Systems Implementation: Public Sector
The Situation
A central government department was in the middle of implementing Oracle as their backbone IT system. The joint programme team had been working on the implementation in some cases for nearly 2 years, however planning for the roll out and for transitioning to the live service hadn't until then been considered. The team's focus was to cross the start line successfully and then depart for a new role in the department (each of the client's permanent staff were on a 2 year posting/rotation).
The Approach
Our initial engagement came about as a the client asked for us to do the organisation design for the change control and live service (systems admin and maintenance) of the implemented IT system. We were able quite quickly to develop a change control process and change authority, combined with proposals for what the client side of the ongoing live service should look like. This was contentious as the perception was that the client had out sourced the provision of the system and the service and would require no one on their side once the programme team rolled off. After the initial work we took on responsibility for rolling out the new system to ~270 sites in almost every country in the world. We had to develop a global roll out process that relied upon a series of very constrained teams going to each major location and then a hub and spoke approach for smaller offices. We designed and implemented training for key change agents and implementation staff who then went to each major site. The central work was carried out by one strategy consultant in a line management role supported by two civil servants- which was unusual. The global roll out was done by two teams over the course of a year.
The Outcome
Whilst the initial system implementation and go live was delayed, the global roll out ran to schedule and budget successfully. The full roll out was constrained by pre-existing technical issues at a number of sites- poor bandwidth at some sites and at others communication was limited to land lines or satellite links.
A central government department was in the middle of implementing Oracle as their backbone IT system. The joint programme team had been working on the implementation in some cases for nearly 2 years, however planning for the roll out and for transitioning to the live service hadn't until then been considered. The team's focus was to cross the start line successfully and then depart for a new role in the department (each of the client's permanent staff were on a 2 year posting/rotation).
The Approach
Our initial engagement came about as a the client asked for us to do the organisation design for the change control and live service (systems admin and maintenance) of the implemented IT system. We were able quite quickly to develop a change control process and change authority, combined with proposals for what the client side of the ongoing live service should look like. This was contentious as the perception was that the client had out sourced the provision of the system and the service and would require no one on their side once the programme team rolled off. After the initial work we took on responsibility for rolling out the new system to ~270 sites in almost every country in the world. We had to develop a global roll out process that relied upon a series of very constrained teams going to each major location and then a hub and spoke approach for smaller offices. We designed and implemented training for key change agents and implementation staff who then went to each major site. The central work was carried out by one strategy consultant in a line management role supported by two civil servants- which was unusual. The global roll out was done by two teams over the course of a year.
The Outcome
Whilst the initial system implementation and go live was delayed, the global roll out ran to schedule and budget successfully. The full roll out was constrained by pre-existing technical issues at a number of sites- poor bandwidth at some sites and at others communication was limited to land lines or satellite links.