Challenge:
Brewin Dolphin's incoming head of PMO had a brief to standardise IT Project
Management policies and procedures, and to provide better reporting capability.
Between the project managers and the existing project office an inordinate amount of time was being spent on creating manual reports.
After conducting an appraisal of the current situation they initiated the Programme
Improvement project, with key requirements to establish a proper centralised view of all
projects, including standardised development methodologies, project and resource
planning, and better visibility of project information – as cost effectively as possible.
Solution:
Program Framework worked with the Brewin Dolphin team to implement Microsoft Project Online in combination with other cloud services such as Power BI. A rapid prototype provided a starting point from which to work and clarify requirements. This was built up to deliver an enterprise repository of projects, featuring a rich set of project dimensions and templates, milestones and governance gates with associated reporting.
Comprehensive knowledge transfer was key to success, with tailored training delivered to different user groups.
Benefits:
Project Online's centralised project register provides the single source of the truth. Brewin Dolphin were able to reduce the head count of the project office – yet its function has become more sophisticated. The PMO easily passes internal audits and the business is able to capitalise projects more readily.
Rather than being a report generation factory we are now able to properly monitor live project activity and support the Project Managers better. We’ve gone from 6 to 4 FTE, thanks to the reduction in report-building workload, yet our role has become pivotal in project through-put.
Having greater visibility and transparency of project information seems to have given the business greater confidence in commissioning more technological development, enabling us to expand our function in line with commercial demand.
Earl Taylor, Head of PMO, Brewin Dolphin
