Azulin Pty Ltd

Case Study: Failing to learn from the past, guarantees failure today.

The Situation:

During a regular review, APRA commented on inconsistencies in post implementation reviews and recommended enhancing project methodology. Although the project management methodology included guidelines for a Post Implementation Review (PIR) it was treated as optional with little funding or political will.

Project managers and sponsors were keen to move on before blame was attributed and every new project was seen as unique.

A call went out for volunteers to join a working group drawing together interested project and Project Management Office (PMO) managers from across business units and IT groups. All had stories to tell about project success, failure and review reports gathering dust.

Lessons were being learned by individuals but projects repeated mistakes. The problem was not how to do a PIR but how to make them happen, get people talking and the organisation learning from them. Repeating mistakes costs more than money.

A call went out for volunteers to join a working group drawing together interested project and Project Management Office (PMO) managers from across business units and IT groups. All had stories to tell about project success, failure and review reports gathering dust.

Our Solution:

A robust Post Implementation Review (PIR) process to capture lessons learnt was published and adopted by the working group I had facilitated. I introduced a central repository for PIRs, included highlights in a monthly e-newsletter, helped conduct PIRs and held breakfast project management networking sessions where project managers talked openly about their projects and their learning.

The Results:

They surpassed the Regulator’s requirements and provided a new networking opportunity for contract and permanent project managers.

Case Study: Battling the detail and overcoming mass confusion to find a path forward.

The Situation:

Four projects had been running separately and a new program director wanted to take a basic project office and transform it to support the $100m+ program.

The steering committee was focused on the next milestone for one business application. The large reporting pack was full of detail but light on transparency about the complexity and interdependencies between the projects and milestones more than a month away.

There was no schedule or program management plan and connections between the 4 projects and fit with business strategy were unclear. The teams were at different stages; testing first release, vendor selection, design and concept. Everyone was working in the dark.

Our Solution:

While the Program Director concentrated on stakeholder communications, my new team created the project management controls and reporting. We built a consolidated schedule, coached the teams, implemented controls such as change management and revamped the steering committee pack to show the interdependences, issues, risks and fit with strategic business objectives.

The Result:

Soon the right conversations between the right people were happening. Program status, team and steering committee meetings were talking about issues, pre-empting risks and understanding the complexity of the total undertaking.

Case Study: How to avoid chaos and get international teams working together.

The Situation:

A new system was sold to replace unreliable discrete systems, transform the operations of a regional UK healthcare group and thereby reduce the risk of inappropriate treatment and physical danger to patients, clinicians and the public.

Unfortunately the client did not know the internal workings of existing systems or have detailed requirements for government reporting as this was being done by another organisation with no interest in the new system.

The client’s staff hid behind time differences and contract obligations. The product team, in another country, expected the client to write their requirements using “our” process, UK customisation was sketchy and the client lacked business analysis, process design and change management skill. Clearly a recipe for disaster.

Our Solution:

Once on site it was clear that sales assumptions would not lead to a successful project. I started by talking with key client staff and established understanding of each party’s situation, building working relationships through teleconferences, on-site visits, and a visit to a New Zealand site using the system.

The Result:

The adversary client/product team relationship was turned around and together we revised the requirements documentation process, tracked down interfaces, and selected and taught client trainers.

The system was successfully implementation improving the care of at risk patients and becoming a reference site for further UK sales.

Case Study: Should it be killed or could it be saved?

The Situation:

A history of haste in planning and a poor grasp of business processes caused the forecast cost of a financial services IT system replacement to blow out the original budget many times over.

Relationship managers were promising new products and improved service to their customers however the promises were empty. The dedicated project team was focused on solving increasingly less important technical issues and had no plans for implementation. A customer service nightmare.

Our Solution:

I conducted a full health check, revealing many areas for improvement in project management and governance and a looming business imperative. The choice for the sponsor was to implement the system soon to gain competitive advantage or sell the business unit. Neither choice would be without pain.

After considering costing and risks the sponsor adopted my rescue plan to replace the technical project manager with an experienced project manager, add an implementation manager to plan and transition to business use and direct the business operations manager to lead a change process for staff.

The Result:

The redirected project achieved a successful business implementation with operational work-arounds saving a $20m+ write off and avoided disposal of the business unit which would have impacted other business units negatively.