Challenge:
West Yorkshire Combined Authority ("the CA") are currently investing around £2 billion, working in close partnership with local councils and business to deliver better transport and housing, regenerate regional towns and cities and protect the environment.
Most of the CA’s work benefits 10 local authority areas known collectively as Leeds City Region. The CA champions the region’s interests to secure government and other investment to drive their economy forward.
The CA used to rely on a variety of systems. There was a degree of duplication of effort, and it was impossible to get the portfolio overview that was needed. The constraints around sharing information were making collaboration difficult. Considering the vast amount and complexity of data they have to deal with, there was a clear need to transform their way of working.
Our Microsoft PPM Solution:
Program Framework worked with the CA’s PMO to implement one collaborative cloud environment, powered by Microsoft Project Online, SharePoint Online and Power BI. The system was christened "Portfolio Information Management System" (PIMS).
The solution was built using an iterative approach and supports all aspects of portfolio governance and reporting. It provides a shared platform for all partner organisations, allowing them to seamlessly collaborate across organisational boundaries.
Document management is a significant aspect of this, with shared document libraries making it easy for all parties to locate and jointly work on documents. Rich data is being captured, including risks, milestones, outputs, benefits as well as all financial aspects of the programmes.
A key component is a seamlessly embedded Funding Claims entry feature, allowing districts to forecast future spend and make payment claims. Claims are validated by the tool and submitted to the CA for approval and payment. Along the way all parties have full transparency of funding status for each project.
Power BI plays a huge role in driving customer engagement and adoption. Each district partner organisation has access to their own dashboards, providing insights into the their projects, programmes and funding streams within the portfolio. The CA meanwhile has all the analytical power to support instant visibility and deliver reports to internal and external stakeholders instantly and with minimum effort.
This solution has been published as a Power BI Solution Template here
Benefits:
Thanks to PIMS, the organisations is saving time and costs, and becoming more efficient, accurate, timely and transparent. The PMO has freed up resources to concentrate more on delivering greater value to the Partner Councils and partners.
PIMS can deliver the right information to show how the portfolio is performing, allowing the CA to identify which projects and programmes need more resources, which deliver the most value for money in the best timescales, and which need to be suspended or funding redirected.
"The information is driving a much more focussed and strategic conversation across all parts of the region, which in turn is building collaboration. Our communications team is also able to have access to reports which inform the news stories that they publish. "
“PIMS has contributed a great deal in helping us fulfil our values of Championing our Region, Working Together, Working Intelligently, Positive About Change and Easy To Do Business With. ”
Craig Taylor, Head of PMO, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
