Report title Agenda item Project, Programme and Portfolio Management Delivery Plan 6 Meeting Performance Management and Community Safety Panel 27 April 2009 Date Report by Document number Head of Strategy and Performance PMC 58 Public Summary This paper explains the progress in delivering effective project, programme and portfolio management within the Brigade and sets out the need for a delivery plan to guide the next steps. The delivery plan covers the people, process and governance aspects that the Brigade needs to continuously enhance to ensure that it has the capabilities necessary to deliver the changes that are planned for the coming years. Recommendation The Panel note the project, programme and portfolio delivery plan. 1 of 11
Introduction 1. The Brigade is faced with constant demands to deliver significant amounts of change. These demands come both from within, to deliver strategic aims and department plans, and from without, as parts of national and local government strategies. To ensure that we have the ability to meet these demands, we need to continuously improve our capability to deliver projects and programmes. 2. The Brigade has made significant improvements in achieving prioritisation, visibility and consistency for projects in the last two years. This Project, Programme and Portfolio Management (P3M) delivery plan is a formalisation of the direction of travel we have been pursuing to date and wish to continue into the future. Project, Programme and Portfolio Management (P3M) 3. For the purposes of this delivery plan, project management is a discipline for the management of projects which encompasses the planning, monitoring and control of all aspects of the project and the motivation of all those involved in it to achieve the project objective on time and to the specified cost, quality, and performance. 4. Programme management provides the governance and delivery of a grouping of projects and activities coordinated and managed as a unit such that they collectively achieve outcomes and realise benefits. 5. Projects and programmes are different - programmes are generally embarked upon when only a strategic outcome is defined, whereas projects require the end status and major deliverables to be defined before approval. As a result, even though they are linked, their management requires a different skill set, different tools and different governance arrangements. 6. Portfolio management is a process for co-ordinating successful delivery of a set of projects and programmes whilst continuing to deliver the service. It is about maximising the throughput of projects to ensure the optimum delivery of value from overall investment in change and balancing the commitment of resources between change (projects and programmes) and ensuring the continuation of day to day activities (business as usual). The Programme Support Office (PSO) as a Centre of Excellence 7. The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) recommends that an organisation should have a coordinating function providing strategic oversight, scrutiny and challenge across the organisation s portfolio of programmes and projects. They define this function as a Centre of Excellence (COE) for Project and Programme Management. This COE should be a focal point for supporting individual programmes and projects, and for driving the implementation of improvements to increase the organisation s capability and capacity in programme and project delivery. 8. The delivery plan in the Appendix has been written to reflect the OGC s guidance for organisational development through a COE function and takes into account the unique nature of the Brigade and lessons learnt from other organisations. 9. Further guidance on the OGC s recommendations for improving capability to deliver change projects and programmes can be found at: http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/centre_of_excellence_pack_v3.1.pdf The Delivery Plan 10. This plan will move the Brigade closer to compliance with OGC project, programme and portfolio guidance (PRINCE2, MSP and Portfolio) while moving us up their Project, Programme, Portfolio Management 2 of 11
Maturity Model (P3M3) scale. This scale measures an organisation s maturity in the areas of: management control; benefits management; financial management; stakeholder management; risk management; organisational governance and resource management. More information on the P3M3 self assessment can be found at: http://www.p3m3-officialsite.com/home/home.asp 11. The main aim of the plan is to build on the significant improvements that have been made recently in project management. The details are in the Appendix but the primary objectives are to: a. support and develop the capabilities of the individuals who have been assigned the role of project manager; b. embed current project management processes and develop these further towards industry best practice; c. embed and enhance the governance of projects; d. assure the achievement of programme outcomes through establishing and refining the Brigade s programme management processes; e. embed and refine corporate portfolio management to maximise the return on investment and balance the load between change and service delivery; f. develop our capability to the point where we can actively seek recognition for our achievements in project, programme and portfolio management. 12. In particular, the plan suggests that we investigate the benefits of establishing a pool of professional project managers. One of the ways in which this could be done is to build on the existing approach of developing our own in-house expertise among staff who are required to manage projects as part of their work. This could become an optional part of the development process for uniformed staff, allowing them to acquire and apply a key set of transferable skills, developing their financial management and strategic awareness skills for example. 