Tracking in the Department of Education and Skills GRAINNE CULLEN - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Benefits Identification and Tracking in the Department of Education and Skills

GRAINNE CULLEN PROJECT MANAGEMENT NETWORK 31 MAY 2017

Public Service Reform Programme Office

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The PSR Programme Office encourages and supports common programme and project management structures, governance and methodologies across the Department and the Sector to ensure planning, monitoring and control that are fit for purpose and which support the Department in delivering on its reform agenda.

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Supporting reform related projects and initiatives through programme and project management guidance

The Public Service Reform (PSR) Programme Office oversees the development and supports the implementation of the Department’s Action Plan for Education and Integrated Reform Delivery Plan (IRDP).

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Where did we start?

 September 2015

 Project purpose and deliverables  To develop a process to identify and track benefit as accruing from

reform related projects initially for use with the ETB/SOLAS and shared services projects within the PMO portfolio but with a view to wider rollout and application across the projects related to the DES reform programme.

 The resulting processes, guidelines and register should be incorporated

into the Department’s approach to the implementation of the Public Spending Code over time.

 Process and methodology to identify and track benefits, a guide,

conduct pilot (guide and register) with a small number of projects.

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Some information sources

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Public Spending Code: http://publicspendingcode.per.gov.ie/

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Generic PPM Templates, NICS Centre of Excellence for Delivery, Department

• f Finance and Personnel, www.dfpni.gov.uk

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Benefits Realisation Management Framework, Office of Finance and Services, NSW Government, www.finance.nsw.gov.au/publication-and- resources/benefits-realisation-management-framework

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Benefits Realisation Planning, PWC

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Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, USAID Centre for Development Information and Evaluation 1996, Number 8, Establishing Performance Targets

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Realising Benefits – It’s what projects are for! By Gareth Byatt & Jeff Hodgkinson, www.asapm.org

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How did we progress?

 Literature and web searches  Established a consultative group

 Management Board, FET, SOLAS, ETBs, PMO, PSR  ASec Corporate and Reform, POs and APs with large scale change

programmes, Shared Services Project Manager, Sector CEO and Agency representative

 Other consultation: DPER, CEEU, Reform Delivery Office, ETBI, QQI,

LGMA

 Identification of projects for inclusion in the pilot (DES and Sector)

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What changed along the way?

 From Benefits Realisation and Management, to identification

and tracking

 Acknowledge application to Programmes but concentrated at

the level of the project initially – Amalgamation of VECs, what benefit?

 Inclusion of dis-benefits (increased cost; impact on broadband

capacity; delay in introducing a related system)

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Key learnings - compiling the guide

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Mountains of information – a business in itself!

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Number of metrics and targets

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Proportional to size, type and duration

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What makes a high quality target?

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To be robust a target should be realistic in terms of being challenging but achievable with the resources available

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When should benefits identification take place?

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Prior to the decision on method/intervention so that the intervention that bests achieves the targets is employed

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Language and culture

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Use of examples

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The Process ss Key St Stag ages s Overview

The Benefits management process contains 12 sequential steps divided into 5 process areas as outlined below:

Key learnings from the pilot

 Culture shift – acknowledge it’s a new way of working  Link to an existing process – embed within the project management

templates and PMO guidance documents

 Scale and type of projects to which it can/should be applied  Does the cost of measurement outweigh the benefit? Keep it simple

and proportionate

 Control the number of benefits and the number of metrics per benefit

and think about the reliability, use an existing source if at all possible!

 The role of governance – tying monitoring of implementation to existing

project/programme governance

 Organising measurement beyond the life of the project (KPIs, who?)

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Identifying Benefits

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High level benefits.

• Reduced cost
• Increased efficiency
• Improved service

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For a more policy related project the benefits might be

• Increased levels of reading proficiency in primary school

children

• Increased level of integration of ICT in teaching and learning

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Measurable benefits

Reduce costs

• Reduced cost per payee
• Reduced number of staff

employed in payroll

• Reduced cost of technology

(licensing/maintenance)

Policy related benefits may be harder to measure but might include:

• Percentage of 8 year olds with

level x or higher proficiency in reading

• Percentage of teachers reporting

daily use of ICT in the classroom

Improve efficiency

• Increase the volume

processed by each FTE (number of transactions processed per FTE)

• Decrease cycle time

(improved processing time)

• Staff freed up to work on core

mission activities

Improve service

• Increased access to customer

service

• Decrease in response time

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Example – establish the SPU

Greater number of schools are being provided with appropriate guidance and advice to ensure….

How: Monitor the number of enquiries, Target: Increase baseline by 10% annually

Greater number of schools are receiving details of the range of goods and services available to them through the contracts and networks from the OGP model…Number

How: Monitor number of health checks completed, number of leaflet print runs Target : Increase baseline by 10% annually

Improved service through capacity building within the SPU team

How: Monitor the number of accredited courses and information seminars attended Target : 2 per annum per staff member

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Payroll merger

Benefit Description Benefit Owner Benefit Manager/ Tracker Benefit Type Method of measurement/Metric Data Source Baseline measurement Target Measurement frequency End of measurement period Reduction in number

• f staff running Manser

system Non Financial Number of people running Manser system From individual ETBs 37.9 Reduce by 20% 9 months

• n

completion

• f project

Reduction in total cost

• f FTEs running manser

system Financial Cost of people running Manser system From ETB payroll €2,079,017.68 Reduce by 20%

• n

completion

• f project

Increase in efficiency

• f processing

Non Financial time taken to process payroll from ETBs directly 181.46 Reduce by 20% Annual

• n

completion

• f project

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Individual sheets within the Register

Individual Benefit Record Sheet (Please maintain one sheet for each benefit/disbenefit identified) Project Title Manser payroll Merge Project Manager Benefit Owner Benefit Manager/Tracker Benefit Description Reduction in number of staff running Manser system Benefit code

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Benefit/disbenefit measurement timeline Baseline and measurements Measurement frequency End of measurement period Measurement record Date Measure (Value) Target (Value) Variance Explanation Action required and by whom 9 months

• n

completion of project Baseline 01/02/2014 37.9 30.32

• 7.58

Baseline measurement Measure no. 1 23/10/2014 33.6 30.32

• 3.28

Measure no. 2 30/07/2015 32.95 30.32

• 2.63

Based on 6 ETB returns - 4 ETB July returns and figures from Oct 14 returns for 2 ETB who didn’t send July returns Measure no. 3

Some challenges

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Avoid maximising benefits in the Business Case to the detriment of examining if the benefits are actually realisable – ignoring risks, assumptions and using best case, double counting, staff time saving without reference to redeployment,

• vervaluing benefits, failing to account for dis-benefits, ignore costs required

to realise the benefit (redundancy payments) etc.

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Use benefits management to gain insight and feedback and identify emergent or unplanned benefits rather than confining it to backward looking tracking against forecast

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How can we create a richer picture that informs our understanding of the actual benefits realised – evidence events, surveys, stories, case studies

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Multiple and uncertain causes – isolating the effect – use a confidence multiplier?

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