Case study

Reading Council implements the PRINCE2 project management methodology

This case discusses the implications of the introduction of a new project management method for an organization. Although it is based on local government, the issues are common to any organization as they introduce new methods of managing systems and services. It highlights many of the issues with managing change that are discussed in more detail in the next chapter.

In 2002 the Reading Borough Council based in SouthEast England was working to comply with the e-Government agenda. This initiative from Central Government requires local Councils to provide for all customer-facing processes to be electronically enabled by 2005 unless there is a legal or operational reason not to do so. This is a massive cross-cutting programme of work seeking to ‘join up' services at local, regional, national, and European level. It is designed to drive through changes to deliver more efficient, cost-effective customer-facing transactions, and by so doing reduce the costs of bureaucracy and release funds for direct service delivery.

In such a rapidly changing local government environment, driven by the need to provide cost-effective quality services under a ‘Best Value' regime, John Barnfield, IT Programme and Service Delivery Manager, believes that, based on Reading Borough Council's experience, it is essential there is a framework of coordinated control at programme and project level to successfully deliver business change. Otherwise too much will be left to chance.

It is this background of continuing change which has promoted the gradual move towards the acceptance of using both PRINCE2 and MSP within the Council. John Barnfield observes that ‘we did not put everything in place that was needed nor did we slavishly follow the processes all the time. Introducing PRINCE2 and MSP is about fundamental culture and business change within the organisation and this simply doesn't happen quickly'.

Below, in John Barnfield's own words are some of the lessons learned by Reading Borough Council on how to introduce PRINCE2 and MSP into an organisation.

‘Corporate Managers will be cautious of any proposed corporate-wide change and will need to be convinced before committing resources. Nothing is going to change without their agreement and support. It is therefore essential that this is addressed. Corporate Management presentations and briefings are an essential part of gaining their support. You may even find that people's perceptions of PRINCE2 and MSP are factually wrong and will need to be corrected before you gain their support for the change, but you will not be aware of who these people are! Our experiences highlighted that some early doubters became accepted users of the methodologies once misunderstandings and early fears were identified and corrected.

Lengthy, detailed presentations about the methodologies are inappropriate at senior level. Concentrate on the benefits for them and how they will be directly affected. Suggest a ‘pilot' project or programme of their choice to test the methodologies in use. MSP does fit very well alongside existing Corporate Management, and actually can help manage workloads at this level.

Securing agreement to run pilots is a way of convincing any remaining ‘doubters' and has the advantage of working through the practical issues. By doing this you are proving suitability in your own working environment and providing an example set of working project and programme documentation for others.

Gaining senior level support gives the corporate ‘stamp' to the change. Have in mind a clear plan of how you want things to proceed before any presentations, and set realistic timescales. Have answers to the following questions:

¦ What is PRINCE2 and MSP and why do we need them?
¦ Do they need to be introduced together?
¦ What will be the benefits and when will they be realised?
¦ What's wrong with what we do now?
¦ Who else uses it and what type of projects and programmes do they run?
¦ What other Local Government sites use PRINCE2 and MSP?
¦ Is PRINCE2 suitable for all types of project?
¦ Is MSP suitable for all types of programmes?
¦ What impact will it have on me as a Director/ Manager?
¦ What will it cost and how long will it take?
¦ What do you expect from us?
¦ How will the Organisation need to change?

Once the necessary commitment has been obtained to introduce the methodology, it is wise to consider the implementation itself as a staged project, perhaps introducing the methodology on new projects only.

Use every opportunity available to sell the benefits: e.g. Newsletters, Intranet, Standards, Corporate & Directorate presentations etc. Seek to use communication channels appropriate to the staff you are trying to get the message to. If everyone bins the corporate newsletter you won't do much good promoting through that mechanism.

Recognise you may need to change opinions within your organisation (asking what else they are going to use if PRINCE2 and MSP is not used is a useful question).

You need ‘Champions' prepared to drive the implementation forward, preferably not all from I.T. Tenacity and enthusiasm are two important qualities. Identify who is successful in business change and bring them onboard. Every organisation has them, and they are usually easy to spot since major changes involve the same names time and time again.

Remember change frightens people and they need to understand what you are doing, why you are doing it and how it affects them.

Follow the ‘dripping tap' principle keep feeding the organisation and before you realise it the new processes start to become part of the culture.

Be realistic in your expectations. Change like this does not happen overnight however well you promote it. Culture change can take 3-5 years.

Remember the process can be wonderful and still deliver a project or programme which ‘fails'. Set expectations to recognise that success is in avoiding the waste of resources and in the delivery of projects and programmes to time, cost and quality.

Do not expect everyone to have the same enthusiasm for the approach. Recognise many people will initially see this as another demand on their already heavy workload. Again you need to sell the longterm benefits of a standard way of working, and their individual roles within the process.

People will have already run successful projects, but not in this way. Show them it need not conflict with their existing processes, and offers one overall approach which can be understood by all.'

Questions

1 What were the background and the benefits to Reading Borough Council of implementing a structured project management methodology such as PRINCE2?

2 What are the main barriers to introducing a project management methodology such as PRINCE2 into an organization?

3 Evaluate the article identifying success factors for:

(a) Moving to a project management methodology such as PRINCE2.

(b) Any systems development management project.

Source: www.ogc.gov.uk/prince/downloads/template_case.htm