Cogenic.
It seems that in almost every organisation, users are dissatisfied with the ICT department. The technical specialists often seem to inhabit a different world with strange acronyms and either near magical or frustrating technology depending on your point of view.
In the case of the Police, however, the consequences of user frustrations can be more serious than in many other kinds of organisation. The Police have to deal with major crime, road traffic management and accidents, often testing community relations and terrorism on a daily basis. In the modern Police force, intelligence and information are absolutely critical. Every task relies on Information Technology and integrated communications to be achieved effectively. This in turn means that the ICT department is central to both maintaining operations and to improving service delivery.
It was for this reason that the Head of ICT first talked to Cogenic to investigate how we might be able to help. Our background means that we bring both public and private sector experience and SC cleared project and programme staff, including ex-Police and armed forces project managers.
With over 100 professionals serving nearly 8,000 users the Head of ICT had a big problem and needed to solve the workflow and project problems simultaneously. We began by carrying out a short investigation into people, processes and methodology. We found that, although some people had been trained in the Prince 2 methods, their knowledge was spread around the force and was often lost as they were assigned to different duties. There was no end-to-end process for managing projects, portfolios and although programmes existed, we found that there was no recognition of the different approach required to operate complex changes with many inter-dependencies.
The guiding coalition for change
As we began to put these in place we were asked to meet the Head of Performance Management, who was responsible for the Programme Management Office. The DCC was increasingly frustrated by the lack of objective information available to the Strategic Programmes Board, which oversaw the top 5 programmes in the force and he too asked to be briefed on our ideas to help him realize a new vision of the force as a national leader.
The Strategic Programmes Board was his principle governance body and was responsible for both the strategic planning and strategy execution by the force. They met every two months to review these programmes, but needed accurate and fact-based information with which to manage by exception and to know where intervention was needed.
The Head of Performance Management supported a more holistic approach to defining a strategy for project, programme and portfolio management (PPM). It was with his support and that of the Finance Director that we met the DCC and outlined to him how such a strategy might look. He was sufficiently convinced to invite us to establish a pilot project to test four key cornerstones of the PPM concepts: Governance, Programme Management and the Corporate Programme Management Office, Project Management and an ICT Project Office.
The pilot approach
The pilot began with a three month start up phase. This was needed to define the overall work-plan and to scope the work. The pilot was based on a mixture of Police trained Project Managers who would get refresher training and interim managers who could provide both role models and provide much-needed support to Police staff who would be testing a new way of working. The ICT department was one part of the pilot with a Project Office and three Project Managers to start managing work as a portfolio of projects. These projects would be agreed by a central governance body which represented to whole force as stakeholders.
In the Operational Communications Department a second part would be established under the aegis of a transformation programme. This involved an Interim Programme Manager and reporting through a new Corporate Programme Office CPMO). The CPMO made up the final part of the pilot and would report on not only the programme run under Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) methods but also the other four which would act as controls.
Of course, a Police force must be a highly reactive organisation to succeed. Crime and terrorism are unpredictable by their very nature and so the Police need to balance agility with control over projects. This is a long term change and not an overnight transformation, but the stakes in terms of success or failure are high for the community, Police Authority and the force.
Lessons for the future
A strategy for change enables a compelling vision to be created and this in turn facilitates employee engagement and the critical commitment to succeed. What Cogenic has been able to do is to help the force to define a vision, map out the steps to reach it, combine new roles, governance and decision-making which together provides the confidence to become a leader in what is certainly going to be a core Police competence in the 21st Century, information-driven world.
Business Transformation - A Multi-national Telecommunications Company
This organisation had determined that to reduce its fixed cost base, it needed to replace the infrastructure on which its business depended and radically change the type of services offered and how they were delivered. The Cogenic Consultant took the role of Programme Director for a Portfolio Transformation Programme which spanned; the portfolio of services offered worldwide, the way that product management worked and the roles involved in the product life cycle, IT tools and metrics (financial profitability indicators) and the organisation structure.
The programme started by understanding the current project portfolio and either integrating projects into the programme or stopping overlapping work. It then simplified the product variants and undertook external consultancy to determine profitability and scenario analysis around the most important product sets. The product management life cycle was re-designed based on international best practice including Lean Manufacturing Techniques.
