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Last updated: 27 March 2009
Major change programmes require not only the right skills, but also the right administration. Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are working to make public delivery of major programmes more reliable.
Delivering successful IT–enabled business change programmes is tough, whether done in the private or public sector, and the risk of failure is often high. There are some challenges that will always cause problems: the diversity and complexity of the public sector, the scale and security requirements of its operations, and the need to respond to policy change and legislative deadlines. As issues arise we will review our policies, our approach, our training and risk management, and will implement changes to avoid repetition of any issue.
In 2006–2007 the Government's most senior technology official (the CIO took action to help ensure that the public sector launches the right projects, challenges the wrong ones and governs and controls them throughout their lifecycles in ways that reduce the risk of failure. These new measures build upon good practices already underway in Department of Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs and the Criminal Justice System, with input from the Office of Government Commerce to ensure that they complement the Gateway Review and other existing processes [External website].
In March 2007, the Government CIO introduced reporting on the major IT–enabled change programmes. Each quarter, on behalf of the CIO's Council, he presents the government portfolio to a ministerial committee – PSX(E) in 2006–2007 and DA(PED) following the restructuring in June 2007.
From January 2008 the portfolio has evolved into the single Major Programme and Project (MPP), facilitated jointly by OGC and Transformational Government, and from April 2008 reported to Number 10. MPP includes major asset acquisition programmes as well as IT–enabled and other major change programmes and, by replacing a number of earlier reports, significantly reduces the reporting burden on departments.
The portfolio is presented as a simple “dashboard” view of the 30 major programmes with key indicators for each, including the full project cost, total cashable benefit and capability. Viewed collectively, the document shows the health of the IT portfolio [External website] as a whole. Included for each programme are the owning department’s statement that they areavoiding the eight most common causes of failure [External website] and that they are compliant with the National Audit Office (NAO) Nine Key Questions for departments embarking on IT–enabled business change[External website]. This single view allows three broad categories of issues to be surfaced and addressed:
Central Government departments represented on the CIOs Council are now using portfolio management techniques within their own organisation and are working with the Government CIO’s office to improve their departmental processes [External website]. As an example, DWP have made extensive use of Portfolio Management to prioritise and balance resources for their CSR07 work programme.
To complement current programme and project management good practice, a range of other mechanisms has been adopted. More detail on targeting Control and Governance process can be found on the Government CIO website.
The more personalised a service is, reflecting more of a citizen’s circumstances, the harder it is to deliver. There are tens of thousands of government systems that have grown up over time to deliver services. People will not get effective joined–up, personalised services unless these systems can work together. To do this, the Government CIOs are building an architectural plan of the inter–connections and dependencies in government service delivery.
The first draft of this Cross–Government Enterprise Architecture was published alongside the 2006–2007 Transformational Government Annual Report. It aims to optimise the use of technology resources across the public sector, aligning organisation and technology strategies to realise the Transformational Government strategy and personalised public services. A particular goal is to limit duplication of complex systems.
During 2006–2007 the CIOs have been creating Exemplars and Champions for components of the Cross–Government Enterprise Architecture.
In 2006–2007 the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Council has continued to identify and share areas of best practice through the Exemplar Process. A number of Exemplars have been identified across Government including: eForms and mobile phone email solutions. These Exemplars are now starting to be reused; examples include:
The re–use approach saves time to deliver or request a service. The approach also ensures that the service adheres to the correct standards and principles and is consistent across Government.
The CTOs have built a professional community of technicians from all government organisations to identify and capture Exemplars. They are also identifying how to acquire new technical skills and working on strategic papers to identify how the Government want their IT to work in the next five to ten years.
For more, see the document Enterprise Architecture for UK Government.
Champions approved in 2006/2007
ICT is a major user of energy and resources. The manufacture, use and disposal of ICT has to happen in a sustainable way and as the largest purchaser of ICT it should be us setting the example. As government, we should be working together with our suppliers to ensure we are doing the simple things to protect the environment, save energy and act responsibly.
