Project and Programme Management
Harlow Council recognises the role of strong programme/project
management to deliver organisational change and to develop the key
priorities.
For this reason Harlow uses a standard
approach for projects and has introduced formal governance and
performance reporting processes. The Council has designed corporate
templates based on *Prince 2™ principles that are suited to
the authority’s capacity whilst still being robust.
(*Projects in Controlled Environments - a
method from the Office for Government Commerce for managing
projects in a controlled and consistent way)
Good Practice
Local Authorities like Harlow needs to deliver
a number projects at the same time using finite human and financial
resources and for this reason careful planning and prioritisation
is required.
To ensure that medium and large projects with
corporate impact are on track there is a corporate board called the
Project and Programme Management Group (PPMG) which meets monthly
to review and discuss progress reports from each.
Good governance also demands Quality
Assurance/Audit of project performance and so membership of PPMG is
designed to include an expert from relevant disciplines (project
management, accountancy, ICT, procurement, performance management,
legal services, human resources and audit) as well as
representatives from the areas running projects. The
Chair of PPMG is the head of Community and Customer Services.
A system of shared learning and support has
been set up using formal training, 1-2-1 mentoring and sharing by
project managers of the lessons learned from running individual
projects.
A Scalable Process
Harlow’s processes are scalable and designed
to suit the needs of people carrying out the work in the project
teams. There are two formats, one for managing Medium/Large
projects with a corporate impact, reporting progress to the PPMG
and Small projects, which report to the Project Sponsor/Head of
Service
The corporate templates are based on Prince 2™
the amount of documentation required for projects in Harlow has
been reduced to the minimum required whilst still supporting
effective planning and management of such things as risk, quality,
time and budget and providing robust reporting and
governance.
The templates were developed in consultation
with users and are regularly reviewed: the Small process was
developed at the request of project managers who wanted a
structured, common process similar to the one already in place for
Medium/Large. Feedback from users has been extremely
positive.
Project Size (Harlow’s
definitions)
o
Large: value greater than £90,000 or with a duration of 9 Months or
more, high risk
o
Medium: value between £20,000 and £90,000 and with a duration
between 3 Months and 9 Months, medium risk
o
Small: value less than £20,000 and with duration of less than 3
Months, low risk
Projects with Human Resource implications are
classed as Medium or Large depending upon the implications
Embedding other policies and processes
through Project Management
Project management is an effective tool for
embedding other processes into the business by encouraging sponsors
and managers to consider business integration at an early
stage. The following processes are already being
supported:
o
Capital planning, prioritisation and monitoring
o
Performance Management
o
Procurement legislation and Council Standing Orders
o
Freedom of Information and Data Protection
o
Human Resources legislation
o
ICT policy
o
Equalities and Diversity
o
Sustainability
Leadership: a common
language
Harlow Council has shared its project
management approach as an example of good practice with staff at
other local authorities and also with partners in support of the
Council’s ambition to become a leader with a well developed
approach to partnership working.
Performance Reporting
Harlow’s process provides a monthly snapshot
of how well projects are performing across the Council at any given
time and is linked with the performance management tools Balanced
Scorecard/Performance Plus.
Benchmarking and
Challenge
Harlow took recently took part in a
benchmarking exercise with a number of Essex Authorities and public
organisations, and was therefore given access to the results.
Participants were surveyed regarding their project management
resources, training and methodology.
Visits to beacon councils to look at their
processes and how they have been used to effectively embed other
priorities have also taken place.
An investigation is currently taking place
into whether Mietool (a free software tool for evaluating project
success) will prove useful. If so this is another measure
that could be introduced.
CPA Conclusions 2007
Report
‘The enhanced Project and Programme Management
(PPMG) process is starting to have an impact on the organisation.
The PPMG Team aim to ensure that through the development of good
practices, projects finish on time and within budget. As part of
the development of a senior management control and governance
structure, the Council has established a Project and Programme
Board. The Board reviews summary performance reports monthly, and
highlights issues for CMT to consider. The Council's 'Performance
Plus' system links project management to the performance management
framework. The Board manages project and resource interdependencies
by having a good mix of key people within its membership. Where
necessary, the Board calls project managers to account by
challenging reports. The PPMG process is leading to improved
performance in a number of areas.’