13. This plan reflects the intended direction of travel for the Brigade as a whole. The Programme Support Office can lead most of the activities required to deliver it and the budgets/headcount authorised by Authority in March reflected the necessary headcount, skills and costs. However continued senior management support in the form of effective project and programme sponsorship and performance management scrutiny will be required to enable success. All projects and programmes will need to be subjected to a level of scrutiny and management appropriate to their size and complexity. Authority s Strategic Objectives 14. Delivering the targets set out in all six of the Strategic Aims will require the delivery of existing and new projects and programmes to change the Brigade s infrastructure, processes, working patterns and behaviours. Corporate Risk number 6 is defined as: business processes to support delivery of our improvement programme are ineffective which impacts on the business benefits delivered. Implementation of this P3M plan is one of the control measures for this risk in that it aims to provide the Brigade with continuously improving capability to shape, control and deliver these changes which are essential to achieving the strategic aims. Head of Legal and Democratic Services comments 15. The Head of Legal and Democratic Services has reviewed this report and has no comments. 3 of 11
Head of Finance Comments 16. The Head of Service has reviewed this report and has no comments. Environmental Implications 17. Understanding (and subsequent management) of the environmental implications of projects will be enhanced as the process for project management includes ensuring that a Sustainable Development Impact Assessment is carried out for all projects. Equalities Implications 18. Understanding (and subsequent management) of the equalities implications of projects will be enhanced as the process for project management includes ensuring that an Equalities Impact Assessment is carried out for all projects. List of Appendices to this report: 1. The Project, programme and portfolio Management Delivery Plan Local Government (access to information) Act 1985 List of background documents 1. London Safety Plan 2. Centres of Excellence for Programme & Project Management, produced by the OGC 3. Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model, produced by the OGC 4. Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2, produced by the OGC 5. Managing Successful Programmes, produced by the OGC 6. Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices (P3O), produced by the OGC Proper officer Contact officer Telephone Email Nick Collins, Head of Strategy & Performance Matt Cocker 020 8555 1200 x30432 matthew.cocker@london-fire.gov.uk 4 of 11
Project, programme and portfolio management delivery plan 2009-2012 Increasing London Fire Brigade s capability to deliver change 5 of 11
Summary The project, programme and portfolio management delivery plan will support the delivery of strategic aims while controlling corporate risk 6: Business processes to support delivery of our improvement programme are ineffective which impacts on the business benefits delivered by increasing the Brigade s capability to deliver change. The focus will be on supporting those who are delivering (or are supporting) those delivering public facing services and introducing process without bureaucracy. Capability will be improved in people, process and governance themes for project, programme and portfolio delivery. Those involved in the delivery of projects will be supported, guided and developed to a level of professionalism in project management disciplines. The Programme Support Office will be consolidated and developed along the lines of an Office of Government Commerce Centre of Excellence for Project and Programme Management. Strategic context This document sets out the strategic framework for project, programme and portfolio management (P3M) and is part of a suite of performance management documents which show how the London Fire Brigade intends to shape the work we do and join our activities together to achieve our aims and objectives within the London Safety Plan. Its purpose is to clearly show how we will increase the London Fire Brigade s capability to deliver change. The Brigade s six main strategic aims are set out in the London Safety Plan. These are: 1. Prevention : Engaging with London s communities to inform and educate people in how to reduce the risk of fires and other emergencies 2. Protection : Influencing and regulating the built environment to protect people, property and the environment from harm 3. Response : Planning and preparing for emergencies that may happen, and making a high quality, effective and resilient response to them 4. Resources : Managing risk by using our resources flexibly, efficiently and effectively, continuously improving the way we use public money 5. People : Working together to deliver the highest quality services within a safe and positive environment for everyone in the organisation 6. Principles : Operating in accordance with our values, and ensuring that safety, sustainability, partnership and diversity run through all our activities Delivering the targets set out for these aims will require the delivery of existing and new projects and programmes to change the Brigade s infrastructure, processes, working patterns and behaviours. This P3M plan aims to provide the Brigade with continuously improving capability to shape, control and deliver these essential changes. Customer focus A core principle running through the P3M plans and actions is that P3M is there to support those delivering public facing services aimed at making London safer. The implementation of P3M will enhance the shaping and control of change without unnecessarily delaying its delivery or increasing the burden of bureaucracy on those delivering (or supporting) front line services. Project management The area where the greatest improvements can be achieved is in project management. The Brigade s capability in project management has improved significantly over the last few years. This has been achieved 6 of 11