The Chief Information Officers Council has been working with industry to develop both short–term actions and a long–term strategy, and will be publishing its findings in the summer 2008.
In 2006–2007, peoples’ concerns about the environment have extended to the sustainability of information technology, with consumer campaigns targeted at specific technology brands and products. The public sector is the United Kingdom’s biggest user of information technology. The Government is taking a lead globally on sustainable use of information technology in the public sector.
In 2007, the Government started to develop a work programme for moving government IT to a more sustainable footing. The Government is working closely with industry to shape more sustainable products and ways of working.We have identified the key factors contributing to unsustainable practice and will develop a work programme to address these in 2008.
Modern public services might involve a frontline worker in the customer's home helping them with benefits and skills advice, or a police officer out on the beat looking up the details of a suspect car. To meet such customer needs means a radical change for government information networks, traditionally arranged around single organisations and tied to static offices.
To deliver the best services to the citizen, the processes and information used will need to cross traditional boundaries and support remote and mobile working. To allow a person to access the systems and tools they need, from wherever they are, decisions have to be based upon who that person is, what roles they are authorised to perform and the security of their access device.
Ian Watmore, Permanent Secretary, DIUSWorking flexibly makes good business sense. It keeps costs down and helps match the needs of the Department with those of our diverse workforce. And we are the first Department to install state of the art video-conferencing which gives life-size, high definition images so that staff outside of London can brief Ministers without the need to travel. That saves money and helps the environment too.
The public sector network needs to be a platform on which IT and other services can be built and shared amongst users throughout the public sector. Since 2006/2007 the government and industry have been working together through the CIO's Council and the Strategic Supply Board [External website] to deliver this.
Procurements and alignment of existing contracts are expected to commence during 2008 for implementation starting in 2009.
The Gershon review of 2004 [External website] emphasised a more modern, efficient and effective approach to the management and administration of public services behind the scenes.
This has required a new professionalisation in public service corporate skills, led by new leaders of corporate disciplines, known as Heads of Profession. The CIO is an example. This approach challenges conventional management structures.
In February 2007, Sir Gus O–Donnell asked the CFLB to propose what role each Head of Profession should have versus each Departmental Head. All of the Heads of Profession sit on this Board. The Government CIO prepared a chart [External website] to illustrate the position in 2007 and how the roles might mature up to 2010.
Better results and best practice involve closer working with public sector strategic IT suppliers. Progress has been made on the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) Council’s goal to make the Government a world-class IT purchaser, improving efficiency and saving money.
In 2006–2007 the Supplier Management Initiative, (SMI) was established by OGC to focus on improving Government's key suppliers in ICT services and software. This programme is governed by the Supply Management Board, a sub group of the CIO Council, and led by Joe Harley, DWP IT Director General and Chief Information Officer. This complements the OGC’s Transforming Government Procurement strategy [External website] launched in January 2007.
The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is one focus of the SMI and measures supplier and customer performance on strategic ICT contracts. It is now on its fourth cycle and is producing clear trend data and identifiable improvement By the very nature of the process the results are commercially sensitive and remain confidential to the parties concerned.
Future exercises will seek to highlight any failures common across all contracts, as well as where a supplier performs well in one part of government, but less well in another.
Performance review and performance improvement planning
Information from the Common Assessment Framework feeds into a performance improvement system for the supplier industry. Twice–yearly forums are held, independently chaired by the Office of Government Commence (OGC) or the Cabinet Office, focussing on performance and the strategic level relationship between a supplier and government. There is close engagement with the trade association Intellect to ensure that best practice is shared.
Information Communication Technology (ICT) Capacity Project Report
In 2006-07 the second annual assessment of capacity in the public sector ICT market [External website] has shown that there is unlikely to be a widespread shortfall in ICT delivery capability over the next three years, and there are currently no major capacity issues.
The third ICT Market Capacity report will focus on future demand and is expected to be published in early 2008.
Supply Transformation Programme
The 2005–2006 Annual report set out a long term approach to improve the overall quality of ICT procurement by 2010.
Encouraging progress has been made towards its three aspirational improvement targets: