Adults Transformation Programme Assurance

Lessons learned exercise for troubled Adults Social Care Transformation.

The Challenge.

A local authority’s programme to replace an outdated adult social care system had experienced significant issues in delivery of phase 1, it had failed to deliver the expected outcomes and was significantly delayed and over budget. The purpose of our work was to conduct a lesson learned exercise to enable the Council, and its delivery partners, to ensure the lessons learned from the first phase of this project were fully identified and solutions understood for the benefit of the next phase of the project, and for future projects.

Council Programme Assurance

The One Eighty Approach.

Our approach included:

  • Obtaining an initial understanding of the existing processes through discussions with key personnel and review of project documentation,

  • Conducting a number of interviews with key project stakeholders in order to identify lessons learned in key areas, such as project management, governance and control

  • Facilitating a project wide lesson learned exercise to capture wider stakeholder’s views.

  • The production of a written report summarising key lessons and a detailed action plan of changes required for phase 2.

The End Result.

Key lessons which needed to be resolved in order for the second phase of the project to be successful, included:

  • Project scope and required outcomes - The scale and complexity of the project, the associated costs, and resources required were underestimated. There was a significant mismatch in the understanding of the required outcomes and each of the parties’ roles and responsibilities. Clear outcomes and success measures were not established soon enough.

  • Roles and responsibilities – Roles and responsibilities were not agreed by all parties or consistently understood. This affected many elements of project delivery. Specialist IT and commercial support was insufficient and the contract was not managed effectively.

  • Project planning – A lack of robust project planning meant that a number of key project areas were compromised and not completed in advance of go-live, this included full system testing and data cleansing. Poor resource planning, both in terms of understanding the level of resource and skills required, and in securing the correct resource at the correct time, caused numerous bottlenecks and delays.

Following our involvement the programme implemented our recommendations and changed its System Integrator allowing phase 2 to proceed successfully.

Our rates are extremely competitive, offering excellent value for money especially considering the significant financial and reputational cost of programme failure. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your programme.