The consultant led a team of six Project Managers, a Benefits Manager, a Programme Office Manager and a Business Change Manager. The team simplified a portfolio of 300+ products and re-structured the jobs of almost 1000 people. The analysis from the programme has led to the Cardiff Voice Trail in which a whole city is served exclusively by IP Voice, the BT Fusion Wi-Fi and fixed line phone and many others. The saving was significant and the programme has enabled many still to be announced on-demand services based on fibre-to-the-home and business. The productivity gain has enabled the old and new portfolios to be managed without an increase in headcount and the time to market for new services to be reduced from around 18 months to 9 months.
UK Financial Services Organisation
It?s hard to imagine that a leading UK financial services organisation could succeed in doubling the productivity of its scarce resource pool of project managers. Whilst showing them how this could be achieved, Cogenic's project management expertise also helped dramatically reduced wasted effort, offering a return on investment up to ten times the actual cost of the change management programme.
Cogenic assessed existing roles so, instead of two Project Managers being allocated on some jobs, each now manages multiple projects, with appropriate support. Once deliberately separated for business purposes, B-C and B-B programmes are now run simultaneously using more effective teamwork and empowering managers better to take decisions. Changes have been reinforced by tailored training, to improve planning and control. The IT system has also been redesigned to map information processing, end-to-end.
Following Cogenic's work, senior executives have more information in real-time about how they deploy resources and make potential investments. Teams have greater authority to make decisions at project level. Improving information flow and implementing regular review has been crucial to managers' increased confidence in meeting new, objective measures of performance.
The effect has enabled the business to balance the portfolio of investments, have a clearer view of potential and actual benefits and increase capacity without a proportionate increase in costs.
Simply, profits and revenues have gone up through growth in market share.
How did we go about it?
This leading UK financial services organisation provides consumer (B-C) and business to business (B-B) financial services. These two divisions have arisen through a deliberate strategy of diversification to improve margins and increase organic growth rates. The newer B-B business is much easier to measure in terms of profitability and faster pay-back of investment. However, the traditional B-C business needed strong investment for long-term business success.
A dedicated project and programme management team supports both divisions alongside legal, finance, IT and back-office functions. Increasingly the B-B business has bespoke variants of software per customer. These are increasingly difficult to support, and our client's own systems needed updating, necessitating a longer term view of the IT target architecture to provide flexible services.
The company approached Cogenic to review its approach to project and programme management. Cogenic undertook a structured analysis of in-house methods versus industry best practice, interviewed the team and their internal customers and compared documents and systems with their stated needs. It was clear the organisation was well suited to the way things currently worked but was not futureproof.
The Cogenic consultant reported on:
The organisation strategy in summary
How well project and programme management could support and enhance the strategy
What worked
What it could do better
A change plan with the potential benefits outlined
A roadmap, showing the earliest possible benefits and what delivery depended on
NAB's senior management garnered input from across the business, with guidance and expertise from Cogenic, to develop a business plan. We compared wasted time and effort from existing working methods with potential returns on investment from new income as a direct result of proposed changes. Plans showed a potential ten-fold return on investment from a programme including consultancy, training, IT and role changes.
The CEO was convinced and we were given the go-ahead to proceed.
The details
Cogenic guided the Project Services Team to define and prioritise a Programme Plan, setting out the benefits of a new end-to-end approach. This was a new kind of plan, emphasising greater stakeholder management and designing projects holistically.
The new work-streams included:
A new process from strategy formulation to defining strategic programmes and projects through a portfolio plan
A new and integrated governance structure which brought together corporate and programme governance
A reviewed and updated project and programme management delivery process, including new roles, structures and performance standards
A training and development plan for the Project Services Team which started from a skills gap analysis and considered attitude, experience, skills and knowledge
A revised IT functional requirement to map onto the new end-to-end process with new Management Information and portfolio reporting
New structures such as a Programme Management Office to support the governance and application of new techniques
Job Descriptions, Objectives and Performance Standards for each role in project and programme management
The Programme Plan also defined some new roles: a Business Change Manager alongside the Programme Manager, would represent user interests and define the implementation plan. It also set out a Communications Manager role to keep the many stakeholders up to date and ensure they received the right information, in the right form, at the right time.
The next step was to put in place programme governance and it was decided that a Programme Steering Board would be instigated comprising senior executives from each part of the business. They would either sponsor projects or programmes, or had a vested interest in success to achieve business goals.
