Financial and Human Resource Systems
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Federal Government client
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1. The Challenge
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Our client was experiencing multiple challenges in handling the ICT Modernisation Program. Many factors had caused ICT projects within the program to fail. Project Performance People identified key problems that that needed to be addressed in order to prevent a downward spiral:
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Inadequately defined project requirements withing the program
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Lack of risk and quality management plans
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Negotiating team with no experience with ICT Shared Services and implementation contracts
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Vendor staff with inadequate training or implementation experience with the system being provided
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Pressure to convert, implement and accept the new system too quickly
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Failure to divide the program plan into specific measurable deliverables, one key way of controlling (i.e., monitoring, detecting and preventing) problems that could prohibit the program from achieving its intended objectives
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Failure of the vendor to fulfill the many requirements defined in the RFP (e.g., delivery of required software functionality)
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Inadequate acceptance test period to determine whether many of the application functions operated properly
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2. The Solution
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Our specialist program delivery consultant adhered to program management standards, developed cohesive requirements against which to validate the vendor's products and services, and comprehensively reviewed the specifications under the contract in order to re-set the approach and the program changes deemed to be necessary for delivery.
As part of this engagement our consultants:
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Worked closely with the project teams under the program to administer and coordinate a range of activities and act as a single point of contact for stakeholders to ensure clear timely and effective communication and coordination
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Built and maintained effective working relationships with technical professionals, team members and stakeholders
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Assisted in the production of project status reports and artefacts throughout the project lifecycle to meet expected business outcomes, schedules, costs and quality criteria
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Identified and managed changes to projects in accordance with established program governance and standards in order to manage information flows across projects and the aggregation of risk
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Assisted in the planning and delivery of projects using the department's project management frameworks and
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product development approaches e.g., Scrum, Prince2, MSP and AgilePM.
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Provide Secretariat support for Working Group and Steering Committees
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Facilitate the successful adoption of project deliverables by business areas and outcomes for the overall program, including requests for project setup, roles, benefits analysis and access; and
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Perform any other reasonable duties as directed by the Program Manager.
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3. The Result
As a result, the program of work has been stabalised and a business case to recover lost milestones has bee put in place. This Federal Government client is now in a better position to increase the resource pool to support the next tranches of work for three more years.
Federal Government client 2020 - 2021
1. The Challenge
A Federal Agency sought a project support officer to assist the renewal of its AURION ICT Shared Services contract.
2. The Solution
Project Performance People provided an experience Project Support Officer (PSO) familiar with Financials, Contracts and Technology projects. The position of PSO is multifaceted – our consultants are expected to combine project management techniques with administration and statistical analysis. Our consultant was responsible for ensuring a consistent standard of best practice and departmental guidelines that enhances the value of the Corporate Services business area, and conducts analysis to determine whether the project and contracts are functioning optimally, whether alterations should be made, or whether it should be stopped - advising the General Manager with the results. The PSO within this role required advanced statistical knowledge in order to monitor progress of a myriad of simultaneous projects under the Shared Services including administering the contract and see to the financials with the internal and external project teams.
The PSO approached the challenge with an all-encompassing and holistic view of a program, to maximise the value and implications of their decisions based upon analysis.
3. The Result
Our clients were satisfied with the performance of the structures put in place and praised the deliverables that were committed at the beginning of the initiative. In particular, Project Performance People received a written testimonial as a thank you for the services rendered.
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