The client was a large-scale public sector organisation with a broad industrial scope. They deal with high-level decision making, much of which has the potential to affect the entire UK population, so must uphold extremely reliable and secure operational standards.

The client was working on a service transition aiming to reduce costs and simplify the operating model by cloud-based systems that could be updated when necessary. Modis* were tasked with providing both project management office (PMO) and project portfolio management (PPM) services for the client. The team needed to move and prepare quickly as the programme had been assigned a high risk rating. The project was at risk of becoming delayed and costs were escalating, worrying many stakeholders due to the time-sensitive and budget-restricted nature of the work. The mixed supplier environment that the client was working in also bred a blame culture when things didn’t go to plan, rather than a team culture where problems were worked through together.

The programme was complex, involving both agile and waterfall projects, and split across end user devices, applications, telephony, training, business engagement, technical deployment, and business change. This complexity made it challenging for many of the stakeholders to keep on track with the project and this resulted in disengagement.

We began by investigating the PMO and PPM structures and their capacity to help turn the programme around. Working with the client, we created a resourcing process to help us upskill the PMO efficiently, then get back on budget and schedule. We utilised our substantial existing infrastructure to onboard the PMO function via our in-house delivery team, ensuring greater efficiency throughout the process.

We ensured rapid onboarding of key relief staff, both from our team and cross-departmentally from the client. This allowed us to quickly fill crucial capability gaps. Our appointments included key roles such as:

• Head PMO
• Risk & Issues Manager
• Commercial Manager & Exit Lead
• Reporting & Governance Manager/Programme Planner

We also provided coaching and mentoring to staff members to improve general finance, business case and resourcing skills. To prevent standards slipping, we initiated and chaired weekly internal performance reviews.

To remedy communication issues, we revised the governance structure to define a proper route for escalation. We constructed a comprehensive reporting process pack to standardise and further elucidate communications, mentored and coached staff to set up a permanently resourced team and positioned them to manage ongoing business as usual projects. In addition, we designed a risk register, a high-level plan detailing a critical path and Terms of Reference for the PMO, and created several governance bodies.

By the end of the project, we successfully deployed a new cloud-based infrastructure to over 7,000 users, along with training and live support - on time and on budget. The versatile system included both Windows and Apple solution, and functionality was upgraded. Communication improved dramatically and the comprehensive training enabled the client’s internal staff to sustainably run the new, more capable PMO when tackling future projects.

*Modis, with Badenoch + Clark form part of The Adecco Group