Programme Governance, Planning & Management Services

Even great ideas need to be properly implemented...

Governance

All transformational change programmes must have simple yet effective governance arrangements as they are likely to impact many stakeholders including: customer groups, Members, Directors, Heads of Service, front-line staff, Unions and Partner groups.  We can help you define and implement the most appropriate governance for the task.

Implementation Planning

As a change programme is often large and complex, it is important to make it more manageable by breaking it down in smaller elements.  To do this we can help you identify activities required to deliver the new capability and capacity, to group these activities into themes to allow effective delegation, and then into projects to establish a phased delivery schedule and implementation.

Financial Planning

Implementing change will often, but not always, require capital expenditure if new capabilities and ways of working are to be established.  However, probably more urgent will be the impact on revenue budgets.  In the current climate, a typical aim will be for a reduction in revenue cost and potentially the transfer of revenue budgets from one owner to another.  We can help you quantify in capital and revenue terms the impact of change.  We can also help you build the case for additional external funding (e.g. bidding for Central Government grants).

Risk Analysis

As with any programme or project it is recognised best practice to identify risk, establish action plans and assign owners responsible for mitigation.  We can help you determine these risks and define appropriate action plans in terms of people, services/processes, information, technology, property and finance.

Business Case Development

Even though key stakeholders ought to have been involved in the creation and governance of the change programme it will still be necessary to establish a clear business case for change.  We have developed a business case methodology that considers the case for change from three different perspectives: strategically to identify “softer benefits” for the organisation, its customers and partners; financially to identify the “return on investment”; and practically to identify how the Project components contribute to the programme as a whole.  This methodology and its output have been recognised as “best practice” by the Audit Commission.

Quality Assurance

Throughout the lifecycle of a change programme it will be necessary to assure the quality of project process and deliverables.  We can perform one-off project or service audits, or can engage in longer term quality assurance activities.   It is often advantageous to use an independent organisation in such a role to enforce objectivity and challenge the “status quo”.