through the efforts of the Programme Support Office in defining and embedding basic processes and providing support and training to project managers. Continuous improvement will continue in the following ways: During 2009/10 People: ensure that all project managers, project support officers, workstream leaders and newly appointed Group Managers will complete the Brigade specific, two day (Level 1) training in general project management ensure that all project managers will complete the four one day events that form the more advanced, in-depth (Level 2) training provide coaching support to project managers and sponsors seek to create a Special Award category which recognises and rewards excellence in project management continue to engage the project managers in their own development through focus groups and an active Community of Interest investigate the feasibility of establishing a dedicated pool of professional project managers and project support officers (from within existing headcount and budget) to lead the Brigade s highest priority projects. provide specific training to develop project support staff introduce an induction process for new project managers embed basic processes (including change control, workpackage definition, requirements management, change control, risk management) through coaching, training and 121 support Processes make tools and processes more readily accessible through Hotwire and SharePoint develop and embed a corporate projects SharePoint site continue to encourage the consistent use of lessons learned in defining and controlling new projects investigate the benefits of a project management tool (such as Microsoft Project Server) that could give consistent reporting and risk management and be compatible with corporate planning processes ensure regular benefit realisation reviews are undertaken and reported to CMB Governance embed prioritisation and governance categories review the information made available to CMB to enable them to govern the corporate portfolio of change reduce risks to project delivery through the provision of assurance activities such as initiation workshops, planning workshops and healthchecks ensure that all new projects are initiated appropriately, in accordance with agreed procedures embed project closedown activities to ensure appropriate hand-over to operations and provision for benefit realisation work with colleagues in Finance to embed the in-year project approval process support and enable, where relevant, the integration of corporate, financial, department and project planning 7 of 11
During 2010/12 People work towards project managers on the highest priority projects having professional qualifications (Association for Project Managers or Project Management Institute) through the existing training budget review existing competencies frameworks for those staff delivering projects to ensure that they reflect our requirements seek external recognition of the performance of individuals (e.g. entries to the Association for Project Managers Project Manager of the Year) sustain continuous development through focus groups and an active Community of Interest Processes investigate the benefits and feasibility of each project having a specific, cross functional budget allocated which is managed and reported on by the Project Manager consider the introduction of sophisticated project management processes (such as Earned Value Management) in those projects that would benefit from them Governance ensure all projects will have agreed levels of delegation and tolerance seek to open high priority projects to external scrutiny (e.g. Office of Government Commerce Gateway (OGC) reviews) ensure that every project has its business case regularly updated and scrutinised to confirm ongoing viability ensure that consistent metrics are used so that the effectiveness of projects can be easily compared ensure that resource management processes allow the commitment of cross-functional resources according to mature plans built on realistic estimates Programme management Programme management can be described as the grouping of projects and activities that are co-ordinated and managed as a unit so that they achieve outcomes and realise benefits. It requires the subordination of individual projects to the requirements of delivering business outcomes rather than the delivery of project outputs. As this form of programme management is relatively new to the Brigade, the intention is to start with one programme and integrate management using programme management techniques. During 2009/10 establish a programme structure focus on the business outcomes and benefits of programmes carry out ongoing assessment of the benefits of programme management in operation During 2010/12 pursue wider adoption of programme management techniques where appropriate develop the knowledge and skills of staff in programme management roles (including programme director, programme manager, business change manager and programme design manager) 8 of 11
