The BPS event served as the launch of two significant developments in project management. The CMI announced their new qualification, a diploma in project management while the OGC described developments in establishing centres of excellence within major UK Government departments and introduced the new Project and Programme Management (PPM) qualification within the UK Civil Service.

Complete presentations can be found at www.subjectmatters.co.uk/bestpractice/seminars.htm

Case studies presented canvassed a wide range of “best practice” with Project Manager Today particularly noting the following:

• Providing effective project support through a Project Support Office is a battle of hearts and minds according to Graham Z. Smith, project support officer at Camelot which has a four strong project support team supporting key executives, and around 20 full-time project managers. Smith emphasised the importance of staff having a range of skills, including PRINCE2 expertise, administration and knowledge of the business;

• The need to “tailor the method and identify which bits you really need is an important lesson for anyone using PRINCE2, says Eddie Borup, responsible for implementing PRINCE2 in a communications company;

• The British Army is achieving impressive results in the Whole Fleet Management programme with a joint army/civilian approach and the Vice Chief of Defence Staff as corporate sponsor. All project board and team members are PRINCE2 trained and the flexibility and scalability of PRINCE2 is recognised as an important aspect of the method;

• Adopting a maturity model is an “act of faith well worth pursuing” according to Alan Harpham, director of the APM Group;

• Pragmatic implementation of PRINCE2 and a project office has allowed The Stationery Office, UK (now privatised) to streamline the way it operates says David Alcock, TSO’s project office manager.

Project Manager Today reports that maturity models, discussed at the Best Practice Showcase by Alan Harpham, have become popular since 2000 and are one of the most recent and important developments in project management. Some maturity models have been around for years. The Carnegie Mellon University model is the most commonly known. This model identifies the existing maturity level of an organisation and gives targets for the next level.

Alan Harpham has been working with the OGC Project Management Maturity Model which has an external assessment process to determine whether an organisation reaches one of the five standard levels.

The model contains a two-stage process. The first involves defining which processes the company has in place. The second is externally administered by a registered consultant who interviews staff. The process is intended to be as objective as possible, but the scoring inevitably involves the consultant’s own judgement and for that reason is externally reviewed by an APM assessor.

Simon Shaw, head of projects for a part of Vodaphone, spoke positively of his experience of using the model. “An independent assessment has the major benefit of convincing people in your organisation that you are doing something right”, he said. “And because you get buy-in from wary stakeholders, you can say the action plan to improve is based on their feedback”.

Tony Teague is Director of Programme Management at a UK bank that is moving up the maturity ladder for project management, The Abbey National. Mr Teague said that success in programme delivery has been achieved by a combination of ruthless project prioritisation, reductions in project length and re-focusing of resources – “all of which require the right mentality at the top”.

Teague’s story of reviewing then abolishing 75% of projects in one meeting is a byword for concentrating on projects that will achieve benefits - rather than the “I can so I will” approach.

Prioritisation of projects in Abbey National was accompanied by shortening project length. The average project life cycle was reduced by 60%, from 22 to 7 months. Mr Teague suggests that the maximum project lifecycle should be 12 months as longer projects fail to deliver.

The Stationery Office chose to adopt PRINCE2 to cure the organisation’s “poor track record” of project development. PRINCE2 was seen as “tailorable” with for example a variable level of approval, depending on project characteristics. The Stationery Office has found it useful to keep a repository of reusable project components.