Delivering Successful IT-enabled Business Change

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Published: 27 November 2006

Delivering Successful IT-enabled Business Change

A report published by the National Audit Office identifies common threads in IT-enabled programmes and projects, to pinpoint the key factors which have contributed to success and how they can be replicated in future by the public sector.

The successful introduction of IT systems is a crucial element in major Government programmes to deliver better services to the public - whether through providing new services, making existing services more efficient & responsive to citizens’ needs, or improving organisational performance.

The NAO report features some two dozen IT-enabled programmes and projects, from both the public and the private sectors, within the UK & overseas, which demonstrate how success can be achieved.

Details of the 24 case studies are contained in a companion volume to this report and include:

· the Department for Work and Pensions’ Pension Credit

· DEFRA’s programme for citizens at risk of fuel poverty (But definitely not their Single payment system)

· OGCbuying.solutions’ eSourcing to allow strategic procurement activities to be conducted online

· DTI’s Consumer Direct which provides consumers with a single access number to free advice when problems arise when dealing with traders

· Transport for London’s Oyster® card and

· the New York City 3-1-1 Citizen Service Center

The report identifies what Government can do to enhance the chances of bringing about IT success and represents a clear challenge to departments to take action to reduce the risk of failure and embrace innovation, while safeguarding the taxpayer.

From analysing these examples of IT-enabled change, the NAO identified three core principles which contribute to delivering successful IT programmes and projects:

· Ensuring senior level engagement: clear & engaged board leadership, keeping senior decision makers informed of progress and risks and, for example, not creating undue pressure by making premature & unrealistic announcements about delivery dates

· Acting as an “intelligent client”: understanding the business process the department is aiming to change, having the right programme management skills, training the staff and creating effective & equal relationships with suppliers

· Realising the benefits: selling the benefits to users, winning wider support for the change and assessing whether the programme or project has achieved what it set out to do

In the past, Government has not always shown itself to be an intelligent client, with poorly defined requirements and a lack of capacity to engage effectively with suppliers.

A number of recent initiatives have been introduced aimed at improving public sector performance in managing IT projects, including:

· the appointment of Chief Information Officers in departments (who sit at or near board level and are responsible for championing the department’s IT projects), and

· further tightening of the OGC Gateway Review process

For example, in response to insufficient numbers of programmes and projects being subject to a final Gateway Review to determine if they have delivered the benefits they set out to achieve, the Office of Government Commerce Supervisory Board has set a general rule that programmes & projects should undergo a Gate 5 Review to assess the benefits they have delivered within twelve months of “going live”.

An OGC Gateway Review is a review of an acquisition programme or procurement project carried out at a key decision point by a team of experienced people, independent of the project team.

There are five OGC Gateway Reviews during the lifecycle of a project, three before contract award and two looking at service implementation and confirmation of the operational benefits.

A project is reviewed at the OGC Gateway Review appropriate to the point reached in its lifecycle. Retrospective or combined OGC Gateway Reviews are not supported.

The process emphasises early review for maximum added value.

OGC Gateway Review 0 is a programme-only review that is repeated throughout the programme’s life; it can be applied to policy implementation, business change or other types of delivery programme involving acquisition and it sets the programme review in the wider policy or corporate context.

Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, said:

“IT projects in the public sector have too often been associated with failure – this report provides an opportunity to change that.

Learning from experience is not just a case of appreciating what went wrong, but also encompasses understanding what went right.

Success can never be guaranteed, but it should not be an unfathomable mystery.

The common threads among these IT programmes and projects are evidence that a favourable outcome is not a matter of luck, but is the result of sound judgement.”

While the report is extremely relevant, much of what it says is repeated wisdom from similar exercises in the past.

This is not to decry their efforts (especially in highlighting recent case studies) but rather to bemoan the fact that previous lessons (including those covered in previous NAO reports) appear not to have been learnt by so many organisations.

Further information

Delivering successful IT-enabled business change – Volume I

Vol II Case Studies

Executive Summary

Centres of Excellence data tables

Senior Responsible Owner data tables

Chief Information Officer Council

OGC Gateway Review process

Gate 5 Review

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