The new board would be chaired by the Head of Human Resources as a "neutral" party who could be critical in finding the right staff. The board needed help to understand their role, because formerly they would have defined what would be delivered and by when; we were now asking them to define the benefits and outcomes from the change programmes with much of the outputs design delegated to a Programme Manager.
His role included defining target benefits, high-level project design and setting out how the programme would achieve "tranches of benefits" over time. A key early decision looked at how they could deliver some quick wins to sustain support throughout the organisation for the programme.
The other new complexity was that the programme would design or re-design how projects and programmes were instigated from strategic business and operational plans. We were therefore running the programme to design a process by which other programmes would operate.
This involved making changes that would affect virtually every part of the organisation and this was perhaps the most challenging and sensitive part of our advice. To help in understanding how this would work, Cogenic ran a senior executive workshop to provide an overview of the programme management approach, where it is appropriate and how it can support a portfolio management function for senior managers. The workshop also covered key aspects of managing and leading change, including the role of senior executives as Sponsors.
The Project Services organisation was re-designed to clarify and demarcate roles and responsibilities as well as to define the roles of a new Programme Management Office (PMO).
The PMO will provide reporting, risk and issue management and support for the programme boards and Executive Committee.
It will also provide programme and project assurance as a centre of excellence in the tools and techniques. Finally, Project Services will begin to form a community of project and programme professionals to develop their knowledge base. What was learned from Cogenic would be sustained for the long-term across the whole organisation.
ICT Programme Office & Governance Design - Local Government Organisation
Services (ICT Services) in order to reduce the number of low value projects, increase the ability of the team to provide transforming technology and to track 5 key programmes, including a new IT Architecture Implementation.
Cogenic were called when the project to put the ICT Programme Management Office (ICT PMO) was off-track at the first milestone review. Although the team designated by the client were highly trained in Prince 2 and Managing Successful Programmes techniques, they found it difficult to design a function that was outside of their experience. The team had also been asked to define the agenda, Terms of Reference and Reporting for two levels of governance body to which the ICT PMO would report.
The first task was to review the scope and size of the project so that the client and Cogenic could be confident that the implementation would completely meet the needs of the organisation. Cogenic used a proprietary technique to first re-evaluate the needs of the organisation for the ICT PMO and then to map services, roles and information flows from this. The project plan was re-written based on the consensus that this enabled from the senior stakeholders and a new fully resourced and authorised plan was in place by day 2.
The Cogenic approach is to coach the client to make the change his or herself. The client team was able to see the problem was solved by doing the work, being part of the discussions and seeing how this built a consensus. This could then be used as a Charter, Outline Business Case and Design Template.'.
A process mapping exercise was carried out with the client and after a couple of iterations; sub-processes and even procedures, were defined.
The roles were grouped into Job Descriptions, Objectives and Performance Standards and Terms of Reference were written for the governance bodies based on the process maps and needs analysis. The work resulted in the project timescales being met and the client feedback was that working with the Cogenic Consultant was "inspirational". The client is now implementing the PMO and using the work to help colleagues to implement a Corporate Programmes Office as well as how the two teams will work together in an end-to-end process.
Technology Manufacturer
Management challenges are rife in the micro-processessor industry as complex machines are designed and built globally for this fast-moving, highly competitive market. These manufacturing systems, like miniature factories, comprise thousands of precision parts etching circuits in three dimensions onto ultra-thin silicon wafers. Making a micro-chip involves a series of stages, each of which can affect their usability and the customer's profits. Even the best machines produce only a proportion of perfect microchips. Faults are a massive problem for the manufacturers as production lines come to a halt.
These issues regarding products, processes and service delivery all came together for one global manufacturer - a Cogenic client.
Understanding the problem
The production line involved plants all around the world and, inevitably some parts, processes and solutions became duplicated. Increased costs and time delays getting new machines to market were affecting profits, especially in relation to Asian competitor companies.
Work-flow problems in the UK plant meant that different departments gave different priority to the identical customer! Important projects simply slipped by and were never done. Designs in Engineering were increasingly ahead of the company's ability to deliver them in Manufacturing, as highly skilled professionals worked autonomously in each division.
