Agenda item

To receive the report of the Project Management Task and Finish Group and consider their recommendations.

The Committee considered the report (Agenda Item 10) which presented the findings of the Project Management Task and Finish Group, which reviewed the Council's approach to managing major projects and sought to identify lessons to be learned from recent projects, including Care Director v6, and iTrent (Phase 1). The report proposed recommendations based on the evidence gathered which, if implemented, would help to inform the Council’s approach to project management in future.

Councillor Chris Read (Chairman of the Task and Finish Group) presented the report, outlining the findings of the review into the Council’s project management practices. The review assessed the Council’s project management methodology, governance, and lessons learned from previous projects.

In general terms, best practice was being followed with project management. The centralisation of project management was also positive.

More specifically, Care Director v6, and iTrent (Phase 1) were examined in detail.

The report included 25 recommendations aimed at improving project management practices across the Council.

Concern was highlighted in the report that learning from past reviews, particularly that related to the London Road Industrial Estate project, had not been fully embedded in working practices.

Councillor Read took the opportunity to thank his fellow Members on the Task and Finish Group, and the officers who contributed to the review. In particular, he highlighted the input from Kate Toone (Project Manager) and from Gordon Oliver (the Clerk to the review).

The following points were raised in the debate:

·         The concern was shared that recommendations highlighted in previous reviews had not been taken on board. It was emphasised that lessons from these reviews must be embedded to avoid issues repeating in future projects.

·         Concerns were raised about the storage of and access to key project documents which were sometimes held by external contractors rather than in-house. A question was also asked about the adequacy of escalation processes for projects.

·         Gabrielle Mancini (Service Director for Transformation, Customer and ICT) explained that a number of the observations made in the review predated the restructure of the project management service. She expressed confidence that outstanding concerns were in the process of being overcome, i.e. document storage.

·         Gabrielle Mancini went on to explain that the revised project management methodology included clear escalation routes for project managers. Improved training had also been introduced for project managers and project sponsors.

·         A question was asked about how the centralisation of project management would ensure that the voices of individual departments were heard. Gabrielle Mancini explained that while project managers were centralised, project sponsors were typically senior managers from the relevant service area. Additionally, multidisciplinary project teams, including representatives from legal, finance, and ICT, ensured that expertise from across the Council was incorporated into project delivery.

·         There was concern that ICT resources were stretched and there was the potential for single points of failure within the service. ICT needed to be adequately resourced. Gabrielle Mancini outlined plans to address these concerns, in particular removing the risk of single points of failure. This was an area of focus for the new Service Lead for ICT.

The Committee expressed its gratitude to Councillor Read, the task and finish group, and the officers involved for their thorough and transparent review. Members agreed to recommend the report to the Executive for consideration and to track the implementation of agreed recommendations.

RESOLVED that the Task and Finish Group’s recommendations would be referred to the Executive for consideration.