We partnered with a financial services business to take control of multiple IT projects and lay the foundations for an effective Project Management Office (PMO). We embedded experts who went on to form the firm’s permanent PMO team.
Transformational Impacts
- £50,000 reduction in reporting costs through the in-house development of a performance dashboard.
- 48% drop in PMO support costs with five senior contractors replaced by our team.
- Retention of expertise with all four Pioneers becoming full-time staff after 12 months.
Shaping an efficient change management team
The firm was struggling to deliver multiple projects across its information and technology division, while simultaneously establishing a central PMO to share best practices, implement consistent reporting standards and drive continuous improvement company-wide.
At the heart of the challenge was a lack of resources. Budgets were too tight to engage more experienced project managers and internal managers had no time to take on the work or train up junior project managers.
Inevitably quality was suffering. Additionally, our client had become reliant on contractors with a high turnover rate, leading to a loss in intellectual property.
Our role was to provide a PMO team that could deliver transformational projects successfully without breaking the bank.
Applying our proven POD model
We deployed our highly effective POD model, which involved embedding a team of project managers with the expertise to rapidly assess and address the specific challenges our client was facing.
The POD included a senior PMO Practitioner who provided a single point of contact for our client. They were supported by four consultants from our Pioneer programme who arrived equipped with the skills needed to make an immediate impact, such as best practice expertise and a clear understanding of governance and reporting standards.
They quickly integrated into the business and worked closely with C-suite executives and regional MDs to drive efficient and effective project management. This included developing status reports, RAID Logs, project charters, lessons learned logs, requirement documents and project plans.
Internalising cost-effective expertise
Within four weeks we’d established a PMO delivery function and our Pioneer consultants were providing support to project and senior management, on their own, within six weeks.
This led to an increase in collaboration at all levels, consistent sharing and implementation of best practice, and the upskilling of internal project and change management teams.
Tangible impacts were quickly unlocked, including:
- The cost of delivering PMO support fell by 48% with five senior contractors replaced by our POD of one Practitioner and four Pioneers.
- Client spend on performance reporting reduced by £50,000 through the in-house development of project dashboards and executive reporting using Smartsheet and PowerBI.
- All Pioneers internalised as permanent members of staff, retaining key expertise at the firm.
In short, our POD model delivered a solution to the immediate project management challenges the business faced and established a framework for ongoing PMO success.