integrate programme, portfolio and project management processes, reports and governance structures integrate programme planning with the London Safety, budgetary and risk planning processes Portfolio management Portfolio management is a process for co-ordinating the successful delivery of a set of projects and programmes whilst maintaining existing service levels. It is about maximising the throughput of projects to ensure the organisation optimises its return from its investment in change. Effective portfolio management both informs the organisation s awareness of its capacity for change and identifies opportunities to further improve capacity management. A form of portfolio management has been tried by Brigade under the banner of programme management in 2007 aligned to the three Directorates that were in place then. Lessons have been learnt from this activity and the grouping of projects into related portfolios allocated to directors has been laid out in the Director Business Outlines (Ref 1). During 2009/010 continue improvement in the consistent use of project management processes embed top management support for the portfolios as laid out in the Director Business Outline (Ref 1) encourage and support ownership of the portfolios within the directorates enforce rigorous assessment of project business cases to ensure that highest value projects are given priority support project teams in establishing escalation routes appropriate to the size, complexity and priority of each project reinforce the Programme Support Office as the primary source for collection, analysis and presentation of portfolio data raise the capability and performance of the Programme Support Office to support portfolio managers and CMB implement feedback loops to ensure top management decisions are communicated and acted upon by project teams During 2010/12 raise the performance of the PSO to influence the corporate portfolio of projects and programmes consider opening the portfolio to scrutiny both by the Authority and external bodies such as the OGC further integrate portfolio planning processes with the London Safety, Corporate, Budgetary and Strategic Risk planning processes review functions providing portfolio information across the Brigade to identify where consolidation can bring efficiency savings Programme Support Office The programme support office (PSO) exists to: 1. Give coherent upward reporting on the portfolio of projects in such a way as to enable effective decision making 2. Provide practical process support, guidance and advice to project managers in delivering their projects 3. Provide project assurance 4. Develop and set the Brigade s toolkit, guidance and performance standards for P3M 9 of 11
5. Provide advice and guidance on development and opportunities for project managers and sponsors through training and coaching programmes 6. Ensure that lessons learned are gathered and applied to projects 7. Network with external bodies to ensure best practice is applied within the Brigade and that the Brigade s P3M is represented in the best light amongst peers The plan for the PSO is to continue development towards a Centre of Excellence model as defined by the OGC (Ref 3). During 2009/10 In continuing to develop the service offered by the PSO, we will: recruit to fill the roles currently covered by contract staff. The new organisation will consist of: o a lead administrator who will also support the Planning and Risk teams o a Group Manager on secondment who will lead on the development of the people aspects of this plan and deliver support to project managers o an FRS F level project management specialist who will lead the process elements of this plan o an FRS G level manager who will lead the governance aspects of this plan, manage the team and also manage the planning team o to support these permanent roles a specialist project, programme and portfolio consultant will be engaged to provide in depth support and guidance to the team and senior managers where appropriate lead on all of the aims for P3M outlined above deliver assurance to all the high priority (governance levels A and B) projects continue building confidence and credibility through customer focussed, pragmatic support to project managers and sponsors continue to support senior management decision making through the gathering, analysis and presentation of project information increase the perceived value of the information reported upward exploit the information currently gathered by the PSO but not presented (such as the project interdependency network and combined portfolio performance indicators) develop and implement advanced project management training programmes offer coaching to sponsors as well as project managers integrate the project assurance activities with the Audit and Assurance Group develop the commitment and engagement of project managers in the Community of Interest During 2010/12 drive the scrutiny and challenge of the Brigade s portfolio lead on all of the aims for P3M outlined above develop and implement professional project management training programmes present to peer networking events (such as the Public Sector Project Management Conference) review the feasibility of project management staff rotating through the PSO to enhance the PSO and provide development opportunities to the individuals 10 of 11
ensure PSO staff will become professionally qualified in P3M and PSO functions if deemed appropriate, take ownership of the pool of project managers and project support officers Measurement and monitoring There is a comprehensive, task based, plan to delivery this plan. This plan includes measures to indicate successful implementation. Examples of some of the measures are: Area Measure Project assurance Number and results of healthchecks Percentage of time the PSO staff dedicated to Customer focus carrying out project specific support activities Numbers of project managers who complete training courses and hold qualifications Delivering training Project manager engagement Training effectiveness evaluation Attendance records for Community of Interest events References 1. Director Business Outline document 2. London Safety Plan 3. The Centre of Excellence a Pocket guide published by the OGC (http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/centre_of_excellence_ pack_v3.1.pdf) 4. P3M3 self assessment documentation can be found at: (http://www.p3m3- officialsite.com/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lid=382&sid=90) 11 of 11