The microprocessor manufacturer called in Cogenic to understand and to offer solutions to their problems of project delay and problems in delivering changes to the production lines
Cogenic's management consulting arm quickly helped the newly created UK Programme Management Office (PMO) to understand the root cause and classify the problems. Cogenic wrote a Change Roadmap with clear priorities for discussion. There was extensive consultation - conclusions verified, management insights added and a consensus gained on what mattered most - before the results were presented.
First things first
The management saw how to group small work-packages into more sizeable projects and funnel them through a single system. This included specifying an enterprise project and programme management application.
Managers could then accept or reject demands, allocating resources by forecasting and planning capacity in the engineering department. There were no more surprises, when work appeared without anyone taking responsibility for the order!
Another important factor was to establish clear job roles and responsibilities and meaningful KPI's - including quicker responses to the person requesting the work and, importantly, to customers. The company was no longer relying on anecdotal evidence that work has been completed or its customers were happy. Clear, hard data reported everything back to regular weekly meetings, attended by managers at the right level.
All these elements were not necessarily planned at the outset, some developed organically or as it became obvious they were needed. One thing did emerge - a real understanding of project management as a stand-alone discipline and the benefits it could bring to complex processes and businesses.
Gaining consensus to act
Cogenic then briefed the senior management team on the findings. This included; the change roadmap and recommendations for improved governance, new information and skills for the project leaders. Cogenic recommended a new workflow from Engineering to Manufacturing and new bodies to set priorities between customer requests for changes, upgrades to existing lines and new product development.
Cogenic's project management expertise helped the business to see issues in context, understand what the new Programme Management Office needed to do and plan a more effective end-to-end process for project work. Cogenic provided a degree of focus at a high level and by working with key individuals, helped their understanding and management of the project portfolio.
The Cogenic assignment manager needed to see the big picture: for example the UK Programme Management Office was seen as a model for a Corporate Programme Management Office in the US, and he helped influence changes needed there. This included the management of change for managers and expert staff being recognized as a discipline in itself.
Developing the company's own capacity
In the second phase of consultancy, Cogenic worked with the programme management office team to develop the role, functions, and value added by the support function, while a Cogenic Interim Project Manger acted as a role model to internal staff.
He provided much-needed capacity to take on extra projects; such as the governance changes, new processes between Engineering and Manufacturing and between Manufacturing and Sales. New working methods were introduced more quickly, showing tangible progress to the project sponsor and senior team as well as helping the client to recruit a new profile of professional project managers.
Together, the consultancy and interim management enabled real changes to be designed, tested, modified and implemented far more quickly than would have been possible with consultancy alone. The approach of combining practical, expert help (in the form of temporary employees) with big-picture diagnosis and design also allowed a more comprehensive view to emerge.
Making a difference long term
Cogenic has provided some insights into how the company can manage its most complex programme to date. This is an SAP-based end-to-end process re-design of operations world-wide. The aim is to gain global competitive advantage through a modular approach and shorter concept to market cycle. The work is managed from the US but Cogenic's work has shown how better planning and information can realize benefits earlier.
Indirectly, it has also shown a no-nonsense engineering company that change management is a programme in itself and that in a multi-cultural global operation, all change starts with the hearts and minds of the people concerned.
Organisational Transformation - Local Government
This large local authority had a large portfolio of projects and was finding it difficult to differentiate between work-packages, projects, programmes and portfolios. Cogenic were asked to first carry out a study to evaluate the effects of; corporate culture, internal processes and the role of the Corporate Programme Management Office on project performance.
The study involved meeting 25 people in a wide variety of roles, reviewing internal documents and informal discussions with project teams and programme managers. From this, a report was presented to the Corporate Management Team, chaired by the Chief Executive and all recommendations were accepted.
The report set out a seven stage roadmap for change, starting with the role of Sponsors, the Corporate Programme Office and internal processes to more clearly define what constitutes a project, how it should be authorised and with particular emphasis on the role of effective Business Cases.
Cogenic were then able to help the client to set out the timing for the change based on what the organisation could manage effectively and how a skills gap analysis could be used for key staff in project, support or programme roles. Cogenic also advised on the use of standard methodologies, such as Prince 2, so that the client could understand where they are appropriate and where as less stringent method is better.
From the Cogenic report and the advice of its consultant, this authority has set out the Chief Executive?s vision to use project and programme management to transform the delivery of services and the way that the council work with third parties in shared service provision and strategic partnerships.